New tank - fish dying

[sfuller]

I moved my fish to a new tank a week ago after matched temps (78) and added a capful of Prime, I moved my Aquaclear 30 from the old 20 g tank to the new 42g tank. After a couple of days ammonia and nitrites were .25-.50 ppm so I added another capful of prime. By Sunday they were both 0. PH and nitrates hasn't changed at 7.5 and about 7.5ppm. I've lost one neon tetra (out of ten), one glowlight tetra (out of two), one panda cory (out of three) and now a betta. The remaining fish--three hatchetfish, two "regular" corys, and two scissor-tailed rasboras seem fine. Last night betta went "crazy" serveral times and then would fall to the bottom of the tank. It was dead this morning. I retested just now and and everything matches Sunday's results.

One weird thing--a couple of day after I moved the fish a 1-1.5 inch circle of spiky fuzz appeared on top of the sand (freshwater compatible and throughly washed). It went away after a couple of days.

[frieked]

I would bring a sample of your water to the LFS to get tested. There may be something in there that your home testing kit is missing.

[sfuller]

I can. It's a AP master kit.

[DeathWarp]

Could just be "new tank syndrome". I would take frieked's advice and bring a sample to ur LFS. Better safe than sorry.

[7Enigma]

Well the Prime should have taken care of the chlorine and chloramines in the tank 5ml for 50gallons), but did you hook up the filter first and then add the Prime? If so the chlorine in the water could have killed some of the bacteria on the filter.

Also do you have other filtration on that tank? The Aquaclear 30 as far as I know is meant for a maximum of 30gallons. Personally I have an Aquaclear 50 on my 20gallon. That still doesn't really explain the deaths though. I'm more inclined to think it might have been something that either you treated the tank with, or it was already on the tank (detergents, antibacterials, etc). The first 3 that died are relatively fragile fish, but the betta has me concerned. Those suckers can live in horrible conditions.

That or just as likely you had a fungus bloom (that patch). There are some potent fungi that can release powerful chemicals into the water to prevent competition of resources. The fish that died could have also sampled the funus and died from that.

If another fish dies, I would probably do a blackout for several days to hopefully kill any residual photosynthetic tank inhabitants. Other than that I think any type of random treatment might do more harm then good (antibiotics, chemicals, etc).

[sfuller]

I got the new Oceanic tank on Friday night. I throughly cleaned the tank that evening (it had a lot of small debris in it). I didn't use any cleaners. I filled it and used Prime. I received the Won Pro heaters (two 150 watts) and two Aquaclear 50s on Tuesday. After the temps matched, I moved the fish Tuesday night. Nothing died until Thursday. All of the fish that died were relatively old except for the Panda corys. They were a couple of weeks old and many of them were very small. I had bought three from one LFS and four from another. Only the larger ones (three) had survived in the old tank. I did not transfer any LFS water.

I fungus, if that what is is is not gone--it just floated behind a deco from the old tank. I did buy a ship and silk plants from Foster & Smith, but I did rinse them throughly. I had to mail order a longer Phython tube that will get here tomorrow and I'll suck up the fungus and do a PWC.

[7Enigma]

Sounds like your doing everything right then. I would just get that patch of "stuff" out of there as soon as possible, and look to see if there is some more growing somewhere out of sight (but probably where light can get to it).

[sfuller]

Did a PWC and got rid of debris--hopefully that will help.

[Lonewolfblue]

Was the fuzz kind of a brownish color? Could have been just diatoms that grow in new tanks on the sand and is harmless. Could have been the age of the fish combines with the stress of the move that did it too. Also, if you do see any more ammonia or nitrite, you can add additional Prime to help as well. They say you can add up to 5x the normal dose without problems. Usually, in a new tank, I'll do a 2x dose initially. But that's just me. Then I just treat for the tank, as I use a Python for PWC's.

[sfuller]

It was brownish-pinkish. I have removed it all. Can't wait for the longer Python tube. I have dosed with Prime three times--after filling with water three days before I moved the fish, two days after I moved the fish, sand last night after a PWC.