new to this fish thing

[retrogame888]

PLEASE HELP
i got a second hand tank set up. with filter and heater ect. gave it all a good clean, set the tank up ran it for a month with no fish , then put some fish in (only 5) . after two weeks the slowly died. apart from one of the sucking fish. so i left a week and put 5 more in. a week later, they died again. apart from the first sucking fish and the new sucking fish. left for 3 weeks. the two sucking fish are still ok. i put 3 more fish in last weekend and they are going the same way, the filter i have has the oxegen bit on as well as filter. so ive put in a new pump. and the heater is running the tank at 25c. im lost and any advice on this would be great.
thanks

 

[OohFeeshy]

So... I take it you didn't cycle, just left it running for a month? My guess is there are no bacteria on the filter media to convert fish waste (ammonia) into less toxic forms. Right, lets start off with....
1.Tank size?
2. What fish are in there?

DON'T add any more fish. I'd reccomend doing a 20% water change now to dilute whatever ammonia etc. are in there now. Do you have a test kit? If not, get either a master test kit, or one for ammonia and one for nitrite. Liquid is best.

 

[Joviella]

I could write loads to help you.....but people have written it all before. Try reading some of the pinned topics on cycling tanks.HTH.Good Luck.x.

 

[retrogame888]

So... I take it you didn't cycle, just left it running for a month? My guess is there are no bacteria on the filter media to convert fish waste (ammonia) into less toxic forms. Right, lets start off with....
1.Tank size?
2. What fish are in there?

DON'T add any more fish. I'd reccomend doing a 20% water change now to dilute whatever ammonia etc. are in there now. Do you have a test kit? If not, get either a master test kit, or one for ammonia and one for nitrite. Liquid is best.

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[rdd1952]

You need to buy a master test kit (liquid preferably) so you can test the ammonia, nitrite and pH of your water. The high levels of ammonia and/or nitrite is what is killing your fish. That comes from not having a cycled tank as has already been mentioned. Ammonia and nitrite should always be 0 in a cycled tank. I would imagine your's are both well over 1.0 which is very toxic. As chali mentioned, check the pinned topics on cycling at the top of the Beginners section.

Also, welcome to the forum. There are a lot of very knowledgable people here that can help you get things straightened out.

 

[retrogame888]

[the tank is about 90 litres . i went to a fish shop they never said anything about cycling, just told me to put some filter start liquid in and put some food in while i was letting the tank run over the month, the fish that have died are a mixture , plattys, guppys, angle fish. you say about the test kits ? the answers is no too. what do i need to test for ? my fish shop hasnt been a lot of help. thanks

 

[fish_keeper2]

as has been stated we need to know the tank size and the fish u had,
and you should get the water tested cuzz the way it sounds the fish could have been killed by high levels of nitrite, ammonia, and/or nitrate

 

[OohFeeshy]

The test kit is basicly to see how toxic your water is to fish. At the moment, its pretty toxic. As I said earlier, your best bet is to do a 20% or so water change (do you have dechlorinator?) and get a test kit. Then you can work from there

 

[retrogame888]

taken that the ammonia . nitrite is high. because i havent cycled the tank. do i have to start again and do this ? can i still leave the two sucking fish that have survied in the tank in there while this is done. thanks

 

[Joviella]

Some fish shops out there are only interested about making a profit in their shops. Now you actually have fish,it is possible to cycle the tank with them still in there.Please don't add any other fish until your water parameters are of the right levels.
As previously stated.....the best thing you can buy next is a master test kit to test your water for ammonia,nitrite and nitrate.

 

[retrogame888]

a dechlorinator, i used this when i fist filled the tank up with water. yes.

 

[retrogame888]

yep, i will get a test kit and see what is going on. i wont be putting any more fish in , i was given up on the fish idea. but now i will get this right with a little help from you good people. what is the right way of cycling my tank now. is it just a case of geting the ammonia levels down ect. ? how do you do that ? sorry to sound dum but i havent got a clue, my pond fish are doing well .. ha ha

 

[rdd1952]

i went to a fish shop they never said anything about cycling, just told me to put some filter start liquid in and put some food in while i was letting the tank run over the month

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Some fish shops out there are only interested about making a profit in their shops.

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It sounds like they did try to help him cycle the tank by telling him to add fish food while the tank was sitting but didn't elaborate on exactly what it was for and how to do it. That actually would have worked if done properly.

yep, i will get a test kit and see what is going on. i wont be putting any more fish in , i was given up on the fish idea. but now i will get this right with a little help from you good people. what is the right way of cycling my tank now. is it just a case of geting the ammonia levels down ect. ? how do you do that ? sorry to sound dum but i havent got a clue, my pond fish are doing well .. ha ha

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More than likely, if you get the ammonia and nitrite down, your problem will be solved. Your pH is also important and can cause problems but only if it is very unstable so I doubt that is an issue. Don't worry about sounding dumb. A very large majority of us are members of this forum because we were totally ignorant of fish care when we started and came here in search of help.

 

[fish_keeper2]

i get the strange feeling that these "sucker fish" are common plecs. how big is this tank. if they are plecsit would be best to rehome them if the tank is too small or if the tank is large enough then just limit the amount of food they get as they make quite a bit of waste

 

[retrogame888]

hi there
last week you gave me loads of advice, many thanks. i went away got a test kit.(could only get a tablet one) done some tests ammonia was fine, nitrite was good, p.h was fine. but the nitrate was very high. the test only goes to 100 mmp per litre. and looking at the test it was 100+. so the tank was cycled ok, sounds like luck more than anything. so over the last 4 days ive charged the water at 25% with declorinser going back in with the tap water. its now doen to 25-50%. not sure what to get it down to. i guess about 25% . ?? i plan on checking the water over the next two weeks and doing a part water change every week . do you think it will be ok in 2-3 weeks if the levels as still good to try some new fish (3 fish ? ) . any other advice would be great. thanks for all the help. tony