New Tank? or something else?

[MamaJasmine]

I am new to caring for fish. I cared for a tank at a previous job at a day care center that had local fish in it. But I was not very good at it, just the only one willing. I have had this tank since mid September and I have had a hard time keeping fish alive. I started with Platys as recommended by Petsmart (I am not going to be going there anymore), the first two died in days of being in the tank. I then got 2 new platys and replaced the first two. They stayed alive and one is still in the tank and is pregnant. I then got 2 glofish (one is still alive) I have had 4 glofish die on me so far. Last week I bought an Oto as recommended by the petsmart people. I was leery on it because everything I have read says Otos are social and you need more than one, but the petsmart people just kinda laughed at me and said I would be fine with one. I am not sure if the Oto is still in my tank. I have had a pink glofish disapear and I have not seen the Oto since he went in my tank. I have looked everywhere. We moved the plants and decorations all this morning and did not find either. Last I saw the glofish was yesterday morning. She had been hiding allot for over a week. I tried a 25% water change and added a tiny bit of aquarium salt and a few drops of easybalance. I had my hubby search the tank and we found some scales and a head of a fish in one of the decorations. Not sure which fish it is that he found. I also had a platy die this morning, she had been my hider fish but had been very active the last few days. She had a patch on her head that looked like she had lost a few scales on her head and she was pretty thin. She had always hid while I was feeding them and I had gotten her a bit more to eat by giving her food in a net. I had expected her to pass at any time since she had always been shy and acting out of sorts. I am now down to 2 very seemingly healthy fish, a sunburst MM platy and a blue glofish. I finally found a local fish store about 30 minutes away and I will be going to him friday. I talked to him on the phone and he has been doing this for 20 years and has over 100 fish tanks in his store. Any help or advice you can offer is appreciated.

 

[LyndaB]

Welcome to the forum.

What size tank?

Is the tank cycled?

What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

You are being given lousy advice from your store. Join the club.

 

[MamaJasmine]

It is a ten gallon and I do not know the readings.. the said I could just bring the water in and not to worry about getting test strips when I started. I will be going to the new place on friday and bringing a water sample and buying test strips. How does one know if the tank is fully cycled?

 

[LyndaB]

The test will tell you if it's cycled. Read up, this will help: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html

Please don't buy the strips. Get yourself an API master kit (liquid). It costs about $23. The strips are worthless.

 

[KatieJ]

Nonono, stop. Test strips are notoriously inaccurate and a complete ripoff. Your store is trying to make as much money off of you at the expense of your fish's lives, unfortunately. :/

Amazon.com: AP TEST KIT FW MASTER: Pet Supplies This is what you wanna buy. Best kit on the market, and I wish pet stores would stop being all "bring your samples in and we'll test it for you" because most use the inaccurate test strips.

There are several stickies on the forum regarding cycling tanks - read up on those.

Edit: Haha, you and I posted at the same time, Lynda XD

 

[MamaJasmine]

okay after reading about cycling I am wondering about the safe start I used? They told me at the store to add the safe start and then the next day I could add fish. I know that this was not correct information now but how does safestart effect the cycling?

 

[LyndaB]

I've never used SafeStart but I understand that it's the only so-called "instant bacteria" that works on cycling a tank. What did the instructions say?

 

[MamaJasmine]

They say add it and then wait 24 hours and then add fish. I did have a period of the tank getting cloudy in late september (they said that was normal for new tanks and that it meant the good bacteria were growing).. I also want to add that the tank has a prolific amount of brown algae (why I bought the oto). The platy loves to nibble on the algae but not enough to control it, could that be the cause of any problems?

 

[LyndaB]

Have you been doing water changes?

Brown algae is actually diatoms. They are very normal in tanks up to a year old. They will eventually die down on their own.

The cloudiness was a bacterial bloom, which is a sign that the tank is cycling.

 

[MamaJasmine]

Well the lady at petsmart had told me that I should only change my water once a month by 33%. After researching more thoroughly I stepped it up to 25% every week. I am going to change my water a few times this week I think because I know that regardless of where the water is right now, after loosing 3 fish (and only 1 and a half found) I know that all the decay on the bottom will cause issues.

 

[LyndaB]

You should be doing water changes weekly, if you can. If you don't gravel vac the substrate, then a lot of filth builds up, which can cause havoc with your water params.