New Tropical Fish Tank- Dying Fish?! :(

[Naughty.nursey]

Hey guys,

im knda new 2 ths so any help will b appreciated!...

i have just bought a brand new 28l tropical fish tank.
new filter.

i first started my tank up a week ago with:

5 really small platys
5 baby guppies
and 2 bottom feeder catfish things.

after 5 days i found one of my guppies dead in my weed...

4 days after that (yesterday) i got rid of my guppies and catfish yesterday so i could add my 3 new blak phantoms and 2 blind cavefish. as i was doing this i found one of my platys on the brink of dying in the corner of my tank (its now dead).

are they dying because of cycling???

i dont think im over feeding them! haha.
how do i stop my fish from dying?

i now have

4 baby platys
3 black phantoms (tetras)
and 2 cave fish with no eyes (no idea what they are called)

i would like them to stay alive!

HELP!!!!!!!!

 

[rdd1952]

First, hello and welcome to the forum.

are they dying because of cycling???

Most likely. With that many fish in an 7-8 gallon, uncycled tank, you are overstocked (3 to 4 hardy fish is really all you ever want to cycle with if you don't do a fishless cycle). And with livebearers, you will havve more fish coming. Do you have a test kit? If not, I would suggest getting a good liquid master kit (stay away from strips as they're inaccurate and expensive compared to liquid). You need one that an test for ammonia, nitrite, nirate and pH (ammonia and nitrite are by far the most important at this point). In the mean time, start doing 2 wter changes a day, about 50% each, to lower the ammonia and nitrite.

As far as overfeeding, for the number or fish you have, a small pinch of flakes once a day (maybe every 2nd or 3rd day until you're cycled) is plenty. If they can't eat it all in about 3 minutes, you fed too much.

 

[Naughty.nursey]

First, hello and welcome to the forum.

are they dying because of cycling???

Most likely. With that many fish in an 7-8 gallon, uncycled tank, you are overstocked (3 to 4 hardy fish is really all you ever want to cycle with if you don't do a fishless cycle). And with livebearers, you will havve more fish coming. Do you have a test kit? If not, I would suggest getting a good liquid master kit (stay away from strips as they're inaccurate and expensive compared to liquid). You need one that an test for ammonia, nitrite, nirate and pH (ammonia and nitrite are by far the most important at this point). In the mean time, start doing 2 wter changes a day, about 50% each, to lower the ammonia and nitrite.

As far as overfeeding, for the number or fish you have, a small pinch of flakes once a day (maybe every 2nd or 3rd day until you're cycled) is plenty. If they can't eat it all in about 3 minutes, you fed too much.

ok thanx 4 ur help thats round about hw much im feedng thm so thatll b swt... wud puttng live plants frm a cycled tank help the situatn???

i will go @ gt a liquid testng kit ths arvo.

Thanks

 

[Corleone]

Plants will use ammonia, but not enough to make a meaningful difference in a cycle except in heavily planted and lightly stocked tanks.

However, if you have access to a cycled tank, filter media from it will help immensely. A mature tank - that is, one that's been stable for 6 months - can generally lose about 1/4 to 1/3 of their filter bacteria at once without problem. If you swap the new filter media in your uncycled filter for mature media from the cycled one, you'll likely greatly shorten (possibly entirely skip) the cycle process.

 

[Naughty.nursey]

Plants will use ammonia, but not enough to make a meaningful difference in a cycle except in heavily planted and lightly stocked tanks.

However, if you have access to a cycled tank, filter media from it will help immensely. A mature tank - that is, one that's been stable for 6 months - can generally lose about 1/4 to 1/3 of their filter bacteria at once without problem. If you swap the new filter media in your uncycled filter for mature media from the cycled one, you'll likely greatly shorten (possibly entirely skip) the cycle process.

ok thanks,
my fish appear to be alot happier now, and i am doing frequent water changes 1-2 per day to stop the chemical levels getting to high.
i am hopng the worst is over! hopefuly i dont loose anymore fish!

thanx 4 all ur help!