Beginner, Can't keep my fish alive

[rachelstar]

I am a beginner that is really clueless about keeping fish, my goal is to add something beautiful to my living environment and to gain knowledge along the way about a species I know so little about (fish).

I've been trying for over a year to keep pet fish and I just can't keep them alive and can't figure out why. I have a 10 gallon tank, pet store tested my water and said it's fine. I test my water regularly also, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate between 20-40ppm. Have a high pH about 9, but the lady at the pet store told me our area has a high pH water. Neighbors keep healthy fish and they don't do anything to adjust pH. I tried lowering pH once with Easy Balance, it immediately killed all my fish. I keep pristine water, weekly water changes about 25 percent.

I have no idea whether my water is killing my fish, or whether it is a disease. All my fish started out healthy, the first symptom is usually a long clear strand of "poop" hanging out of them. When they get that, they always die. I feed them peas, but it doesn't help. Some of them, the first symptom is they stop eating & hide still in the corner. Most got fin rot.
One of them started swimming crazy look like "swim bladder" and died. He swam into walls. The most horrible thing was what happened to my blue guppy. He had been nipped in the tail a few times by other fish before I separated them with dividers. I thought he'd be ok after that. Edges of the tail turned brown-red. A couple bloody spots appeared on his skin. Then his SCALES STARTED TO FALL OFF. It was horrible. The pictures show Blueberry after he died, I could not save him. This happened quite fast.

What am I doing so wrong? I have heard of fish TB, is that what I am dealing with? Because every fish that goes into my tank comes out with horrible symptoms and death either after a month or two or just a few days. I feel like I can give this one more try.

 

[Carriwin]

Welcome to the forum!

A couple of questions:
-Did you get your tank brand new, or did you get it second hand?

-Did you rinse out your substrate between stocking fish, or did you just put new fish in? (Just trying to figure out where things could be carrying over.)

-Did you cycle your tank before you put them in the first time?

-Your pH is REALLY high for most fish in my experience. I would think that you would need to bring the pH down to a normal level for what the fish are naturally used to before you put anyone in the tank.

There are plenty of people who know far more than I, these are just a couple of things that I can think of, or would think to question.

 

[rachelstar]

I got my tank new, and have rinse out the gravel between fish.

The only way I know to measure whether tank is cycled, is to check ammonia and nitrate levels. My ammonia and nitrate were at the correct levels.

Maybe pH is killing my fish?

Last night I rinsed out my tank and put in fresh water and water conditioner. This morning I see something new. White filmy stuff on the surface. I don't know what I am looking at....bacterial colonies? Alaege?

Maybe I will try to get a picture of the filmy stuff

 

[Carriwin]

If you can upload pictures, that would be great! That way we can help identify whatever you have going on in there other than death.

 

[rachelstar]

This picture is looking up at the surface of the water you can see little white spots on the surface.
Another idea is this could be residue from ich medicine I had used recently.

My best idea is to dose my tankwater with antibacterial medicine, then after that, anti-parasite medicine before adding any new fish. I wonder if this would work.

 

[platylover26]

One reason your fish could keep dying is that your tank isn't cycled. You stated that you rinse out the gravel between every fish that dies. This could be restarting the cycle in a way. If you don't know about the cycle, you should do plenty of research and wait to add some new fish in before you figure out what is going on. good luck! P.S here's a link. The Cycle of Life: The Nitrogen Cycle in Aquariums

 

[rachelstar]

The cycle is very confusing to me but I will study it more. I do believe my tank was cycled when my fish were dying. I have put anti-parasite medicine into my tank. I will let that sit awhile. Then put in anti-bacterial. Then let that sit. As a technique for "disinfecting" my tank.
Then I'll drain it all, and start over with new water, create a new cycle.

I don't know what I'm doing but I might as well go crazy with the medicines, there are no fish in there that can get hurt

At the end of this process I hope to have a beautiful, happy healthy, green betta fish

 

[nkoyko]

Your technique for disinfecting the tank isn't going to work. Medication does not disinfect anything. It may kill a few things but will invite more. Save the medication for the actual fish if they were to ever need it. You are going to need to break the tank down and actually clean it. With the amount of death you've had, you need to bleach the tank, toss the substrate and get some new substrate. Bleach the decor as well. After bleaching rinse the tank and decor well in fresh water, fill it add some dechlorinator, empty it and let everything air dry. After dry give it the sniff test. If you smell bleach rerinse and dechlor, then let air dry again. You may also want to get new media for your filter and just start fresh on the tank.

Also do not alter your pH. Your fish died when you changed the pH because fish can't handle that type of change. Leave your pH alone and get fish from stores near by you. The fish they are keeping have already been adjusted to the pH in your area. This is my best advice for you until you learn to slowly acclimate fish to your pH. Fish can usually handle very slow, very gradual pH changes so once you learn proper acclimation to do this then you can get fish elsewhere.

 

[jessipanda]

+1 to nkoyko

And I'd like to add to be weary of fish from large chain pet stores. Investigate EVERY tank for any signs of death or disease. Typically, in the larger stores, all the freshwater tanks (or nearly all) will share a single filtration system. Meaning, if one fish in a tank on one end of the fish section looks like it has ich or finrot or something, it's very likely that EVERY fish in all the other tanks have then been exposed to the disease through the filter system.

I'm not saying the same isn't possible at smaller hobby stores, as I'm sure some run similar filter setups, but that's less common. I always ask about filter setups before I even look at fish, no matter which store I'm going to.

 

[rachelstar]

Ok I am going to bleach my tank and toss out my substrate and old filter pad and just try to start all over again. This is going to be a lot of work but I will get it done because I cannot accept that I can't keep a pet fish alive. I've seen little kids succeed at this hobby.

But at this point I am just wondering if I should throw everything away and buy a new tank. I understand that if my tank has been infected with fish TB, nothing will ever cure it.

 

[Coursair]

+1 to nkoyko

And I'd like to add to be weary of fish from large chain pet stores. Investigate EVERY tank for any signs of death or disease. Typically, in the larger stores, all the freshwater tanks (or nearly all) will share a single filtration system. Meaning, if one fish in a tank on one end of the fish section looks like it has ich or finrot or something, it's very likely that EVERY fish in all the other tanks have then been exposed to the disease through the filter system.

I'm not saying the same isn't possible at smaller hobby stores, as I'm sure some run similar filter setups, but that's less common. I always ask about filter setups before I even look at fish, no matter which store I'm going to.

Except if they do it properly they also run UV sterilizers and have massive filtration. Our store would get ill fish at times, but never massive outbreaks. I helped run the fish dept at my local Petsmart


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