very new to this..

[FJohnson]

hello to you all.. I set up my 40 gallon tank beginning of August. maybe 2 weeks ago I added my first family of 7 small fish at one time.. 4 days later I had lost every fish in my tank.. took my water to a local and had them check it.. they told me my water was ideal .

I did a 50% water change rechecked it myself got great readings. 3 days ago I added a new family of 6 red platys.. they are looking happy and healthy.. how long should I wait before rechecking my water now that I have added these to the tank?

any suggestions? they seem to have a very hearty appetite

Thanks in advance (beginner here)

 

[angiep]

Hello

I would check today,if all is well check next week until you know your water is stable.I suggest only adding 1 or 2 fish at a time,good luck and enjoy your tank.

 

[Delapool]

Welcome

 

[angiep]

Thanx

thanx, for the welcome.

 

[Angellove78]

I would watch your fish alittle tonight. If they are not up at the top of tank acting like they're eating air then check it in the morning. You know the water is good. So everything should be fine. And what ever you do, don't over feed them. Too much waste becomes a problem all around. Watch your fish for signs. They will usually show you before you even think of testing the water. Welcome to A.A. good luck to you!

 

[Mebbid]

Typically, if all the fish die a very short time after introduction to the tank then they weren't acclimated properly.

Read here:
https://www.thespruce.com/acclimating-aquarium-fish-1381257

 

[FJohnson]

lighting

Thank you so much to each of you for the advice you have given me.. My tank is looking really nice and I have managed to get aobut 13 happy in my tank..

I do have one other concern.. I have LED lighting over the top of the tank which I turn on from approx 8 am and turn it off at 10 pm.. is there a normal time of using the light ? am I overdoing the light? It also has a blue switch which kind of looks like a night light?

should I be concerned about the length of time running the light?

Thanks in advance

 

[Angellove78]

Depends on how much you want to clean it. The longer you have it on, your tank will usually start getting brown spots here and there. and sometimes it will stress newer fish out.

 

[FJohnson]

I am still having issues on losing fish.. I had up to 20 slowly added them they all were doing great. over the last week I have lost 7.. have my water checked .. all is great.. I check my water myself and its perfect. any info would help me keep working at this.. what Temp should the water be.. I feel it with my finger and it feels too warm however.. it is set at 74 degrees.. could I be feeding them too much food I give a pinch every morning and every evening?? I am about to decide this is not a fun hobby. please help if you can ..

 

[Angellove78]

What kinda fish do you have? Are any of them chasing or nipping? Some types of fish will nip at others. Have some cover for them to hide. And when you add fish you should have lights off on the tank. (Less stress) are any of the fish sick. Any white spots or acting funny? Post a pic of your tank if you can. Or give a run down of the set up.

 

[FJohnson]

Thank you for your reply.. I have red platy currently only 4. 3 red eye tetra. everytime I buy new ones I make sure they are marked "community" and have only bought these two types.. I followed the advice of one person about acclimating them to the water .. thought that worked well. I run the light 1 hour in the morning while getting ready for work.. this is when i feed them.. then approx 4 hours in the evening again feeding them. I did have the white spots on a couple and went to the supply store got and did the treatment as was told all spots gone..50% water change I do at least 10 % every Sunday.. And they seem to all get along but I have found a few with their tails being nipped.. I have a huge green bush in the tank for hiding. I will try to figure out how to attach a picture.. i just don't understand what I am doing wrong. thank you for reading and for any help you might be able to give.. Thank you Freddy.

 

[FJohnson]

fish tank

hoping I am doing this right..

 

[Angellove78]

Be sure to watch them alot. Make sure it is nipping. And not fin rot. Feed once a day. Not 2. And gravel vacuum the bottom of your tank to clean up any waste. And at least 25%-30% water changes, and conditioner for water. Keep testing your water. If your readings get too high, do bigger water changes. But, not too big to stress them out.

 

[Angellove78]

Be sure to watch them alot. Make sure it is nipping. And not fin rot. Feed once a day. Not 2. And gravel vacuum the bottom of your tank to clean up any waste. And at least 25%-30% water changes, and conditioner for water. Keep testing your water. If your readings get too high, do bigger water changes. But, not too big to stress them out.

Oh, and if they are nipping! Might be because some fish are still sick. When sick fish are around healthy fish, the healthy fish know when others are sick and will nip at them to keep them away. If the spots where what they call "ich" it can still be in the gills of the fish. Be very careful when buying fish. Just because the tank at the store looks clean and fish look good. Don't always mean they're healthy. If there's other tanks being treated around the tank your looking to buy from, those fish could be using the same water as the ones being treated. Some fish stores have a set up that will filter the same water through so many tanks. Just a heads up.

 

[54seaweed]

Time to bring this to the freshwater section and start a thread