crystalsky424

So I received a 10 gallon fish tank this last Christmas from my boyfriend. The store he purchased the tank from must not have been very knowledgable because they sent him away with a brand new tank, 10 fish, a heater, air pump . . . and thats it. No instructions. Nothing. So, needless to say, my situation with my tank has been a struggle. Things were going fine for a while but after introducing some live plants and two snails to my tank, all my fish but one died. I believe they got some sort of disease. Now I want to start fresh and do it right. I am going to purchase a master test kit and was just wanting suggestions how to get things right this time.

Amanda

Did you cycle the tank last time?

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!! I think your fish died from ammonia poisioning...at this point, your tank is probably cycled..but getting an api master liquid test kit and testing it will let you know..then you NEVER have to rely on fish stores who totally give false info to sell you things...ammonia and nitrites should always be 0 and nitrates under 20 is good...so get the test first, then consider stocking options when you know what your water parimeters are...what kind of snails? and what kind of fish is left? that will help us help you with some suggestions..goodluck!

Lucy

Hi crystalsky Welcome to FishLore

Is the tank still set up with 1 fish? What kind of fish?

Here's a good place to start:

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/freshwater-beginners/

You'll find plenty of help here, the member have a wide range of knowledge that they're willing to share.

Good luck.

Edit: Gosh people type faster than me. lol

crystalsky424

I'm not sure what kind of fish he is, he's one of the ones that came with the tank. He's silver with little black tips to his fins and hes long and slender. I also have two large snails in the tank. I will check out those sites too, thanks for your help.

Shawnie

hmm can you check here to see if you can find him?

http://www.fishlore.com/freshwaterfish.htm

Lucy

After you get the API test kit, post your readings, we can go from there.
If you post a pic of your fish and snails someone could identify them for you.

crystalsky424

I'm not sure what kind of snails I have, they're large and yellow. I didn't cycle the tank last time, I think I just got lucky. Also I have live plants now that look pretty sickly, would it be easier for me just to have high quality artificial plants? Thanks again everyone for the advice.

crystalsky424

Looks like he's a razor tail rasbora. I will go get the test as soon as I am off work today.

Amanda

The snails are probably apple snails. The plants may not be getting enough light. Do you know what kind of plants they are? Different plants need different amounts of light & some even need special types of light. I used Tetra Safe Start to cycle my 55 gal. & it only took 2 days. That may be a good option since you already have fish in the tank.

Shawnie

shes had the tank for a year...so its established and might just need some water changes for a mini cycle ...getting the test kit so you dont have to rely on your fish store for false readings, will help tons...goodluck!

Ghostfish

Maybe it was supposed to be assumed, but in that list of items I did not see a filter listed. If you don't have a proper filter, you can have major issues. You don't need much for a little 10 gallon job, but I would have a small bio-wheel filter for that setup.

I find a lot of people here do fishless cycles. It is the easiest and safest method, but since you already have fish in there thats not an option now. I use fish to cycle a tank, but to keep them safe I use small fish in a large tank to slowly. Unfortunately it sounds like you have a small space and fish that are as about as large as you want in there. You are definitely going to need to get a test kit as stated above. Check the water daily until the ammonia and nitrites are gone. You are likely going to have to do water changes pretty often to keep them alive. Treat the water with a dechlorinator like Prime to remove the harmful chemicals.

I go with live plants no matter what setup I have. Even my little 1 gallon tank has a live plant. If you want something easy that requires little lighting, a micro sword would do well. Anachris is another plant that is extremely easy to grow. Some plants require an abundance of light and CO2 which you might not be able to provide.