HELP!! my ten gallon tank is causing fish to die

[murrayfish]

Hi all i hope you can help. I have a ten gallon tank in my dorm room and fro some reason half the fish are now dead. I am going to get my water tested tommrow to see if that is the problem. So far we have lost a mickey mouse platy for no reason, a barred platy but i think thats because she was having a tough pregancy, 3 male fancy guppies, and a sunburst platy for no reason as well. Please help i cant afford to replace all the fish that are dying and my other 15 gallon tank cant hold all the fish that we moved from the ten gallon to the 15 gallon. It is not over stocked but i dont want the fis to start fighting

[murrayfish]

Please i really need help with this problem

[New2me]

If your fish looked fine and you saw no signs of illness, I wonder if the answer will be in your water tests?? Did you cycle your tank before putting in fish? How long has it been up and running? I am no expert but to get more detailed answers you may need to provide more info..especially Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels. PH is good to know aswell. Hope you get some answers from water tests then you will know what to do! Good luck

[murrayfish]

The tank had been set up and running for 4 or 5 months. yes we let it cycle for a week like the people at petsmart told us to.

[BayouFishGirl]

I know you mentioned going to petsmart. They do free water testing there. Make sure to get one of the sheets from them that explains your test results.

Also, have you tried changing some of the water out ( like 25% of the water) with fresh, dechlorinated water? If the problem is ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate, a water change will help lower dangerous levels.

Lastly, if you live with other people, talk with them to make sure that nothing was accidentally spilled or sprayed into your tank. I say this because one of my roommates killed her fish through overzealous use of a spray-style air-freshener...

Hopefully others will have information to add to this as well. Good luck with your fishies!

[murrayfish]

we talked bout that last night. nothing has been spilled in the takn and yes this all happened after we did about a 30 percent water change with treated water. We are going tommrow to see what petsmart has to say and we have a dead fish they want us to bring with so they can look at it to

[greenikat]

Last year my fish all died in my 55 gallon. Some fish were 8 years old. I tested the water and it was poison. I found out my vacuum hose was used to siphon gas from a car. I was devastated.

[murrayfish]

I dont have that problem

[New2me]

Originally Posted by greenikat

Last year my fish all died in my 55 gallon. Some fish were 8 years old. I tested the water and it was poison. I found out my vacuum hose was used to siphon gas from a car. I was devastated.

Oh wow, how awful for you.....and the poor fish! I would have been so mad :-(

[Candiceg]

What are your water parameters? How often are you changing the water?

[murrayfish]

I dont know the parameters we are ging to get that tested tommrow or saturday. we do a 30 percent change weekly

[murrayfish]

We are getting the water tested tommrow at petsmart. Now in my tank my dwarf Gourami died this morning. It was laying on the bottom of the tank on its side and barely moved. I moved it to a sick tank and then it died. I dont want any more fish to die for what seems like no reason. The gourami was fine last night before bed

[librarygirl]

It's hard to pinpoint what's going on without a water test. It's good to have your own liquid test kit for situations like this. When you have the water tested at the store, have them write down the actual numbers of the test (don't just let them tell you "it's fine" or something is high, etc). Also note whether they are using strips (not very accurate) or a liquid kit. Until then try a 50% water change with dechlorinator. Once we get the values of the water we can tell whether it's a water quality problem or something else.

[murrayfish]

It was the nitrites in the ten gallon tank they used a strip and did not tell me what the levels were when i asked. In the 15 gallon tank they said that the pH was below 7. What does that mean?? We got the stuff to try and fix the 10 gallon tank and we are going to do water changes eveyday for a week then get the water retested

[Oceangirl]

I think you were a little overstocked. Platys are poop machines and really need a 20 plus gallon tank. They get to be 2-5 inches. I would get prime, and start changing 50% of your water weekly. What type of filter? How often do you clan it and how? Type of water decholrinator?

Getting a test kit will greatly help you.
here is a good site for stocking
http://www.aqadvisor.com/

its very good for a guide.

[Scottyhorse]

Originally Posted by murrayfish

The tank had been set up and running for 4 or 5 months. yes we let it cycle for a week like the people at petsmart told us to.

This is where you went wrong. Never listen to the people at petsmart.

A fishless cycle takes about 4 weeks, and you need to add an ammonia source to build up bacteria otherwise nothing will happen. You should by the API liquid test kit so you can correctly test your water in your dorm.

I suspect that since you didn't cycle your tank, but you chose fairly 'hardy' fish, they lasted longer then other fish would. You probably have high ammonia and or nitrites, and that killed the fish.

Make sure when you get your water tested tomorrow, they use a liquid test kit, because strips are really inaccurate.

What fish are left in there?

[murrayfish]

We got the water tested on friday and in the ten gallon tank it was the nitrites that were very high. They used strips and we cannot afford the api water tests. We have the bio max ceramic pores to build up bacteria in the tank we have a pregant silver molly 3 male guppies and two female gupies and we also have 2 mickey mouse platies.