dan168

hey i have had a tank running for about.... 1-2 months after my previous fish died (tiger barbs).... i water changed it than thinking maybe i should wait for the nitrogen cycle to take place. than for maybe 3 weeks algae started to form on the glass so i changed the water again... than 2 days before i got my new fish (3 Guppy's) i changed the water about 60%. i didn't really put food or anything in the tank to cycle it between the 2 months... maybe a pinch every 3-4 weeks... well anyways 2 of the guppies died within 5 hours...

what are some possibilities when i first put in the guppies.... 1 went completely berserk and was swimming rapidly crashing into things before passing on, on the bottom. the one remaining guppy looks perfectly fine... for now...

ShaynaB

My guess is that the tank isn't cycled. Do you have a water testing kit so you can tell us the readings? A lot of people here recommend the API Master Test Kit if you don't already have one.

Tanks need "food" to cycle. They don't just cycle on their own. You've come to the right place! Welcome to FishLore!

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore dan! and I agree with shaynab ...test the waters with the api liquid test kit...ammonia and nitrites should be 0 with nitrates below 20...goodluck!

capekate

Welcome to fishlore Dan,
I agree with the posters above. What may have happened is that you didnt 'feed' the tank while there were no fish in it and caused a collapse of your cycle. You may have had high ammonia/nitrite readings which caused your guppy to stress and die.
Keep feeding your tank every 12 hours and you should get a water test kit so you can monitor your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels before adding any new fish.
good luck...
~ kate

dan168

i used the API master test kit thing... i got all 0's for nitrate nitrite and ammonia.... but the ph looks around 8 like a little less than 8... is that too high?

dan168

i'm assuming.... that 1 first that was crashing into things and died had some disease.... because my water from the API test kit readings seems fine.... but my last surviving fish is doing horrible just sitting on the bottom with its gills moving.... i really want to run and get some aquarium salt but its 11pm....

Lucy

Hi dan, After reading your first post, and how the tank went 2 months with no ammonia source, I don't think your tank is cycled.

In a cycled tank, you should be showing at least some nitrates.
The 2nd nitrate bottle really needs to be shaken and banged on table and otherwise abused to get it mixed correctly.

Since you have a fish in the tank, you should do a water change now and continue that daily until you have 0 on both ammonia and nitrites and nitrates of 5-10 (even 20, but that's on the high side)

I hope the little guy make it, if not, please continue your cycle fishless by feeding the tank with a source of ammonia (fish food, 100% pure ammonia) until your readings are as stated above.

Your fish can usually adjust to your ph.

Good luck with your tank.

Shawnie

Hi dan..as lucy said, either the nitrate bottle wasnt skaken enough, you almost gotta bang that #2 bottle to mix up the crystals, or you still havent gone through the cycle yet...ammonia and nitrites are always 0, and nitrates should be under 20..so with 0 nitrates, its not there yet....acclimation of the fish to the new water could have shocked them a bit...did u let them sit in the water for awile before you released them? I hope some of this helps..goodluck and sorry for the loss of your fish

dan168

yeah i floated the bag for like 30 minutes than put some of my tank water in for another 30 minutes before i put the fish in