neon tetra shock after adding in water

[surefirefan]

Hello all a new member here. First of all I have a 20 gallon fish tank with a pleco that I had for years, 5 neon tetras, and 2 tetras, its tail has black spot on it and its a gray colored tetra, forgot its name(well its filled up half way but plan to fill it up all the way when new filter arrives this friday! A pengiun 150, have a tetra whisper internal filter in there right now). Anyways when its time for water changes or when I want to add up water as I am currently half way filled.. when I add in the water maybe 1/4th of a gallon some of my tetras will be in a corner in shock for a while but will be fine after that. Keep in mind that I am using the right amount of tetra care dechlorinator solution and use the same gallon clean container that I always use for the tank, use cold water when adding into the container, and I leave it by the side of fish tank for at least a day.

Also I was recently on a trip and added in some vacation food that will last for 10 days.. when I came home I checked the tank and well.. 3 tetras were dead(otherwise I would of had 10 tetras) the remaining tetra's skin color was strange.. but then after a few gallon of water changes and a few day they were back to normal. I had used the vacation food before and had no problem!!

Last but not least.. I never had used my tank light in the past(except a few times) but recently heard that I needed to use the light and will get a timer for it soon.. anyways so I turned it on today and the fish were in shock.. my guess is that since its the first time for quite some time it was too bright for them... so could I possibly get a dimmer for the lights and just turn the light level up gradually?
I hope you all can help me.... excuse my grammar.... sorry I am a noob at aquariums!! Hope I posted in the right section.. that is all.. for now Thanks!

 

[thominil]

My guess is that there was too much food that went uneaten and created an ammonia problem. As for the lights, if they are incandecent (spelling?) swap out the bulbs for screw in CFL's. I would turn the lights on for an hour the first day and just keep adding an hour each day until you get in the 8-10 hour range if you are that worried.

 

[BigJim]

There are a lot of variables there. My first question is: How is your water quality? Neon tetras are sensitive to nitrates and I don't think they like hard, high ph water. I have one neon remaining in my 29g from about 15 that went into the tank. My nitrates are good, but I have hard water at my apartment. Another possible problem is the temperature of the water you're adding. Adding cold water to a tank can shock the fish. If you're using dechlorinator, there's no reason to let the water sit. Match the tap temperature to the tank temperature, add your dechlorinator, and add the water to the tank. Also, pour the water in gently. If you have to, hold a small plate over the tank and pour the water onto the plate to diffuse the flow. I'm not sure what you mean by an internal filter, but if it's an undergravel filter, there are better choices. An undergravel filter needs to be vacuumed out pretty thoroughly when you change the water to keep it in good working condition. As for the light, what type of light and how many watts is it? I have two 13W CFL bulbs in my 29g fixture and it's bright, but not over powering. Much better than the little incandescents the tank came with. The timer is a good idea though. I've found neons show better color when exposed to a reasonable amount of light. Hope I was of some help.

 

[surefirefan]

Thanks for the replies! I would have to go with that conclusion about the ammonia from the vacation food especially the fish got better after several water changes. To the second reply, that helped a lot . I am also using hard water tap water but I plan to use purified water? Also I am thinking to get a second water heater and put that in the gallon container when I add in water? But then wouldn't it melt the plastic?? Container I am using is from a drinking water container btw. Thx thought that you always had to let the water sit for a while after adding in dechlorinator. I am also going to do the plate method too.. because when I add in water it will make a loud sound so I think that is one reason that it made the fish to be in a shock stage. Also this filter looks similar to the one I have but don't know the exact model number(hope i can hotlink). I do not know what lights are in there right now but they seem like they are incandescent(tank was given to me for free years years ago). Also how much water should I add in at a time? My cousin said that adding in like a gallon each hour or so is a good idea? Last but not least what should I set the timer too? Don't have any plants or anything in there btw except for a fake one haha. Thanks for all the replies!!!!

 

[thominil]

As long as the heater doesn't touch the plastic you will be fine. Since your lights are incandescent, they are adding heat to the water, so that may have been a cause too. When I do my PWC's I just fill the tank right back to the top. You will be fine as long as it's dechlorinated water. As for the timer you can leave it on for 8-10 hours. Any longer and you may have a problem with algae.

 

[surefirefan]

As long as the heater doesn't touch the plastic you will be fine. Since your lights are incandescent, they are adding heat to the water, so that may have been a cause too. When I do my PWC's I just fill the tank right back to the top. You will be fine as long as it's dechlorinated water. As for the timer you can leave it on for 8-10 hours. Any longer and you may have a problem with algae.

Thanks! Also what type of light would you recommend me to get? I don't want one that heats the water too. Last but not least how do I tell which size will fit for my tank's light and where can I buy it at?

edit: I don't know the water quality of the tank, but I do plan to take a sample of it to a fish store to get it tested. Also would it be safe using purified water(with declorinator) that you buy at the water store and use that even though theres still tap water hard water in the tank? Sorry i am a noob

 

[thominil]

Just take the bulbs that are in your fixture now out and replace with screw in 13 daylight rated CFL's.

As for the water, is it just run through a carbon filter, or has it gone through a RO (reverse osmosis) unit? If you get the water just keep using it for PWC's and eventually all the water in your tank will be the filtered water. Save yourself the time and buy an API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

Hay, I'm still a "noob" too as I learn something new everyday.

 

[surefirefan]

Just take the bulbs that are in your fixture now out and replace with screw in 13 daylight rated CFL's.

As for the water, is it just run through a carbon filter, or has it gone through a RO (reverse osmosis) unit? If you get the water just keep using it for PWC's and eventually all the water in your tank will be the filtered water. Save yourself the time and buy an API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

Hay, I'm still a "noob" too as I learn something new everyday.

Thanks! Will do. Well the water that parents buy is at a water purify store(don't exactly know how to explain it). But I am pretty sure they do use reverse osmosis. So I just keep on water changing my aquarium with the purified water till the water is swapped? Oh also I will be posting pics of my aquarium today or tomorrow and maybe you guys can help me out what I am doing right and/or wrong and tips? Thanks!

 

[thominil]

Just do your weekly pwc's with the ro water and eventually the water in the tank will be all ro water. Hope that clears it up.

 

[surefirefan]

Thanks all. Here is my fish tank set up Yes there are marbles in there.... tank was given to us years years ago and just never bothered to take em out.. but I did rinse them a long with the gravels.. I am going to take them out tomorrow though finally haha. I think I am doing a lot of thing wrong in the set up so if you guys can help me out with what I can do to make it better I will appreciate it! Sorry for poor quality, didn't want to turn on the light in the tank. Oh and if you were wondering.. yes there were only 2 tetras in that tank but there are much more just hiding. Thanks again!

 

[thominil]

Raise the water level all the way to the top. Other than that it looks better than my 10g when I first started. I had a bunch of pink and purple plastic plants.....

 

[surefirefan]

Raise the water level all the way to the top. Other than that it looks better than my 10g when I first started. I had a bunch of pink and purple plastic plants.....

Thanks! Thats what I plan to do this weekend when the penguin 150 filter arrives this Friday including switching from tap water to purified water(does it matter if it has mineral or no mineral?). Oh would one gallon each 2 hour be too much for the fish? So this is what I plan to get for it too, new light bulbs, a timer, a dimmer, new filter(on a ups truck somewhere atm), a bigger clean container for water(is it ok if I get a container from store and wash it with soap?), another heater to heat the new water, get water tested, and maybe go to store to buy some more neon tetras and some ghost shrimps! .. Could I add in say 5 more tetras after I fill it up all the way? Thanks everyone for the help! I will post the pics after I do the water change etc over the weekend or early next week.

 

[thominil]

As long as the water is decholorinated and the temp. matches the display, just fill the tank right up (no waiting needed). Do not wash anything with soap. Even in trace amounts, it is still very toxic to the fish. I would wait on adding new fish. If your old filter has filter media, add that to the new filter to help seed the new one. Getting a new filter will put your tank through a mini cycle (bacteria turn ammonia into nitrites and another kind of bacteria convert nitrite to nitrate and nitrate is removed by PWC). Thats just a brief discription of what will happen. When you get your new filter, the water may become cloudy, leave it alone as this means you are going through a cycle/mini cycle. Read up on the nitrogen cycle (what I just described).

 

[sieski]

Thanks! Thats what I plan to do this weekend when the penguin 150 filter arrives this Friday including switching from tap water to purified water(does it matter if it has mineral or no mineral?). Oh would one gallon each 2 hour be too much for the fish? So this is what I plan to get for it too, new light bulbs, a timer, a dimmer, new filter(on a ups truck somewhere atm), a bigger clean container for water(is it ok if I get a container from store and wash it with soap?), another heater to heat the new water, get water tested, and maybe go to store to buy some more neon tetras and some ghost shrimps! .. Could I add in say 5 more tetras after I fill it up all the way? Thanks everyone for the help! I will post the pics after I do the water change etc over the weekend or early next week.

Some hood lights CAN'T be dimmed. Just a word of warning.

 

[surefirefan]

Thanks for the posts! Whoops!! I had washed the tank before with soap, but I rinsed it several times and let it dry out.. worst thing of all is dad also used a chemical to get rid of the hard water line some years ago.. then again I rinsed it a lot of times.. I guess its still bad for the fish? Yes I know the light can't be dimmed lol... I want to get something where I can plug in the light's cord in and then dim it if there is such a thing? Anyways thanks again for all who had helped! Can't wait for the weekend