New and stupid.

[gforee]

Before I get fully into my problem, let me first explain that I live in a rural area with limited access to resources. I am about 50 miles from a town that might have a fish expert.

We set up a new tank last week. I researched for several weeks before the big day. I trolled this site among others for advice. I have a 20 gallon tank with the Whisper filter for up to 30 gallon tanks. I have a heater that maintains 76 degrees nicely.

I read about options for cycling the tank. Then I went to a Pet Sense in a nearby town. No fish department, but they do carry supplies. I purchased a tap water treatment (for heavy metals, chlorine, and chloramine), test strips, and a bottle of Seachem Stability. When I got all set up, I followed the instructions for the tap water treatment and the stability. The bottle claimed to make the water safe immediately. We started the tank on Tuesday. I tested the water on Friday morning. Nitrate and nitrite readings were zero. PH was 8. We added fish on Friday: 6 Glofish tetras and a Cory cat from Walmart (I know, but our options here are limited. I felt like I was rescuing them from a shelter!) The tanks were clean and clear and the fish all appeared to be swimming happily in the store.

Everything looked great until last night. I noticed the tetras weren't real "spunky" anymore. It started with one acting erratic. It would dart and then stop and sink. It would go sideways and shake. That one didn't make it. Then a second one did the same thing. Now a third and fourth seem to be struggling.

The Cory cat is a happy little critter. It cruises the bottom and "jumps" occasionally, which I understand is normal.

So how do I figure out what is wrong and how do I fix it?

 

[brennae]

Hello and welcome. Have you been testing the water for ammonia? With a new tank regardless of chemicals the ammonia can build very quickly. I recommend doing a large pwc aka partial water change. See if that helps. In the future your best bet is the API freshwater master test kit. It's much more accurate than the strips. Amazon Prime might come to be a gpod friend for fish supplies and rquipment.Let us know if the pwc helps. Ask lots of questions, you are in the right place. Good luck!

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[brennae]

Keep doing water changes and checking ammonia. You may have to change water daily for a fish in cycle. I'm on my phone so I can't link it but if you go to search and look up fish In cycle that will help answer any questions you may have.

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[Delapool]

Just in case useful. The first link has useful articles as mentioned above. The second allows you to test stocking.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ou-get-started-with-your-aquarium-154837.html

http://www.aqadvisor.com

 

[gforee]

I changed out 4 gallons last night and 7 this morning (6 hours ago). Went to town and bought NH3/NH4 test kit. Just checked and it gave a 0.25 reading. NO2/NO3 still reading zero. The poorest one last night gave it up a little while ago. The two remaining tetra seem to be doing normal fish type stuff. Cory is still jumping occasionally and otherwise chilling on the bottom. How often should I check and when should I change? And isn't the bacteria in Stability supposed to be breaking down all these bad ions?

I got a bottle of ammo lock. Will that be helpful?

 

[CoronaBlue]

When you do fish in cycle you need to change water every day, about 25%. Test water every few days to make sure you didn't hit a spike (which is what probably happened and killed your fish). No need to over do it with all the chemicals, right now about the only thing you need is a declorinator when you do PWC. Patience and diligence on water changes is all you need at this point. No need to add anymore fish. Just keep the ones you have alive and they will get the tank going.