newbie needs help!

[ferminadaza]

hi, i'm a newbie with a 10 gallon tank, flourescent light, live plants, penguin bio wheel filter. tank has been constant 80 degrees and i change 10-20% of the water once a week. i *had* one catfish, two sunset platies, five serpa tetras, and they all seemed to be happy and healthy and then all of a sudden two of the serpa tetras died, along with the catfish.
Plus, the sunset platies have these white spots on them, which i looked up and is ich? and all the fish in general don't look too good, the tank has a fishy smell it didn't used to have.
any suggestions as to what is happening, what i'm doing wrong...? and if i get new fish, will they get infected with the parasite too? where does the parasite come from?

i think that i didn't properly cycle the tank...?

please help!

 

[ger87410]

That smell is ammonia. It's very bad. Read in the beginners section about cycling and test kits and ammonit/nitrite/nitrate.

 

[mashimaro_0000]

you said about water changes~ but did you vaccum the gravel as well? cuz amoina and nitrite sink at the bottom of the tank~ try to vaccum the gravel and keep changing water every day~ ( max 20%) aslso add something called CYCLE by Nutrfin. they release benifical bacteria and reduce the amount of fish deaths.....you said something like ich..... are those white spots look kind of fluffy or like a salt molecule if its fuffly then you have fungus , else its ich... try to get a medciene call QUICK CURE for treatment of ich..... then try to lower your tank temp by openning the tank access cover to let og of the heat...... normal tank is about 75F (add salt for you water changes ..... NO normal salt, must be AQURIUM salt otherwise your whole tank of fish will be gone~ )


anyways keep us notified try to post your water test results too! ( go to local fish store to do it for free if possible!)

good luck

 

[ger87410]

1 thing is, don't lower the temp until after you get the ick taken care of. Malachite green, raised temp and water changes is the remedy for ick.

 

[jrd77]

I agree.

Increase water changes to daily until your levels are at 0 Ammonia ,0 Nitrite, & and low nitrate. When you change the water, you don't have to stir up the gravel just stick the hose into the gravel and suction it. The addition of Cycle is a good idea. I have used it too.

Make sure you get out dead plant matter and dead fish ASAP as they will decrease your water quality.

Test your pH as well. Serpae tetras, in my experience, do not like anything above 6.8.

You need to determine what the white spots are. If they are fluffy, like cotton, it could be a fungus OR a bacteria. Ich is different and looks like little specks. Which ever one it is, treat accordingly. Leave your temp at 80 while you are medicating and add 1 tablespoon salt for every 5 gallons. When its all over and done with, you canm slowly lower the temp back to down to whatever you want it at. My tank is 78. Some people go lower.

Good luck. -Jessie

 

[ger87410]

What if you got fish that feed on the dead plant matter? Do you still remove it right away? I either medicate or add the salt. I try not to do it at the same time, but JRD probably has some experience with doing both at the same time. Also, make sure your fish can handle salt.

 

[ferminadaza]

well, it was an ammonia problem. i guess i thought my fish would get sick from it more gradually, but i lost almost all of them within a 12 hour period of when they started to look and act funny. since i wasn't doing daily water changes and the tank wasn't cycled, i guess they got stressed and more prone to disease? will try to go back to lfs today to get meds for remaining survivors. thanks for the tips, i read about cycling and meds and know i'm much more educated!