dianeej

I had several fish die last Friday night or Sat and don't know what was causing the problem. Sun I came back to my office to check on the fish and I had 3 more that died, so I took the live ones out of that tank and put them in another tank and so far so good. I haven't lost anymore.

I just received my API Master test kit and I did an immediate test on the tank. Here are the readings. Freshwater pH 6.0, Nitrates, 0, ammonia 2.0
Nitrites, 0 I can see that the Ammonia levels are high even tho I did a 50% water change on Friday. I can't even imagine what it was like before I did the water change, but Friday night or early Sat after the water change is when I started losing my fish. The only thing I did different on Friday after the water change was added the salt, which was highly recommended by the fish store because we have very hard water.

I still have a lot of gunk floating around in the tank. Should I continue to vacuum the gravel and do daily water changes until I have it to where it looks good again and the ammonia levels down to 0. Would it be better to totally empty the tank out and start from scratch? I am kind of at a loss because I don't want to put the fish back in the tank until I have it squared away.

Any advice you can throw my way, I sure would appreciate. I feel so bad because of my stupidity that I lost so many fish. I want to learn where I went wrong, so it doesn't happen again.

pinkfloydpuffer

Well, it sounds like your tank isn't cycled. I would do 50% water changes daily. If you have fish in there, then use Prime conditioner, which will neutralize the ammonia for 24 hours, and then by that time you'll be doing another water change.

EDIT: I noticed you don't know about the nitrogen cycle. You really need to read up on that if you want to keep your fish alive and healthy. I'll see if I can find a link for ya...

EDIT again: http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/TheNitrogenCycle.htm

Shawnie

great advice pink!! and heres the link

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

Lucy

Don't feel stupid, we've all made mistakes, the important thing is learning from them.

Your tank isn'y cycled, but I wouldn't empty the whole thing out.
Continue daily changes until your readings are 0 for both ammonia and nitrites with some nitrates showing.
And don't add any more fish until you're fully cycled.

Use Prime as your water conditioner, it'll detoxify the ammonia between daily water changes.

I don't know about salt and the types of fish you have, maybe someone else can answer that.

Have you read this?

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

Good luck.

Edit: Dang, I type slow. lol

mathas

As pinkfloydpuffer mentioned, your tank is not cycled. Ammonia is toxic to fish, so it's very possible that they died from ammonia poisoning. The salt was also unnecessary, but I doubt it caused any of the fish to die. Keep doing your water changes daily until you have no more ammonia, no nitrites, and between 0 and 20ppm nitrates.

Now onto stocking... male and female betta should not be in the same tank, as they'll likely fight until only one is left. Another stocking issue I see is that you have bala sharks in a 20 gallon tank. Balas can hit 16" given enough space, and do best in groups of 5 or more. They really need a 6' tank to thrive, and will not work in a 20g without becoming stunted and dying early.

clinton1621

The addition of the salt along with the ammonia spike probably killed the fish... salt is just a bad idea, regardless of what anyone says. Unless you have brackish water fish, then salt is doing you more harm than good... some fish like catfish (the sharks you have) do not tolerate salt at any level and will die after long exposure. You also have a bad mix of fish... bettas are solitary fish and should not be kept together, bala sharks are too big for a 20g and will most likely eat the neons and the guppies, frogs dont go well with any of those fish and will also eat the neons and guppies, and last you are way overstocked. I would recommend that you research not only the nitrogen cycle and how it works, but also fish compatibily, size requirements, and proper stocking amounts.

pinkfloydpuffer

I'd suggest returning some fish to the petstore and/or getting another tank and a divider for the bettas.

dianeej

Thanks you guys. This is going to help a lot. I just printed out the Nitrogen Cycle. Since I have had this tank going since May with no problems, did I lose my Nitrogen cycle by doing a 50% water change? It seemed like everything was going so good and the water registered good, but I was using the strips. I have the prime conditoner, so I will do a 50% water change until the ammonia registeres 0 and I won't be adding any fish until I have the tank where it needs to be.

As for the types of fish I have. I wasn't aware at the time about the Bettas. I had been told that 2 males could not live together, but nobody at the fish store mentioned females should not be in with them either. I do have the Dwarf frogs, and was told they were fine and would not cause any problems. The Bala Sharks, I wasn't told they get so large either. I can't really put all the blame on the fishstore as they are there to sell fish. I need to blame myself by not doing my homework. I got over excited about having any aquarium. I did have 2 clown loaches in there also and I found a home for them. I will have to do the same with the Balas when they get bigger. Hopefully by then I can take them at home as I plan on getting a good size tank there.

Thanks again for your help. I will do my homework and read about the cycling. I really think the salt might have had something to do with this, plus the high ammonia levels. I will be more careful in the future.

pinkfloydpuffer

That's why we're here, to help! I don't remember if anyone's mentioned the API master test kit, but if not, let me suggest it! Partial water changes won't ruin your cycle. However, you must have a source of ammonia in the tank for the bacteria to survive and grow, whether from fish or other sources.

clinton1621

The 50% water change probably didnt do anything... you can actually change 100% of the water with very little effect, the bacteria live in the filter and the gravel, not the water.

Lucy

You weren't the first and you won't be the last. Plenty of us have made that mistake.

pinkfloydpuffer

A little bit of research and planning goes a long way to having a successful aquarium! And the more experience and knowledge you gain, the less mistakes you'll make, and the happier your fish will be!