My fish are dieing!!! Ammonia?!?

[FishDudePwn]

I have a 10 gallon aquarium. Just started a few days ago.Everything was fine until the third day. Fish started dieing whenever my mom went to her English lessons.I started with 11 fish. 5 glow light tetras, 3 (I think plates), 2 small bottom feeders and 1 large bottom feeder, now only the bottom feeders are still alive. All of the dead always stick on the filter(clue?).The waters cloudy.We got a oxygen thingy. Not making much of a effect. We forgot to cycle. Amnomia? Our p.h. Last test was 7.4 something. We don't know how to cycle and maybe need uv sterilizer? Plz help us!!!(also I'm using iPad so I might make spelling errors^_^)

 

[patola_l]

The issue now is the ammonia, i suggest a very large partial water change, about 50% min...Id recommend buying an API liquid master kit, so that you can test your water for ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. It is the most important thing to have now. If possible, id strongly recommend returning the fish, if your local fish store allows it. If not, you need the test kit, so that you can continue to do large water changes, every day, to keep the Ammonia levels below 0.25 ppm...Im guessing now they are quite high... Good Luck!!

 

[patola_l]

The reason they are getting stuck to the filter is that they are getting really sick by the ammonia, which is making them too weak to swim properly, so even the filter intake is strong enough to suck them up...Regardless of the filter intake, it wouldnt be long before they die from the ammonia anyways.

 

[FishDudePwn]

I'm kind of new to Fish keeping, and i might go to petco tomorrow cause my parent won't let me(sad face) go today...

Anymore advice?I read somewhere that feeder fish usually are really sick, well I bought 3 feeders from walmart 2 small and 1 large, but all my other fish are from there2 but they all died!!!I'm so confused!

 

[marchmaxima]

Hello!

Okay. First things first.

1. You have too many fish in that tank. And it hasn't cycled. Hence the disaster. Take ALL the fish back and get a refund/credit. Most good LFSs will do this.

2. Come home with a freshwater master testing kit (liquid tests, not strips as they are rubbish). You'll get testing kit for testing Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. That's what you need. It's essential for the cycling process.

3. Forget PH for now. It's the last thing you need to be concerned about.

4. The cloudiness is a bacteria bloom. Bacteria is good. It'll eat the ammonia,the very thing that's killing your fish. But right now, you don't have enough bacteria to handle all the ammonia being produced by the fish waste. This is toxic stuff and and it's destroying your tank. Hence you must cycle the tank. Think of it as preparing your environment in order to keep healthy and happy fish. You can't short cut this process.

5. Read read read the Fishless Cycling articles in the articles section of this site. You HAVE to cycle the tank. UV sterilisers aren't the answer.

6. Resarch options for a 10g tank. You tried to put too many og the wrong kinds of fish in that tank.

7. Did I mention read the cycling articles? I can't say this enough times.

Things will turn out okay if you heed the advice of the people on this forum. Don't ever be afraid to ask. No question is silly. We have all been new to this hobby and almost all of us have been caught out with one or many basic newbie mistakes.

Good luck.

 

[FishDudePwn]

1. What's a LFS?!?
2. My cloudy water stopes looking too cloudy, bad? Is it cause I put a oxygen blower thing in? Or not enough ammonia for them too eat cause now there's only 3 fish left.
3. I'm not even in high school yet, I'm way younger meaning I can't really go to PetCo anytime I want to. I might go tomorrow or today.

 

[Justin83]

LFS is your Local Fish Store hence the L.S.F IE petco petsmart so on an so forth

O2(oxygen) is not going to help you out at this particular moment in time you need to take the fish back to wallmart or where ever you go them from get you money back and cycle your tank so the fish can have a safe place to live..(take the fish back.. drain and wash EVERYTHING in your tank and follow these instructions:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

and just like marchmaxima said its bacteria bloom its OK just unsightly.. so dont worrie about the cloudiness of the water right now just get the test kit and find out what the levels of each test are
Ammonia (how many parts per Million)
NitrAtes (how many Parts Per million)
NitrItes (how many Parts Per Million)
and let us know what it is and the others will tell you what you need to do to correct or the best course of ation for you to follow.... Good Luck


and # 4 is inappropriate there little buddy thats not gonna get you any help faster
and i hope your jokeing

 

[marchmaxima]

Sorry, I didn't realise you were in high school. Fish don't eat ammonia. Bacteria eats ammonia.

If your parents won't let you back to the LFS today, then a big 75% water change is needed to get rid of as much as you can and take the ammonia down to safe levels.

Do you have dechlorinater? Don't forget to use that to remove the chlorine from your tap water first.

Do another 50% change in around 4-5 hours time (or first thing in the morning when you wake up). You need to rid the tank of all that ammonia manually until you can take back the fish.

And there's no need to get all fired up like that. We are here to help you. Be polite and you will get all the help you need. Threats aren't tolerated here, regardless of how young you are.

 

[FishDudePwn]

I kinda mention it as a joke, but still don't tell anyone, and I don't have many supplies just the stuff in the box of the aquarium which is some sample food, hood, filter, and tank. I bought a p.h. tester 2. that's all I have now.bye I'm going to a sushi place tonight(yum)!

 

[Rokuzachi]

Tough situation.

I agree to returning the fish. You basically need to go back to square one here. If not possible, do lots of large water changes to try to keep them alive.

Some kind of water conditioner is pretty much a must-have. I see that you didn't list it as part of the kit's contents. If you don't have it, you need to get it before you get anywhere with the aquarium.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I kinda mention it as a joke, but still don't tell anyone, and I don't have many supplies just the stuff in the box of the aquarium which is some sample food, hood, filter, and tank. I bought a p.h. tester 2. that's all I have now.bye I'm going to a sushi place tonight(yum)!

Sounds like you don't have any dechlorinator to cure the tap water before you put it into the tank, which is a must. I'd recommend you get Seachem's Prime, it works great and binds ammo into a nontoxic form. A liquid test kit is a must too IMO, so you know what's going on in your tank.

I wouldn't recommend breaking down your tank, what's in there from the dead fish is going to feed the bacteria.

 

[FishDudePwn]

I do have some water conditioner thingy, we put some in, also we used fresh water drinking water walmart,we put in tank 4 gallon clean and 4 gallon tap, and I think our tank has started cycling by itself. I just need to move fish and feed ammonia everyday right?