Help! New Tank Syndrome

[corylee1019]

Hello everyone I Agnew to the boards and have a question to start. I bought a new 10g tank ran it for 24 hours and went to the store to get 3 fish (big mistake I know). The fish died within 24 hours. I then learned about cycling a tank but I don't know why they died so fast. We did go back to the store and this was just Petco (another mistake). They replaced the fish tested the water said they weren't sure why that would have happened so we tried again. The fish again died within 24 hours. At this point we just stopped and weren't sure how to proceed. I called a local fish store who recommended cleaning the tank starting again and bringing the water to be tested. When testing at home our PH is high using the API tester. I brought the water to the fish store they tested water said all other levels seemed ok but the PH is high. They think that is what is killing the fish so fast. They gave me some Seachem neutralizer, I came home put that in the tank and so far nothing. I have added more and more since we have no fish in there and nothing has helped bring the PH down to even be able to put fish in.

I know everyone says a stable PH is fine but what if it is high to start and the fish you are buying can't tolerate that. Please help what do I do???

Thanks!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi!
What is your pH? Unless its 9 it's fine IMO.
What fish are you trying to keep?
Using a pH chemical will do more harm then good.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-to-Starting-a-Freshwater-Aquarium/Page1.html

 

[jsoong]

Hi & welcome to AA!

It takes a lot of expertise & understanding to doctor water. Just testing the pH & adding chemicals is NOT the way to do it!

Before doing anything, we need to know what your water parameters are:
pH, Ammonia, Nitrites, nitrates ... and if you are going to doctor your water - KH and GH.

We also need to know what fish you added, how you acclimatize them, etc. You can normally keep fish in a stable pH that is far off the fish's ideal. The trick is proper acclimatization. <You need to "switch" the fish from its existing pH to the new tank pH.> If pH is the reason the fish died in 24 hours, it is likely due to lack of acclimatization (and hence pH shock) rather than an unsuitable pH.

Some other reasons might be: toxins in the water, <You DID add dechlorinator to your setup, right?>, temperature shock, osmolar shock, sick fish to start with, etc. I would rule out all the other causes before starting to muck around with the pH. Doctoring the water wrong will do more harm than good!

 

[corylee1019]

First thank you for replying to me. I am unsure of all levels since my API master test kit hasn't arrived yet all i know is the fish store telling me they are ok. I do have the API PH test kit and the water is darker blue than the last blue box on the test kit which goes to 7.6. So it is definitely higher than that. I was given tetras (not sure the specific ones) to start. I did dechlorinate the water. Temp is 78 which is what I was told it should be.

To acclimate the fish I was told to place them in tank in bag for 15 minutes. Then put some of your tank water in for 5 minute then a little more tank water for another 5 minutes. Once complete take fish from bag and place in your tank without letting the fish water from the store into your tank. Is this correct? Am I doing something wrong with acclimation?

Thank for any help.

 

[librarygirl]

I doubt your tank killed them if it's new; usually new tanks have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate unless your tap water has high levels of some of those (it might be good to test your tap water when you get your test kit too). If they died that fast I'd suspect poor stock from the store. Your acclimation process is fine but did you only add water for 10 minutes? Usually it's best do keep adding a small amount of water every 10-15 minutes until the water in the bag doubles, then pour half out and do it again until the bag doubles again, then net them out into the tank. You can also drip acclimate.

If the PH on the normal kit is dark blue then you'd need the high range test (the API master kit will have it). Still, unless your PH is 9+, which is rare, then your PH should be fine and I wouldn't mess with it.

Do you have any fish left or no? If not, then you should choose between fish-in or fishless cycling and either buy some ammonia or buy some small fish to start cycling and try acclimatizing them for a longer period (if you go fish-in, I'd recommend Seachem Prime for a dechlorinator if you don't already have it). Good luck.

 

[maestromad]

If your pH is higher than the LFS water then slow acclimatisation is the best way in my opinion. I have nt been able to master drip acclimation myself so I remove as much water as possible from the bag and after floating for 20-30 mins I then add 20ml of water every 15 mins removing 20ml from the bag before adding so after a while te bag is pretty much full of tank water. That's the best method for me, good luck!

 

[jsoong]

One thing you can do is to ask the lfs what water they use. If they use plain tap water (very likely, esp. in chain stores), you should be fine with your tap as well (as long as you are not in a different town.)

Your acclimatization is pretty good, although it is a bit brief if the water parameters are very different between the lfs & your tank. The basic principle is to add a little of the tank water at a time to the lfs bag until the water parameters are switched over. <you can do that with a slow drip, or just manually adding some every few minutes.> Generally, that means adding at least 4x the lfs water volume, and I usually do it over 1/2 to 1 hr. <The longer you take, and the less water you add at one time, the less stress it is for the fish.>

 

[HeatherW]

i had the same problems as you when I started out. not sure why, but I just could not keep anyone alive in the beginning.
here is my suggestion. decide to go either fish in or fish less. if you go fish in wait until you have your test kit before you get your fish. then test daily and do pwcs to keep your numbers safe. also, use the seachems prime to decholrinate while doing a fish in.
when acclimating your fish I was told the whole process should take about an hour. so, float your bag then start adding about 1/2cup tank water to the bag. keep doing this until close to full, then pour about half the water out into a bucket and keep adding the tank water. when you have done this for close to an hour then scoop your guys out and add them to your tank. dr fosters has a good guide of how to acclimate.

good luck and let us know which way you decide to go.