Gunk
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi everyone I got a new 29 gal on 1/17/11, got it up and running with 100w heater, HoB filter, gravel, airstone, and some plastic plants and a couple of caves for hiding. Conditioned the water and tested it to make sure it was chlorine free and it was let the temp get up to 76. On 1/18 put 4 small black tetras in. Seemed ok at first but were dead in several hours. The next day I got 3 small rasboras and 2 small opaline gouramis. They were all dead in the morning. I acclimated them by floating for 15 min then netting them into the tank by the way. The next day i found out about cycling and thought that was the problem so I got some Tetra Safestart and put that in. Got 2 Buenos aires tetras and another opaline gourami. Gourami died overnight again but the tetras lived for a couple days and were eating and acting normal then they suddenly started seeking out the corners of the tank and just hung out there. by morning they were gone too. Got some stress coat and stress zyme under recommendation of LFS and put that in then got 2 swordtails that looked very healthy and good for a day then started hanging around corners. They are still alive but i don't know how because they just sit on the bottom or hide in a cave all day. So couple more days got a red tailed shark that looked healthy . After a day he had small white what looked like mold on 2 spots on his head and he's not behaving quite normal either but still alive. I'm embarassed I've killed all these fish! Ive been using api freshwater master kit and get the lightest green next to the yellow (2nd lowest reading) not sure if its .02 or .20. Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 ph is 8.0. i also did a 50% water change in there too. At this point i'm thinking I should just take everything out and start over because nothing will stay alive in this tank!