paul the shark lover

well I have a 30 galon fish tank with some fish. I had 6 red tails and im down to 1 left, I had 5 gold tetras and 3 are left I still have my 20 neon tetras, and my 4 bala sharks(immature). but the thing is I had more fish but every morning and during the day Id find a few dead. I had 3 sword tails they died all in one day and I had them for a week, I had a black molly it lasted 3 days then I found it dead. I keep finding fish dead luckily this morning I didnt. what could be the problem? the tank is a brand new 30 galon tank with filter, heater, and water cleaner. Ive had the tank for about 3 weeks. I have had many deaths the past week. it couldnt be my male chinese fighting fish because it is never around other fish its always bye its self. no fish bug it and it doesnt bug the others. and the balas couldnt be the problem because they are still immature. the biggest one is about 3 inches right now. but its still pretty small. please help me I dont want anymore fish to die

Lucy

Hi Paul, welcome to Fish Lore
I'm really sorry about the loss of your fish.

Unfortunatly, your tank is/was over stocked with incompatable fish.
Please take some time and read the profiles and requirments of the fish you have.

Do you know your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
It's possible they're suffering from the effects of a cycling tanks as well as aggression issue.

Here's a basic explanation of the nitrogen cycle:
First your ammonia (from fish waste and left over food) will rise.
In a few weeks bacteria will start to develop and you'll see the nitrite levels rise and the ammonia levels start to drop.
After a few more weeks a different kind of bacteria begins to develop and you'll see the nitrate levels rise and the nitrite levels drop.
Ammonia and nitrites are toxic to your fish.
So until your cycle is complete, you need to keep the levels down with 50% daily water changes.
Using Prime as your water conditioner will detox the ammonia for 24 hrs between water changes.
When you having readings of 0 on both ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing, your cycle is done.

Here's a link to more information about The Nitrogen cycle

Post your readings and we can go from there.
Unfortunatly, your still going to need another tank and separate some of your fish or return them.

paul the shark lover

thanks but my fish arent agressive to each other as I introuduced them to each other at young ages so they make peace they dont fight, chase, or attack each other. and im only 13 so I dont know how to read the nitrate and other stuff can some one tell me how?

AlyeskaGirl

Welcome to Fishlore!

Great advice from Lucy as always!

Bala's get quit large.....up to 14". You need to take the Balas back to the LFS. Don't add anymore fish until the tank is cycled.

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

The guideline is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water and that is when they are full grown......not when they are babies.

paul the shark lover

and I dont need to return some of my fish because all my fish mind their own buissness and are never agressive to each. and surprisingly the neons follow the balas cause the balas protect the neons since they are all small and still young(balas mainly because all 4 balas are immature) so they made peace. and the chinese fighting fish is always bye its self and the other fish leave it alone so it leaves them alone. and I dont know how to do a proper water change cause when my dad still lived with me and he helped me set up the tank and stuff so im kinda on my own cause my mom doesnt know how to do anything with the fish. im 13 and my parents are going threw divorce and dads been kicked out of house because my mom made many lies to the court. so im pretty much in trouble. and my dad cant come back to house for while so I dont know how ima change the water

jdhef

Welcome to FishLore!

Lucy has you covered with some good advice. The most important thing to understand when keeping fish is the nitrogen cycle. Sadly most fish stores keep it a secret. Oddly enough, not educating customers ends up making more money for the store since they keep selling you new fish and chemicals to treat your water with. Failure means more profit for them.

The second most important thing is understanding proper stocking levels. There is a general rule of 1" of adult size fish per one US gallon of water. This is not a rule, just a guideline and is only appropriate for smaller sized fish. The two main problems with overstocking are the fish not having enough room to swim and assuming you have built up enough benificial bacteria to process all of the ammonia into nitrites, and all the nitrites into nitrates, you end up with really high nitrate levels really quickly.

The last thing to remember is that pretty much everyone on this forum started off like you, meaning that got totally wrong advice from the fish stores and struggled in the beginning. So feel free to ask any questions you may have. It can be pretty confusing in the beginning, but everyone here is eager to help out a fellow fishkeeper/lover.

EDIT: Well I type too slow. When I started posting Lucy was the only response so sorry for any duplicate info. I aslo want to add that even if the fish don't fight due to overcrowding (although they surely will as they get older), you will still have nitrate problems.

Lucy

I'm really sorry you're family is having problems.
Do you have a test kit? We can walk you through testing the water.
Do you have a syphon or gravel vacuum? We can try to help you learn to use it.

jdhef

Sorry to hear about your parents divorce. I'm sure it is really hard on you.

The easiest way for you to do water changes is to but a gravel vac. It is basically a siphon tube with a long plastic cylinder on one end. You put the end with the plastic tube into the tank, and the other end into a bucket. Then you get the siphon started and push the plastic tube into the gravel all around the tank. Just push it into the gravel wait for any debris to clear lift it out of the gravel move over alittle and push it back in.

This accomplishes two things. One it cleans your gravel and two it removes water. Make sure to use a water conditioner to remove chlorine from you tap water you are adding and make sure the water is within a couple degrees temperature wise to whats already in your tank

paul the shark lover

thanks guys and I dont know what a siphon tube or gravel vac is. and I dont have a test kit. but I do have the stuff u put in water to treat tap water to get all harm full stuff out of the water and my fish tank is not over crowded either. and since the chinese algae sharks grow to be really big when they get bigger im taking them back to fish store. and also I havent had to seperate any fish at all cause they seem to get along. and all my fish are still immature.

ABCDemily

Welcome to Fishlore Paul!


To change water within a tank, using a scoop or a jug that's never seen soap, remove 20% of the water and flush or or pour it down the sink.

Replace the water by taking it from a tap and replacing the same amount of water. You MUST add dechlorinator otherwise this will KILL the fish.

The reason you have one red tail left is because they cannot be housed together. The dominant one will kill the other weaker fish.

Immature fish doesn't chage their disposition or their take on other fish or being crammed into a small tank, in my opinion.

Bala sharks grow 14" big, and need a minimum of 300 GALLONS, ten times what you have, to be kept successfully.

If your 'Chinese fighting fish' is a betta, then they should live by themselves in a five gallon. They are NOT a community fish, and could be the cause for the swordtails death.

I suggest you re-home all the fish except for the neon tetras.

Please read up on the Nitrogen cycle. Trust me, the results aren't hard to read. You match the colour to the chart and you're done.

You may think your fish are peaceful, but in such a small tank, they very easily 'loose their rag' and get aggressive.

Most people started off like you, so don't worry. Just heed our advice and you'll be on your way to being a good fish parent.

Good luck!

*EDIT*

To work out how overstocked you are you take the size of the ADULT fish.
You need one inch per gallon

20 neons = 30 inches
Balas = 36+
RTS = 5
Betta = 2.5
Guppies = 10
Algea Sharks (Pleco? CAE? SAE?) Plecos get 18" big.

You're more than doubly over-stocked, please rehome the balas and RTS.

AlyeskaGirl

Yes, the Balas are babies and small.....but keeping them in a small tank will stunt their growth and hurt them.

Lucy

You've come to our wonderful forum because you're experiencing problems with fish dying.
Several very experienced fish keepers have given their advice. Your tank is over crowded.
Even if it looks like no one is bothering each other fish create ammonia through their waste. Ammonia is toxic to your fish (read my first post and the link included)
Too many fish in a tank makes too much ammonia in a short amount of time. Too much ammonia equals dead fish.

Since you're planning on taking them back when they're bigger, why not take them back now while you can still save the lives of some of your fish.
I'd suggest you take everything back except the neons. 20 neons fully stock your tank. Or keep 15 neons and the red tail shark.
The betta should be in a 5g tank of it's own.

Of course, it's up to you what you do with your tank, we're just trying to help not argue with you.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Edit: here's a great video showing how to vacuum your gravel.
1-2-3 easy aquarium siphon instructions - video

Craig-D

Lucy pretty much hit the nail on the head. You have a few problems. One, you had an overstocked tank for its size. Two, said overstocked tank was not cycled, which meant toxic amounts of ammonia and/or nitrite are present. Three, those sharks are going to get to 14-16" - far too big for your tank.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad new, but you can expect many more fatalities. Tetras are pretty sensitive as it is. They will not fare well as cycling fish. Your best bet to salvage the situation is to purchase Tetra Safestart if it's available in Canada. This product can nearly instantly cycle your tank. I don't know if it'll work with that many fish though. In the meantine, start daily water changes and dosing of either Prime or AmQuel+ to neutralize all ammonia and nitrite until your tank is cycled.

Aldric

I would like to add one thing you say they have all made peace with each other but the thing is you cant know that for definatly as you cant watch them all day and especialy at night while your sleeping. You said yourself that when you wake up some have died dureing the night... perhaps they are only fighting when its dark in your tank

harpua2002

Great advice from Lucy.

No one is trying to be harsh or come down on you, and we do understand that you're going through a rough time. But you joined a public forum and posted a thread to seek help from other members, and the result is that you received some info that you didn't want to hear. Unfortunately, the tank is not only overstocked, but mis-stocked as well. To compound the issue, your tank is going through the nitrogen cycle phase. Even if you return some of the fish (which I'd highly recommend), it's going to be a rough road to get it cycled properly and will require a lot of work. The bala sharks really need to go, and the betta is not really compatible with the other fish you have. The red tail shark and the remaining tetras will still heavily stock your tank, but it could be doable with diligent maintenance.

I understand that you're new to all this and don't have the proper equipment for water changes (bucket, gravel vacuum), but you'll need to get it sooner rather than later if your fish are going to have any chance at all of surviving. An API master test kit isn't exactly a cheap item, but it's necessary for you to know where you are in the nitrogen cycle process. Your test kit will tell you how much water to change.... and I can bet it's going to be a lot; at least 50% daily (probably more) until the tank cycles, since the starting bioload is so heavy.

I know you're only 13, but you're plenty old enough to read articles about the nitrogen cycle and to learn how to use a test kit and change water. There are many young members on this site who have been in the same boat, and have done very well with their setups. This is an all-ages hobby and I'm confident that you can get a good grasp on the science behind it, as well as nail down a maintenance schedule that works for you. There are plenty of members that are available to help you with any questions that you might have, myself included. But it's YOU that will have to take the initiative to start learning if you want to save your fish.

Best of luck, and welcome to fl!

gmen4life

why does it seem its always a bala shark issue? well anyway welcome to fishlore people here are just trying to help you and advise you whats best for your fish

paul the shark lover

thank you lucy I will put the betta back bye its self. and abc or w/e your name was the balas grow to be about anywhere between 6-13 inches I read up on them. and the minimum tank size when their babys is 30 galons, and minimum when there older is 55 galon tank minimum fully grown size. so yeah. and im not trying to fight. but my friend has 6 fully grown balas between 15-17 inches in a 20 galon tank and their happy. so I dont know what to do. but im seperating the betta from the others and yeah. so i will try to empty 20% of the water tomorrow cause tonight im at my dads thanks guys

harpua2002

A 20 gallon high is 24" long.
A 20 gallon long is 30" long.

Either way, a 15-17" fish cannot possibly be happy in a 20 gallon tank. I am truly surprised they survived the stress of being that cramped for so long that they could even attain that size.