I really need help ASAP

[Breakthecycle2]

So here goes, I decided to add some fish last week being as I only had a few. One neon died on the way home. The next day, I lost a baby corie and the male blue ram. ( the female as of right now is still ok). A few days later I started losing my black neons...now Ive lost those 5, plus all three of the neons I bought last week and one of my original. Thats a total of 11 fish. I have a few left. After I lost the blue ram, but before I started losing everything, I bought another blue ram. thinking it was PH shock that killed the other. I do not what is happening. I went out and bought coppersafe and have been treating the water since yesterday. On Saturday when this massacare started, I did a 50% water change and cleaned the gravel with the vac. My tank is 2 months old and recently completed the cycle so my ammonia and nitrites have been zero until today. The nitrites are 0 but ammonia is .25. What the hell do I do?

 

[kimbowee]

When you added your new fish did you acclimatise them first to the new tank water?

It sounds like you added too many fish a once for starters. I was reading your previous posts. I read you cycled with 2 tetras. When you did this your filter produced enough good bacteria to handle these 2 fish. You should slowly introduce 1-2 a fish a week, maybe 3 at most. Adding too many fish at once could cause a mini-cycle which would account for the elevated ammonia reading. Try doing a 20% daily water change to keep the ammonia & eventually the nitrites down.

How many fish are currently in the tank? This is the 20 gal tank, correct? When your set up is complete you should only have about 20 inches of adult fish in the tank.

Did you figure out if there was a disease in your tank? If so did you remove the carbon from your filter before adding the coppersafe? From waht I gathered from your previous posts this was probably a bacterial infection. I believe coppersafe is for external parasites not bacterial infection. This may be part of the problem also.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Nice posting Kimbowee.

Adding that amount of fish shouldnt neccessarily have killed them that quick, even f your tank was cycled with two small fish.

If one died on the way home, id be more weary of where and who you buy your fish from. Request their water stats in their tropical fish tanks, and compare them to your own. If they are quite different, it may pay to acclimate your fish for longer next time, cause it could be shock. If they are similar, id stay clear of them for a while and buy fish from another store.

When buying fish, before you do, look very close at the way they swim, any damage? (if so dont buy) are they stressed? Are there any visible bacterial infections? Etc, and you should come up with better, healthy fish.

Also, how long was that neon in the bag? Im surprised a fish died on the way home! Not a good sign. (To me that means there is something wrong with that lfs, or the amount of travelling time spent in the bag)

Oh, and if he packed the fish in the one bag, ask for seperate bas for each species next time you buy any fish!

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Yes, I acclimated them first. When i started the tank i added about 8 fish in a week. ( i didnt know better) I lost a few then eventually added some more, so the bio load is not the problem. I just tested the water and the ammonia and nitrites are 0 now. So you suggest I get some bacterial medicine instead of the usiing the coppersafe? I just lost 2 more, for a total of four overnight.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

and if you think its a bacterial infection, what medication do you recommend me getting becasue Im about to lose another one.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

It is a 20 gallon BTW. Only symptoms are labored/heavy breathing thats it. Afterwards when they start dying, they jutst twitch and swim in circles before dying.

 

[Gourami Girl]

This sounds really weird, almost like the fish are being poisoned or something.

Do they not have any symptoms at all?

It might be that they have internal parasites, in which case i would treat with Waterlife Sterazin, but you'll have to read the directions on the treatment you've been using to see how long you have to wait before using another.


I would do a third water change anyway and then use the Sterazin, i really don't know what else to suggest if the readings are all fine.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Yeah, this is what Im not getting. There are no visible symptoms. Ive lost 13 fish since wednesday/thursday, with the bulk coming over the weekend. I did a 20% change last night. If anyone has had similiar problems or any other suggestions, please, please post them. This is killing me too.

Thanks Gourami Girl

 

[Bloo]

how on earth can you recommend treating / medicating fish when there is NO indication that they have internal parasites ?

Never ever treat fish with medication unless you are absolutely sure what you are treating for.

It sounds like a straightforward case of too much too soon.

The tank is only newly cycled and probably cannot handle the bioload and the fish as a result are dying.

Neons really aren't very hardly fish and though it's uncommon to die on the way home, it could have been a case of stress.

Do not add any more fish unless the tank is cycled and stable.

Good luck

This sounds really weird, almost like the fish are being poisoned or something.

Do they not have any symptoms at all?

It might be that they have internal parasites, in which case i would treat with Waterlife Sterazin, but you'll have to read the directions on the treatment you've been using to see how long you have to wait before using another.


I would do a third water change anyway and then use the Sterazin, i really don't know what else to suggest if the readings are all fine.

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[Breakthecycle2]

The tank pretty much is cycled. Readings are 0. I cycled with a few rgular neons and I only lost one at the time. I started with 6 fish, some I still have, some dyed and some I got rid of. I added 6 black neons a week later which all died but one. I dont see this being the problem as I only have 7 small fish left, at one poiint i had 18. I know it was over stocked but, most of them where an inch or under and all reading where ok. Theres got to be something in there, I just dont know what. Adding those fish last week seemed to have no effect on the bio load, buit definatly is playing in hand in killing all my fish, meaning they were infected with something I would assume.

 

[Bloo]

That's exactly the problem. 18 fish in a new tank ? - and at that, fish that aren't hardy that's where your problems lies. Neons should really only be added to tanks of 6 months or older.

Neons are tiny fish and the bioload they would have cycled the tank with would have been very small indeed.
I sincerely doubt that they were diseased.

I'm afraid you're just going to have to take this very slowly and make sure you don't stock too quickly too soon.

 

[Gourami Girl]

Bloozoo2

I was simply trying to find a practical solution to this problem, it's all very well saying the tank is probably 'cycling', but we've already been told the readings on the tank are fine, so this clearly isn't the problem.

Most of the queries on this forum unfortunately end with the person saying the fish in question died anyway and i was trying to prevent any more deaths.

If the fish aren't suffering from internal parasites it won't harm them to treat the tank anyway.

In the absense of any other advice, I still feel that mine is worth a go.

 

[Bloo]

Bloozoo2

I was simply trying to find a practical solution to this problem, it's all very well saying the tank is probably 'cycling', but we've already been told the readings on the tank are fine, so this clearly isn't the problem.

Most of the queries on this forum unfortunately end with the person saying the fish in question died anyway and i was trying to prevent any more deaths.

If the fish aren't suffering from internal parasites it won't harm them to treat the tank anyway.

In the absense of any other advice, I still feel that mine is worth a go.

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I disagree. Neons are not hardy fish (neither are Rams) and most treatments kill all the bacteria which means that the tank has to cycle all over.

So unless you are entirely sure that the fish are diseased, there is absolutely no point in randomly treating for something entirely unknown.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I know the neons arent hardy, what i was getting at was that they lasted through the initial cycling then all of a sudden with no visible signs, they died along with others. If the tank was re-cycling, there would be spikes wouldnt there? Everything is at 0, thats why Its gotta be something else, I just dont know what.

 

[JDS]

I know the neons arent hardy, what i was getting at was that they lasted through the initial cycling then all of a sudden with no visible signs, they died along with others. If the tank was re-cycling, there would be spikes wouldnt there? Everything is at 0, thats why Its gotta be something else, I just dont know what.

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Just wondering what testing kit you are using? Any chance it's out of date or anything?