Newbie

[Kittie]

Hi there I'm a complete beginner in the world of fish keeping - its my sons fault - he wanted a tank and we're both hooked! Trouble is there is so much information to take in - We only have glowlight tetras at the moment which have been in the tank for 2 months - we left the tank for a month before we added them - so far we've done ok all was going swimmingly and then we had a plague of snails and in my efforts to get rid of them with some over zealous cleaning I may have done something wrong because 1 tetra died suddenly and now the others are behaving very strangely and losing colour!!! aaagggg!

I've enjoyed reading all the topics recently so I thought I'd join and see if anyone has any help to give me!

 

[lorilinb04]

Welcome to the funnest hobby...To start out what size tank do you have and what type filteration do yo have?? Have you been dong water changes? How did you get rid of the snails?? Hope to hear from you..

 

[Mamaschild]

Welcome to the most addictive hobby I've ever found

Couple of things come to mind upon reading your post. You said you left your tank sitting for a month before putting the tetras in, did you fishless cycle your tank during that time? Or what was in it while it sat? Do you have a test kit to measure Ammonia, NitrItes, NitrAtes, Ph, Gh and Kh? If so, can you give us those numbers.

It sounds like your tank is going through a cycle and that will kill a lot of fish. This could be because of your cleaning of snails, but like asked already, how did you do that?

With more details, answers will be easier to come by. Hope to hear back from you soon

 

[freshmike]

Good luck with your probs......we will sure do all we can to help you!!!

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Kittie and welcome to the forum. It's good to have you here.

It sounds like you have hit a bump which is not unusual for newbies to the hobby. Just take it easy and learn a bit of science while you are here. Then all will go more smoothly.

It's a great hobby and you will love it. We're here to help you and before long you will be helping others, too.

 

[Eelzor]

several start from scatch here kit! welcome to the fish forumz!

 

[Kittie]

Thank you all so much for advice and welcome - after my initial panic I did buy an amonia test and ph test - amonia read zilch and the ph is just slightly on the acid side of neutral so nothing too bad there. The fish seem to have settled down since then and we haven't lost any more. In answer to a couple of your questions - when we left the tank before adding the fish we just had plants in it. We make sure we change about a third of the water each week. As for the blasted snails - I used a snail killer - well not so much of a killer really cos they're still there but in smaller quantities - I can live with that! Ooh yes it's a 72 gallon tank.

Now that things have settled we might add some more fish. Any suggestions???

Cheers everyone.

Kittie

 

[Inchworm]

Wow Kittie, you started off in a BIG way!

Did you read this article? http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...showtopic=10099

It is critical to your success with this hobby that you have at least a working knowledge of the science involved. Please spend time to learn how the whole thing works.

You have not done enough tests to be assured that your tank has cycled and if it has not, please wait. You will lose more fish if you add them prematurely.

Please buy the necessary test kits and above all else, add fish slowly--just a few at a time and test the water regularly. Do appropriate water changes, too.

If it takes a while to get things up and running, so much the better. It will give you more time to research the fish so that when you are ready you will know which ones get along together and which ones to avoid.

Good luck and remember that we are here to help you.

 

[n00dle]

hope you do well the first few months are a bit worrying because u always keep checking the tank but after a while u begin to learn more and stop worrying but u still have u moments wen u buy new fish or sumit goes wrong but try keep calm and ull get thru all of ur problems and it will turn out great