36 Gallon Bowfront Freshwater Tank

[dmrt1722]

We are new to having a fish tank. We were given a tank from a friend for our 2yr old daughter. We started out by cleaning everything (gravel, decorations, etc.) with Dawn dishwash. We then added the water & treated it with Start Right water conditioner. Then we ran the tank for about 2 weeks with no fish. We have recently bought 5 Black skirt Tetras, 5 red Minor Tetras, 3 Peppered Cory Cats, 5 Tiger Barbs, 5 Mickey Mouse Platys, 1 Silver Tipped Shark, 2 Bala Sharks, and 2 Plecos. We have recently had 2 of the Mickey Mouse die and 1 of the Plecos. We also are having issues with cloudy water. We have treated the water with a Water Clarifier twice now to no avail! We also cleaned the tank with a vaccuum today & changed out about 25% of the water, and changed the filter. Is there anything we can do to help clear up the cloudy water? Also all we have to test the water with are the strips right now.

 

[JJandTrey]

Please read this. Your fish are dying because the tank is most likely not cycled and you put wayyyyy too many in too quickly.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium/

You should never have to do a water change prior to your tank being cycled. Your water changes should be to reduce nitrate levels in an established tank. And absolutely no clarifier this early. Are you dechlorinating your water? Just do some more research, hopefully you can save some of the remaining fish.

 

[JJandTrey]

Also, never change your filter media, that's where the good bacteria live. Even after years when the original filter media is falling apart, put what is left in with your new media to transplant the bacteria.

 

[dmrt1722]

Thanks, we will check out the link you provided and do some more research. As for the amount of fish, Petsmart is where we got them & they said it would be ok since we had been running it for about 2 weeks.

 

[JJandTrey]

The amount of time you let your tank run prior to adding fish does not matter. All that matters is that you have an established nitrogen cycle. Which does not form by simply running your tank. Even then you want to add fish slowly over a period of weeks, months, years. Adding all at once is extremely stressful and can overwhelm even an established tanks bio-filter (nitrogen cycle). Also, you will most likely get much better advice from your LFS (local fish store) rather than a big box store.