Help!! My fish are dying 1 by 1

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one more question though, i want to start up 1 gallon jars to raise some fry in. (3 of my guppies are pregnant, and i dont want them giving birth in this tank!) i shouldn't be using my current water until it cycles correct? and if i fill these 1 gallon jars with tap water and add the chlorine remover (obviously), what else will i have to do before i can add fish? i'm planning to manually filter the water myself with a DIY filter i made tonight and a turkey baister


Yeah, I'm doing the same thing (starting up a breeder tank for guppies)
After research, I have concluded that the best way to go is with a 20 gallon tank, complete with heater, filter, etc. I plan to breed as many as humanly possible, as fast as possible, for feeders for my 150gallon tank fish.

Anything less than a 10 gallon with a true filter/aerator would just be a good way to collect dead fish. IMO
 
:blink: If you don't want to listen to us, fine. The advice you received on here has been solid, and you DID stock too many new fish at once. "Overstocked" really doesn't have as much to do with the space in the tank but the capacity of the biological filter. Yes it is unhealthy and unfair to put a fish that is too big in a small tank, or a bunch of big fish in a small tank, however the fish can SURVIVE if the biological filter is able to sustain and process the waist that is being produced. That is why it is reccomended to only add ONE or TWO fish per WEEK to give the bacterial colony time to catch up.

The bacteria you stirred up when vacuuming the gunk out of the gravel probably was all GOOD bacteria. Seriously, the dirt and silt probably didn't hurt anything unless there was some sort of pathogen in there.

Anyway, You have been given EXCELLENT advice here and I think you should take some time to read some of the articles on this site to educate yourself about the nitrogen cycle, diseases, stocking guidlines et c. That way you are not relying on "The guy at the petstore". No matter how knowledgeable they seem, they are not always right.

well if im sucking up good bacteia why would i change my water!!! do u mean i should just change some top layered water and not suck up the gunk in the rocks?

its not like im not gana listen to this advice, the only thing thats different between ur advice and the guy at the store is he said not to change my water again since i did a massive change yesterday. so my question is what i asked above
 
Yeah, I'm doing the same thing (starting up a breeder tank for guppies)
After research, I have concluded that the best way to go is with a 20 gallon tank, complete with heater, filter, etc. I plan to breed as many as humanly possible, as fast as possible, for feeders for my 150gallon tank fish.

Anything less than a 10 gallon with a true filter/aerator would just be a good way to collect dead fish. IMO

i got the idea here Easy breeding tanks this guys been breeding guppies in these bad boys for years now. should i use water from my roomates tanks for now?
 
Hello, sorry about your ordeal! While your tank is cycling, you need to do daily or every other day partial water changes. Honestly, most cycle in a bottle products are junk, but if that is the direction you want to go, thats fine. While your tank is still cycling, the ammonia level gets high since there is no bacteria to neutralize it, so that why the water changes are necessary. Ammonia is toxic to fish, so if you don;t change the water, your fish will likely die. Your angels sound like they died of ammonia poisoning.
I would advise you to research what stock you want for the tank. 30 gallons is enough for 1-2 angels, but you are limited on tankmates since the angels are territorial. Also, angels will eat small fish like guppies under most circumstances, so be careful with that.
Any chance your bottom feeder is a Chinese algae eater or a Siamese algae eater? Look those up. They both have some different special care requirements. :)
 
ok thanks. well i already put the stuff in, so should i still be doing the water changes? or can i do some water changes and then add more? like if the directions say 5ml for 10 gallons, and i do a 10gallon water change, should i put 5ml back in? also, when i change the water, should i suck up the muck in the gravel, or just the water at the top? thank you!

my angels were very small, all 4 were getting along great with the guppies!
 
Yes, you need to still do the water changes to keep the ammonia levels down. Definitely get the muck up from the bottom. The bacteria will cling to things, so you don't have to worry about vacuuming it up. The muck isn't made up of the good bacteria, and it can help mold grow which is bad for the fish.
As for the angels, they are cichlids. They get predatory, and territorial.You will not see their full array of behaviors while they are young. They are not sexually mature, so they have no reason to defend a territory. Also, their mouths aren't big enough to swallow the guppies, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. They definitely do not stay small. :) Sometimes, if people raise them together, the angels won't eat the guppies because they will view than as tankmates and not prey, but I have this backfire more often than not. Up to you if you want to try it though. Also, female guppies get bigger, so they are not necessarily a risk, its the little males that are.
How do you do water changes? How much more you add depends on how you do water changes. I change my water by siphoning it out, and refilling the tank with buckets of water, so I add my conditioner to the buckets. If you fill directly into the tank, then add enough for the whole tank.
 
i add to the buckets aswell.

ok water change tomorrow then. should i also add in the stuff for amonia?
 
You don't need to add an ammonia source since you have fish. Fish excrete ammonia in their waste. You only need an ammo source if you are doing a fishless cycle.
Wait.. what stuff for ammonia did you mean? Lol, I think I got confused.
 
i think it fights the ammonia? idk im too lazy to check right now i'll post it in the morning
 
Ok, well, that sort of depends on what it is. SeaChem Prime is a product that de-chlorinates the water and temporarily neutralizes the ammonia. I think thats fine. But, then are products like ammo-lock which are not as good and can lead to dangerous ammonia spikes when they suddenly wear off.
 
Good luck , read the articles and listen to the advice and you will be able to do the right things.
 
meBNme said:
Ok Bro. reality check here....

LFS employees, ESPECIALLY the big store versions, will say all sorts of inaccurate, or downright wrong things.

Yesterday, I had one at petsmart tell me I could keep a clown knife fish in a ten gallon tank. Dude, a clown knife gets to over 30 inches.

When they say its overstocked, they don't mean that you cant cram em in there or they will all die, they mean that because of the bio load, and habits of certain fish, that you have too small of a space for the fish to grow to their full potential, and they will produce to much waste for a tank that size to cycle, causing spikes in harmful substances like ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

Want proof that the LFS is giving inaccurate info?
Think about it, there are HUNDREDS of different "bottom feeders" out there.
Some wont get over an inch or so, and others will get to over 4 feet long!

Thats like going to a computer store, and saying "I want a computer"
"Oh yeah? you want a pocket PC, a gaming PC, a laptop, a server, a 500 terabite corporate giant or a stinkin calculator wristwatch? They are all "computers".

The brown sludge you are vacuuming up is not "bacteria" its waste. As in poop, rotting food, etc
Same with the crud you can see in the filter cartidges.

The bulk of the bacteria, (which you DO want) is not in the water, but in the solid substances like the cartridges, gravel etc.

The cloudy crud, is just crap...... litterally.

Another thing.

These fish are "Tropical" fish right?

Tropical fish are found in tropical waters which are much warmer than 72 degrees.

You really need that heater in there and looking for 78 to 82 degree water.

Bravo for your post!
 
dude its midnight im too lazy right now to do this, i had an exam at 8am. tomorrow im going to do another 3-4 hours of work on my tank like i did yesterday. right now i have my guppys quarantined in cycled water so they dont die with a make shift DIY filter. that was another 2 hours of work tonight. and i just rung out my dirty filters of that excess build up so water can stream through it (i kept the main bacteria inside pad dont worry). im doing everything i can to keep these fish alive and im freaking out. i love pet life more than you can imagine. i went to a petstore and asked a guy who knew his stuff, i brought in water samples, i researched up on blogs like this to find the ones that would give me quick responses. i have 2 threads up on other forums.

its hard to type in to google "my fish are dieng what do i do" and find proper arguments and determine by myself whats wrong

again i thank you for the advice, im just trying to weed it all out based on what i am told here, by my roomates, and at the store. and what i can do properly with my time and money. my roomates filled 55 gallons with dechlorinized tap water, threw in some of that 'speed-up-the-nitrogen-cycle' stuff, waited 3 days, and dropped 3-4 fish in two weeks in a row, and have not had any problems. i have the guy at the petstore telling me to wait 8 weeks and "just let everything sit", and i have people on line yelling at me because i am fearful that my water changes were part of the problem. this is clearly not the case for me, and again im trying to weed all this information to figure out how many water changes i should do if at all, how much, and how soon since i did a massive one within the last 40 hours. that man before answered 2 or 3 of my specific questions and now i have a clear idea of how to do it. i dont need a lecture about how people on aquariumadvice are so much smarter than my roomates and the people at petco

some of you have told me water changes will fix it, some of you have told me not to use the cycle liquid, some of you have told to use the cycle liquid, some of you have told me suck up the muck, some of you have not told me to suck up the muck. im not trying to be disrespectful seriously i really really appreciate the advice, im just working out a game plan here, im getting bombarded with information. its been like 4 hours i can do some more research and read papers tomorrow on my day off when i assess the situation

p.s. im sorry i didnt understand the whole over-stocking thing. but again, this tank had two massive plecos in it like 2 or 3 days prior to me putting fish in so i dont think the bio got thrown out of whack from me adding to many fish to fast, but maybe from me taking them out. however i did take 1 out two days before i took out the other

and thanks for the amonia suppliment advice. one more question, how long will this cycle take do you think, i added the speed up stuff today, wrung a bit of the bad stuff in the filter that was stopping the water flow (now the water will flow through the bacteria in the filter) and did a 20gal water change 2 days ago?
 
A couple of things to keep in mind - I mean no offense, but I'm trying to word this as clearly and simply as possible to emphasize their importance. I might even be repeating what was said earlier in this thread, but that's okay because this information is crucial for any beginning aquarist. :)

-Beneficial bacteria does not live in the water. Water changes will not remove them.

-Do not solely rely on what the guy at the pet store tells you. There are many aquarists who have years and years more of experience than a fish store employee who was trained for a couple of weeks.

-'Cleaning out the much' is cleaning out the dirty crap in your tank. You don't want dirty crap in your tank, or your fish will die.

-Cycling takes time. Weeks, or even a couple of months. Patience is what this hobby is all about.

-Chemicals that the pet store tries to sell you in order to "speed up the cycle" are absolutely useless. The only way to really and accurately assure your tank is cycled is adding a source of ammonia, waiting, testing, and more waiting and more testing.


The reason your roommate's fish are probably not dying is because of the water volume, or he has a low bioload. 55 gallons of water is a lot easier to maintain than 20g, believe it or not - the smaller the water volume, the less room for error in water chemistry.
 
The reason your roommate's fish are probably not dying is because of the water volume, or he has a low bioload. 55 gallons of water is a lot easier to maintain than 20g, believe it or not - the smaller the water volume, the less room for error in water chemistry.


+1 Listen to this no 2 tanks cycle the same.
 
The reason your roommate's fish are probably not dying is because of the water volume, or he has a low bioload. 55 gallons of water is a lot easier to maintain than 20g, believe it or not - the smaller the water volume, the less room for error in water chemistry.


+1 Listen to this no 2 tanks cycle the same.

yeah that makes sense. weird too my other roomate got a 29g two days ago and let it cycle for 1 night (with the cycle liquid stuff) and now his fish are in (he put like 6 or 7 in i believe) and theyre doing better than mine!! why does god hate my fishtank!?!
 
You started off with a ridiculously filthy tank, most likely. As someone said, no two fish tanks or cycles are the same.

I'm sure it's tough for you to be given advice by someone who is supposed to be very knowledgeable (store) versus people you've never seen in person (us). All I can say is that the people in this forum kick major fishkeeping {mod edit} butt and will save your tank...... not to mention your sanity.

So everyone, just take a step back...... take a few deep breaths, and remember that this OP is in the same exact place most of us were when we started. It's confusing enough to start this hobby on your own but when you've got store employees throwing you bottles of stuff and forum members telling you not to touch those bottles, for example, spontaneous combustion is sure to follow.

To the OP..... research is your friend. Patience is your friend. The lfs is probably not your friend. At this point, don't worry about what the quickest way is to get your tank cycled and settled down, focus on what the safest way is to do it. :flowers:
 
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