Nessie!!!

Two days ago I set up my aquarium. Yesterday I got my fish. I got three Tiger Barbs, One Rainbow/Red Tail Shark,an Orange Snail, and a baby Pleco. Late last night, I noticed that it started swimming really fast and then it just dropped. My friend was over and she used the fish net the get it off it''s back. Then after she left it just sat there. It's dead. I want to know what killed it because I only got it yesterday. It could have been my cat, Kin-Kin. He was in my room staring at the fish tank, because even my Rainbow/Red Tail Shark was out of his hiding place, and in the back of the tank swimming slowly with my Tiger Barbs. Yet I think my snail was moving. But can somebody please help me try to figure out what happened to it? I miss it really bad. It too was really skinny when I got it.

Allie

Sometimes the stress of a new tank kills fish.

Nessie!!!

Maybe that happened because he was swimming really fast and in a circle like patteren when he fell.

sirdarksol

How large of an aquarium do you have? Did you cycle your tank?
If you don't know what cycling is, read this
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Nessie!!!

I have a 16 Gallon Tank. And No, I dont think I did. But I did Get a water conditioner the removes Chlorine and Choloramine from the water. I did let it run over night with the filter on when I first got it.

metal_fish

Thats A problem letting your tank cycle is extremley important, also The pleco would have out grown the tank size and i beleive your red tailed shark is also too big youu have come to the right place many members here will help you get the knowledge you need to be a succseful aquarisit

Nessie!!!

Thanks for the info. Right now my Red Tailed Shark is tiny, so if he does get to big for the tank I think I can give it or sell it to someone, but I know with goldfish, if you put one in a tiny bowl, and one in a pond, the one in the pond will grow bigger then the one in the bowl because it has a bigger habitat.

capekate

Hello Nessie and welcome to fishlore!

Please reconsider buying anymore fish til you have read the introduction to fish keeping & the nitrogen/biological cycle of tanks. Your fish are dying because you put them in a tank that was only two days old. The water conditions are not right, if you add anymore you will only have more fish deaths. that is not fair to the fish or to you. When I started in this hobby many years ago, I also didnt know about fish keeping and thought a clean water tank was all you needed. I also lost many fish and got discouraged. Now that I have learned what is necessary I have had better luck. Cycling your tank is the first step. You will need a water tester kit in order to monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels in order to know where you are in the cycle and when it is complete and ready for fish. There is no other way around this in order to keep your fish alive.
And please... ask questions first we are all here to help!

~ kate

sirdarksol

Unfortunately, what is happening is that the goldfish in the pond grows biggest because it's not getting poisoned. The same thing happens with human children. A kid who is exposed to toxins before birth and early in life will grow slower and smaller than a child who is kept in healthier situations. In addition to being smaller, the kid will likely be much less healthy throughout life.

I agree with Kate. It's likely that your fish are having these accidents because they're stressed from excessive waste in the water. Let the aquarium cycle, use water changes to help keep your remaining fish alive, and then, once the nitrifying bacteria have set up shop, you can work to getting your tank stocked.

One thing to remember when stocking your tank is that there is a guideline of 1" of adult fish per gallon of water. Certain fish, such as plecos, don't fit this guideline due to size or need of space to swim in. For example, a pleco, which will grow to be around 18", needs at least 50g or so of tank to feel comfortable. Goldfish need much more space than this to be healthy, as they produce a lot of waste. Some fish just get so bulky that they're really a lot bigger than their length would indicate.
But when you're looking at fish like barbs, it's a pretty good guideline (not sure about the shark)

Nessie!!!

ok, so I got a different type of Pleco and the water cycle treatment thing. The type of Pleco I got is a small one, and one of the, I think, Chinese ones. I forgot what they were called. I also got a few more Tiger Barbs becasue the two that I had were not schooling, and were mostly hiding behind the filter. Thank You all for your kind adivice. I'm sure I will be asking more questins later on.

sirdarksol

Does the pleco you got look like other plecos, or is it narrower and lighter colored. If it's the latter, you've got a chinese algae eater probably.

COBettaCouple

Hey, sorry to hear about the rough start with your tank. The best thing to do know would be to use a water conditioner called "Prime" to treat all of your water. It helps protect the fish some from the toxins in the water as your tank cycles. You should get the API master freshwater testing kit to test the water every day or 2 and do 25% water changes after testing the water.

When you put a fish like a common pleco or goldfish in a small tank or bowl, what happens is their internal organs compact as they grow due to the stunted growth, shortening their expected life span and causing lots of health problems, like SDS mentioned.

If the store sold you a product called "prime", unfortunately that's expensive water that puts tanks into mini-cycles. We used that for a while when we started until we learned it was causing problems and not helping the tank.

Nessie!!!

Ok so at my moms house I bought a 14 gallon fish tank, the same brand as my 16 gallon, Aqua Culture, we are cyclying it so I don't make the same mistake again. I think that fish are one of the most interesting hobbies every except when they die. Thats really sad, so I guess we could say that we live and we learn with the whole fish experince. Two of my fish have died due to non cyclying so, fish tank begginers please, learn from my sad experince, cyclying is important, for the risk of your fish, I personly, as I am now, taking the small amount of time to cycle, at first I thought it wasn't important but it is so please, cycle your tank BEFORE putting fish in your tank.

Drea

Well said

Nessie!!!

learning from experience is some of the most important ways of learning it and thats just what I did.