Fustrated

[windy1946]

I have recently set up a new tank and after a week added the following

3 mollies of varies colours
3 Platy's same
2 golden eye Tetra's
2 other Tetra's

Allwas going well for next week THen On tues this week added

6 Guppies

Came down this morning and found nearly all guppies and 1 Platy dead

Got water checked and PH level was ok, but ammonia level was up and that was what killed them
I waitd for a week before adding new stock so cant think why level was up in a few days.
Can anyone advise please?

Windy

 

[Davo86]

Hi, you may have set the tank up but by the sounds you haven't cycled it, adding all of those fish to an uncycled tank was only ever going to have this outcome,

You will need to test and waterchange daily until the cycle is complete in order to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0

What size tank do you have?

 

[Boromir]

Im new to this as well but I think you may have rushed it a bit. Maybe do a fishless cycle like Im doing or dont add anymore fish and hope the bacteria gets to work.

 

[windy1946]

Tank size is 60 x 30 x 30

What is average time to recycle?

 

[jamorel]

Oh dear...ammonia. Don't add more fish, do a partial water changes ASAP.
As you have fish, I would recommend picking up a test kit, prime and or ammonia lock. I have used both and prime is my fave but to each their own. Cycling can take weeks and even months depending on the situation.
How big is the tank btw?
So partial water changes are key...once or twice a day. Watch them closely...any signs of stress such as flashing, swimming near top, near heater...anything at all, do a change. Ammonia lock or prime will help in an emergency and I use in combination of changes. Be diligent and you should be able to get through with out more loss...

 

[jamorel]

For future, start with a few hardy fish and go slow. I have tried fish less and it is hard to be sure that after a fish less cycle, the tank won't cycle anyway when fish are added. It can also happen down the road - I just had this when I switched out the filter medium in my canister and wasn't thinking. Too much bio lost and I was running with buckets. No loss, but major stress on me and my fish for about a week and a half. Best to know how to recognise ammonia spikes and what to do as it can and will happen at some point.

 

[Davo86]

Could be anywhere upto 8 weeks, potentially longer with the full tank of fish you have

The tank will hold roughly 60litres minus around 6-10 once gravel and extras are added, This would leave roughly 50 or so litres to play with equating to around 14g and therefore around 14" worth of adult fish to base a stocking on.

Therefore given the amount of fish already present I have to say even if the tank was fully cycled the tank was already overstocked once you had introduced the guppys.

There are plenty of threads regarding cycles and new setups within the forum which are well worth the read, someone may even add a link for you (using my phone ATM otherwise I would have done)

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Also, pretty much never trust what the people working in your local pet shop say. They are forever making people believe they can just add fish after a short period of time.

Sorry its a rough road, lots of good advice above.

 

[Davo86]

Safe start may be a useful addition to add once the ammonia is 0 which might speed things along, also if you can pinch some mature media from an established fish tank that would be better still

 

[jamorel]

Could be anywhere upto 8 weeks, potentially longer with the full tank of fish you have

The tank will hold roughly 60litres minus around 6-10 once gravel and extras are added, This would leave roughly 50 or so litres to play with equating to around 14g and therefore around 14" worth of adult fish to base a stocking on.

Therefore given the amount of fish already present I have to say even if the tank was fully cycled the tank was already overstocked once you had introduced the guppys.

There are plenty of threads regarding cycles and new setups within the forum which are well worth the read, someone may even add a link for you (using my phone ATM otherwise I would have done)

What Daveo said...And Molly's are not the smallest, cleanest fish. I have four and the dominate my 26g. Platy's are smaller and if you can trade at LFS, you may want to. You also may want to see about taking a store credit until the cycle is done...then think about what type of fish would be best.

One more note...you have live bearers. If you have boys and girls, you may have a population explosion. I created a fresh water tropical fish group on FB yesterday as I have found it hard to get good quick answers...this is the first friendly forum I have found and I have already made all of the usual mistakes. Page is here if you want to join...My link but the real point is that I posted a pic of my first Molly babies on there. It was the first of four births before I had to find a solution. There are a lot...I mean 100 survivors a lot. Things to think about