ambientchica

Which were all the fish I had in a little 2.5 gal aquarium. There were fine, absolutely fine. I did 25% water changes every other week, sometimes less given the size of the tank and how much a little food in the gravel could alter my water conditions.

However, today my PH reading was low, 6.4/6.5-ish. I have been cycling a bigger tank 20 gal for my little fish tank to move into within the next week and it's PH is near perfect at 7.2. I didn't want my fish to be shocked when I moved them so I used, as I have before with this same tank and same fish, a quarter of a Tank Buddies PH Correct. The tablet is for a 10 gallon tank so I always figured a quarter tablet would be fine. An hour later, all of a SUDDEN my fish started gulping the air at the top of the tank and swimming erratically. I knew I was in trouble so I tried to do a water change really quick but I was too late.

Im okay now. It was just a little stressful to watch four fish all of a sudden die in 20 minutes. My daughter kind of put things into perspective for me, I treated my fish like part of our family and did the best I knew how. I realize now, I definitely am missing some vital fish care knowledge. What did I do wrong? Did I shock them by correcting their PH? How did my PH get so low in just two weeks? Why did they all die so quickly?

What a bad day.

Chief_waterchanger

What kind of fish? There are NO 4 fish to my knowledge that would fit in a 2.5g successfully.

ambientchica

They were 3, 1/4 of an inch long fish of the neon variety and one diamond tetra (who was about to get friends in the bigger tank so he could school).

Isnt the rule: adult fish in inches - 1 inch per gallon?

Chief_waterchanger

That rule only works with small fish, and neon tetras grow to be about an inch and a half, but are schoolers and need 5-6 of them atleast..

If your fish started gasping/gulping after a waterchange you need to test your tap water for ammonia. Are you on a well or municipal water supply? Municipalities frequently add ammonia to the water supply as a bacteriacide.

ambientchica

I must have been over populated but they were really small fish and not technically neons just the small like them. They were mystery fish, I guess, and I did have them for about 5 months and they seemed to be doing well.

I didn't do a water change until they started gasping. I put a PH Correct by Tank Buddies in their tank about an hour before and that is the only change I made. That is mainly my question is why would they all of a sudden gasp for air after a PH Correct?

I really just dont want to make the same mistake again. I know that they should have had more little buddies but when I got the 2.5 gallon it was not an option since I was wary of overcrowding and overcrowding was also why I wanted a larger aquarium.

Thanks for the help.

The ammonia and the nitrates were at 0. Just the PH was off.

Chief_waterchanger

Altering the pH suddenly like that is instant death to any fish. You have to acclimate fish to differing pH levels, not suddenly switch it.. that is the cause of death 95% sure.

But mix that with the lack of waterchanges and you got a double deadly combination.

Bella!!!!!!!!!

That is very sad I love fish I hate it when they die

ambientchica

God I feel stupid. I had used it before but not in 4 months and didn't think it could possibly... I change the water all the time, I just changed it last week. I just haven't, with the holidays and planning my new tank, been checking their PH.

With the PH should I have just done a 10% water change every day to see if I could get the PH levels back up on thier own, gradually?

Thanks for your help. I guess it's back to square one. Ugh I feel horrible.

Fish_adicted

dont feel stupid learn from your mistakes. im still new at the fish thing so im reading to learn from other peoples mistakes too...sorry for your loss

zigmeister

ambientchica,

We all make mistakes when we first start this hobby. You should really do a 20-25% water change weekly regardless of the size of your tank. You need to vacuum the gravel to remove waste products and uneaten food. There is a lot of good information on this site. There are some excellent sections on cycling your tank and picking the right fish. Do some research before you get more fish and then you (hopefully) will have fewer bad days. Good luck with the new tank.

ambientchica

Thanks. Weekly - will do for sure. I just am so glad that my new tank is almost perfectly cycled and I can start fresh in a week. I know you learn from mistakes but it's just shocking to lose fish so quickly when you thought you had the fish thing down.

I appreciate any other advice that can come to me. I learn more every day and this forum/site is the bulk of where my information stems.

Tazmiche

Sweetheart, try not to feel bad!!! I'm sure all will agree we will all keep learning!!

Sorry you lost them. I'm NOT a fan of chem changing products. Nature and time is all you need.

Good to have you here and please stay and keep us informed to your fish progress. Happy New Year Michelle xx

Bella!!!!!!!!!

Always do PH every other day Don't forget though or else your fish will die.

voiceless_kat

I know how hard it is to lose fish, but please don't beat yourself up over this. There are so many experience people on this topic and good people willing to help you along the way. Take the time to ask and learn, and you will have many, many happy fish days ahead of you.

And you will meet many wonderful new friends. Good luck with your new tank.

Val

susitna-flower

I'm sorry you are having such a bad day!!!! Chin up, we understand....

I do ph tests, but not every other day. Since I don't mess with ANYTHING to try to alter the ph, except putting driftwood in the tank, and do water changes quite often from a home well with stable ph, I don't worry too much about it.

My feeling is that the water changes tend to keep things in balance, and do a minimum of 50% a week.

Hopefully you will have that new tank up and running soon. Be sure to have it completely cycled before getting new fish.

Post your readings before restocking and we can help you out.

COBettaCouple

Well, first of all - I can understand why you thought it was safe. The package does say that it gradually buffers the water to get it to the 'perfect' pH of 7.0. My guess is that in tanks under 10g, the effects are too sudden and deadly.

A year ago, when we started our first 2 tanks we read about how you should have "perfect pH" and we tried a bunch of products to make our pH of 7.6-7.8 come down to 7.0. After we started to use FishLore, we learned that stable pH is the key and your pH can vary from the recommended pH for a fish and be fine since the fish are usually acclimated to the local water table. So don't feel bad, most of us did fall into the "perfect pH" trap when we started out.

The best way to move fish from tank to tank is to acclimate them by floating them in the new tank in a container with some water from the old tank and adding a turkey baster squirt of water from the new tank every 5-10 min for an hour or until the container's full. That will adjust them to pH, temp, etc slowly.

I'm not sure why the tanks have different pH though. Is the water source and treatment exactly the same for both?

We're sorry that you lost your fish like that and you were doing the best that you knew to do for them, so don't beat yourself up over it. They shouldn't even sell those products at the stores.

ambientchica

Thank you all for your replies.

To stick to the rule I am having trouble finding anything that can live (recommended anyways) in a 2.5 gallon tank. The tank is just like a Mini Bow but it has some design differences, specifically the filter is about 2.5/3 inches above the gravel. I was thinking about putting a single beta in there after I recycle the tank BUT I will wait to see what everyone thinks.

Well, first of all - I can understand why you thought it was safe. The package does say that it gradually buffers the water to get it to the 'perfect' pH of 7.0. My guess is that in tanks under 10g, the effects are too sudden and deadly.

THANK YOU COBettaCouple! I had used the product before and it DOES say that on the package (I only used a 1/4 of the tablet given the size of that tank). I must have just been way to low on the acidity level though I would never have thought... The water source is the same yes.

Anyways, NEW question my new 20 gal tank is giving me reads of 0 nitrates and 0 ammonia but still high on the PH. It's only been two weeks cycling so maybe that will balance out soon? Do you change the water weekly on a cycling tank? Maybe that is my issue.

Just eager to get some new fish since an empty tank feels very odd when you are in habit of caring for fish. Plus my daughter keeps asking about them.

Thank you again for all replies!

jsalemi

How are you 'feeding' the tank to get the cycle started?