All Dead

[colleen0309]

New tank syndrome...Old tank syndrome... What it all boils down to is water quality. Believe me when I say you will get excellent advice here. All, or most, local fish shops are not concerned with your tanks well being. They need to make money any way they can. We have nothing to gain by giving you advice. We don't get paid to tell you how to correct a problem. It is actually the opposite. Most days I don't have time to breath, let alone read posts and answer questions. But I try to be here at least once a day and answer as many questions as I can. The only payment I recieve is the satisfaction of seeing this hobby grow. Seriously, the fishless cycle is the best way to go, but in the 42 years I have had aquariums, I have never done a fishless cycle. I don't need to. All my tanks are cloned from my original tank. If you can get ahold of some mature filter media it will speed things up for you. I will not call myself an expert. I learn something new everyday.

 

[Xraymark]

Just bought prime.

Just keeping all the bases covered.

 

[willowstwin]

Well done Colleen for saying that. Too many times have I heard LFS owners say "I've owned fish for X amount of years and I've never done this fishless cycle - tanks need fish"... yet I'm sure they seed from their other tanks. Thats technically what we all do once we get our 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc tanks, but it's getting the first set up in the first place that is the most important thing

 

[dfield]

New tank syndrome...Old tank syndrome... What it all boils down to is water quality. Believe me when I say you will get excellent advice here. All, or most, local fish shops are not concerned with your tanks well being. They need to make money any way they can. We have nothing to gain by giving you advice. We don't get paid to tell you how to correct a problem. It is actually the opposite. Most days I don't have time to breath, let alone read posts and answer questions. But I try to be here at least once a day and answer as many questions as I can. The only payment I recieve is the satisfaction of seeing this hobby grow. Seriously, the fishless cycle is the best way to go, but in the 42 years I have had aquariums, I have never done a fishless cycle. I don't need to. All my tanks are cloned from my original tank. If you can get ahold of some mature filter media it will speed things up for you. I will not call myself an expert. I learn something new everyday.

I agree, what the fish shop don't bother to tell you when they sell your nice shiny new tank that you actually should wait far longer than the 48 hours it says on the box, or prepare to learn the hard way.. for the fish anyway! Still you can't blame them, we had a brilliant LFS that my friend recommended - she said he refused to sell her the fish without her going through the cycle and getting the water right.. and guess what, he's gone out of business.

 

[TropicalJuwel]

Thats such a shame to hear that a responsible lfs who is more interested in he's stock than money has gone out of business more than likely to selfish people that i've seen myself while being in a shop argueing with the owner because he wont sell him 5 goldfish to a tank thats been running for a week with no ammonia source oh and the tanks only 50 litres, over two years ago I got into fish keeping, I won 2 goldfish at a fair (before you all say thats wrong, yes I know that now but at the time didn't) but I feel I went the right way about it from then, I researched that night what they needed and it most sure wasn't the rubbish little bowl i'd been giving so went to a lfs next day and bought a tank, was only 30 litres and while i was in there said I liked the silver sharks not knowing they were tropicals, he said they would would be fine in my tank with my fish, I went home and researched the sharks to find otherwise, I know the shop is still there but dont know if its still owned by the same people as I will never go in there again. Anyway the two goldies are still alive in my other halfs dads pond getting very big and luckerly just over a year ago an lfs opened near me who never pushes a sale gives me free info when ever i need and done very well in a mag on a fish shop poll recently, (not sure on naming shop for advertising reasons so won't) not once did he push the sale of an expensive fish tank that i bought off him earlier this year. Sometimes you get lucky with shops and sometimes you don't, I found that researching shop info was just as good as researching what fish you plan to stock with, shows the bad from the good. Sorry for the essay guys. Xraymark glad to hear the fishless cycle is going well, hope everything turns out much better for you and your fish this time round.

 

[willowstwin]

we had a brilliant LFS that my friend recommended - she said he refused to sell her the fish without her going through the cycle and getting the water right.. and guess what, he's gone out of business

I don't suppose it was Fish Inc in Sheffield was it? They were fantastic, wouldn't sell me fish until my tank was cycled (not that I asked for them) and he said (and I quote) "I'm not bothered about your money love, I just care about the fish". They've gone out of business *le sigh*

Its a shame we can't educate people on a larger scale (rather than hoping people actually bother to research fish first). That way people would question LFS's and hopefully put the bad ones out of business to make way for good ones. I'd love to buy out a local fish store thats for sale, but I know my ethics wouldn't let me sell to closed minded "I WANT A FISHIE NOW!" type people, and then, as others, I'd go out of business

 

[colleen0309]

we had a brilliant LFS that my friend recommended - she said he refused to sell her the fish without her going through the cycle and getting the water right.. and guess what, he's gone out of business

I don't suppose it was Fish Inc in Sheffield was it? They were fantastic, wouldn't sell me fish until my tank was cycled (not that I asked for them) and he said (and I quote) "I'm not bothered about your money love, I just care about the fish". They've gone out of business *le sigh*

Its a shame we can't educate people on a larger scale (rather than hoping people actually bother to research fish first). That way people would question LFS's and hopefully put the bad ones out of business to make way for good ones. I'd love to buy out a local fish store thats for sale, but I know my ethics wouldn't let me sell to closed minded "I WANT A FISHIE NOW!" type people, and then, as others, I'd go out of business

This is actually kinda funny in a strange way. About 15 years ago I had a little shop in my garage. I live out in the middle of nowhere and couldn't get the business to keep it running. I ran into a problem with the neighbor kids wanting a tank. I tried my best to get them to set it up proprely, but they were very impatient. They ended up going to a big chain store and got everything they need, including fish much cheaper than I could sell the stuff for. They made a special point to come tell me I was too expensive. About two days later they were back in my shop complaining and asking for help. I was more than willing to help, but they kept taking the advice from the chain store. I'd LOVE to open another shop, but I can't make a go of it as long as the "cheap" stores keep giving bad advice. So, about a month ago, I talked the hubby into building me a fishroom. All of the family want me to sell fish again. I told them "NO". This room is for me and only me. If I happen to breed a few fish and sell them, fine. If I don't, fine. But I can tell you I won't be dealing with the "I WANT A FISHIE NOW" type people. And I won't go out of business again because I'm not in business, I'm just enjoying my hobby.

 

[ripil]

wow willowstwin has hit the nail on the head their. i've had to do many fishless cycles over and over as i had two tanks and wasn't getting it right. i still feel sorry for my two rams that died at my lack of knowledge. "getting hardy fish to check the water" is no different to kicking a dog to death to see how hard your steel toe caps are. all advice you'll ever need is on here. if your willing to do what i did and accept advice off here in the end any fish you buy (when the times right) will live happy long lives.

 

[Mowbz]

My local fish shop suggested putting water only in tank, run up and then add two hardy fish.

This is to see if my water is causing the fish death. If they live then it was my gravel which was the contamination. The tank is 180 litres so assume that ammonia should not be an issue for a while.

Does this seem like a reasonable course of action.

No, this seems like another method for which they can sell you fish.

You need to get this "something in my tank is toxic" etc out of your head, thats 99% NOT the issue, the issue is having an uncycled tank. Thats it.

There doesnt need to be anything "wrong" with anything in your tank, if the filter isnt cycled, they wont live, and thats the long an short of it.

 

[Xraymark]

Have been posting on the new freshwater forum.

Tank cleaned. New gravel. Tank set up. On day 30 fishless cycling. Ammonia not dropping. Have posted about this under 'how long is a piece of string'.

Ive moved onto a new set of issues.

 

[nick1200]

uncycled filter id say there are guides on here

 

[Xraymark]

Thought I would put an ending to this story.

Started off like so many joining this forum with a fish emergency. My first post tells it all. I have had my tank 5 months now.

After a fishless cycle, which took far too long due over dosing ammonia and to changing substrate half way through and I think killing what ever bacteria I had in the filter. Eventually I was clearing just over 4ppm of ammonia in 12h +nitrite so decided time to add fish. Four days ago I introduced 10 black neon tetra and 6 corydoras(3albino/3bronze). Super careful, took nearly 3 hours to acclimate making sure the ph was the same. Added plants yesterday.

So far all water paremeters are normal. At the weekend I will add a pair of pearl gourami and a week after that I will add 6 neon rainbows. That should be me fully stocked.

I have to think my original problem was something in the tank poisoning the fish. I am suspicious of the gravel that I had.

Just a big thank you to those who gave me advice directly and indirectly through the various posts. Looking foreward to learning more.

 

[afremont]

Thought I would put an ending to this story.

Started off like so many joining this forum with a fish emergency. My first post tells it all. I have had my tank 5 months now.

After a fishless cycle, which took far to long due over dosing ammonia and to changing substrate half way through and I think killing what ever bacteria I had in the filter. Eventually I was clearing just over 4ppm of ammonia in 12h +nitrite so decided time to add fish. Four days ago I introduced 10 black neon tetra and 6 corydoras(3albino/3bronze). Super careful, took nearly 3 hours to acclimate making sure the ph was the same. Added plants yesterday.

So far all water paremeters are normal. At the weekend I will add a pair of pearl gourami and a week after that I will add 6 neon rainbows. That should be me fully stocked.

I have to think my original problem was something in the tank poising the fish. I am suspicious of the gravel that I had.

Just a big thank you to those who gave me advice directly and indirectly through the various posts. Looking foreward to learning more.

I read thru the whole thread. A couple of things. Tetra Safe Start does work, at least for me anyway on numerous tank setups. Secondly, there is no way that fish would die from an "uncycled tank" in five hours. I doubt that they would die in a jar in five hours. Something in your tank was killing the fish outright. Maybe something that was used to clean the tank, or the rocks? Maybe something you used on your hands or arms?

 

[Xraymark]

Thought I would put an ending to this story.

Started off like so many joining this forum with a fish emergency. My first post tells it all. I have had my tank 5 months now.

After a fishless cycle, which took far to long due over dosing ammonia and to changing substrate half way through and I think killing what ever bacteria I had in the filter. Eventually I was clearing just over 4ppm of ammonia in 12h +nitrite so decided time to add fish. Four days ago I introduced 10 black neon tetra and 6 corydoras(3albino/3bronze). Super careful, took nearly 3 hours to acclimate making sure the ph was the same. Added plants yesterday.

So far all water paremeters are normal. At the weekend I will add a pair of pearl gourami and a week after that I will add 6 neon rainbows. That should be me fully stocked.

I have to think my original problem was something in the tank poising the fish. I am suspicious of the gravel that I had.

Just a big thank you to those who gave me advice directly and indirectly through the various posts. Looking foreward to learning more.

I read thru the whole thread. A couple of things. Tetra Safe Start does work, at least for me anyway on numerous tank setups. Secondly, there is no way that fish would die from an "uncycled tank" in five hours. I doubt that they would die in a jar in five hours. Something in your tank was killing the fish outright. Maybe something that was used to clean the tank, or the rocks? Maybe something you used on your hands or arms?

I agree. Happy I did a fishless cycle though. It gave me plenty of time to lurk the forum and extend my knowlege base.

 

[colleen0309]

Congradulations on a successful fishless cycle! Glad we could help. Hope everything goes well for you and your tank