All Fish Have Died (New Tank)

[ANC24]

Hi all,

Ive looked over a few topics and think i know what information to give you, to keep it simple and tidy.

I recently bought a Fluval Chi 5 Gallon / 19 Litre tropical fish tank. The gravel was cleaned thoroughly and so was the tank before i put it all together (Not using any chemicals, just hot water). I filled the tank with water and left it to do a 96 hour cycle, running through a brand new filter. I purchased a few chemical solutions to remove chlorine & chloramine. I balanced the tank out at 79 degrees "F", i have not had any visible water problems. As of yesterday at 14:00 GMT i purchased 8 Guppies, it took me roughly 10 minutes to get the fish home. I opened the fish bag rolled the sides down and placed the bag inside my tank floating at the top for 40 minutes for the temps to match. The fish swam around for around 2 - 3 hours, then i noticed some fish were staying at the top of the tank and some were in a group at the bottom corner. I thought this may have just been the fish trying to take in there new environment. I woke this morning and the first thing on my mind was "Check the fish". Sadly 3 guppies were dead on the bottom and the rest were swimming around on there backs floating to the bottom and what looked like they were playing dead until i went to remove them and they would attempt to swim away. At 15:00 today i can sadly say all fish have died.

Please see below images attached:

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I had the water tested before i purchased the fish on the same day and i was told it was perfect and ready for fish.

Any information would be perfect.

Many thanks in advance to those who have taken time to read my problem,
Adam

 

[Louiseness]

I'm afraid that you've put fish into an uncycled tank, which is 99% likely to be why they died.

'Leaving tanks to run' without fish in is NOT cycling. This does absolutely nothing for the water to make it 'ready for fish' Your water would have tested 'perfect' because it's still just tap water.

You need to cycle your tank, which means slowly building up bacteria in the filter which cope with fish waste. If you don't do this, the fish basically poison themselves Water can be clear as glass and still be toxic.

The next thing to do is start over again with a fishless cycle. Go to the beginner's resource centre and read up a bit about cycling and how it works, and come back here and ask us any questions, we're happy to help you get started properly

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

look into the beginners section and learn what cycling is- you havn't actually cycled the tank so that is probably why the fish died. just runnignthe filter is not cycling a tank and in fact has very little use. you need to be adding ammonia and checking your water levels- the begginers section will give you more information on this but basically you need to build a colony of bacteria that will first eat the ammonia (fish waste) and turn it into nitrite and then eat the nitrite and turn it into nitrate (note the differance- nitrIte and nitrAte) other wise you just en dup with a pool of ammonia rich water; not good for fishes. Also guppies can be quite weak any way- I've certainly got mixed results when keeping them

so basiclly- look through the resources in the begginners section as your fish most likly died from ammonia poisoning. The average cycle will take from 4 to 6 weeks, sometimes more. there is no such thing as an instant cycle, nor will it happen in 96 hours.

I hope this helps and I'm sure your fishkeeping will go a lot smoother once you've read through the beginners resource center in particular the stuff on cycling

 

[holidayinn]

Hi Adam, welcome to the forum A ton of resources and friendly ppl here. The basis of your problem seems to be that the tank wasn't cycled, for a tank to cycle there must be a source of ammonia (this is a waste product of fish), this way the filter builds up bacteria to deal with the waste...turning the filter on and just processing the water unfortunately does nothing to help cycle it. Like others have suggested, take a look at the pinned topics in the beginners section...Cheers, Max.

 

[ANC24]

Thank you for the very quick replies, i will take both your advice and head to that section of the forum now.

 

[colleen0309]

I'm so sorry you had all of your fish die. Sadly, this happens all the time. Your water tested "fine" for fish because it was tap water. Setting up the tank and letting the filter run with no fish in the tank does not cycle the filter. You can go to the beginners resource center and read up on cycling. In a nut shell, cycling is the process where we grow ammonia eating bacteria in our filters to combat the ammonia and nitrite the fish produce. Both of these chemicals are deadly to fish. Your water tested good for fish because there was nothing producing ammonia in the tank. You added fish, which added ammonia. There is no bacteria colony to eat the ammonia. The levels skyrocket and the fish die. These are things that most fish shops won't tell you. Do you have a test kit? If you do, test the water for ammonia and nitrite. I will bet the numbers are high. If you don't have a test kit, you really should get one. Get a liquid test kit, not the paper strips. Once again, sorry for your losses.

 

[ANC24]

I really appreciate all your posts, im reading all the information as we speak. I will keep in touch and tell you how im getting on.

Thank you,
Adam

 

[ctsv510]

I'm sorry to hear that no one at the store you purchased the equipment from told you what it takes to establish a new tank. Sometimes I wonder how stores can sell fish tanks and equipment to people without making sure they understand at least the basics of the cycle and water parameters. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be able to convey enough information to someone new in the fish keeping hobby for them to be successful with their first tank.

At least you found a forum with a wealth of information so do some reading and you'll be in good shape.

 

[ANC24]

Hey all,
Ive just spent a good few hours reading up on fish-in, fishless cycling, basic care and a few advanced tips. I found all this in the very informative begginers section and i have to say, what a brilliant forum and team. I have opt in for the fishless cycle and will start the process tomorrow. A friend of mine has had a hobby of looking after fish for the past 7 years, he has generously donated me his current filter that should help out with the start of the bacteria process.

By the looks of it i now have a great new hobby, thanks to you all

 

[ctsv510]

Great! Just make sure you feed the bacteria from your borrowed filter ASAP so you don't lose too much of the population.

 

[Louiseness]

Hey all,
Ive just spent a good few hours reading up on fish-in, fishless cycling, basic care and a few advanced tips. I found all this in the very informative begginers section and i have to say, what a brilliant forum and team. I have opt in for the fishless cycle and will start the process tomorrow. A friend of mine has had a hobby of looking after fish for the past 7 years, he has generously donated me his current filter that should help out with the start of the bacteria process.

By the looks of it i now have a great new hobby, thanks to you all

Sounds like a fabulous start! As long as you keep feeding that filter with some ammonia your cycle should be fairly easy and quick. Good luck!

 

[ANC24]

*Update*

No chlorine after 32 hours.

Ph level is stable. (Blue)

Currently running the fishless cycle with a mature filter, all is going to plan. Would anyone have any personal opinions on some hardy fish for a 5 gallon open top tropical tank to start with.

Thanks, Adam

 

[Jinty McGinty]

*Update*

No chlorine after 32 hours. So there shouldn't be if you are using a tapsafe conditioner

Ph level is stable. (Blue)

Currently running the fishless cycle with a mature filter, all is going to plan. Would anyone have any personal opinions on some hardy fish for a 5 gallon open top tropical tank to start with.

Thanks, Adam

You should have a cycled tank with mature media in the filter. You should be testing for

Amonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
PH - though not as necessary just now.

 

[fluttermoth]

You need to be adding a source of ammonia ASAP, or the bacteria in your mature filter will die off from lack of food. If you can't get household ammonia, add some fish food to the tank.

 

[ANC24]

*Update 2*

Currently keeping the ammonia levels up daily & testing every morning. Fingers crossed for no ammonia within the next few weeks.