Im losing my fish

[cougargirl50]

Whelp since I have gotten my tank up a couple weeks ago, my tank is cycled but for some reason I'm losing my fish. I have lost 3 in the last 3 days.
I have taken notice that my nitrates are up though, and I have been doing major water changes but my nitrate level isn't coming down. I have no idea what else to do.
Got any ideas???

 

[tetrin]

if you are losing neons - i wouldn't read much into it. some are genetically weak.
you couldn't possibly have lost a zebra or platies.
ottos fair somewhat poorly in new tanks.
mollies need slight amounts of salt to thrive (detrimental to ottos).

give the tank some time. it'll be alright. keep up the pwc's and you'll be fine. same thing happened to me when i started out. patience is the key in this hobby. take a deep breath and...(gets hit on the head and keeps quite).

 

[talloulou]

Make sure you are not overfeeding the fish. Do lots of water changes. You said your tank has been up for a "couple" weeks....does that mean 2 weeks? If so you probably are not fully cycled yet. And you have a large number of fish for a tank two weeks old. Do you have 0 readings for ammonia and nitrite. If not be sure to do lots of water changes till you do.

 

[flipz]

Along with what everyone else said, are all of your fish accounted for?

Having a dead fish in the tank somewhere can really throw off your bacteria.

 

[cougargirl50]

Its been up for a while. I had them all in a 20 gallon tank and converted everything to this 55 gallon. Im not losing any neons or ottos I lost 2 balloon bellied mollies and a sunburst platy. My ammonia level and nitrite is at 0. They say the bigger the tank the easier it is. I beg to differ. I didn't have this problem with my 10 gallon or my 20 gallon. And I know that I'm not overstocked. The fish that are left in my tank look really good, but then so did the ones that died. O'well.

 

[tkos]

How high are the nitrates and what sort of water change regeime are you doing?

 

[tkos]

Also what is the nitrate reading of your tapwater? And are you adding anything to your change water?

 

[cougargirl50]

Along with what everyone else said, are all of your fish accounted for?

Yes from what fish I have left they are all there.

As far as what water changes am I doing. I am doing about 40-50% water changes every other day, and I am up around 60-80 I have never been up that high. And I know that i'm not overstocked, so that isn't the problem.

 

[cougargirl50]

Also what is the nitrate reading of your tapwater? And are you adding anything to your change water?

the nitrate reading in my tap water used to be 0. I haven't tested it lately. During my water change all I add is my water conditioner.

 

[severum mama]

Get a cup of tapwater and let it sit out overnight. Then test it for nitrates. This will tell you if you have nitrates in your tapwater.

 

[cougargirl50]

Well I tested my tap water, and I found out why my nitrates are so high in my tank. My tap water nitrate level is high. EWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE that is gross.
But atleast I found out where the problem is coming from, so I have to get my hubby to change the filter on the whole house filter that we have.

Thanks for all your help