Help1 Why Are My Fish Dying?

[ZoddyZod]

what shop is it... i want to pay them a "visit" (cracks knuckles...)

please don't 'name and shame', this forums owners are open to lawsuits if defamatory or libelous remarks are posted upon it.

 

[kate98]

what shop is it... i want to pay them a "visit" (cracks knuckles...)

please don't 'name and shame', this forums owners are open to lawsuits if defamatory or libelous remarks are posted upon it.

haha no need im thinking about just getting a simese fighter.... will that fish go well with the 2 albino catfish?

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Are they cories? They really should be in groups of 6 or more, which your tank is not big enough for. I would return them honestly.

 

[the_lock_man]

what shop is it... i want to pay them a "visit" (cracks knuckles...)

please don't 'name and shame', this forums owners are open to lawsuits if defamatory or libelous remarks are posted upon it.

haha no need im thinking about just getting a simese fighter.... will that fish go well with the 2 albino catfish?

In a larger tank, yes, but tbh, yours is too small for the 2 tetras and 2 albino catfish. If you want the fighter, I suggest you take the tetras and catfish back to the store, see about getting a refund on the survivors, and then go to another fish store. Are you in the UK, or eslewhere?

 

[kate98]

what shop is it... i want to pay them a "visit" (cracks knuckles...)

please don't 'name and shame', this forums owners are open to lawsuits if defamatory or libelous remarks are posted upon it.

haha no need im thinking about just getting a simese fighter.... will that fish go well with the 2 albino catfish?

In a larger tank, yes, but tbh, yours is too small for the 2 tetras and 2 albino catfish. If you want the fighter, I suggest you take the tetras and catfish back to the store, see about getting a refund on the survivors, and then go to another fish store. Are you in the UK, or eslewhere?

im not in the UK and i dont think i could take them back

 

[ZoddyZod]

im not in the UK and i dont think i could take them back

at least try.....they WILL die in that unheated and unfiltered tank. Even if you got a filter today, it would take WEEKS for it to cycle properly and even then the fish could not live in there long term.

 

[the_lock_man]

im not in the UK and i dont think i could take them back

at least try.....they WILL die in that unheated and unfiltered tank. Even if you got a filter today, it would take WEEKS for it to cycle properly and even then the fish could not live in there long term.

I agree completely.

 

[kate98]

what shop is it... i want to pay them a "visit" (cracks knuckles...)

please don't 'name and shame', this forums owners are open to lawsuits if defamatory or libelous remarks are posted upon it.

haha no need im thinking about just getting a simese fighter.... will that fish go well with the 2 albino catfish?

In a larger tank, yes, but tbh, yours is too small for the 2 tetras and 2 albino catfish. If you want the fighter, I suggest you take the tetras and catfish back to the store, see about getting a refund on the survivors, and then go to another fish store. Are you in the UK, or eslewhere?

im not in the UK and i dont think i could take them back

im stuck her cause im new to the whole fish thing, my uncle used to breed heaps of fish and had a 6ft tank and a 8ft tank and he used to breed fish. he never said anything about the cycaling of the water

im not in the UK and i dont think i could take them back

at least try.....they WILL die in that unheated and unfiltered tank. Even if you got a filter today, it would take WEEKS for it to cycle properly and even then the fish could not live in there long term.

i have a filter and a glass heater but the still seem to die and ive had the tank/ filter and glass heater since like a week ago

 

[the_lock_man]

what shop is it... i want to pay them a "visit" (cracks knuckles...)

please don't 'name and shame', this forums owners are open to lawsuits if defamatory or libelous remarks are posted upon it.

haha no need im thinking about just getting a simese fighter.... will that fish go well with the 2 albino catfish?

In a larger tank, yes, but tbh, yours is too small for the 2 tetras and 2 albino catfish. If you want the fighter, I suggest you take the tetras and catfish back to the store, see about getting a refund on the survivors, and then go to another fish store. Are you in the UK, or eslewhere?

im not in the UK and i dont think i could take them back

im stuck her cause im new to the whole fish thing, my uncle used to breed heaps of fish and had a 6ft tank and a 8ft tank and he used to breed fish. he never said anything about the cycaling of the water

Our understanding of what actually happens in an aquarium has moved on a lot - we now know that bacteria grow in our filters - maybe your uncle just didn't know that - but just because he doesn't know, doesn't mean to say that's not what happens - because it does.

As I said previously, it takes a period of weeks to grow the bacteria to such an extent that it will cope with the ammonia produced by fish, and that's where the stocking level is appropriate for the quantity of water. I'd guess you haven't read those two articles I pointed out to you yet. Please do!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Without the filter and an established biological bacteria colony, the ammonia from the fish waste just sits in the water. Ammonia is toxic to fish and causes septicemia, much like what would happen to us if we lived in a septic tank. What the filter does when the colonies are established is convert the ammonia into non toxic substances (well, much less toxic anyway) There are two types of colonies at work, Abacs, and Nbacs. The Abacs convert ammonia into Nitrite, which is also toxic to the fish. The Nbacs then convert the Nitrites into Nitrates, which is only toxic in high amounts (which is why we do weekly water changes)

A well established filter can process ammonia at a rate so fast that the ammonia will never harm your fish.

 

[kate98]

very technical for me to understand COMPLETELY but yeah

so what do i have to do like cycle it even though it hase a well working filter and a heater

 

[the_lock_man]

very technical for me to understand COMPLETELY but yeah

so what do i have to do like cycle it even though it hase a well working filter and a heater

A filter works on two levels - mechanical and biological. It is working on the mechanical level, by removing physical debris from the water. It isn't yet working on the biological level - using bacteria to remove ammonia and nitrite. So in that respect, it isn't a well working filter. But it will become one, given time, and an appropriate level of fish in the tank.

 

[kate98]

so what is the appropriot level of fish and what sorts would you reccomend?

 

[the_lock_man]

so what is the appropriot level of fish and what sorts would you reccomend?

In your tank, as I said previously, I would suggest either a single male siamese fighting fish, or 2-3 male endlers. But first you would need to rehome the tetras and catfish that you already have.

 

[ZoddyZod]

A filter works on two levels - mechanical and biological. It is working on the mechanical level, by removing physical debris from the water. It isn't yet working on the biological level - using bacteria to remove ammonia and nitrite. So in that respect, it isn't a well working filter. But it will become one, given time, and an appropriate level of fish in the tank.

perfectly put!

the whole 'cycling' topic can be a difficult one to grasp when you first enter the hobby (it baffled me!), but I can only recommend reading, reading and then reading some more about it until it sinks in. It's key to keeping a successful tank.