Dying For No Reason?

[Brianne-xx]

I had a tank that is only 29 liters. I went to a pet shop guy, and he said I could have up to ten goldfish in it. And this was my first tank. I got two blue shabunkins and they were great. Then I got a black mollie, loach, and some other goldfish I don't know the name of. I found out after I put the fish in he was lying. A hybrid fish died the same day we got it, I put it down to the shock of new water. Then my fish got white spot. I ordered white spot online but my littlest fish died while it was being sent off. Then I got rid of all the white spot, and then another got sick and died, for no reason. I say it was having too many fish in a tank so small. Then another one of my fish was fine one minute, swimming around happy as can be, then I literally turned my back for two minutes, and it had died. I still say it's down to having too many fish in such a small tank, but I grew attached and didn't want to give them back to the shop as after having white spot, they would of just been flushed. Now I gave that tank to my grandma, and the fish are perfectly fine.
Now, I got a new tank, which is around 50litres, give or take a few. I went to a different shop and the guy said I could have 25 neon tetras In there. Which I don't think is right? But after a month of leaving the tank to build up bacteria, I put the right amount of water safe stuff in it, I have a filter which is pretty good and powerful. I put filter aid in it as well. I had the water tested by the guy in the pet shop, and he said that it was perfect. The temperature is 26 C. I bought three small blue neon tetras, three larger black neon tetras and two catfish, and they were all perfect. Next couple of days, there was white spot. So I put the anti white spot in, then did if again four days later - the right amount, it's going, but I bought 5 guppies, which had white spot, so I thought if I get them settled and do the treatment, they'll be fine. Got the water tested again, it's still perfect. Two of the guppies were fat, while one of them was thin, and two of them chubby. I thought the fat ones were pregnant because they were all flirting. But I went sleep and woke up the next morning and one of the fat ones were dead. A couple of days ago, my other fat one died. Now there's two guppies that swim between the heater and the filter, and they're facing straight upwards. The other fish are perfectly fine, everything in the tank is great, besides from the guppies.
Can someone help me and please tell me why/? Thank you.

By the way, I put it wrong way round.. I bought the guppies, left them the plastic bags in the tank for an hour, then put them in. I did the white spot the next day. Then the next day after that, one died, then a couple of days ago, the other one died, and it's scaring me because now there's two of them that are just facing straight up in between the filter and heater. I feed them all in the morning and night time.

 

[AstonN24vantage]

your tank was severely overstocked

 

[Brianne-xx]

your tank was severely overstocked

My old goldfish one was, but I don't know about this one? My three small neon's are like an inch or something, my bigger ones are about two inch, my catfish.. Ones about 3 inches and ones about 4, and i don't know about my guppies. But what could be killing my guppies and nothing else. None of the fish bother with the other kinds of fish. The catfish stays with the catfish, the little neons stay with each other ect. I'm not getting anymore fish in fear of over stocking this one.. But if its already over stocked.. Then I'll have to give some of my fish back to a petshop.

 

[fluttermoth]

Sorry to hear of your problems, Brianne.

Yes, your tank was overstocked (well, they both were!). Lots of fish shops unfortunately give out very bad advice, as you have found out

Also, your tanks haven't been 'cycled'. This means getting the right bacteria growing in your filter to get rid of the ammonia that your fish produce as waste.
It will have been a build up of ammonia that killed your fish, I'm afraid.

Just leaving a tank set up and running for a month doesn't get the bacteria growing, as there is nothing for them to feed on.

You need to do lots of water changes, with dechlorinated water to start with. You need to buy some test kits so you can see for yourself what is happening with the water.

Here's a link to the beginners resource centre that has lots of information for you to read through.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Hope this helps a bit; don't hesitate to come back and ask more questions if you need to. There are lots of helpful, knowledgable people here who will be more than happy to help.

 

[waterdrop]

Welcome to the beginners section Brianne!

Yes, agree with FM in the post right above me. We see dozens of cases similar to yours each month here in the beginners section, the members can help you out with all the info you've missed and its a great way to re-learn the hobby the right way.

As FM said, the water changes will be urgent. You need to siphon out as much as you can, barely leaving enough room for the fish to move. The return water needs to be treated with a good conditioner (chemical that removes chlorine and chloramines) and roughly temperature matched (you can judge with your and and you can use hot tap water unless you think your water heater has an old copper tank, in which case you switch to kettle-warming cold water.)

Until you can get a good liquid-reagent based test kit (the kind with little test tubes) you will need to do these big water changes every day. For test kits, most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Post up both your tap and tank results once you get a kit.

~~waterdrop~~