platypuff

I have had an aquarium set up for over 4 weeks, I followed the instructions of the pet shop to set up and leave a week then start adding fish (which I now know was wrong thanks to this forum but I didn't check here first) and a number of my fish have died.

Thanks to this forum, I went out and bought the testing kit for freshwater fish and the results are followed.

Water change completed on Tuesday (17th April) - but prior to this I was completing once a week but changed to twice a week because fish was dying = problem fish still dying

1st tests completed on Wednesday (18th April), results:
PH - 7.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm (but think this was completed incorrectly - drops,shaking diff bottles very confusing!!!!)

2nd tests completed today (20th April), results:
PH - 7.2
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm

So according to the books regarding the tests my results look fine (Are they?)

But my fish are still dying

So abit more information regarding fish I have at the moment:
2 Dwarf Gourami - which was in the 1st batch that I bought about 3 weeks ago
5 Cardinal Tetra - bought in 1st batch (3 wks ago) but I bought 10 with only the 5 left
4 Algae Eaters - bought in 1st batch (3wks ago) all still alive*
1 Female Guppy - which was bought in the 2nd batch were I bought 3 females, only the 1 female alive now. I have also tried to replace the guppies with 1 female & 1 male, both died! and then another 2 females & 1 male,again both died
2 Molly - bought after Guppies
3 Platy - bought after Mollys

Fish that died within a couple of days of introducing them to the tank
Angelfish x2
Male Fighter x2 (but at two different times)

According to the pet shops all the fish are compatible with each other and the number I was adding was OK - only added fish to the batch to replace others once I thought I had solved the problems.

Also the a couple of the dead tetra had pop-eye

So does anybody know what the problem could be? Are the fish compatible?

Please help

Thanks in advance

bbfeckawitts

What kind of test kit are you using? Most of us use and recommend the master liquid API test kit that can be bought almost anywhere. http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...N=2030068&Ne=2
Test strips are inaccurate and this could be why your fish are dying. If you are using liquid your results are good.

What size tank do you have?

Don't add anymore fighting fish. They are NOT compatible with any of your fish. Watch your current fish for any signs of fin biting.

platypuff

Yes the testing kit I have is the API Freshwater master test kit

It is a big tank but I will get back to you with the size

What fish are compatible with the fighter fish (this was my favourite fish so really wanted another but I will take the advice given)

griffin

there's not really any fish that are compatible with fighter fish. possibly an oto or two if your tank is big enough. fighter fish are pretty aggressive and will attack just about anything unfortunately :/

platypuff

Ok no fighter fish for me than

So any ideas on what my problem is because the fighter fish died before it could attack any of the other fish

Luniyn

Sounds like your water is good, so my main question is tank size. You're idea of big and my idea of big might be a bit off The only thing I can think off off the top of my head is overcrowding causing stress on the fish. If you don't remember your Gal size just let us know the dimensions (length x width x height) of the tank.

bbfeckawitts

Your tank needs to be atleast 35 gallons (bigger most likely), to house those fish. What type of algae eaters are those? Plecos? they get 20+ inches.

platypuff

Chinese Algae Eaters - how long do they take to grow to that size? And once fully growth what size tank will be needed?

Luniyn

Chinese Algae Eaters are great when they are young. However, they quickly grow (have heard of them going from 1" to 9" within 2 years) and can become a menace to your tank probably around the 4" mark or so. They become very territorial and will harass any fish that looks at them wrong. Not the best community fish after they grow a bit. I have seem some pages say they can grow to be over 11". So also not the best fish size wise either. If you want a fish that looks almost exactly like that does but stays at 2" max size, look for the Otocinclus catfish (referred to as "Oto").