Help Needed

[sue.hodge]

hi need a bit of advice my daughter recently started showing a interest in tropical fish we bought her a tank last week setting it up as described in the book it was empty for 9 days before we bought any fish she got 2 guppies and a molly on saturday and today they are all dead i dont know what i have one wrong can anyone help please she is only 8 and quite upset thanx very much

sue xxx

 

[babyblade]

sound like the tank was not cycled

 

[SJ2K]

Ok im sure you could do with a slightly more in depth response then that

Tropical fish keeping is a little more complex then meets the eye, theres a touch of science thrown in aswell What happend to your fish (RIP btw) was they were poisoned by there own waist. As it is, fish waist is (or breaks down to) ammonia, this is toxic to fish. The way we combat ammonia and other harmful waist products is by ensuring we have a healthy colony of benefitial bacteria in our filters. This process is known as "cycling". To find out the best methods of cycling your tank, check the pinned topics at the top of this page

Good luck and dont give up!

 

[darkwolf29a]

Guppies and mollies are not the hardiest fish. If your tank has been set up for a week, you are in the tank cycling now. Guppies and mollies won't survive that, unfortunately.

There are a few guides here on how to cycle a tank. I would follow that. Or you could see if someone from here has some cycled filter media they can send you.

 

[sue.hodge]

thank you very much for your help think i need to do a little mor reading up and start again from scratch xxx

 

[SJ2K]

thank you very much for your help think i need to do a little mor reading up and start again from scratch xxx

Correct, enjoy

 

[Tigerlilly]

Welcome to the forum, sorry you have got off to such a bad start.

 

[sue.hodge]

thankyou everyone i have empties the tank and washed everything and reset it up how long should i wait before putting anyfish in and what tpe do you suggest i was reading that danio's are ok for beginners is this correct?

sue xxx

 

[SJ2K]

thankyou everyone i have empties the tank and washed everything and reset it up how long should i wait before putting anyfish in and what tpe do you suggest i was reading that danio's are ok for beginners is this correct?

sue xxx

If this is a tank for a child id really recommend a fishless cycle (explained in a pinned topic above), fish-in cycles (using hardy fish to cycle the tank) can very easily result in deaths.

 

[Meds081603]

You've come to the right place for advise. I will tell you (against most other opinions) that it is ok to use some fish to cycle a tank. I can recomend cherry barbs and gold barbs for cycling a tank. Convict cichlids work very good to cycle the tank but you would probably want to take it back to the lfs after cycling and trade it in for the fish you plan to keep. If you do use fish to cycle the tank just be sure to do water changes every day. What size tank do you have and what kind of filtration?

 

[FishWishDish]

Leaving the tank set up by itself won't cycle it (wish I had known this before getting fish, too! Would have saved a lot of water changes). Check out the posts on "Fishless cycling" to learn how to get the tank ready to convert ammonia from your fish to nitrites (also toxic) and nitrates (less toxic). Once you get your tank to convert all the ammonia to nitrites and all the nitrites to nitrates, the nitrates can be managed with weekly partial water changes, and your fish won't go through the stress of fish-in cycling.

Take your time until you understand the basics of cycling, and a fishless cycle, while taking longer to get the fish, is easier in the long run (I think, getting ready to cycle a new tank now, too!) You'll need test kits for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and eventually for PH as well. Be sure to use a dechlorinator also.

Good luck!

 

[sue.hodge]

You've come to the right place for advise. I will tell you (against most other opinions) that it is ok to use some fish to cycle a tank. I can recomend cherry barbs and gold barbs for cycling a tank. Convict cichlids work very good to cycle the tank but you would probably want to take it back to the lfs after cycling and trade it in for the fish you plan to keep. If you do use fish to cycle the tank just be sure to do water changes every day. What size tank do you have and what kind of filtration?

hi thnx for your help i have a 60l tank and the filter is an elite stingray filer i am in way over my head here lol i only ever kept goldfish before so ny advice will be greatly appreciated .