chriscotterill
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2017
- Messages
- 3
Hi there,
Hopefully someone can help.
Last week I decided to buy a tank for my little boy [he's 2] because he loves fish. I settled on a 30L tank [Fluo 30 I think]. This was recommended at my local garden centre aquarium shop. I got a filter and heater with it [Aqua Flow 50 Filter and a 50W Nana Heater].
I've tried to follow instructions to the letter and had the tank setup for a week before adding any fish. Heater was set to 26 degrees and I treated the water after filling with both tap water conditioner [day of filling] and Bio Boost for the first 3 days.
I added fish yesterday [6 Neon Tetras, c.1.5cm each and 3 Guppies about 2cm each]. These were recommended from the shop as perfect for the setup. I introduced them to the tank as per instructions by floating them on top in the bags for a few minutes and then slowly introducing tank water over about an hour before letting them out.
24 hours later and all 9 fish have died. All the neons were dead this morning and have been closely followed by the guppies.
I've been out today and bought a test kit and [apart from removing all the dead fish] left everything else the same.
The readings were:
NO3 c.100mg/l
NO2 c.1mg/l
GH 8oD
KH 10oD
PH c.8
CL2 0
I'm brand new to this but from the test kit looks like the nitrates are high at 100mg/l. I also bought a thermometer to stick on the side of the tank and it was reading between 23-24 degrees so it looks like the heater wasn't heating as much as it should have.
Could the slightly colder water and that level of nitrates have been enough to kill all the fish?
In terms of next steps, shall I completely change the water, rinse all the substrate out and essentially start again? Add the Bio Boost and water conditioner and in a week or so try and introduce fish? I don't want the same thing to happen again -a) It's clearly not good for the fish and b) It's hard to explain to a 2 year old!
Thanks in advance,
Chris
Hopefully someone can help.
Last week I decided to buy a tank for my little boy [he's 2] because he loves fish. I settled on a 30L tank [Fluo 30 I think]. This was recommended at my local garden centre aquarium shop. I got a filter and heater with it [Aqua Flow 50 Filter and a 50W Nana Heater].
I've tried to follow instructions to the letter and had the tank setup for a week before adding any fish. Heater was set to 26 degrees and I treated the water after filling with both tap water conditioner [day of filling] and Bio Boost for the first 3 days.
I added fish yesterday [6 Neon Tetras, c.1.5cm each and 3 Guppies about 2cm each]. These were recommended from the shop as perfect for the setup. I introduced them to the tank as per instructions by floating them on top in the bags for a few minutes and then slowly introducing tank water over about an hour before letting them out.
24 hours later and all 9 fish have died. All the neons were dead this morning and have been closely followed by the guppies.
I've been out today and bought a test kit and [apart from removing all the dead fish] left everything else the same.
The readings were:
NO3 c.100mg/l
NO2 c.1mg/l
GH 8oD
KH 10oD
PH c.8
CL2 0
I'm brand new to this but from the test kit looks like the nitrates are high at 100mg/l. I also bought a thermometer to stick on the side of the tank and it was reading between 23-24 degrees so it looks like the heater wasn't heating as much as it should have.
Could the slightly colder water and that level of nitrates have been enough to kill all the fish?
In terms of next steps, shall I completely change the water, rinse all the substrate out and essentially start again? Add the Bio Boost and water conditioner and in a week or so try and introduce fish? I don't want the same thing to happen again -a) It's clearly not good for the fish and b) It's hard to explain to a 2 year old!
Thanks in advance,
Chris