Complete newbie lost 2 fish. Need help to make sure I don’t loose more.

[Yelly]

I am new to the hobby. I will hold my hands up and say I didn’t do the research I naively thought tank heater water fish and away you go!

I’ve since learned it’s not that simple at all. I have a 190ltr tank. External oversized filter. Air stone. And I’ve bought a master test kit. There are 8 cardinal tetra and 6 julli cory in the tank. Started out with 10 cardinals. Have 2 plants. Not sure of type and lights. I’ll add pics of set up.

Lost one last week. Last night lost a second. This one looked different. S/he was very swollen.

All the rest look great still and water looks ok to me from the tests. I’ll add pictures. It’s a little cloudy still but I’ve read that will eventually settle. I’ll add pictures of water tests. I don’t want to break any rules so is it ok to post a pic of the dead fish? I want to check if it’s something contagious and if so would love advice on treatment for the rest of the fish so I don’t lose any more.

If I’m ok to post pics of my fish I’ll add that thanks in advance all.

 

[Essjay]

Add as many photos of dead fish as you need, the disease experts on the forum will find them useful.

 

[Colin_T]

The plant is Java Fern and it does best when attached to a piece of rock or wood.

Set the light unit to 6500K

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How often are you feeding the fish and what are you feeding them?

What sort of filter media/ materials are in the filter (in particular any white granules)?

What is the pH 6 or 7.6?

How often are you doing water changes and how much do you change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

Have you got chlorine or chloramine in the tap water?
You can contact your water company to find out this.

Is the filter run continuously 24/7?
How long has the tank been running for?
How long have you had the fish for?
Did you do anything to the tank in the 24 hours before each fish died?

Need pictures of the remaining cardinal tetras and the Corydoras.

 

[Yelly]

This is the fish we lost.

The plant is Java Fern and it does best when attached to a piece of rock or wood.

Set the light unit to 6500K

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How often are you feeding the fish and what are you feeding them?

I am feeding once a day and was feeding ocean nutritions community pellets. Was told today in fish shop they are crap and swapped to JBL pro novo sinking pellets.

What sort of filter media/ materials are in the filter (in particular any white granules)?
There are 4 layers of filter media. 2 x little white balls. (Sorry not sure what they are called) and 2 of sponge. There is also a little packet they sold me of white powder. Again don’t know the name sorry.
What is the pH 6 or 7.6?
I can’t tell I’m not great with the colour chart. It maxed out the reg ph so I had to move to the high on test. I think it’s the first or second level on the master test kit.

How often are you doing water changes and how much do you change?

I do a 10% change twice a week.

Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

Yes

Have you got chlorine or chloramine in the tap water?

I’ll find out

You can contact your water company to find out this.

Is the filter run continuously 24/7?

Yes

How long has the tank been running for?

Maybe 6 weeks

How long have you had the fish for?

3 weeks

Did you do anything to the tank in the 24 hours before each fish died?

No

Need pictures of the remaining cardinal tetras and the Corydoras.

It’s really hard to get pictures is there a way to add a video?

Thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

You can add videos by uploading them to YouTube or another video hosting website, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

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You should do bigger water changes (50-75%) each week. Small water changes don't remove anything. You take out 10% of the water and you leave 90% of the bad water behind.

The milky cloudy water could be from the fish food.

The plant tied to the clay vase is an Anubias species. That is the best way to grow them, attached to something with their rhizome above the substrate.

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The fish could have died from ammonia or nitrite poisoning caused by the new tank.

The dead fish is really fat and that might be dropsy (internal problems) and there's no cure for it when it happens. It happens sometimes and the odd fish will swell up and die. It's usually caused by an internal bacterial infection or organ failure.

The remaining look fine as far as external diseases go. The milky cloudy water would indicate uneaten food breaking down in the water and this combined with a new tank would suggest ammonia or nitrite problems, especially with only a 10% water change twice a week.

Try doing a 50-75% water change every day or every couple of days for a week or two and see if it clears up the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank. Chloramine needs more dechlorinater than chlorine so find out what is in your water supply and treat the new water before putting it in the tank.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hello you're in a pickle...but don't worry, you're in good hands here. You're not the first and most certainly won't be the last being caught up in the perils of being new in the hobby!

Firstly, you're doing what we call an in-fish cycle. It's important that you do a large water change every day for as long as you see Ammonia and Nitrite readings from your test. When both of those measure 0 and your Nitrate readings go up your tank will have enough beneficial bacteria colonised and able to deal with the fish waste. At that point you'll be able to cut down your water changes to once a week to dilute the Nitrates that will build up over the week. Try to get the new water going in close to the temperature of the remaining water.

Floating plants and stem plants are also a good shout at this point, they're fast growers and will help to keep that ammonia down making the water safer for your fish