Newbie Needs Help With Tank

[tricky8]

hi all pleased to meet you, setup is roma 90 with fluval u2 filter .heater and pump with airstone on, gravel at bottom and 3 live plants ,2 wood,i had 5 neons and 2 male guppys and 4 females, 2 female guppys have died in 7 days i had tank setup but do have 9 fry in birth net doing well, why have the 2 died. first one was just dead with no sign of disease, 2nd today white specks but have treated water maybe a little late,! have done ph test and is dark blue. any advice what to do, is it because its a new tank .and not cycled, im using stress and water conditioners , did 20% water change yesterday, also guppys seem always 9 times out of ten to be right at top thoughts please

 

[Ben.M]

If the tank isnt cycled im suprised there are any fish still alive!!! I'm guessing that your ammonia levels will be sky high that is why the fish are so close to the top, ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish as it gets dissolved in to their blood and stops them from getting enogh oxygen so they get as close to the air at the top as possible. You need to read the posts on cycling a tank as you fish will not live in an uncycled tank!

 

[dunchp]

Too many fish, in too small a tank, too quickly.

It is recoverable, but you need to work to get the fish through the next 14 days or so. If you do a 30% water change at least once a day to dilute the ammonia and nitrite levels until the bacteria in your filter gets a chance to colonise sufficiently to break down these compounds. Increase the oxygen levels by aerating the water if you are not doing so already and if you can get hold of some floating plants from the garden centre which will also absorb some of the ammonia etc.

Contrary to some comments, it is not a given that all of your fish are going to die. Some of us have kept fish perfectly well without any filtration in bare tanks, this works fine but the work required is greatly increased.

 

[Ben.M]

Contrary to some comments, it is not a given that all of your fish are going to die. Some of us have kept fish perfectly well without any filtration in bare tanks, this works fine but the work required is greatly increased.

What i meant was that it is unlikly for the fish to survive if you have no knowlege of the fish/fishless cycle, once you know the basics of this i agree it is possible to keep them alive but as you said the work needed is increased

 

[tricky8]

Contrary to some comments, it is not a given that all of your fish are going to die. Some of us have kept fish perfectly well without any filtration in bare tanks, this works fine but the work required is greatly increased.

What i meant was that it is unlikly for the fish to survive if you have no knowlege of the fish/fishless cycle, once you know the basics of this i agree it is possible to keep them alive but as you said the work needed is increased

UPDATE male guppy died now so left with 5 neons 2 female guppies and 1 male 8 babies in net, no sign of disease on the deceased, sure tank isnt cycled ,what to do now, shall not be adding any more just need tank to stabilise and cycle so as not to lose whatsoever left,ph is dark blue , should i get an apiece test

 

[tricky8]

ok got some test results for you all, ph is 8.2 , ammonia is 0.25ppm, nitrite is 0.25ppm, nitrate is 20 ppm, any ideas why guppies dying, how do you interpret the results. have also bought some king british safe water treatment should i add this to the tank , thanks

 

[Harlequins]

ok got some test results for you all, ph is 8.2 , ammonia is 0.25ppm, nitrite is 0.25ppm, nitrate is 20 ppm, any ideas why guppies dying, how do you interpret the results. have also bought some king british safe water treatment should i add this to the tank , thanks

ph ok,nitrate ok(highest it should ever reach with fish in is 40ppm-50ppm)these are removed with weekly water changes,ammonia and nitrite needs to be closer to 0 ideally!,regular daily water changes will keep these in touch whilst your tank is cycling.
It's quite possible the fish have died due to ammonia/nitrite poisoning.

King british water safe claims to remove harmful ammonia/nitrites,i have never used this,so i can't comment,at the end of the day you need to cycle the tank to build up the bacteria in the filter and doing regular water changes and testing daily with the fish in there.
I did a fish in cycle,luckily i didn't lose any fish,but it was very stressful keeping the water levels of ammonia/nitrite very low has not to cause the fish harm.

I'm only a learner,i'm sure the experts can help you more,

How long has the tank been set up for ?

 

[tricky8]

ok got some test results for you all, ph is 8.2 , ammonia is 0.25ppm, nitrite is 0.25ppm, nitrate is 20 ppm, any ideas why guppies dying, how do you interpret the results. have also bought some king british safe water treatment should i add this to the tank , thanks

ph ok,nitrate ok(highest it should ever reach with fish in is 40ppm-50ppm)these are removed with weekly water changes,ammonia and nitrite needs to be closer to 0 ideally!,regular daily water changes will keep these in touch whilst your tank is cycling.
It's quite possible the fish have died due to ammonia/nitrite poisoning.

King british water safe claims to remove harmful ammonia/nitrites,i have never used this,so i can't comment,at the end of the day you need to cycle the tank to build up the bacteria in the filter and doing regular water changes and testing daily with the fish in there.
I did a fish in cycle,luckily i didn't lose any fish,but it was very stressful keeping the water levels of ammonia/nitrite very low has not to cause the fish harm.

I'm only a learner,i'm sure the experts can help you more,

How long has the tank been set up for ?

has been running 2 weeks ,1without fish one with.com so im quite close with the levels then,havent used that stuff yet but will do 25% water change sun, plants starting to go bit brown, feel that its almost there but not quite

 

[Harlequins]

ok got some test results for you all, ph is 8.2 , ammonia is 0.25ppm, nitrite is 0.25ppm, nitrate is 20 ppm, any ideas why guppies dying, how do you interpret the results. have also bought some king british safe water treatment should i add this to the tank , thanks

ph ok,nitrate ok(highest it should ever reach with fish in is 40ppm-50ppm)these are removed with weekly water changes,ammonia and nitrite needs to be closer to 0 ideally!,regular daily water changes will keep these in touch whilst your tank is cycling.
It's quite possible the fish have died due to ammonia/nitrite poisoning.

King british water safe claims to remove harmful ammonia/nitrites,i have never used this,so i can't comment,at the end of the day you need to cycle the tank to build up the bacteria in the filter and doing regular water changes and testing daily with the fish in there.
I did a fish in cycle,luckily i didn't lose any fish,but it was very stressful keeping the water levels of ammonia/nitrite very low has not to cause the fish harm.

I'm only a learner,i'm sure the experts can help you more,

How long has the tank been set up for ?

has been running 2 weeks ,1without fish one with.com so im quite close with the levels then,havent used that stuff yet but will do 25% water change sun, plants starting to go bit brown, feel that its almost there but not quite

Really you need to do test daily and do possibly water daily changes to keep ammonia/nitrite has close to zero has you can when you have fish in there,otherwise by the time you change the water sunday you're ammonia/nitrite will probably have risen more,due to the tank not fully cycled and the filter at thia stage is not processing the ammonia/nitrite fast enough with a fish load.Your readings were probably higher when you had more fish in there but they have since died.
In 2 weeks your tank is barely cycled,mine took 7-8 weeks before it showed zero on ammonia/nitrite daily,is what you are aiming to do.

 

[tricky8]

ok got some test results for you all, ph is 8.2 , ammonia is 0.25ppm, nitrite is 0.25ppm, nitrate is 20 ppm, any ideas why guppies dying, how do you interpret the results. have also bought some king british safe water treatment should i add this to the tank , thanks

ph ok,nitrate ok(highest it should ever reach with fish in is 40ppm-50ppm)these are removed with weekly water changes,ammonia and nitrite needs to be closer to 0 ideally!,regular daily water changes will keep these in touch whilst your tank is cycling.
It's quite possible the fish have died due to ammonia/nitrite poisoning.

King british water safe claims to remove harmful ammonia/nitrites,i have never used this,so i can't comment,at the end of the day you need to cycle the tank to build up the bacteria in the filter and doing regular water changes and testing daily with the fish in there.
I did a fish in cycle,luckily i didn't lose any fish,but it was very stressful keeping the water levels of ammonia/nitrite very low has not to cause the fish harm.

I'm only a learner,i'm sure the experts can help you more,

How long has the tank been set up for ?

has been running 2 weeks ,1without fish one with.com so im quite close with the levels then,havent used that stuff yet but will do 25% water change sun, plants starting to go bit brown, feel that its almost there but not quite

Really you need to do test daily and do possibly water daily changes to keep ammonia/nitrite has close to zero has you can when you have fish in there,otherwise by the time you change the water sunday you're ammonia/nitrite will probably have risen more,due to the tank not fully cycled and the filter at thia stage is not processing the ammonia/nitrite fast enough with a fish load.Your readings were probably higher when you had more fish in there but they have since died.
In 2 weeks your tank is barely cycled,mine took 7-8 weeks before it showed zero on ammonia/nitrite daily,is what you are aiming to do.

thanks for that , will change water thurs and test fri.

 

[Harlequins]

Its probably best to test before a water change to see what the readings are first,then test about 30mins after water change to see what they end up,has you may need to do another water change if the readings are still high.

good luck

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Tricky8.
You have found yourself in sort of a bad spot. You need to change as much water as it takes so that the ammonia and nitrite never actually reach 0.25 ppm. It may take anything from a daily 30% change to several times a day 50% changes. It is not too unusual for guppies to spend much of their time at the surface but your water quality begs for a good large water change right away, not waiting for Thursday or Friday. With the levels you have in the tanks right now, you will see a noticable improvement in your fish as soon as they experience that new water. It would be the kind of relief you would feel walking out of a smoke filled room.

 

[tricky8]

Welcome to the forum Tricky8.
You have found yourself in sort of a bad spot. You need to change as much water as it takes so that the ammonia and nitrite never actually reach 0.25 ppm. It may take anything from a daily 30% change to several times a day 50% changes. It is not too unusual for guppies to spend much of their time at the surface but your water quality begs for a good large water change right away, not waiting for Thursday or Friday. With the levels you have in the tanks right now, you will see a noticable improvement in your fish as soon as they experience that new water. It would be the kind of relief you would feel walking out of a smoke filled room.

hi all ,lost another guppy today , im going to change water now then will post new results up ,feed once a day now with only few fish left , keep u posted

 

[tricky8]

update then ,done 30% water change left tank an hour.lights out,fish seem happy. not at top as the others that died was, all seems calm, done a test and heres the results, ph 8.0, ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0.25, nitrate 40 ppm , any suggestions. keep changing water daily, until levels are correct

 

[Harlequins]

update then ,done 30% water change left tank an hour.lights out,fish seem happy. not at top as the others that died was, all seems calm, done a test and heres the results, ph 8.0, ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0.25, nitrate 40 ppm , any suggestions. keep changing water daily, until levels are correct

I would do another water change now,due to the fact you still have 0.25 ammonia/nitrite,even at this reading it can still cause harm to the fishies you have left.