What Am I Doing Wrong?

[Commander Cool]

I have a 10 gallon tank. It is well planted and has hiding spots. Once it was set up the first time I got 7 neon tetras to put in there. Within 3 days all 7 had died. I fed them what the store told me and the tank was cycled. I dumped that water out and put all new water. Once that water was cycled I got some plants and another hiding place. Put the plants in for 2 days then went to get some black neon tetras. I origianlly bought 6 neons but when I got home 2 had died so I took them back and got black neons. I bought 6 black neons and they have been in there for 4 days. 4 have died already so right now I only have 3. Tommorrow I will go get 3-4 more so they can school but what am I doing wrong?

 

[rob newland]

My advice would be to leave those 3 and see how they get on before rushing out for more - they will be fine in a 3. If they die - I would try switching lfs.
You said the tank was cycled... Are all readings you got reading 0ppm?

 

[brittlestar]

I have a 10 gallon tank. It is well planted and has hiding spots. Once it was set up the first time I got 7 neon tetras to put in there. Within 3 days all 7 had died. I fed them what the store told me and the tank was cycled. I dumped that water out and put all new water. Once that water was cycled I got some plants and another hiding place. Put the plants in for 2 days then went to get some black neon tetras. I origianlly bought 6 neons but when I got home 2 had died so I took them back and got black neons. I bought 6 black neons and they have been in there for 4 days. 4 have died already so right now I only have 3. Tommorrow I will go get 3-4 more so they can school but what am I doing wrong?

Unfortuntely, contrary to popular belief, neons are really not very hardy little fish any more due to the amoutn of mass breeding. They shouldn't be added to tanks under 2 months old IMO. The best fish for new set ups are danios or platies. I would not add any more neons at all as they are highly intolerant of swings of PH or fluctuating nitrite levels. Sorry you are having a bad time

 

[Commander Cool]

Ok, I'm not going to get anymore for a little while. I will try to keep these 3 and once everything looks settled I might try tetras again. Thanks for the info.

 

[Commander Cool]

Well another one died today. Now down to 2 black neons. I am going to wait for a while and get the water stablized and get some danios. Once the water is good and danios have been going for a while I will go back to trying to get tetras.

 

[brittlestar]

Just keep on with your daily water changes and hopefully you will be able to save the other two

 

[Gankutsuou]

Yeah. I had the same problem, except with a few more factors into it.

Somehow, my Cardinals did better on surviving than the neons.
Glowlight tetra have been the best survivors of all thus far.

 

[Htw]

Hi, I agree with the glowlight tetras. They were my first addition after a fishless cycle, spawned as soon as I put them in and 5 years later I've still got one of the originals left.

 

[Bignose]

You said the tank was cycled... Are all readings you got reading 0ppm?

CC, this was the critical question that you missed and did not answer.

What are the current water stats? Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate concentrations need to be reported at the very least, though pH, hardness, KH, temperature would all also be nice too.

You can really only call a tank cycled after enough ammonia consuming bacteria have grown so that all the ammonia your fish respire will be consumed immediately. If there is not an ammonia source (fish or household ammonia that you have been adding to the tank via the method called 'fishless cycling'), the ammonia consuming bacteria will not grow, and the tank cannot be called cycled. (This is lengthy, but tells you almost everything you need to know about cycling http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099)

If you do not have a test kit yourself, I'd recommend you get one because it is the only way to know exactly what is going on in your tank's water. Otherwise, take a sample of your tank water to your LFS, they should test your water for free. Ask for the numbers, not just 'fine' or 'OK,' the numbers will help us help you a lot more.

Once you come back with this info, I think that a lot more help can be presented.