Newbie~ here help !! fish keep on dying

[tangoone1]

Hi all AA master ~

recently i had setup my old 2 years old
75g tank
a fuval 304
1500 overhead filter

i always had a dream to have lots of colorful and wonderful fish swimming inside an aquarium, and therefore i buy some number of them as below

Bleeding Heart Tetras -3
Dwarf Gouramis - 2 die 1
Rosy Barb - 3
Tiger Barbs - 3 die 1
Green Tiger Barb - 3
Albino Tiger Barb - 3 die 1
Plecostomus - Sucker fish - 1
3 to 4 different types of Mollies species - 8 die 1
Neon Tetras - 5 but all 5 of them die... dunno why
Penguin Tetra - 5 die 3
Albino Buenos Aires Tetra - 5
Swordtails - 2
Clown Loach - 2
Zebra Danios - 5
Red Tailed Black shark - 3
Silver Dollar - 6 die 1 just now
Albino Rainbow Shark - 3
Swartz's Cory Cat - 2
Mbuna Mixed Cichlid - Albino 3 blue 3 yellow 2
Duboisi Cichlid - 2
German Blue Ram - 2 but both of them also die
ballon mollies - 3

Last check today water was at
Ammonia - 0
PH level 7.6

just out of curiosity ... why so many of my fish die ? am i mixing it with the wrong groups of fish ?

pls advice ...

Jerry

 

[carey]

Hi there. Sorry bout all your fish that died. :-(

Did you just put water in the tank and then your fish? Did you cycle the tank before adding those guys?

 

[James_in_MN]

Please post your full water parameters - ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte.

Also, you mentioned that your tank is 2 years old. Do you mean that you've had it for 2 years, but only refilled it recently?

+1 to carey. As she suggests, you needed to cycle your tank before adding fish. You can find a post about cycling your tank on our boards in the Getting Started section.

I'd like to also suggest that your tank is likely overstocked. You have over 70 different fish of various sizes in your 75g tank. Some of those fish will grow to over a foot long (pleco, clown loach) and some will likely be at least 6 inches long (silver dollar, red tailed black shark, various ciclids).

 

[carey]

Oh, I didn't even see the cichlids on the list. Yeah, those are not meant for that type of fish community. When they get bigger they will eat whatever fish they can fit in their mouth.

Do you have a picture of your setup so we can see what you have in there and their sizes?

 

[darby]

That sounds way overstocked.

 

[Morgie]

Also to add on to the above comments, many of the fish you have in there are strict schooling fish. If they're not kept with 5+ of the same specie they can become stressed and die for that reason alone. Good luck with the survivors..
Also, some of those fish if not kept solo will become very aggressive with others of the same species as they age (red tailed sharks)

 

[tangoone1]

Hi James,

yes the tank has been laying there for about 2 year and only recently i refilled it back

Carey and James

Yes i did a fishless tank recycle as well with all my filter and pump on for about 3 to 4 days

can you pls enlighten me in average what is it like to be the reasonable small fish to have in the tank of my size ?

Please post your full water parameters - ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte.

Also, you mentioned that your tank is 2 years old. Do you mean that you've had it for 2 years, but only refilled it recently?

+1 to carey. As she suggests, you needed to cycle your tank before adding fish. You can find a post about cycling your tank on our boards in the Getting Started section.

I'd like to also suggest that your tank is likely overstocked. You have over 70 different fish of various sizes in your 75g tank. Some of those fish will grow to over a foot long (pleco, clown loach) and some will likely be at least 6 inches long (silver dollar, red tailed black shark, various ciclids).

 

[tangoone1]

Ok will try to take a picture later on to show u guys ...

Oh, I didn't even see the cichlids on the list. Yeah, those are not meant for that type of fish community. When they get bigger they will eat whatever fish they can fit in their mouth.

Do you have a picture of your setup so we can see what you have in there and their sizes?

 

[tangoone1]

Hi Morgie

yes i just realize it not long ago also ... but most of the fish i buy is in group of 5 like barb but ended up dying as well

silver dollor i buy like 6 and up to date i had 2 of them die

does this mean i am really on a overstock fish level ?

or i am mixing the wrong fish in

Also to add on to the above comments, many of the fish you have in there are strict schooling fish. If they're not kept with 5+ of the same specie they can become stressed and die for that reason alone. Good luck with the survivors..
Also, some of those fish if not kept solo will become very aggressive with others of the same species as they age (red tailed sharks)

 

[ejaramillo01]

I don't think that your 75G tank was able to cycle in 4 to 5 days. This could be the main problem.
In other words the quality of the water is deteriorating by the day.
Can you measure the levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? Try to measure using an API master liquid test, which is more accurate than strips test.
Post your results and we go from there.

 

[tangoone1]

Hi Ejaramillo01,

Been trying hard to look for a nitrites and nitrates test kit

problem with my country that i'm in (Brunei Darussalam) i cant seem to find a local fish shop that sell API master liquid test ... i only manage to find API PH and Ammonia test

i been hearing a lot of ppl saying the test strip is not accurate what about those tablet type ?

i seen this sera brand on the local market .. is it accurate ?

I don't think that your 75G tank was able to cycle in 4 to 5 days. This could be the main problem.
In other words the quality of the water is deteriorating by the day.
Can you measure the levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? Try to measure using an API master liquid test, which is more accurate than strips test.
Post your results and we go from there.

 

[ejaramillo01]

Ups, I'm not familiar with the tablets or the brand that you mentioned.
But at the end is better than nothing at this point, at least will give you readings of nitrite and nitrate. Do you have tha ammonia test? What are your results of ammonia?

 

[tangoone1]

Ok ejaramillo01,

i take ur advice and manage to pick up an other brand which the petshop claim is very accurate. The brand is called "Interpet Easy Tablet Test Kit" and the test result come out as below

Nitrite - 4.0mg/l
Nitrate - 50 mg/l
Ammonia - 0.1mg/l
PH - 8.5

while using Api i manage to buy 2 tester which is the ammonia and ph as below

Ammonia 0 pp,
PH 7.6 <-- i think API measure max up to 7.6

from the menu i read through and tell me the nitrate and nitrate at my reading is very bad for my fish ... any idea what should i do now ? will PWC helps ?

Ups, I'm not familiar with the tablets or the brand that you mentioned.
But at the end is better than nothing at this point, at least will give you readings of nitrite and nitrate. Do you have tha ammonia test? What are your results of ammonia?

 

[daileene]

4-5 days fishless cycle is not enough..fishless cycling can take up to 4 weeks or so..

tank that is finished cycling should have Ammmonia: 0ppm, Nitrite: 0ppm, and Nitrate: 5-20ppm...

do a 50-75% PWC so you can lower down your nitrite level..nitrite is more detrimental to fish than the ammonia. At this moment, I would say you are still in the cycling process but this time, with fish. Have the nitrite go down all the way down to at least 0.25ppm..the fishes will be fine...IMO.

 

[daileene]

and since you are still cycling now, you might want to read this link:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now-116287.html

since you have a lot of fish in your tank, I am not sure if you are really overstocked, the bioload will always contribute to the ammonia and nitrite level, so that is why PWC is vital...

 

[daileene]

and some of your fishes (as what the others already have said) can get bigger and need a lot of space to swim around. Some are good for schooling and some are good solo. Cichlids are known for their aggressiveness so that is why they are good in a tank by themselves...

 

[daileene]

and Jerry, welcome to AA...I am sorry I just bombarded you with stuff...hope you can save the remaining fish you have...please keep us updated...

and you might really want to get the whole API Freshwater Master Kit online if you cannot find it in your area. it is highly recommended that you will get the liquid test because it is the by far most accurate than test strip and tablet (I have heard of them but never used them myself). It will save you another heartache in the near future, trust me...

 

[ejaramillo01]

Yes do as dailene said, 50% PWC , how many?, as frequent as needed to reduce the nitrites to 0.25 ppm.

 

[Amicus]

Too over stocked and l let my tank cycle for at least a month. Need to research fish.

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[tangoone1]

Ok guys ... I Did a 2 times 75% water change today and measure the reading after 15 mins

PH 7.2 api
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrate 10 mg/l
Nitrite 0.25 mg/l

Is this much better comparing with before ? How do I lower the nitrate even more

Another test

PH 7.6
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrate 25 mg/l
Nitrite 4.0 mg/l