smokeater42

im a first timer as you will all soon find out i am not very knowledgable when it comes to this stuff. i went to a local pet store and talked to a man about having a new fish tank. He told me to get the Tetra kit, came with the 29gal tank, 30x12x18, a filter, a heater, a net, some food, and a packet of aquafresh to declorinate my tap water. i bought some fake plants and a rock cave, a bubble wall and a bubbling skeleton. Also black bottom gravel. And a go red wings sign (im from detroit). I set up my tank and put in the aquafresh which said it treated 30 gallons.the temp of the water is at 75. i waited almost 24hrs and went to the store to buy the fish. i bought a black tip shark, a pictus cat, a zebra boita, and two tetra (cant remember the exact name they are silver with a blue cirlce near the gills). i did what they told me to do at the pet store, let the bags sit in the water then slowly add tank water, and eventually set the fish free with a net so not to put any bag water into the tank. they were all very active. then a few hours later the cat started acting funny, and eventually died...then i noticed the boita was swiming funny but still swiming. so i went to bed. woke up this morning and they are all dead except one of the tetras and it seems to be doing fine!
Now im sure that i did a million things wrong and you are all probly laughing at me. but i can take it haha, just tell me what i did wrong so i can start over! im really ticked that i spents that money on the fish and then they died! not to mention i feel bad for killing the fish! i really want to make this work. my father always had a hug fish tank when i was growing up and i loved it...now its my turn. so any help will be greatly apprieciated.
thanks

coffeebean

i assure you no one will laugh at you here. your tank hasnt cycled yet. please take a minute and read up on the nitrogen cycle. you need to wait until the tank has cycled before you can safely add fish.
since you have one fishie in there that is still alive, do a 50% water change right away. you will need to do a water change every day to keep the water safe for your fish while your tank cycles.

Beth1965

Nope, no ones laughing. Most of us have had some of the same experiences. Do read about the nitrogen cycle as Coffebean suggested.
Have fun with it. Don't get discouraged.
Beth

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore !!!

As coffeebean said, MOST of us started out where you are now and we wont laugh or judge she gave you great advice.... and ill just add if you can find some Tetra Safestart, that will boost you along in the cycle process....otherwise, you need the daily water changes...you will be cycled when you have a reading of 0 ammonia & nitrites and under 20 nitrates....if you can find an API liquid master test kit, it has everything you need to do 100's of tests while cycling....goodluck and dont loose hope!

Lucy

Hi smokeater welcome to Fish Lore.

I'm really sorry you lost all your fish. We would never laugh at mistakes made people make.
There are a few things you should read before trying to start again.
Here's a link with some good info:
Beginners Be sure to follow all the links.

Now, it's unusual to lose all your fish in such a short amount of time. Did they show any symtoms of illness? How do you mean swimming funny?
A couple things come to mind. How long did you acclimate (float and add water) them?
Anything that might not be aquarium safe in your tank?
Still, such a short amount of time. I wonder if you have a short in your filter or heater.

Let's see what others have to say.
Good luck, I hope things get better.

Edit: lol, I see I typed slow. 12 hours IMO wouldn't be enough time for ammonia to build up to the point of killing fish.

aquarist48

Sorry to hear about your fish loss Smoke. A lot of us have been where you are as a beginner. CoffeeBean gave you the best information there is for starting a tank and helping to keep your fish alive. If you have any type of stress reliever (Nova Aqua, Prime, Stress Coat, Amquel +) to add when you do a water change that will really help. The water changes are going to be necessary until your tank cycles.

If you'll click on Forum home in the upper left hand corner you'll find threads for Beginners as well (if you haven't found it already). Good luck and try to keep it fun. We're all here to help

smokeater42

thank you so much for your fast replys! looks like i have some cycling to do! and i should prob buy a test kit! i will let you all know how it all turns out. thanks again

Nate McFin

Weclome to fishlore. Noone is laughing as mentioned. You came to the right place for help. From now on just diregard what you hear at the pet store until you have a chance to confirm it here. We have all been in the same spot. On to the basics of Nitrogen cycle as others mentioned to read about (important stuff)
Basically-
Fish+food=Fish poo
Poo is converted to ammonia as it breaks down
ammonia is converted (natural bacteria do this) to Nitrites in a "cycled" tank.
(In an uncycled tank ammonia builds up and causes big problems to fish.
Nitrites are also toxic to fish.
Nitrites are converted (a different bacteria does this) to Nitrates in a cycled tank.
Nitrates are not AS harmful to fish but build up and cause problems. We remove this through water changes weekly.
We keep track of all these levels of Nitrites,nitrates, and ammonia with tests kits. Not test strips. Get a good liquid test kit/ Most recommend the "API freshwater master test kit"
So thats that! Just the basics do read up though!
As to your problem...I agree with Lucy. Your ammonia did not have a chance to build up that fast so something else was at play here. Almost sounds like poisoning to me.
Was the tank washed out with any chemicals that may not have been rinsed out?
What was the Red Wings sign made of?
I havent heard of aqua fresh myself. I would recommend the products aquarist48 pointed out. All are good dechlorinators as well as able to detoxify ammonia and chloramines.
Best of luck on the next go around. You will get it right since you found this place!
-Nate

jdhef

The only thing I'll laugh at you about is the Red Wings thing...but since the Flyers are my home team, maybe I should stop laughing!

I agree with Lucy, it does seem unlikely that your fish died of ammonia poisioning in such a short time. I think that your two best options at this point are to get your tank cycled by either using Tetra SafeStart and adding a couple of more fish to go along with your sole survivor, or return the tetra and try to cycle fishless.

If you opt to not use SafeStart and keep your Tetra, you will need to do daily 50% water changes until your tank cycles (without the water changes your Tetra will probably sucumb to ammonia poisoning.) Cycling this way (as well as fishless) can take six weeks or more. That's a lot of 50% waterchanges!

Good luck, and I'm sorry about your loss of fish. Sadly, you generally get the wrong advice from petstores. But the people here are all eger to answer any questions you may have (and you'll get good advice!)

BulldogWrestler

Odd that it took 12 hours for the fish to die. That's a pretty hefty spike in ammonia, so I'm not sure that an uncycled tank is the culprit here.

Either way - you should definitely ready up on the cycling process, and if you wanna keep that Tetra - I would highly recommend getting some Tetra Safe Start and putting it into the tank.

Also, read up on stocking requirements and things of that nature.

smokeater42

ok great, first of all to JDHEF...the flyers are golfing right now! haha and the wings seem to be kicking butt. but hey at least your a hockey fan!
i got all the way to work today and realized it was my day off! and when i got home i noticed that i have 2 fish still alive! the zebra boita lives on to swim another day. i am going to go get the tetra safe start and do a water change today. should i add declorinator as well today with my water change? and should i just keep those two fish for now while i start the cycle?

Shawnie

not a hockey person but I can help with the safestart LOL

if you can find it, do a big water changed today with your dechlorinator..then 24 hours later, add the tss and wait 7 days to do any readings...(gives you time for your test kit )
then test the water and go from there...feed sparingly in the weeks time so you dont have a huge rise in ammonia...goodluck!

Drew 43920

Been there : Did that.
Did you get all of these decorations from the Aquarium store ? Are they all Aquarium safe ?
As the others have said you need to give your tank time to "cycle".
It would be best to wait a month before you add more fish. Sorry about the ones you lost.

MizRamzi

not laughing here, that's for sure. Been there, done that.

agabr123

hi and welcome!

don't worry, we were all beginners once. fishkeeping can be a pretty steep learning curve, i know it was for me, but once you get it you'll wonder why it all seemed so hard before! let me second shawnie's recommendation for the API freshwater master test kit, it's the only one i use and although you'll be tempted to buy the paper strips because they are much cheaper, go for the master kit. it may be more expensive, but it will last a LOT longer and is much more accurate than the strips.

Zap

No laughing here!

You do need to cycle your tank, but that is still pretty fast for ALL your fish to die! I lost two fish in 12 hours from not cycling, but the rest are still alive with water changes.

Some pet stores will replace your fish for free if your fish die that fast. I would ask to find out and then get store credit so you can wait for your tank to cycle.

I would also get a stress coat like Prime. Someone recommended it to me and it is very helpful!

I still think there might be something else in your tank that is killing your fish. If you get a kit, let us know the numbers! I am curious if it turns up super toxic waters or maybe crazy pH or something.

jdhef

Actually, I'm not a hockey fan. I haven't watched the Flyers since (what was it 1974, when the Flyers won the cup. Gary Dornhoffer (player on the team back then, though if I remember correctly was injured and missed the series) used to live on my street back then.

Master Snake

Long Live The Loach! GO WINGS!!!

GypsyGirl71

I agree with Shawnie, do your big water change first, then add the TSS, then wait a week before doing anything else. Also agree with Zap, find out if you can get credit for the dead fish. I know you hate that you lost that investment. I used TSS and had not problems, tank cycled fine and everything's been good since then. I did lose a couple in the beginning too; I think we all do. It's definitely a live and learn hobby. Good luck!

smokeater42

ok so i took a water sample to the fish store and they tested it for me, which told me that mi pH levels were kinda high...i think he said an 8. so he gave me some stuff to neutralize it. tehn i spoke with someone in the store who seemed to know more then the owner and he showed me some stuff to buy to speed up the cycle, and also some other stuff to squirt in the tank when i start it and put new fish in. so i bought it and a test kit. also two danios. went home, did a partial water change, added the chems (cant remember the names and im at work rt now so sorry) and acclimated the fish. woke up this morning and they seem to be doing wonderful! though the water is pretty cloudy...whats up with that havent had a chance to use the test kit yet. i work 24 hour shifts at the fire station so i wont be able to until tomorrow. any clue on the cloudyness?

Lucy

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. It should clear up on it's own.

About the stuff to speed up the cycle. It would help if we knew the name, maybe post it when you get home. Many of them on the market contain the wrong kind of bacteria and it dies off quickly. You have to keep adding it with every water change.
They also use up the ammonia the beneficial bacteria needs to grow.

Although your ph is high, many fish can adapt to your ph. It's best to have a consistant ph than to mess with it through chemicals.
Here's a link to read about Changing your pH.

smokeater42

cool, i will port tomorrow on the name of what i used....hey didnt have any more of the TSS so i got what some guy told me to get and he seemed very knowledgablbe...told me that i should never listen to the people who work at the fish store haha
so my next question is, when and how do i know that my tank is cycled so i can buy new fish?

Lucy

When your readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite with under 20 nitrate.

smokeater42

ok im home now, and i just tested the water. on monday i did a partial water change and used fritz zyme #7 freshwater nitrifying bacteria and API stress coat with the new water.i also put in a little bit of Neutral Regulator by Seachem. today my two danios are still alive and well water is still cloudy though. my pH was at 7.8, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, and nitrate was between 0 and 5 looked like. so whats next? should i do another water change today?? and should i add anything to it if i do? again i truely appreciate the help!

Lucy

I might have mentioned above to be wary of bacterial additives.
Many won't allow your tank to cycle naturally. If you stop using it, your cycle can crash.
Personally, I would stop using it.
The only one I've heard members have good luck with, without having to add it with every water change, is Tetra Safe Start.

I don't know what Neutral Regulator is or what it's supposed to do, so can't comment on that.

It would be a good idea to just keep doing daily water changes, use Prime or Stress Coat+ (not regular Stress Coat) to detox the ammonia for 24 hours between water changes until your tank is cycled.

It can take up to and sometimes more than a month, so be patient.

AlyeskaGirl

Hello and Welcome to Fishlore and congratz on your new tank! Fishkeeping is a great hobby!

You've gotten some great advice! Keep up the research and ask us questions.......and there is no dumb question.

Cloudy water is common for new tanks, will clear up in time and is not harmful to fish. My advice to you is just be patient.

Below are a couple of links to read up on.

http://fish.mongabay.com/diseases.htm

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/107

smokeater42

my tnk is running great now! clear water and a few fish....i have two danios two guaramies and a blue cobalt and an orange ciclid...probly spelling all of these names wrong! i also have a pleco and a peacock eel. i put a small cat fish looking fish in there that they told me would be fine with the ciclids and im pretty sure he became dinner after a few days...cause its not in the tank anymore! what happened?

ABCDemily

A pleco will grow to 18", cichlids are generally best in a species only tank unfortunately., and generally gourami's get very terratorial and may kill each other. Congrats on the fully cycled tank though.

I'd watch out about the Peacock eel, I don't know much about them, but I'd be careful as you have a few too many fish in there I think.

Good luck!

Angela_96

You are def not getting laughed at from me as well. I hate to hear the stories where people are getting misled by LFS's. If you saw the mess's of a "start" for me you wouldn't feel so bad. We all live and learn. Im glad you are seeking help, the people that don't pass up a wonderful hobby because they think they aren't "good at it".

Good luck! The advice they have gave you above is A+++ Def learn about the nitrogen cycle.

Phinny12

I am thinking along the same lines as Nate & Drew in thinking poisioning.. I am wondering about the decorations and gravel. Please don't be offended by my questions.

Did you rinse the gravel well before adding it to the aquarium?
Did you purchase the Red Wings decoration in an Aquarium shop?