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monaro_gto

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
165
Location
Atlanta
In the last 8 days I have lost 8 fish. I am still attached to the fish I have left but I guess im not cut out for fish keeping! I dont think im up for this kind of loss. I knew it would be tough but I have no clue of whats going on. Oh well.
 
I've never met anyone who was "not cut out for fish keeping".
How old is your tank?
Did you recently add alot of fish?
What were the fish?
What are the nitrate and ammonia levels?
 
I've never met anyone who was "not cut out for fish keeping".
How old is your tank?
Did you recently add alot of fish?
What were the fish?
What are the nitrate and ammonia levels?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but nitrate levels can be acceptable in certain levels. The ammonia & NITRITE are the bad ones. May be wrong here, idk
 
Speed said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but nitrate levels can be acceptable in certain levels. The ammonia & NITRITE are the bad ones. May be wrong here, idk

I've never had problems with nitrite. The first things I always check are nitrate and ammonia.
 
I've never had problems with nitrite. The first things I always check are nitrate and ammonia.

You seem to know what your doing, but from the videos I watched last night, nitrate is acceptable to a certain level, it's what breaks down the ammonia & nitrite & turns it into good bacteria right before the water change. I've had my tank running ( fish in it ) & still trying to learn how to cycle & what to test for ( what's killed about 6 fish over the time while others are doing fine & continued cloudy water. So I'm far from an expert & learning, but I'm Brett's sure nitrite is bad ( a killer ).
 
the tank is cycled from what I can tell. I am only 2 months into this hobby and while I enjoy it im finding it very confusing. Ammo is next to zero, nitrites are 0 and nitrates are at 5. I had what i thought was an ich outbreak and have a thread for that but the water has always been slightly blury (not really cloudy) and I have been keeping up with water changes.

I have lost 5 out of 6 cardinal tetras.
1 creamcicle molly
1 silver molly
and today my favorite and only blue platy.

I have left my starter fish Red wag, mickey mouse platy.
3 false Juli cory's
1 lonely cardinal tetra
and 1 dwarf gourami
 
Speed said:
You seem to know what your doing, but from the videos I watched last night, nitrate is acceptable to a certain level, it's what breaks down the ammonia & nitrite & turns it into good bacteria right before the water change. I've had my tank running ( fish in it ) & still trying to learn how to cycle & what to test for ( what's killed about 6 fish over the time while others are doing fine & continued cloudy water. So I'm far from an expert & learning, but I'm Brett's sure nitrite is bad ( a killer ).

Nitrate in freshwater is acceptable to about 40 ppm.
You may be completely right, Every test is important. I've just always found 0 when I test.
 
monaro_gto said:
the tank is cycled from what I can tell. I am only 2 months into this hobby and while I enjoy it im finding it very confusing. Ammo is next to zero, nitrites are 0 and nitrates are at 5. I had what i thought was an ich outbreak and have a thread for that but the water has always been slightly blury (not really cloudy) and I have been keeping up with water changes.

I have lost 5 out of 6 cardinal tetras.
1 creamcicle molly
1 silver molly
and today my favorite and only blue platy.

I have left my starter fish Red wag, mickey mouse platy.
3 false Juli cory's
1 lonely cardinal tetra
and 1 dwarf gourami

Did you add them all at a similar time?
You can turn up the heater and add medication from the lfs if you suspect ick.

How big is the tank, and what filter are you using?
 
The temp has been at 86 for a full week. I have added salt for 6 days and been using paragaurd for 6

I had some platy's for a fish in cycle but the cory's and gourami were added after the tank were cycled.
 
Hmm, how much salt?
The salt shouldn't be bothering the mollys, but maybe the cardinals.
Did you acclimate them?

Shouldn't be the temperature.
 
Did you make sure your tank was cycled? How long did it take? Were you getting ammonia and nitrite reading above 0 ppm? And no nitrates?
 
I am sorry about your hard time! I know what you're going through though, until recently I knew nothing about cycling and just assumed it was normal for fish to die every couple months! My problem was stocking too full and doing water changes by scooping water out in a cup.
Maybe if you gave some more details about your tank size and water changing routine we could help you figure out what is going wrong :)
Fish keeping is for anyone with a passion for it, don't lose hope- there are lots of kind people on here that would love to help you!
 
im running a 29g top fin starter kit. it has been running for 2 months now with a fish in cycle as I didnt know any better. I saw ammo spikes and have been doing very frequent water changes. My nitrates have been steady for 2 weeks but I never saw a hit on nitrites.
 
I am sorry about your hard time! I know what you're going through though, until recently I knew nothing about cycling and just assumed it was normal for fish to die every couple months! My problem was stocking too full and doing water changes by scooping water out in a cup.
Maybe if you gave some more details about your tank size and water changing routine we could help you figure out what is going wrong :)
Fish keeping is for anyone with a passion for it, don't lose hope- there are lots of kind people on here that would love to help you!

^^^^ +1.
 
Everyone probably has a similar story they could tell from when they were starting out. I know I do, pet stores just wanna sell most of the time and don't give you enough info on getting started. That's why you join a great site like this :)
 
A bit confused... You stated that the tank was running for 6 days on 5/14. So it has only been a month. Please correct me If I am wrong.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. It's sad when you lose fish. That seems to be a lot of fish you had in there but that's just my opinion. I only have 17 in my 55 gal and run a Fluval 405 Canister filter. In my 20 gal, I have 5 bettas and 2 shrimp, 2 snails, and a bumblebee goby. I'm running an Aqueon Quietflow 30 in there.
What size filter are you running?
 
Are you doing water changes by siphoning your gravel?
Are you cleaning your filter cartridge in any way?
Are you making sure the water that you're adding is as similar to the tank water as possible?
What percent of water do you remove when you do a water change?
 
You are correct, went back to my notes and tank was bought 4/28 but wasnt started until 5/8
 
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