Hi. I am new to this forum and am grieving over a catastrophe.
I have had a 12 gallon tank for 7 years and recently had the bright idea to buy a larger tank.
I researched, I shopped around and I ended up buying a 37 gallon Marineland glass tank with glass canopy that came with:
a biowheel filter that hangs on the edge, a 200 watt heater and a fluorescent light.
The tank is 30"W x 12"D x 24"H.
I spent the weekend assembling the stand, preparing the tank, rinsing the new silk plants, rinsing 80 lbs. of Caribsea sunset gold aquarium sand (took 4 hours), then assembling it, adding water, dechlorinator and 1/2 cup salt (1 Tbsp/5 gallons), and putting everything into place. I made sure that I added water that was the same temperature as my old tank. I tested the pH and found that my existing tank was 7.6 and the new water was more like 7.2, though.
I put in all of the existing decorations and added old ones I had used years ago (rinsed), gathered the old gravel into nylons to place at the bottom temporarily and then put the old filter in running it simultaneously with the new one.
And then I let it run for a day (almost)
When I decided to add the fish, I read a post by someone who said that if you use the old filter system, the tank being new is inconsequential and that the bacteria would be able to handle the bio-load until the new filter became established. So, I caught and bagged them as gently as possible in multiple bags and floated them for 20 mins in the new tank and then released them.
They were fine for a short while.
Then, within a few minutes three of my older and larger platys just died!
I was horrified.
Then I noticed the neons were all in formation (reminds me of geese flying) and they were hovering an inch above the sand. Several were pale, though.
Less than an hour later, two of them were dead.
A few hours later, I thought it was going to be okay because they were starting to swim around. I waited a bit and then fed them a tiny bit of food just to see what would happen.
Most of them eagerly went for the food and I sighed in relief.
Then... less than an hour later my betta was dead on the bottom and several more neons were missing (later found dead) and one of the black skirt tetras was dead.
I came home from work today and saw I was down to 3 neons (out of 8), 3 platys and 1 black skirt tetra.
I tried to be happy about them swimming around and fed them a tiny bit of food again. They were eating and seemed fine.
THEN... my last black skirt tetra was gone. I found her under a plant and upside down. She was still flapping her fins and breathing, but it was labored and the poor fish couldn't seem to upright herself. I know by now she must be dead, too.
I'm watching my remaining 3 neons happily swimming around (which is new - they had remained still or hiding until recently) and I occasionally see a platy move about (the others are hiding between rock decorations and the sand which they hollowed out.)
I realize I messed up big time.... but, I don't understand what I did that was so horrible that it would kill almost everyone!
I am beside myself with guilt. But, I had looked through hundreds of website articles and poured over tons of forum posts in an effort to understand how to move fish from one tank to another and I did what I thought was correct.
Do you have any advice... sorry this is so long. Thank you for being there and for listening. (sigh)
Tank size: 37 gallons
pH: currently it is 7.6
ammonia: between .1 and .25
nitrite: 0
nitrate: ?
kH: ?
gH: ?
tank temp: 73 F
Fish Symptoms: loss of color in some (neons, betta), floating on side or upside down with occasional forward movement but mostly "drifting", shy/hiding under rocks/crevices
Volume and Frequency of water changes: 35 gallons of new water and 2+ gallons of water from previous tank
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Tetra Aquasafe dechlorinator, sea salt
Tank inhabitants: 1 betta, 6 platys, 8 neon tetras, 3 black skirt tetras (initially)
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): silk plants, sand, decorative glass globs (all were rinsed)
Exposure to chemicals: None that I know of
I have had a 12 gallon tank for 7 years and recently had the bright idea to buy a larger tank.
I researched, I shopped around and I ended up buying a 37 gallon Marineland glass tank with glass canopy that came with:
a biowheel filter that hangs on the edge, a 200 watt heater and a fluorescent light.
The tank is 30"W x 12"D x 24"H.
I spent the weekend assembling the stand, preparing the tank, rinsing the new silk plants, rinsing 80 lbs. of Caribsea sunset gold aquarium sand (took 4 hours), then assembling it, adding water, dechlorinator and 1/2 cup salt (1 Tbsp/5 gallons), and putting everything into place. I made sure that I added water that was the same temperature as my old tank. I tested the pH and found that my existing tank was 7.6 and the new water was more like 7.2, though.
I put in all of the existing decorations and added old ones I had used years ago (rinsed), gathered the old gravel into nylons to place at the bottom temporarily and then put the old filter in running it simultaneously with the new one.
And then I let it run for a day (almost)
When I decided to add the fish, I read a post by someone who said that if you use the old filter system, the tank being new is inconsequential and that the bacteria would be able to handle the bio-load until the new filter became established. So, I caught and bagged them as gently as possible in multiple bags and floated them for 20 mins in the new tank and then released them.
They were fine for a short while.
Then, within a few minutes three of my older and larger platys just died!
I was horrified.
Then I noticed the neons were all in formation (reminds me of geese flying) and they were hovering an inch above the sand. Several were pale, though.
Less than an hour later, two of them were dead.
A few hours later, I thought it was going to be okay because they were starting to swim around. I waited a bit and then fed them a tiny bit of food just to see what would happen.
Most of them eagerly went for the food and I sighed in relief.
Then... less than an hour later my betta was dead on the bottom and several more neons were missing (later found dead) and one of the black skirt tetras was dead.
I came home from work today and saw I was down to 3 neons (out of 8), 3 platys and 1 black skirt tetra.
I tried to be happy about them swimming around and fed them a tiny bit of food again. They were eating and seemed fine.
THEN... my last black skirt tetra was gone. I found her under a plant and upside down. She was still flapping her fins and breathing, but it was labored and the poor fish couldn't seem to upright herself. I know by now she must be dead, too.
I'm watching my remaining 3 neons happily swimming around (which is new - they had remained still or hiding until recently) and I occasionally see a platy move about (the others are hiding between rock decorations and the sand which they hollowed out.)
I realize I messed up big time.... but, I don't understand what I did that was so horrible that it would kill almost everyone!
I am beside myself with guilt. But, I had looked through hundreds of website articles and poured over tons of forum posts in an effort to understand how to move fish from one tank to another and I did what I thought was correct.
Do you have any advice... sorry this is so long. Thank you for being there and for listening. (sigh)
Tank size: 37 gallons
pH: currently it is 7.6
ammonia: between .1 and .25
nitrite: 0
nitrate: ?
kH: ?
gH: ?
tank temp: 73 F
Fish Symptoms: loss of color in some (neons, betta), floating on side or upside down with occasional forward movement but mostly "drifting", shy/hiding under rocks/crevices
Volume and Frequency of water changes: 35 gallons of new water and 2+ gallons of water from previous tank
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Tetra Aquasafe dechlorinator, sea salt
Tank inhabitants: 1 betta, 6 platys, 8 neon tetras, 3 black skirt tetras (initially)
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): silk plants, sand, decorative glass globs (all were rinsed)
Exposure to chemicals: None that I know of
