Despite all my time, effort, money and prayer my fish keep dying. I feel I got in way over my head with this hobby as it has become a real money-pit and very depressing.
My background:
A good friend of mine would have me take care of her three large aquariums while she was away. I simply followed her directions and the fish were happy and thriving, some even bred under my care. I loved it.
Decided to strike out on my own. Bought an inexpensive neon tetra tank set up in a box with all the accouterments, water conditioners, food and so on. Disaster struck the first day. Followed the directions, made sure the water was the right temperature etc. The fish kept jumping out the bowl to their deaths. The ones that remained seemed to be paralyzed, breathing but floating motionless. Did several water changes. Came home one day to find all them dead. Still have no idea what went wrong. Packed up the bowl and vowed never to keep fish again.
Six years later decide to give it another go with something easier. A betta. 6 gallon tank with a filter. Couple of snails for company. Soon disaster strikes again. Paralyzed fish. Used all the right products, thermometer says the temperature was right. Seemed like he was getting better at first, but soon, dead fish.
Bowed but not broken I got two more fish. They did fine a couple of days before breaking out in ick. I purchased all kinds of medicine plus ammonia/nitrates/nitrite/ph/water hardness/acidity tests just in case the water levels has somehow caused the ick. It showed the water was perfect. One died, after looking like it was getting better. After waiting to make sure the other was fully healed I returned it the pet store before he could become my next victim.
I started my tank all over again, cleaning the gravel with boiling water, cycling it from scratch. The other tanks hadn't been cycled, because no one had ever told me you were supposed to do that, so I suspected some kind of "new tank syndrome" was getting them, but my test strips said otherwise. They showed the levels in my tank to be ideal. So I'm very confused there. What's going wrong????
For the past three days now I have an empty tank except for two snails. Test strips show the water to be fine but I don't trust in it anymore. I am trying to sprout some plants first, before I put any more fish in there, hoping that the plants will help. I am thinking a small school of tetra this time. Something colorful but not injected with dye like they do to those poor neons and fruit tetras.
If you have any tips and pointers, or any clue what keeps killing my fish, or how I can prevent this from happening the next time I would really appreciate it. I am fearing a repeat. Also if you have other small tank fish you can suggest to me that would be great.
My background:
A good friend of mine would have me take care of her three large aquariums while she was away. I simply followed her directions and the fish were happy and thriving, some even bred under my care. I loved it.
Decided to strike out on my own. Bought an inexpensive neon tetra tank set up in a box with all the accouterments, water conditioners, food and so on. Disaster struck the first day. Followed the directions, made sure the water was the right temperature etc. The fish kept jumping out the bowl to their deaths. The ones that remained seemed to be paralyzed, breathing but floating motionless. Did several water changes. Came home one day to find all them dead. Still have no idea what went wrong. Packed up the bowl and vowed never to keep fish again.
Six years later decide to give it another go with something easier. A betta. 6 gallon tank with a filter. Couple of snails for company. Soon disaster strikes again. Paralyzed fish. Used all the right products, thermometer says the temperature was right. Seemed like he was getting better at first, but soon, dead fish.
Bowed but not broken I got two more fish. They did fine a couple of days before breaking out in ick. I purchased all kinds of medicine plus ammonia/nitrates/nitrite/ph/water hardness/acidity tests just in case the water levels has somehow caused the ick. It showed the water was perfect. One died, after looking like it was getting better. After waiting to make sure the other was fully healed I returned it the pet store before he could become my next victim.
I started my tank all over again, cleaning the gravel with boiling water, cycling it from scratch. The other tanks hadn't been cycled, because no one had ever told me you were supposed to do that, so I suspected some kind of "new tank syndrome" was getting them, but my test strips said otherwise. They showed the levels in my tank to be ideal. So I'm very confused there. What's going wrong????
For the past three days now I have an empty tank except for two snails. Test strips show the water to be fine but I don't trust in it anymore. I am trying to sprout some plants first, before I put any more fish in there, hoping that the plants will help. I am thinking a small school of tetra this time. Something colorful but not injected with dye like they do to those poor neons and fruit tetras.
If you have any tips and pointers, or any clue what keeps killing my fish, or how I can prevent this from happening the next time I would really appreciate it. I am fearing a repeat. Also if you have other small tank fish you can suggest to me that would be great.