New Fish Dying

[Nemo8269]

I need a little help. I've bought quite a few fish over the last week and some are dying.

these are my stats:

Ph: 6.4
Amonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 80

I did a 25% water change on Sunday and i'm going to do another today to see if this helps. They haven't been fed for two days either hoping this would also help.

any advice would be appreciated

 

[tttnjfttt]

How long did you aclimate your fish for, and how did you aclimate them? What is the nitrate reading of your tap water? Do you notice any physical signs of illness on the fish?

Definately keep up with the water changes on a daily basis, until your nitrite is back at zero and your nitrate is significantly lower

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How many and what types of fish did you add plus how many gallons is the tank? The nitrites indicates the tank is cycling, adding too many fish at once to a tank can cause it to mini cycle- i also agree that doing water changes with dechlorinator will help significantly .

 

[mrjames]

if the fish were healthy to start with and you have put them into (realisticly) an unhealthy tank. the nitrite should be zero with the amonia. the nitrate is harder to keep low but u should definately do an emergency 50% water change to bring it down. its way to high! dont forget nitrate is the pollution from the fish,plants ect and keeping it as low as poss is important. try using RO water from shop.its perfect! maybe u also bought to many fish to soon, this would stress them bigtime!
let me no how you get on.

good luck
james

 

[Nemo8269]

I'm watching my fish and most of them if not all seem to be flicking themselves against the plants and ornaments. Is this due to being irritated by the conditions or something else.

the fish that unfortunatleyu did die didn't look unhealthy, one day they seemed fine the next they were dead.

as for the size of the tank its a large corner jewel tank i think about 180lts, not sure what that translates to in gallons.

 

[annka5]

IMO first thing is to sort out the water - the relatively poor conditions will have shocked them and that could've brough on some kind of illness.
Sounds like something parasitic, but until you know what it is you shouldn't be adding meds - concentrate on getting the water a lot better. Nitrite zero and nitrate within 20ppm of your tap water (obviously, if your tap water has stupidly high nitrates, this wioll be too much!)

 

[Nemo8269]

I'm not sure of the nitrite readings of my tap water as i took a sample to a friends house to test as i don't have the testing kit yet. I'm going to do a water change of 25% to see if this helps

 

[Nemo8269]

I've done a 25% water change but what about feeding, they haven't been fed for 2 days now should i feed them or lay off for another day?

Plus when is the best time to retest the water after a water change?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi nemo8269

The elevated nitrites might be what is causing your fish to flick themselves, but don't rule out other possibilities too. Watch for signs of ich or bacterial infections too. If it's the nitrate, they should stop once you have that reduced to zero.

The nitrates are another matter. It's a lot harder to get them down once they have gone up. If your tap water is naturally high, you will always have to do more water changes than if it's low and it would be a good idea to keep it somewhat understocked too. If the nitrates in your tap water is low, it will still take many water changes to bring it down, so don't get discouraged.

If your fish are hungry, feed them. Just plan to keep doing regular water changes until conditions have gone back to normal. Also, be careful to keep the water temperature constant and avoid overfeeding to prevent any additional problems from developing while they are stressed from the high nitrates.

 

[XxTbaggerxX]

Plus when is the best time to retest the water after a water change?

I always do a 25% water change one every week but it depends on your tap water.

 

[fishfishfish]

what kinds of fish did you get.if you got say an oscar and tetras the oscar will kil or eat them.or any other form of aggressive cichlid

 

[love cichlids]

No one has asked how long have you had your tank set up. I sounds like you are still cycling. You should change 20% of water everyday until your readings are good, test them before and after water changes to make sure the nitrite and nitrates are down a bit.

 

[Nemo8269]

No one has asked how long have you had your tank set up. I sounds like you are still cycling. You should change 20% of water everyday until your readings are good, test them before and after water changes to make sure the nitrite and nitrates are down a bit.

Iv'e had the tank 4 months now and previous readings were good. Its jsut since i bought more fish and changed from gravel to sand with real plants that the readings have altered.

 

[Katster]

when you chenged the gravel over, did you put all your old water down the sink then refil from the tap?

 

[Nemo8269]

when you chenged the gravel over, did you put all your old water down the sink then refil from the tap?

I removed 25% of the water as i would when doing a regular water change plus about 80% of the gravel at eh same time. I filled it back up again once i had put the new sand in and plants with tap water treated with stress coat and brought upto temperature