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KatyKat

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 22, 2012
Messages
111
Location
Geneva, Il
i have a ten gallon fluval that i used as a saltwater fish for about a year. my fish were all fine in it. but i sold them and changed it to fresh water tank because i didnt have the time for the saltwater anymore.

when i switched to freshwater, i cleaned EVERYTHING. took out all of the sand all of the plants and decorations washed everything thoroughly. i replaced the sand with gravel. and new ornaments. i threw away everything in the filtration system that was absorbant and replaced it with all new stuff.

I cycled the tank for two days and added a start up solution to help with new bacteria and also used the water conditioner.

i bought two gold fish today and acclimated them to the 70 degree water for over an hour before releasing them from the bag. within 3 hours both were dead and i have no idea why?
someone help please ive never killed a fish and i dont know whats wrong!
 
i have a ten gallon fluval that i used as a saltwater fish for about a year. my fish were all fine in it. but i sold them and changed it to fresh water tank because i didnt have the time for the saltwater anymore.

when i switched to freshwater, i cleaned EVERYTHING. took out all of the sand all of the plants and decorations washed everything thoroughly. i replaced the sand with gravel. and new ornaments. i threw away everything in the filtration system that was absorbant and replaced it with all new stuff.

I cycled the tank for two days and added a start up solution to help with new bacteria and also used the water conditioner.

i bought two gold fish today and acclimated them to the 70 degree water for over an hour before releasing them from the bag. within 3 hours both were dead and i have no idea why?
someone help please ive never killed a fish and i dont know whats wrong!

Hi Katy!

Let's get some quick questions out of the way that will help us hopefully find a reason your fish died.

How did you clean the tank when you switched it from salt to freshwater? Did you use any soap? Were you checking your water parameters with a liquid test kit before/after you added the goldfish? Have you ever tested your tap water? What type of bacteria starter and conditioner did you use? Anything else new to your tank (i.e. driftwood, decor, plants, snails, etc)? What type of goldfish are they? About how big were they? Did they have any odd marks on their bodies and did you notice any weird behavior (trouble swimming, gasping at the top of tank, etc) before they died? Did the fish seem normal when you purchased them?

Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this!
 
azmodan has the questions I would ask also. But a 10 gallon tank is too small for almost any goldfish alone. I heard the fancy goldfish can be kept in a 10gallon alone, but im not 100% on that.
 
How did you cycle the tank in 2 days?
I'm still pretty new, but haven't heard of a new filter and tank cycling THAT quickly.
 
Two problems here: first the tank isn't cycled; you can't cycle a tank in two days unless you use a lot of media from an established tank. Second, goldfish need a larger tank than a 10 gal. With that said, the fact that they died in 3 hours leads me to think there was something else wrong. You might want to give this a read before starting again: Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

Also a 10 gal has limited stocking options. You could do something like:
--3-4 guppies OR
--2-3 platy OR
-- 3 african dwarf frogs OR
--a school of 6-8 nano fish like ember tetra, chili rasbora or celestial pearl danio OR
-- a betta (if you get a divider and divide the tank in half you could have a betta on each side)
 
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