eco23
Aquarium Advice Addict
stephens0813 said:Yes i just added my 5 dime sized tiger barbs and i added my old 10 gallon filter to the tank so i have a topfin 20 and an aqueon 55 running on it since i have alot of fish in it i thought that would be a good idea... (is it?) lol
As long as you didn't just totally remove a filter, that's good. The vast majority of bacteria lives in the filter media, so it's a disaster to just throw it away. When you totally switch to the new filter, make sure you transfer all the stuff from the old to the new.
I think your tank is cycled, and you're just having a mini cycle. That is when your bacteria has adjusted to the fish you have in there, and when you add more fish it takes time to adjust and grow more bacteria to handle it. Only thing you can do is pwc's often to keep the ammonia as low as possible.
As to why the fish died? Hmm... It is likely that your mini cycle had really spiked the ammonia level for a time before the bacteria could handle it and the high levels were too much for the fish. I don't know off the top of my head how hardy ghost knives are. Believe it or not, stress can also do fish in. Has there been a lot of fighting in the tank? I don't believe 2 ghost knives will coexist. Same with the rainbow sharks...you've gotta get one outta there pronto. It's not your fault that you bought non compatible fish, it's the idiot at the lfs's. Many people buy the fish they like and the people don't ask any questions. I saw a guy buying 2 oscars and a school of tetras for the same tank the other day and it took me 15 minutes to talk him out of it. I'd also check out a site called aqadvisor.com. Type in the fish and the number of them you have and see what it says about compatibility and stocking percentage. This site isn't the bible, but will give you an idea of what you're dealing with. I have a feeling you're overstocked, and you definitely have incompatible fish