redlessi

I lost a neon tetra 2 days after adding it to the tank, so I just assumed it did not do well with the trip. I took 2 hours acclimating them using the float the bag method and after the first hour adding tank water to the bag every 15 minutes for the second hour. The next day I found another dead fish (guppy juvie) and another the next day with the total up to 4 fish in as many days. Did my water change sunday and last night found another one (platy fry about 2 months old). I use prime for conditioner, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 20 nitrate but last night nitrates tested about 40 which was a day after water change. I plan on doing another water change tonight but cant figure out why the fish are dying.

Shawnie

oh no!!!! im sorry for your losses
do you know what your readings were before changing out the water?
change of seasons stink for some fish....
sometimes when getting new fish, the clean tanks are a shock to them..although you acclimated them properly, i always try to test the pH in the bag they come in to compare to my tanks...that could have been it also....I hope things look up soon !!!!!!!!!!!

redlessi

It is so strange because I only lost 1 neon the rest were guppies and 1 platy fry that have been in the tank for months. I did not test right before I did water change but its usually 0,0,10 in the beginning of the week and by weeks end 0, 0, 20. After water changes on sunday it was 0, 0, 40 which I thought was really strange also.

bolivianbaby

I've heard that fry need really low nitrates. Maybe when the nitrates got up to 40 (I don't understand how they'd do that either), it caused problems for the fry.

Neons can be difficult to keep.

I really don't think it's anything that you're doing wrong.

Jaysee

Fry tend to be the first thing to go when water parameters change.

Neons can be very tough, as it largely depends on the quality of stock that you get.

redlessi

I think/hope I did not shake up the nitrate #2 bottle when testing because it was 20 before water change. So maybe it was not testing properly.

I plan on doing another water change this evening.

bolivianbaby

Keep us posted and you're in our thoughts.

Shawnie

I would retest first, shaking and banging that #2 bottle really well and test your water supply , before doing another water change....