Help! Fish Dying!!!

[x_mutt_x]

Ok so here it goes. I had a 10 gallon tank and bought a 36 gallon bow front fish tank. I went home, put the decors together, put the water from the 10 gallon into the 36 gallon and put the fish I had (2 platies, 2 swordtails, pleco, 2 guppies, striped raphael catfish, and 2 corys) into a bowl. I filled the rest of the tank up with water and used water conditioner to get the chlorine out of our water. Then after that I put the fish into the tank not thinking I needed to wait for everything to cycle or anything. I just was so excited to get this nice new tank. Well I lost some fish, obviously, to my stupidity. Well my boyfriend wanted to go get more corys because we only had one left and we thought the cory we had was getting lonely. So we got 2 more corys. Then a few days later our platies and swordtails started getting white stuff on top of their heads. We thought maybe they were hitting a new decor and it was a tight squeeze or something. Well I went to Petsmart to get the corys I told the woman about our platies and swoardtails and she convinced me it was ick and she gave me a box of super ick by API. So I've been putting that stuff in water and following the directions. Well, my pleco started acting weird, not eating, and having a white belly and white over his eyes (he died tonight), I also have lost my catfish and corys (only the one original remains). I thought maybe my pleco was lonely as well as the corys so I went out and got another pleco. Well once the first one I had died tonight, the other one is starting to lose his color on his belly. I'm just really tired of losing fish. So far I have lost 11? fish (from trying to replace or make some happy). I took one of the corys back to the store to see if they could tell me what is wrong. She tested the water I had in the bag with the fish (lol Yes I know the fish is dead but I just thought it would be proper). When she tested the water she said that everything looks good besides the pH, which was at like 8.2 or higher, so she sold me some pH Down and said she was surprised my plecos haven't died. I started using that yesterday. I know this post is all over the place, but if you can follow it and let me know whats up with my fish tank and fishies, please let me know. I'm afraid to buy anymore fish because I'll just kill them. If you have questions, don't be shy just ask them. I won't bite your head off, just be nice I'm still sort of new to all of this.

Oh, and I can finally do a water change tomorrow at 4:30. Poor fishies. Oh and my platies and swordtails act just fine oh and the one guppy I have left. So long story short, my bottom feeders are dead except a pleco and one cory and the top water fish are still alive and kickin having the time of their lives.

This was a test I just did.

pH: 7.6 (maxed out)
High range pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0.5 ppm
Nitrite: 0.5 ppm
Nitrate: 0? maybe 2? ppm it was the color in between the 0 and 5 ppm.

 

[Magma]

like I said in Chat lets get some ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings from a liquid test kit and go from there

We can have this straighted out in no time.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Well first of all, did you put any of the filter, substrate decor into the other tank if not then we have a problem.
The water its self does not have much good ammonia eating bacteria it has a small amount. Most of the good stuff is on the decor substrate and filter waiting to be used. If we got a new tank and new stuff the cycle has to start to i would segguest not putting anymore fish in the tank and putting the filter into the 36 gal. Also get a stocking (Pantyhose) and put the gravel or substrate into that and then put that into the tank.
Now you will have to do water changed every day and test the water every day to see how the reading are coming ok

 

[fearlessfisch]

Why do you have to wait until 4:30 to do a water change?

You can do water changes anytime, as long as you are careful to use a dechlorinator and match temperature. If the pattern of "white stuff" on the fish was limited to their heads and made you think they were bumping into something, that does not sound like ich. I would stop the ich medicine immediately, as it tends to be very stressful to fish. I would do large water changes to ensure the water is pristine and THEN monitor the fishes' health and the progress of the cycle. You will likely have to deal with some cycling now even if you did transfer old filter media and ornaments into the tank, if the ich medication killed your good bacteria.

Good luck.

 

[ejaramillo01]

How long the 36G have been running?
What did you do to the 10 G tank?
My first suggestion is :
If you still have the 10G, and hopefully still with some water, maybe some of the good bacteria from the old filter survived. So if this is the case re-start the 10G check water parameters and let us know, maybe we can move the fish to the small tank, where the water changes will be easier for you.

If not available, then I totally agree with Jason on moving gravel and old filter to the 36G to try to speed up the cycle.
Buy a liquid test, you will need to do daily test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and do daily and maybe twice a day partial water changes.
Don't use the ph down, forget about the ph right now, that is the less important parameter at this time, using the ph down will just stress more the fish. Leave alone the ph, the important readings for you are the three mentioned above.

This will be your best option in my opinion.

 

[x_mutt_x]

Well first of all, did you put any of the filter, substrate decor into the other tank if not then we have a problem.
The water its self does not have much good ammonia eating bacteria it has a small amount. Most of the good stuff is on the decor substrate and filter waiting to be used. If we got a new tank and new stuff the cycle has to start to i would segguest not putting anymore fish in the tank and putting the filter into the 36 gal. Also get a stocking (Pantyhose) and put the gravel or substrate into that and then put that into the tank.
Now you will have to do water changed every day and test the water every day to see how the reading are coming ok

Ok, well I sold my ten gallon so I don't have that anymore. :/ I had a decor that was in the 10 gallon that I put in the 36 gallon. Now that I bought more stuff I have taken that out and went with the 10 gallon. Whats with the panty hose?

 

[x_mutt_x]

Why do you have to wait until 4:30 to do a water change?

You can do water changes anytime, as long as you are careful to use a dechlorinator and match temperature. If the pattern of "white stuff" on the fish was limited to their heads and made you think they were bumping into something, that does not sound like ich. I would stop the ich medicine immediately, as it tends to be very stressful to fish. I would do large water changes to ensure the water is pristine and THEN monitor the fishes' health and the progress of the cycle. You will likely have to deal with some cycling now even if you did transfer old filter media and ornaments into the tank, if the ich medication killed your good bacteria.

Good luck.

because of the ick medicine but I went ahead and did the water change and did 25%

 

[x_mutt_x]

How long the 36G have been running?
What did you do to the 10 G tank?
My first suggestion is :
If you still have the 10G, and hopefully still with some water, maybe some of the good bacteria from the old filter survived. So if this is the case re-start the 10G check water parameters and let us know, maybe we can move the fish to the small tank, where the water changes will be easier for you.

If not available, then I totally agree with Jason on moving gravel and old filter to the 36G to try to speed up the cycle.
Buy a liquid test, you will need to do daily test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and do daily and maybe twice a day partial water changes.
Don't use the ph down, forget about the ph right now, that is the less important parameter at this time, using the ph down will just stress more the fish. Leave alone the ph, the important readings for you are the three mentioned above.

This will be your best option in my opinion.

Well i kept reading that the ph down was bad to use and doesn't really work anyway. I have nothing from the 10 gallon left. :/ and I bought the liquid test a few days ago. I don't really know what safe levels are all the things I'm testing for.

as for the 36 gallon, its been running for about a few weeks now? the 10 gallon I had was running for several months. I did everything correct and let the tank cycle for about 2 days first before putting in cheap walmart guppies.

 

[aquachris]

Hey mutt. Looks like you're gonna have to probably do a couple pwc each day to keep that ammonia at bay. and also test every day as well. check out this thread, from the getting started section. it helped me learn a lot!

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-for-dummies-103339.html

 

[marchmaxima]

throw out the PH Up/Down. It's not ideal for newbies to use.

You need to test amm/nitrite/nitrate daily and do a water change everytime your ammonia and nitrate are > 0.25ppm. Your tank needs to cycle. There's no doubt about that and for that, it needs time.

If you *do* have ich, raise the temp slowly (no more than 1 degree an hour) until it is over 30. Leave it. Ich can't breed at this temp. That won't harm your fish and again, time should get rid of the ich, if that is indeed what it is.

Keep testing and keep posting updates. Verify any information you receive from a petshop with the people here before acting on it and just be wary that there is a lot of bad advice out there. I'm not saying this lady your talking to is giving you bad advice, but I do think that if she tested your water and got a reading of 0.5ppm for ammonia, telling you that this is safe is not really the right thing to tell you IMO.

0.5ppm is the really the upper limit you would ever want your water to be. 0ppm is normal and correct once your tank is cycled and any reading at all is big fat warning bell. During a cycle, I would recommend trying to keep the amm to 0.25ppm. If it gets to 0.5ppm, do a 30% change immediately.

It will take time (maybe weeks) for your tank to cycle but your fish will thank you for your effort.

And best of luck.

 

[ejaramillo01]

I agree with the last advice. Just keep posting your daily results here and good people will give you the best advice.

What Jason was refering to the pantyhose was to put your "old gravel" (From the old 10G tank) into the pantyhose and then put it into the 36G tank. The idea is to speed up the cycle of the tank.

But if you don't have that gravel anymore, or is already in the big tank, just follow maxima advice

Good luck!

 

[Jason7894561230]

Whats with the panty hose?

What i meant is that if you had some substrate from the 10 gal then you could put that into the pantyhose and that would be able to get water in but no substrate out thus letting the good bacteria in the substrate to eat the ammonia

 

[x_mutt_x]

Hey mutt. Looks like you're gonna have to probably do a couple pwc each day to keep that ammonia at bay. and also test every day as well. check out this thread, from the getting started section. it helped me learn a lot!

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-for-dummies-103339.html

I tested the water about an hour after I did a partial and the water is the same as last night. I'll see what it is tomorrow.

 

[x_mutt_x]

What i meant is that if you had some substrate from the 10 gal then you could put that into the pantyhose and that would be able to get water in but no substrate out thus letting the good bacteria in the substrate to eat the ammonia

Ohhhhhh. Ok lol Next time I will definitely know what NOT to do lol and partly what to do.

 

[x_mutt_x]

throw out the PH Up/Down. It's not ideal for newbies to use.

You need to test amm/nitrite/nitrate daily and do a water change everytime your ammonia and nitrate are > 0.25ppm. Your tank needs to cycle. There's no doubt about that and for that, it needs time.

If you *do* have ich, raise the temp slowly (no more than 1 degree an hour) until it is over 30. Leave it. Ich can't breed at this temp. That won't harm your fish and again, time should get rid of the ich, if that is indeed what it is.

Keep testing and keep posting updates. Verify any information you receive from a petshop with the people here before acting on it and just be wary that there is a lot of bad advice out there. I'm not saying this lady your talking to is giving you bad advice, but I do think that if she tested your water and got a reading of 0.5ppm for ammonia, telling you that this is safe is not really the right thing to tell you IMO.

0.5ppm is the really the upper limit you would ever want your water to be. 0ppm is normal and correct once your tank is cycled and any reading at all is big fat warning bell. During a cycle, I would recommend trying to keep the amm to 0.25ppm. If it gets to 0.5ppm, do a 30% change immediately.

It will take time (maybe weeks) for your tank to cycle but your fish will thank you for your effort.

And best of luck.

Ohh ok. Great. Thanks! I will definately keep that in mind. Also I don't think that my fish have ick. She was just telling about a problem she had with one of her decor that she bought and said it gave her fish ick. But it doesn't look anything like ick. Soo. I think I'm going to go and get my money back.

 

[maxst2]

Big thing for you do to now is to pull at least10gal of water out every day till the cycle is done. De-chlorinate with whatever (i suggest prime personally) BEFORE you fill the tank. Then pour in your tap water.... Or dose each bucket/jar/bottle before you put in the tank.

 

[x_mutt_x]

Big thing for you do to now is to pull at least10gal of water out every day till the cycle is done. De-chlorinate with whatever (i suggest prime personally) BEFORE you fill the tank. Then pour in your tap water.... Or dose each bucket/jar/bottle before you put in the tank.

thats what I started doing today and we are going to do that tomorrow to I'm glad I'm not completely ignorant about this. lol

 

[x_mutt_x]

I have a question for anyone. I really like cichlids, but I obviously have a community tank. When the water is ready, I'd like to add one. Does anyone know of any cichlids I could add? Right now the punk in the group of fish I have is the guppy. lol

 

[aquachris]

hey mutt. check out the blue ram, and the bolivian ram. both get only three inches, and are good in community's. I'm going to be buying a couple of those soon, after my tank is done cycling. Not sure which kind I want though. They both look great, and they're both cichlids

 

[Magma]

cichlids are not really ment for "community" tanks with other fish other than different cichlids and even then they might not mix well, not to say it cant be done but caution must be made for sure.

As for the blue ram they need Impeccable water quality and are rather difficult to care for. The bolivian ram is easyier to care for but still not a beginner fish, research the cichlid compatiblity and care before you add them.