Surrender

[haen]

Hi Folks.
I am flabbergasted. Got an established 20 gallon tank with two filters, small natural gravel substrate on top of an old underwaterfilter leftover, and real plants.
Took a sample of my water to Petsmart, they said "Great". Got half a dozen platies, They died within a day. Petsmart replaced them, but, the new ones died all within three days. My old fish were looking fine.
Now . . . .ALL of them except an old Beta and one old tiger barb croaked too. Water turned cloudy overnight. Filters were working Ph level seemingly OK.
Advise ??? empty the tank, start from scratch ? or deep six the whole thing for a while. ( I am very sck my self so it might be OK)
Got a lot of good tips from this forum, but for now i think I am surrendering to the inevitable.
HN

 

[nereksnad]

greetings.

i've been here long enough, to be able to tell you that petsmart didn't tell you how your water really was and the water cloudliness is a bacterial boom(good thing). get the Aquarium Advices' most recommended testing kit, the Api MasterKit and look up some aquarium cycling articals in the artical section of this site.

 

[George9]

Are you sure the tank was established? Did you purchase it used on craigslist or someplace similar? Did you changed both filter cartridges when you got the filters? That would cause the tank to recycle. I'd also recommend buying an API master test kit (20 bucks or so on Amazon, but last a while). And next time you take water to Petsmart, ask them exactly what your parameters are. I wouldn't be surprised if they told you your water was perfect just to make a sale.

Your have a choice now. You can add a couple "starter" fish and do a fish in cycle. This way requires almost daily water changes to keep your ammonia down.

Or, you can cycle the tank without fish using an ammonia source (fishfood, pure ammonia, dead fish). I'd reccommed this way, but it's really up to you.

Check out aquariumadvice.com/articles for detailed articles on cycling. At least I think that's how you get to the articles lol. If not, they're on the home page.

Good luck!!

 

[librarygirl]

You added too many fish at once which caused a mini-cycle, sounds like. Platys are very messy fish so adding 6 at once overloaded the bacteria and ammonia and/or nitrites probably spiked and killed everything.

Also Tiger Barbs should be in a large group to mitigate aggression; a 20 gal tank is a bit small for a full group of Tigers.

so you have the betta and the lone tiger barb left? Did you test the water levels recently? You should invest in your own liquid test kit; most stores use strips which aren't accurate. Even if petsmart uses the liquid drops you should have them write the numbers down and give them to you; don't believe them when they say its good. Also the levels may have been good prior to adding the fish but once you added the new fish the levels likely rose to a toxic level.

Do a 50% water change daily for a few days and keep testing the water. Once levels stabilize again (0 nitrite, 0 ammonia and some nitrate) and are stable for 1-2 weeks, you can add fish again but do it slowly. 1-2 platy would have been plenty. And get your own test kit so you can test the water when you get new fish as toxin levels often rise temporarily and extra water changes may be needed.

 

[Nteal320]

You added too many fish at once which caused a mini-cycle, sounds like. Platys are very messy fish so adding 6 at once overloaded the bacteria and ammonia and/or nitrites probably spiked and killed everything.

Also Tiger Barbs should be in a large group to mitigate aggression; a 20 gal tank is a bit small for a full group of Tigers.

so you have the betta and the lone tiger barb left? Did you test the water levels recently? You should invest in your own liquid test kit; most stores use strips which aren't accurate. Even if petsmart uses the liquid drops you should have them write the numbers down and give them to you; don't believe them when they say its good. Also the levels may have been good prior to adding the fish but once you added the new fish the levels likely rose to a toxic level.

Do a 50% water change daily for a few days and keep testing the water. Once levels stabilize again (0 nitrite, 0 ammonia and some nitrate) and are stable for 1-2 weeks, you can add fish again but do it slowly. 1-2 platy would have been plenty. And get your own test kit so you can test the water when you get new fish as toxin levels often rise temporarily and extra water changes may be needed.

^^^^^+1

 

[Billbug68]

Librarygirl hit the nail on the head. Although, I'm surprised nobody asked how the new fish were acclimated...

 

[haen]

surrender

Tank is 20 gallon, four years in operation, well established
Plants healthy, filters water rinsed,
Ph 6,4, watercolor clear. Untill . . . . . .
Well I hate to do this, but I think will let my 3 left overs live their days in a big tank all by themselves.
An than pug the tank etc in safe storage for the next family member.
Thanks for all the advise, and. . . .HAPPY HOLIDAYS
HN

 

[Autumnsky]

Are you using water conditioner with the new water? I would imagine so, but sometimes things are missed.


Give it some time to get back in order. Do the pwc, several back to back and then get the test kit, monitor every day, then couple days if all is well, and then do pwc as needed.

After 1-2 months things should be fine. Cycling over.

After you get the water established again, and stable try a mystery snail and a couple to three Amano shrimp, they will eat algae and Hikari sinking pellets, or pieces of the pellet. They are fun to watch and have a low bio-load. Fish aren't the only fun things for a tank!

All the while you can research what will work with the ones you have left. Add slowly.

There are times of disappointment, and learning. Almost every one who has been keeping fish for any length of time have had problems, and catastrophe.

I am sorry for your losses, it can be a dizzying feeling of doom.

After it cycles, you can breath easier and actually enjoy your aquatic friends.