Death in 24hrs

[Sdot15]

Hello.
I need some help I am getting sick of killing fish. Twice I tried doing a fish in cycle with api quick start and my fish died with in 24 hours. After that I prepared to give it another shot. Here is what I did: two days ago I changed my water and added api stress coat to dechlorinate the water. 24 hours later (yesterday) I added tetra safe start plus. Then I acclimated the fish for 25 mins by leaving the bag in the fish tank water and then added the fish to the tank. Less then 12 hours later the fish was dead. Even after an hour of introducing the fish to the tank it seemed to be acting strange.

So I’ve failed 3 times.

After the fish died I tested the water:
Ph: 8.2
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 1 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm

I know the tank is not cycled but I am not understanding what is killing the fish so fast.

All three times I have used a platy to cycle and it seems each times they start to act strange within an hour of introducing them to the tank. They just hover and don’t swim or they glass surf.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Can you post a picture of the entire tank?
Did you rinse the gravel under tap water before putting it in the aquarium?

What sort of filter is on/ in the tank?
What filter media/ materials are in the filter?
Is the filter run continuously?

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I'm pretty sure Stress Coat does not dechlorinate the tap water. It increases mucous production by the fish but to my knowledge, does nothing to neutralise chlorine or chloramine in water.

You need a dechlorinator to neutralise chlorine/ chloramine in water. You should contact your water supply company by website or telephone and ask them if they add chlorine or chloramine to the drinking water. Chlorine is easy to neutralise, chloramine is a bit more difficult to deal with.

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If you want to do a fish in cycle, set the tank up with dechlorinated water. Add a heap of live true aquatic plants and let the tank run for 2 weeks. Then add a couple of small fish and feed them once every couple of days. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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Tetra Safe Start Plus is a filter bacteria additive used to help speed up the cycling process. I recommend adding a double dose every day for a week and then pour the remaining contents into the tank. Try to add the bacteria near the filter intake so it gets drawn into the filter where it belongs.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I'm pretty sure Stress Coat does not dechlorinate the tap water. It increases mucous production by the fish but to my knowledge, does nothing to neutralise chlorine or chloramine in water.

Stresscoat will dechlorinate water just fine. It has an aloe vera slime coat additive as well. But its primary job is a dechlorinator. Ive used this as a dechlorinator for many years, although i now use Prime based purely on cost per water change as stresscoat is very expensive.

Just to confirm its Stresscoat you are using, not Stressguard?

If fish are dying in such a short space of time chlorine is the likely cause though. Although you are using a dechlorinator, make sure you are using enough. Check with your water company how much chlorine/ chloramine is in your tap water with your water company. A dechlorinator will remove x amount of chlorine per gallon/ litre. If your water company doses a higher amount than normal you may need to used more dechlorinator.

An uncycled tank wont be killing fish in such a short space of time. Your parameters arent that bad.

How long is the journey from getting your fish going in the bag to them going in your tank? Are you buying the fish locally or getting them delivered? Are the fish being transferred from different water conditions in the store to what comes out of your tap? You may need to look at a different acclimating process.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Just been reading your identical thread on another forum and you mention somethere you havent here.

You have a water softener.

Water softeners work via ion replacement. The resin in the water softener pulls out the calcium from the water that causes hard water and replaces it with something else. This something else is usually sodium, which isnt good in a freshwater aquarium. You can use resins that replace with potassium which isnt so bad, or softeners can often be bypassed.