rachelstar
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2016
- Messages
- 9
I am a beginner that is really clueless about keeping fish, my goal is to add something beautiful to my living environment and to gain knowledge along the way about a species I know so little about (fish).
I've been trying for over a year to keep pet fish and I just can't keep them alive and can't figure out why. I have a 10 gallon tank, pet store tested my water and said it's fine. I test my water regularly also, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate between 20-40ppm. Have a high pH about 9, but the lady at the pet store told me our area has a high pH water. Neighbors keep healthy fish and they don't do anything to adjust pH. I tried lowering pH once with Easy Balance, it immediately killed all my fish. I keep pristine water, weekly water changes about 25 percent.
I have no idea whether my water is killing my fish, or whether it is a disease. All my fish started out healthy, the first symptom is usually a long clear strand of "poop" hanging out of them. When they get that, they always die. I feed them peas, but it doesn't help. Some of them, the first symptom is they stop eating & hide still in the corner. Most got fin rot.
One of them started swimming crazy look like "swim bladder" and died. He swam into walls. The most horrible thing was what happened to my blue guppy. He had been nipped in the tail a few times by other fish before I separated them with dividers. I thought he'd be ok after that. Edges of the tail turned brown-red. A couple bloody spots appeared on his skin. Then his SCALES STARTED TO FALL OFF. It was horrible. The pictures show Blueberry after he died, I could not save him. This happened quite fast.
What am I doing so wrong? I have heard of fish TB, is that what I am dealing with? Because every fish that goes into my tank comes out with horrible symptoms and death either after a month or two or just a few days. I feel like I can give this one more try.
I've been trying for over a year to keep pet fish and I just can't keep them alive and can't figure out why. I have a 10 gallon tank, pet store tested my water and said it's fine. I test my water regularly also, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate between 20-40ppm. Have a high pH about 9, but the lady at the pet store told me our area has a high pH water. Neighbors keep healthy fish and they don't do anything to adjust pH. I tried lowering pH once with Easy Balance, it immediately killed all my fish. I keep pristine water, weekly water changes about 25 percent.
I have no idea whether my water is killing my fish, or whether it is a disease. All my fish started out healthy, the first symptom is usually a long clear strand of "poop" hanging out of them. When they get that, they always die. I feed them peas, but it doesn't help. Some of them, the first symptom is they stop eating & hide still in the corner. Most got fin rot.
One of them started swimming crazy look like "swim bladder" and died. He swam into walls. The most horrible thing was what happened to my blue guppy. He had been nipped in the tail a few times by other fish before I separated them with dividers. I thought he'd be ok after that. Edges of the tail turned brown-red. A couple bloody spots appeared on his skin. Then his SCALES STARTED TO FALL OFF. It was horrible. The pictures show Blueberry after he died, I could not save him. This happened quite fast.
What am I doing so wrong? I have heard of fish TB, is that what I am dealing with? Because every fish that goes into my tank comes out with horrible symptoms and death either after a month or two or just a few days. I feel like I can give this one more try.