kamakasi

hi
all my neons have died in 2 days of being in there new tank they were healthy had the best enviroment and all 11 are dead!
please tell me what went wrong. i do a water change (25%) every 3 days.

pH 6.9
Temp 78

tanks mates are:
2 clown loaches
2 bristle nose catfish
6 black phantom tetras
by the way there is 1 left what to do?

thanks

FishFolk

Please tell us about the new (and old) tank. What were the parameters of the old tank? How about the new tank? Is there anything else alive in the new tank? Was the tank cycled? was the temp okay? Could you have accidentally introduced a toxin? Soap or lotion on your hand? Air freshener? Do they show any signs of what may have killed them? Did they all expire at once or was it a few now, a few later, a few even later?

kamakasi

no, it was cycled and all of the fish in it were happy and looking great
everything was perfect. i think.

kamakasi

it is a 29 gallon tank.
everything was perfect it was cycled and it was athe right temp ect.
thanks

Lucy

I'm really sorry you lost your fish.
Neons can be really sensitive.

Like FishFolk said, it would be helpful if we had more information.

Speedy

Hi Ramakasi
Yep we need more info. What where your ammonia,nitrite and nitrate readings? Did the neons have any signs of illness? Like Lucy said neons can be sensitive to somethings that other fish are not. Sorry your losing your little neons.

kamakasi

well i dont know to much about the ammonia,nitrate and nitrite. the neons looked to be in good condition. thanks.
i know the dealer really well and have bought all my fish and accecories from him the tank they were in was well keep and no dead fish. the tank now is 29 gallons has 2 clown loache 2 bristle nose catfish and 6 black phantom tetras. it is a well planted tank with some bog wood it has good filtration and has been running for 5 months now. i will be getting more test kits in a week.

Lucy

It's just a guess, but if you added all 12 at the same time, you might have had an ammonia spike.
Did they have any symptoms of being ill?

kamakasi

no they looked fine

Lucy

It's frustrating when you just can't figure out what went wrong.

When there's a problem in the tank, one of the first things to rule out is problems with your water parameters. (ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes)

The API master kit it highly recommended. It's a liquid kit and much more accurate than the strips.

It's also possible your neons could have been weakened or stressed when you got them.

Good luck, I hope you figure out what's going on.

capekate

Hi Kamakasi
Im sorry to hear you lost so many neons...
When you brought your neons home, how long did you acclimate them to the tank? Sometimes with these very sensitive fish, like their cousins the cardinal tetras, it takes over an hour or so to acclimate them. What I usually do is drip acclimate, which is to say, I add the bag water and the fish to a bowl or bucket then I add an air stone and a small heater. Over the course of an hour or two I would slowly drip add tank water. This way they can adjust to the PH slowly that is in your tank. Its possible that they were not adjusted to the PH of your tank.
A short acclimation can shock them, make them stressed and very weak and die off quickly especially in these very sensitive little fish.
Also the advice that you may have off set the cycle by adding 11 fish at once is very possible as well.

kamakasi

thanks lucy
hi capekate i acclimated them for 15 minutes which is what it said on the bag they were in, but i now think it was me adding to many fish at once and messing up the cycle.
thanks

capekate

Hi kamakasi
As we have all found out from time to time, the information that the LFS's give us is incorrect so many times. IMO 15 minutes is not enough time to acclimate fish especially the sensitive ones like the neon tetras.
It is also very possible that adding so many fish at a time was a factor as well.

Lucy

I agree with Kate, 15 minutes isn't enough time and the LFS will usually say just float the bag and dump them in, but next time, try floating the bag and adding a little bit of your tank water every 15 minutes over the course of at least an hour.

capekate

Hi Lucy, that is the method I use. Floating the bag in the water gets the fish to acclimate to the tank temperature, but unless you slowly add tank water to the bag over a course of time, like an hour,as you posted, you have no way of acclimating the fish to the tank's water conditions which to me are more important in successful acclimation.
I swear, the advice given by so many LFS's do more damage than anything we can do to our fish when we bring them home! It really gets me so mad and in the end its the ill-advised that have to suffer for it.

04_si

it really pays to do some reading on the internet too. then you have a basic idea what to expect with fish, and if they are sensitive or not, etc etc. and, if in doubt, come ask the fishlore folk haha
(not saying it directly to you capekate, more adding what I do to what you said)

capekate

I agree with you.. that is why one of my passions is research..research and more research. Not only for the sake of the fish in question, but that it is something I just love to do.Personally I take no stock in what the LFS employee's tell me.

timmafee

one of the best things about keeping fish is you can never stop learning, there is so much information available from just a google search

04_si

Im still relatively new to fish keeping. I think i first set up my old 20 gallon in April or May. since then im constantly researching fish, especially blue rams. Almost everything I do is for my blue rams, but of course considering the other fish in the tank. I think in 5 months ive come a long way since i knew nothing when i bought my tank, haha. its all thanks to research, and hours spent on fishlore hahaha

kamakasi

ok
let's stay on subject please
thanks

Lucy

Yes, back on subject.

In my previous posts, I mentioned a few things that could have gone wrong but unfortunately, sometimes we never figure out what really went wrong. It's frustrating.

FishFolk

Are things going well with the new tenants?

kamakasi

bad thing happened
fish tank cracked got new one the same day a little bit smaller just for now
15 gallon

Lucy

Ouch, Sorry your tank cracked. Hopefully it didn't make too much of a mess.

kamakasi

no thank god it didn't
it happened whilst i was changing substrates