I’m not sure what I did wrong

[Smartjacob]

Hiya, so I’m new to this forum and owning an aquarium. I purchased a rectangular 60 litre tank with a filter, heater, air pump etc for tropical fish. Everything was washed before being placed in the tank with warm water. I also got some aqua start and bacto start for the tank because it was new and I read that this would help for the new fish. I let it cycle through. I then I purchased some 6 X cherry barbs and 2 X zebra snails. After letting the bag sit in the water for half an hour and letting water into the bag every 10 minutes or so I let the barbs out of the bag and the snails. Everything was fine for around 8 hours until the water started going milky, which when I checked google it was called “bacterial bloom” and should be expected when putting new fish in a new tank. About 4 hours later the fish one by one started to rush to the surface and gulp the air, shortly after that they would go lifeless and float around the tank and then suddenly come back and then go lifeless again. Then I’d find them dead at the bottom of the tank. I’m not sure what I did or how I can fix it. Could someone help me?

 

[itiwhetu]

How long did you let the tank cycle for

 

[Smartjacob]

How long did you let the tank cycle for

A few days, as the instructions said.

 

[itiwhetu]

It may not have cycled completely. There are cycling experts here that will respond soon.

 

[Smartjacob]

It may not have cycled completely. There are cycling experts here that will respond soon.

Yeah okay, thank you.

 

[Circus]

Usually a cycle can take up to 6 weeks, without live plants. This is adding fishfood/dead shrimp/ammonia every few days and monitoring the levels. This is cycling for beginners.
And this is what you will need if you have any surviving fish.

My first recommendation is doing a 75% water change, and don't forget to match temperature and add your decholrinator.

 

[Utar]

I agree with Circus, cycling takes up to three to four weeks, but sometimes it takes longer. When your new fish started having problems did you do a big water change?

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

we all learn from our mistakes; just like when you stated that the barbs would gulp for air at the top of the tank. I don't think they can do that , and please correct me if i'm wrong. I hope next time works out a whole lot better. and kudos to you for having a nice sized tank!

 

[Smartjacob]

Usually a cycle can take up to 6 weeks, without live plants. This is adding fishfood/dead shrimp/ammonia every few days and monitoring the levels. This is cycling for beginners.
And this is what you will need if you have any surviving fish.

My first recommendation is doing a 75% water change, and don't forget to match temperature and add your decholrinator.

Yeah okay, thank you!

 

[Circus]

Yeah okay, thank you!

Of course! I hope everything goes okay. Keep us updated?

 

[Smartjacob]

I di

I agree with Circus, cycling takes up to three to four weeks, but sometimes it takes longer. When your new fish started having problems did you do a big water change?

dnt really have a chance to change the water, they started acting weird early in the morning (12-1)

 

[Essjay]

Do you have any fish left alive? Or snails? What to do next depends on whether there is anything alive in the tank.

If there is, you are doing a fish-in cycle and we can help you keep the remaining ones alive.
If there is nothing left alive, you need to do a fishless cycle before getting any more fish (or snails).

This is the fishless cycling sticky. The first part of it explains what cycling is. If you don't have anything left, this is the method to follow rather than methods you'll read elsewhere.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

But if any fish or snails are still alive, please tell us and we can talk you through how to cycle the tank with them in there.

 

[Smartjacob]

Do you have any fish left alive? Or snails? What to do next depends on whether there is anything alive in the tank.

If there is, you are doing a fish-in cycle and we can help you keep the remaining ones alive.
If there is nothing left alive, you need to do a fishless cycle before getting any more fish (or snails).

This is the fishless cycling sticky. The first part of it explains what cycling is. If you don't have anything left, this is the method to follow rather than methods you'll read elsewhere.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

But if any fish or snails are still alive, please tell us and we can talk you through how to cycle the tank with them in there.

So I’ve got two snails left and all of the fish are dead unfortunately .

 

[Essjay]

That's unusual! Assuming the zebra snails are nerites, they usually die at the first sign of water problems.

Do you have anywhere you can move the snails to? Any small container will be OK as long as it can be covered as snails will climb out. You will need to do a water change every day or two, but that's easy with a small container.
You'll also need to feed them. The simple way is to get a few rocks and something made of glass, then out the rocks into the glass container full of water on the sunniest windowsill in your home. The rocks should grow algae on them; put the rocks, one at a time, in with the snails. When they've eaten all the algae put the now clean rock in the glass of water and put another algae covered one in the with the snails.

Now for the tank. In my last post I gave you a link for fishless cycling. Read it through a few times till you get your head round it.
Ammonia is not very easy to come by these days but Amazon and Ebay do sell it. You need to read the item description carefully to make sure it does not contain detergent, surfactant, perfume etc. Or look for Dr Tim's ammonium chloride.
You'll also need a test kit. Most of us use the API Master Test Kit.
Bacterial starters can speed up the cycle - Tetra Safe Start is one of the most recommended.

Then just follow the instructions in the link.



Dr Tim's ammonium chloride
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00WSNYRDS/?tag=

API test kit
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000255NCI/?tag=

Tetra Safe Start (ignore the other products Amazon's search finds)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=tetra+...safe,pets,161&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_10&tag=