Had my first fish die. Help? What did I do wrong):

[Helloelliee]

okay guys I'm feeling so sad when I saw my gourami pecking at my dead fish at the bottom of my tank. And no, my gourami didn't kill it, my gourami is rather shy and hides a lot. Okay so I've been doing daily 25% water changes. My ammonia hasn't been past 0.25 ppm which is where it's at right now. It's been that amount now for a few days. My nitrate and nitrite are both at 0 which is where they've been since I've had the tank up and running. My PH is around 7.8 I do have live bamboo in there and a live java fern and also a few live plant bulbs in the tank. I've been feeding my fish only once daily. The fish that died was one of my platys which I though were hardy fish. Any advice of where or what I did wrong? Thanks!

 

[Helloelliee]

oh and water temp is 79 degrees except when I do water changes then it drops to 77 or so.

 

[Gboy66]

Shouldnt there be no ammonia? Just try some pwc's so your other fish are okay. How old was the platy?

 

[Helloelliee]

I'm not sure how old the platy was. Just got him about 10 days ago from a petstore. I do daily water changes and it doesn't change my ammonia because my tank is still cycling.

 

[Gboy66]

Could be a bad one? And how many fish are in there? It must be in the middle of cycling if u still have dome ammonia

 

[Patrice]

okay guys I'm feeling so sad when I saw my gourami pecking at my dead fish at the bottom of my tank. And no, my gourami didn't kill it, my gourami is rather shy and hides a lot. Okay so I've been doing daily 25% water changes. :

Every day water change? seems to me your playing to much with your water. Stability is VERY important . Stress mean deaf.

 

[Helloelliee]

I heard to do daily water changes when cycling your tank?

 

[BakerBoy17]

If your doing a fish in cycle you have to change your water daily to keep ammonia down. And if you change it once a day from the same water sorce the the ph hardness etc. will be the same.

 

[Gboy66]

They wont help much. It naturally must do its own thing

 

[Patrice]

You doing cycling and your fish in it? that's Harsh . But i do think that's why it dyed . To stressful.

 

[BakerBoy17]

Its not harsh if you keep up with your tank.

 

[Helloelliee]

Well I was told at the pet store that I could. I used seachem stability to speed up the process. I didn't know till aftwerwards

 

[Helloelliee]

Yes I keep up with my tank every day. Testing everyday. Water changes everyday.

 

[BakerBoy17]

Well at least your keeping up with it. But on a side note I wouldn't take to much information from a lfs.

 

[Helloelliee]

Yeah def learned my lesson from that! Thanks

 

[BakerBoy17]

Well they aren't always wrong just be sure to double check the information you get. You should do that with anyones information.

 

[Helloelliee]

Yeah I knew I had to cycle a tank but they told me I could do it with fish and that itd be okay -.-

 

[eco23]

Yes I keep up with my tank every day. Testing everyday. Water changes everyday.

That's the perfect statement. You're doing exactly the right thing. There is no such thing as too many water changes as long as you are using dechlorinated, temperature matched water. Just keep it up and all will be well. I'm not usually a fan of fish-in cycling...but when you find a committed, dedicated hobbyist...it's not that big a deal. Check this out if you haven't seen it, but you're doing everything right Just make sure you keep your ammonia and no2 under .25 at all times until the tank is cycled.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html