mrv1976

Hi,

I am a neewbie to the fish hobby and I went to Petsmart and bought one of those 29 gallons Top Fin fish aquarium kits about 5 weeks ago. Not knowing anything about fish, I setup the tank, I filled the water from hose in my front yard and put in the aquasafe water conditioner and waited about 3 days until the water temperature was around 78 degrees then bought fish. When I bought the fish, I had know idea how many I could get to start out the tank, so I asked the staff there and he said I could get 11. So I bought 11 semi aggressive tropical fish, ranging from Tetris, Angel, and sharks. Well it didn't take long about 3 days and fish started to die, in all I lost 6 fish within a week. I went back to Petsmart and talked to the manager of the department and she told me for every 10 gallons of tank, you should start out with 1 fish, so I guess I should of only bought 3 fish. Anyways, the remaining 5 fish have lived fine for a couple of weeks, but I just lost 2 more a couple of days ago.

During the 5 weeks this has been happening, my ammonia levels are dangerlously high and I have tried 3 different ammonio products, with the latest being ammino lock, gone back to Petsmart every couple of days and still nothing. I tried taking out the filter for a couple of hours while I put the stuff in but still no change. I tried a 25% water change from the water in my kitchen sink, but still nothing. So 3 days ago, I took the fish out of the tank and emptied out 80% of the water, cleaned inside the gravel because I noticed there was a lot of fish food in there. Filled the tank back up with water from the sink and with the aquasafe conditoner back in. That's when I lost 2 more of the fish. I check the ammonia levels and still dangerlously high.

At this point, I don't know what to do next, I thought I was doing everything right, I really need some help. I feel really bad for these fish keep on dying. As far as feeding the fish go, I was feeding then 2 pinches per day when I had 11, but I'm down to only a small pinch per day. I thought maybe over feeding them was causing the ammonia levels because they weren't eating all the food, but I don't think that's the problem.

Howeyg

welcome

has the tank fully cycled yet

vin

OK mrv....Let's see if we can't get you straightened out. First, my recommendation would be to read these in detail..http://www.fishlore.com/WaterChemistry.htm...http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm These will give you a great explanation of aquarium water chemistry and what it is all about.

Next....You can cycle your tank with fish. Most recommend a hardy fish such as zebra danios. You must have a tank heater (adjustable are recommended) to allow you to control the temperature of your water. I use two thermometers. Somethink it's overkill, but if both read the same temp then I know that my heater is working correctly and the thermometers are as well. I use a bulb type that sticks on the inside of the tank with a suction cup and an LCD type that sticks to the outside of the tank with an adhesive back.

Fill your tank with tap water treated with a water conditioner such as "Prime" or "Amquel+". These water conditioners will detoxify chemicals that are toxic to fish that will build up in the water as the tank cycles. Using these water conditioners helps to keep these chemicals called ammonia and nitrites in check, however, you cannot allow the levels to build up or the fish can die. You keep these levels in check during the cycle by performing regular water changes of about 25%. The goal is to keep the ammonia and nitrites at less than 1. You can test your own water with a test kit. Many of us here use and recommend the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit. You can get them on line at Petsmart.com. They will also usually honor the on line price (typically less than $20) at the store with a print out of their on line ad.

Each time you do a water change you add the recommended amount of water conditioner to your clean water. This way as the ammonia and nitrites build they are less toxic to the fish. The goal is to keep the fish comfortable during the cycle period and doing these things will help that.

Eventually you will see the ammonia spike. Next, the ammonia will subside and the nitrites will spike. After this happens you will eventually see the ammonia disappear, the nitrites disappear and then nitrates - beneficial to the water chemistry, but still toxic to fish - will appear. You want to keep your nitrate levels at less than 20. You would do this by performing water changes of 25-30% weekly. Once only nitrates are present in the water you can add more fish. Add them a few at a time over the course of a few weeks to avoid sending your tank into a mini cycle.

There is also an apparatus called a syphon or gravel vacuum. This will assist in keeping the excess waste and uneaten food from building up in your tank and throwing your water chemistry into a tizzy. You should vacuum the gravel when performing your water changes after the tank has cycled. I usually do 1/3 per week.

Of course this is a pretty condensed version of what happens during your cycle, but it should be enough info to get you started. Oh, and one more thing....Try to avoid overfeeding your fish as this can cause problems down the road and do not clean your filter or change the pad that is inside. You are trying to colonize bacteria that are beneficial to the water chemistry. If you change the filter pad you will be destroying the very bacteria you are trying to colonize.

Remember, we're here to help!!

Tazmiche

Vin has given you great advice!

Water changes with conditioner and help from the great guys and gals on here will sort you. Big chain pet stores have targets to meet and give staff minimum training. Remember good sale staff could sell sand in the sahara!

I've only had fish since sept 06 and 80% of what i have learnt hs been from this site.

raqataq

I had similar problems at first but i treated my water with ammo-lock when the ammonia spiked. One thing to keep in mind if you do this is that the ammonia will still test at the same level but it is detoxified for the time being. I couldn't figure that out for a long time so i thought it might help you out, so don't worry if you do use one of these products and you still get high readings when testing ammonia levels.

Tazmiche

personally i wouldn't use products to stabilise water. I think they cause more problems. 50/70% water change with conditioners if really bad readings.

raqataq

I do agree with taz, I wouldn't use chemical stabilizers now either. It was a desperate decision and I'm glad it worked but def. not the best route to take.

COBettaCouple

what fish are remaining?

vin

I think you guys are confusing stabilizers with water conditioners....The products I recommended are what 90% of us use to treat water every week when we do our water changes......They do nothing to normal water chemistry whatsoever except for detoxify the very toxins you don't want in your water.....I would agree if someone advised using a pH balancer...That is too hard to maintain and spikes are inevitable. But Prime and Amquel+ are recommended for routine aquarium maintenance.

60-70% water changes will without a doubt slow down the process to say nothing of the fact that they would allow ammonia and nitrites to remain toxic. The idea here is two fold...First, you want to keep some ammonia in the tank to allow the conversion to take place. Second, you want that ammonia in a non-toxic form.

Mari

Hey... Vin I think they are refering to the piece of advice I have quoted (pertaining to ammo-lock) and not to the conditioners you suggested. the conditioners are very important, especially because of the chlorine in tap water, that will surely kill the fish. Ammo-lock is a detoxifier and that's what people (including me) do not recommend... as said before water changes are better if worse comes to worse. However, the cycling should take care of the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate spikes eventually when you get enough beneficial bacteria (nitrosomas and nitrobacter) fluorishing in your fish tank. Actually I am thinking you will probably lose all your fish. If you do, you might just want to cycle your water without fishies, adding some flakes. Biospira, water from a cycled fishtank, or ammonia. You probably have read the following but just in case I paste it: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
Take care

vin

I agree. If they don't use a water conditioner that detoxifies they will surely lose all of their fish.....Ammo-lock does the same thing, but the others have more benefit.