JackSpadesSI
Aquarium Advice Freak
I had a fish tank as a kid (30-40 gallons - I can't recall exactly) and I enjoyed it very much. Now, I thought I would ease back into the hobby with a 10-gallon counter-top tank. First things first - 60% of my fish are already dead
!
I bought the tank yesterday (Marineland 10-gallon starter kit w/ LED lighting). In it, I have ~12 lbs of blue gravel, four fake plants, two fake rock structures, and filled with tap water. To the tap water, I added 5 mL of TetraAqua AquaSafe, as directed. I installed the filter system and the heater. The heater was set to 80 F arbitrarily.
Today I took a sample of water to PetSmart for free testing. They said it was ready for fish and provided these figures: Ammonia = 0.25 mg/L, nitrite = 0 mg/L, nitrate = 0 mg/L, pH = 6.8, alkalinity = 80 mg/L, hardness = 300 mg/L, and chlorine and chloramine = 0 mg/L.
Excited that my water was fish-ready I bought five fish to start out: two differently-colored Guppies (PetSmart said 72-82 F) and three Jumbo Neon Tetras (PetSmart said 74-79 F). Because the Guppies require salt (according to PetSmart) I bought some. When I got home I: added 2 tablespoons of API Aquarium Salt to the 10-gallon tank (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons was the instruction), set the temperature down to 78 F to accommodate both fish types, and floated the fish bag in the tank water for 30 minutes to equalize temperature. After that time, I released the fish into my tank allowing nearly no PetSmart water into the tank.
All seemed well, initially. I then added the tank's background poster and the external thermometer sticker. Then, I fed the fish some food: TetraColor Plus Tropical Flakes. I fed a very small amount (maybe six flakes, and four were eaten).
That was all at 3:00pm. At 5:00pm one Jumbo Neon Tetra was dead, and the other two were struggling mightily. Soon after, all three Jumbo Neon Tetras were dead
. The Guppies *seem* fine. So, I found this website and I'd like your advice to fix my tank for future fish.
Please help!
I bought the tank yesterday (Marineland 10-gallon starter kit w/ LED lighting). In it, I have ~12 lbs of blue gravel, four fake plants, two fake rock structures, and filled with tap water. To the tap water, I added 5 mL of TetraAqua AquaSafe, as directed. I installed the filter system and the heater. The heater was set to 80 F arbitrarily.
Today I took a sample of water to PetSmart for free testing. They said it was ready for fish and provided these figures: Ammonia = 0.25 mg/L, nitrite = 0 mg/L, nitrate = 0 mg/L, pH = 6.8, alkalinity = 80 mg/L, hardness = 300 mg/L, and chlorine and chloramine = 0 mg/L.
Excited that my water was fish-ready I bought five fish to start out: two differently-colored Guppies (PetSmart said 72-82 F) and three Jumbo Neon Tetras (PetSmart said 74-79 F). Because the Guppies require salt (according to PetSmart) I bought some. When I got home I: added 2 tablespoons of API Aquarium Salt to the 10-gallon tank (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons was the instruction), set the temperature down to 78 F to accommodate both fish types, and floated the fish bag in the tank water for 30 minutes to equalize temperature. After that time, I released the fish into my tank allowing nearly no PetSmart water into the tank.
All seemed well, initially. I then added the tank's background poster and the external thermometer sticker. Then, I fed the fish some food: TetraColor Plus Tropical Flakes. I fed a very small amount (maybe six flakes, and four were eaten).
That was all at 3:00pm. At 5:00pm one Jumbo Neon Tetra was dead, and the other two were struggling mightily. Soon after, all three Jumbo Neon Tetras were dead
Please help!