Both glofish died on same day

[PrincessRexa]

Hello,
I am looking for help. We have a small 2-gallon tank that had two glofish and one mini catfish. We have had the fish and tank for about 6 weeks. Today, both glofish were dead and the tank was cloudy. Any ideas as to what happened? The heater is still working and seems to be fine. The catfish is ok, I think, though probably traumatized as we removed the glofish.

The only other thing that I've noticed is that the water level gets low fairly quickly. I added more of the "starter water" two weeks ago, but the water level is low again. There is not a leak, so maybe there is too much air cycling? Could that have caused the glofish to die?

Thanks for any help - obviously brand new to this.

 

[Skai]

Two gallon is a tiny tank. Too small for most aquatics. Was this one of those little aquarium kit things? And have you been told about cycling tanks?

In small tanks water just is more noticeable when it evaporates. And there's no way to stop evaporation really. It's just a fact of fish keeping. I have a 25 gallon that seems to always be low only a few days after I top off where my 125 never seems to be. It's just a matter of volume. I'm far more inclined to think that the tank water quality dropped and killed your fish. Do you have a test kit?

 

[PrincessRexa]

I don't, but I will go and get one today. I just thought we were "in the clear" because they had acclimated well, were active, swam right up to get their food, etc., every day.

What types of things would have caused a drastic change to water quality? No other plants or structures were added once the fish were in the tank.

 

[Skai]

Just fish living in the water. They produce waste that builds up. Thats why you need to do water changes. Especially on smaller tanks. In a nut shell this is how it goes:

1. Fish eat the make ammonia.
2. The ammonia is turned to Nitrites by bacteria.
3. Nitrites turn to Nitrates.
4. Nitrates are removed by water changes.

The bacteria need time to build up enough to deal with the ammonia that your fish produce. Getting that bacteria grown is called tank cycling. You'll need that test kit to do the cycling and it'll take quite a few water changes to do properly. Especially since you already have fish. When you get a test kit (I suggest a liquid test kit but strips work too) pick up a water treatment that removes chlorine from tap water. You'll be doing so many water changes it'll be far more cost effective than using starter water.

 

[PrincessRexa]

Thanks. How much of the water do you remove and change each time? Do you use one of those vaccum (basters) and pull the water from the bottom first?

I did use some water conditioner when the initial water from the tap was in the tank, though our water is from a well so shouldn't necessarily have much chlorine.

 

[Skai]

Ah I wish I was on a well for my water changes, lol. Conditioner might not be necessary then but you'd have to test the well water to be sure.

Since you have no plants vacuuming up the waste and any uneaten food is the way to go. Considering how small your tank is and that it's already cloudy, I'd say go ahead and plan on doing a full gallon water change. Just be sure to match the water temp to what you already have and don't rush to pour the fresh stuff in so as to not shock the remaining fish's system. You'll probably have to do this quite frequently.

 

[Skai]

Here is an article about cycling your tank with fish in it that you can read to get a more in-depth look at what you'll have to do. As well as some numbers to shoot for with your testing. https://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/

 

[libertybelle]

Definitely read that article ASAP!

And really, If you have the space to do it you should go out and get a tank that will hold more volume. It will save you a lot of work and headaches and you’ll actually be able to stock some fish without the water quality crashing and leading to illness on a regular basis. Somewhere around 5-10 is the absolute smallest tank I would ever recommend for a beginner (and anything below five is too small for most things except perhaps some inverts.)

I know it sounds odd right, that the newer you are the bigger tank you need. But that’s because waste builds up in water and water evaporates out, and temperature fluctuates... Keeping a tiny tank stable is a ton of work and you can’t put much in there without things getting way out of whack anyway. And when things get out of whack, fish get sick and die and you end up spending more on meds/new fish than you would have if you’d bought a cheap 10 gallon set up to start with!