HELP! I keep losing my fish and I am not exactly sure why

[Slaphppy7]

Edit....?

You could put a school of.neons.in there. Or maybe, like ima do with my 10 gallon here when I put my jack dempsy back into the 75, a shrimp tank. Or do a Glo-Fish tank with a few danios and tetras. Or a.few Glo-Fish barbs. Put some snails in there for algae control. You be alright.


__________

I'm that idiot with the 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon aquarium.....

But to be fair....he is only 4 inches right now....haha....?

Sounds like you use your 10G for a QT tank, which is perfectly fine, short term.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Edit....?

You could put a school of.neons.in there. Or maybe, like ima do with my 10 gallon here when I put my jack dempsy back into the 75, a shrimp tank. Or do a Glo-Fish tank with a few danios and tetras. Or a.few Glo-Fish barbs. Put some snails in there for algae control. You be alright.


__________

I'm that idiot with the 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon aquarium.....

But to be fair....he is only 4 inches right now....haha....?

A school of Neon Tetras cannot be best in a 10g tank...

I concur, Cardinal Tetras need a minimum tank size of 23in x 12in (60cm x 30cm), which is a 15g tank. (Assuming it's a common 15g tank: WHD; 24in x 12in x 12in) Paracheirodon axelrodi – Cardinal Tetra (Cheirodon axelrodi, Hyphessobrycon cardinalis) — Seriously Fish

What are your water parameters? (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH)

Another thing that caught my eye was that you said you had Mollys, but then got Tetras. How hard is your water? (Tetras are soft water fish, while Mollys are hard water fish. If we keep fish in to hard or to soft water, it can damage their immune system and cause reproduction issues.)*

*Which may be the cause of your fish dying, but it's not likely...

Most "Glo-Fish" are also Tetras, which need a 15g+ tank, preferably a 20g long+. Danios are crazy active swimmers, and need lots of room. A 40g breeder+ is necessary.

 

[Fishiemang]

Kid...my neons are.maybe an inch....inch and a half. You could put 20 of them in a 10 gallon and they would get along fine....?

Get a bunch of them cute little guppies. Whatever.

Man....tough crowd.today....?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Kid...my neons are.maybe an inch....inch and a half. You could put 20 of them in a 10 gallon and they would get along fine....?

Get a bunch of them cute little guppies. Whatever.

Man....tough crowd.today....?

Agreed, neons would be fine, not sure about 20 of them, though...on second thought, maybe start with 20, since a handful of them are most likely not going to make it, anyway...overbred, sickly fish, many times, I avoid them like the plague...

 

[Fishiemang]

Sounds like you use your 10G for a QT tank, which is perfectly fine, short term.

He has been in there for about 6 months now.

Got him as a lil pup....bout an inch. He got savagely attacked and lost most of his fins. Was barely alive when I discovered what happened. Was buried in some water wisteria that had consumed the tank at the time. At the surface, panting. Moved him to a 5 gallon hospital, nursing him back. Then set my 10 gallon back up to let him grow up on his own till he big enough to go back in with the big dogs and deliver some payback maybe...I kid I kid....but be able to fend for himself. Cichlids do what they do ya know....

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Kid...my neons are.maybe an inch....inch and a half. You could put 20 of them in a 10 gallon and they would get along fine....?

Get a bunch of them cute little guppies. Whatever.

Man....tough crowd.today....?

That's it, I'm done here. Not only will you not listen to reason, but you are now calling me "kid", which I hate. There was no reason to bring up my age here.

I have put my best thoughts into this thread, hopefully the OP will see my reasoning... have a good day.

 

[Slaphppy7]

He has been in there for about 6 months now.

Got him as a lil pup....bout an inch. He got savagely attacked and lost most of his fins. Was barely alive when I discovered what happened. Was buried in some water wisteria that had consumed the tank at the time. At the surface, panting. Moved him to a 5 gallon hospital, nursing him back. Then set my 10 gallon back up to let him grow up on his own till he big enough to go back in with the big dogs and deliver some payback maybe...I kid I kid....but be able to fend for himself. Cichlids do what they do ya know....

Yep...that's why I mainly avoid cichlids, I have enough drama in my life, I prefer peaceful, more cowardly fish, lol

 

[Slaphppy7]

That's it, I'm done here. Not only will you not listen to reason, but you are now calling me "kid", which I hate. There was no reason to bring up my age here.

I have put my best thoughts into this thread, hopefully the OP will see my reasoning... have a good day.

I don't think he meant it in a derogatory way, PK...at any rate, we are getting off topic

 

[Fishiemang]

Don'f be like that mang.....I'm an old buzzard. EVERYONE is "kid" to me....

Shoulda seen it when I called my own mother "woman" once.....it only took once.

It's not a.derogatory statement. Sorry ya took it that way.

 

[Fishiemang]

However.....

It is a 2 way street...much as any conversation-ing. Please understand that I have been in this hobby probably longer than your parents are old. It's not to say you have nothing to teach, but is also not to say I maybe don't either...?

 

[pbartholme]

Is there a chance you have been feeding expired food? That would explain the mollies but not the neons. Neon tetras can be wild caught and have a hard time in an aquarium. I suggest you talk to your fish store and find out more about the fish your have been buying. You can try going to another store and getting some fish from there, maybe the fish store you buy from just had a bad batch.

I would imagine high levels of ammonia are killing the fish. (Sort of what you said) To many fish, in such a small tank, produce to much waste, leading to excess levels of ammonia.

The "inch per gallon" rule can be helpful on the go. But the aquarist should always do research prior to getting any fish. SeriouslyFish.com is an excellent website to find solid information on most fish species, including: minimum tank size, compatibility, diet, distribution, etc.

Hi there,
I didn't realize a ten gal would be too small. Also I have the bristle nose pleco which is still quite juvenile at the moment. I have no ammonia in the tank as I do regular tank cleaning. The only reason I moved them into the 5 gal was because it was the only quarantine tank I had available, I am not going to risk getting the other fish I have sick. So far since I have moved them they have been a lot better, no deaths. I think I just got a bacteria in my ten gallon from my sick Molly. I performed another water change on the ten gal last night and my Corys and pleco are still doing great. I would also like to mention all of my tanks are heavily planted with lots of room to hide. And honestly I think part of the reason I lost some of my tetras was stress due to transport. I noticed immediately when all the fish were put into the bag their color was completely gone and it took them a little bit to start coloring back up even after drip acclimation.

 

[pbartholme]

It was to point out the absurdity of placing 14 fish into a 10 gallon tank, then wondering why there are issues. 4 of these fish are of good size.

The inch per gallon "rule" is to give most people an idea of what bio-load a particular volume of water a tank can handle. Not everyone has heavily filtered and planted aquaria that can handle an overstock condition. The larger the fish, the larger the waste they will emit. It is a good thing to follow for most folks. Very good for smaller volumes of water, like a 10 gallon. It can get more forgiving with more volume.

My guess is stress is killing these fish. Cramped.quarters combined with poor handling in it's trip to the forever home. The shock of all that wears on fish.

A 10 gallon can also change params very rapidly. Can be ok one minute, then have a major problem a few hours later.

My ten gallon is not super special but has been a very mature tank. Its an aqueous ten gal kit (I don't know the specific filter), I have an air stone, heater, and it is completely planted. It has always been a planted tank from the start and is growing great. I perform water changes weekly including cleaning the gravel. The bristle nose pleco is a juvenile and only about 2 in long at the moment, I was planning on moving him into my 20gallon later. This is the first time I have ever had any issues with my fish and I have been keeping tanks for almost a year now. I would also like to mention I drip acclimated my tetras for 30-45 min before placing them in the tank to help reduce stress. Lastly, when I placed the tetras in the tank the only other fish in the tank were the 3 Corys and pleco.