New Tank, Fish Are Dying

[d_j_phats]

my tank is one week old, about 20 Gallons, live plants, 200w heater, external filter.

we have the following fish in our tank:

17 Neon Tetras
2 Orange Gouramis (1 Male, 1 Female)
2 Blue Gouramis (1 Male, 1 Female) [they look awsome under the lights]
2 Siamesse Fighting Fish (1 Male, 1 Female)
2 Orange Platties
1 Black Mollie
2 Silver Tails
1 Plecostamus
3 Catfish
4 Fancy Guppies
2 Kuhli Loaches

2 Neon Tetras died in the first 2 days... leaving us with 17
1 Dalmation Mollie and 1 Plecostamus died just today (about 3-4 days after the Tetras)

plus, our Black Mollie and one Kuhli Loach didn't seem to happy today (both were acting in an unusual manner)

the Mollie has been sitting on the tank bottom.

our pH level is at 7.2
Temp: 25 Degrees Celcius (75 Degrees F)

All our fish, Hardware were/was purchased as advised by our local Aquarium Store

is this normal for fish to just die (when they were fine an hour earlier?)

Any help as to what i can do to stop this occuring would be a Great help...

Thank you in Advance for any help....

 

[juliethegr8t]

Hi there. I take it you didn't do what is called "cycling" your tank. This is a process where helpful bacteria grow in your tank and help to perform a cycle of converting ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. There is an article pinned at the top of the Beginner's Forum I'd suggest you read it. Your tank is very overstocked and I suspect you have sky-high levels of ammonia, which kills fish rapidly. So I'd also suggest you invest in a water testing kit so you can keep an eye on certain water levels.

 

[Cian McLiam]

Hi,
Im very suprised the fish store sold all those fish for a new tank, did you buy them all the same day?
As Julie said your tank is overstocked quite a bit for a new tank and while the filter is probably the right one for the job, it will only perform one of its two important functions necessary to keep the tank healthy. It takes time (up to 6-8 weeks) for bacteria to build up fully in the filter to remove the waste products from the fish. They are producing ammonia all the time but its also highly toxic to fish. At the moment your filter is only providing mechanical filtration ie. removing solid waste, the liquid waste like ammonia pass right through until the bacteria start to grow inside the filter sponges etc.
In the mean time, im afraid you will probably lose some fish. Dont beat yourself up over it or get discouraged, in time you will see that the fish shop were ill advised to let you purchase so much fish and yet leave out the important information that you need. I would suggest shopping around your local petstores and aquarium specialists to see who is friendly and who isnt and who is offering the best advice.

In the mean time, your next step would be to check out the posts in the beginners forum and buy a test kit for ammonia and nitrite.

Good Luck,

Ken

 

[wuvmybetta]

uhhmm.....please find a new lfs after you finish this ordeal, any store that sells you 40 fish to go into 20 gallons does not deserve your business, they clearly had no regard for your or the fishes welfare ,that's terrible that they let this happen to you

 

[Kossy]

Yes absolutely i would immediately go to the lfs and complain to them that they sold 40 to a 20g uncycled tank. As a result your fish are dying. I might suggest maybe investing in a nice fish keeping book, they are a great source of information for new fish keepers

 

[d_j_phats]

thanks all for your help. read that article in the newbies forum and printed out the pointers for cycling an uncycled tank. went to the local store where i had originaly bought the fish. they were very apologetic (as you would be) and $50nz later i had an Ammonia Test Kit, Nitrite Test Kit, and AmmoLock 2...

Tested for ammonia, 0 (so no ammonia?)
Tested for Nitrite, 0.3

so i have started changing the water at 10% every day.

will this work? or am i just going to loose all my fish.

so far i have lost 5 from the original lot. and they wern't all bought at the same time. they were purchased over several days.

(Our Black Mollie and one Kuhli Loach passed away this morning.)

plus my other Kuhli Loach, and my last placostamus (is that what they are called?) have misteriously disapeared (i fear the worst)

anyway, hopfully this water changing will fix the problem soon enough to save some of the fish.

thanks again for your help.

Correction.... |Tank Size: 32 Gallons, 145 Litres|

 

[Beesboer]

If I were you, I would ask the LFS where you buy every thing to house your fish until you have cycled the tank. I know some fish shops have empty cycled tanks and will do it for not too much money. I would also asked them to house my fish free of charge, because they took advantage from you and sell you all the stuff without telling you maybe the most important thing of a new tank.

Hope this help & good luck.