20 Gal New Setup

hI everyone!
I've been reading posts on multiple sites for about a week now. My brother started a 20 gal tank about 2 weeks ago. We did not wait the proper time before introducing fish into the aquarium. Our water tests came back good and we just went for it. Super naive and very uneducated. Unfortunately we're paying for it now, well our fish are. We started with
1 Red Wag Platy
1 Sunshine Mickey Mouse Platy
1 Blue Platy
1 Long Finned Zebra Danio
That was cool for a day until we thought of more fish we wanted to try and unknowingly introduced even more fish way too fast the next day! With
3 Zebra Danios
1 Rubber Lip Pleco
So we're enjoying the fun fish all is going as expected until the long finned Danio shows up dead one morning. Ok not too bad, might've been stressed. My brother takes the Danio back and exchanged it for
1 Black Molly
2 Cory Catfish
We continue to check water and Ammonia is slightly high but in new tanks it's expected we believe. Then I notice the next day a bad Zebra Danio with red gills. I read up and decide it's either ammonia poisoning or Flukes. I went to the pet shop and got aquarium salt and stress zyme as per the pet store clerk. I use the items as directed and a few days go by nothing changes in water quality or Danio health. 3 days ago the sick Danio died. I was bummed because I was trying to fix the problem. At this point 3-4 days ago my brother and I accept the fact that we rushed things way too soon and have to deal with it and not introduce anything else to the tank. Yesterday another Danio died. And today my Rubber Lip Pleco is dead which was incredibly unexpected. The danios I assumed would die off because they're in a small quantity now and I'm not adding more to a stressed tank. But to lose my Pleco was very unexpected and I don't know why. He wasn't showing any signs of illness. Currently we have still our
2 Cory Catfish
1 Black Molly
1 Red Wag Platy
1 Blue Platy
1 Sunshine Mickey Mouse Platy
1 Zebra Danio
I'm reaching out because I don't know if I should just leave the tank alone and let our biological filter get established or should I be doing something to help the tank and these fish out. None of the remaining show any signs of distress. Aside from the last Danio that I'm sure won't last long. I forgot to mention we've done 3 25% water changes over the last week. Last night we tested the water
Ammonia 1-2 ppm
Nitrite .25-.50 ppm
Nitrate 5 ppm
I'm going to take the fish today back and hopefully just get credit for them as I don't wish to introduce any new fish at this time.

 

hI everyone!
I've been reading posts on multiple sites for about a week now. My brother started a 20 gal tank about 2 weeks ago. We did not wait the proper time before introducing fish into the aquarium. Our water tests came back good and we just went for it. Super naive and very uneducated. Unfortunately we're paying for it now, well our fish are. We started with
1 Red Wag Platy
1 Sunshine Mickey Mouse Platy
1 Blue Platy
1 Long Finned Zebra Danio
That was cool for a day until we thought of more fish we wanted to try and unknowingly introduced even more fish way too fast the next day! With
3 Zebra Danios
1 Rubber Lip Pleco
So we're enjoying the fun fish all is going as expected until the long finned Danio shows up dead one morning. Ok not too bad, might've been stressed. My brother takes the Danio back and exchanged it for
1 Black Molly
2 Cory Catfish
We continue to check water and Ammonia is slightly high but in new tanks it's expected we believe. Then I notice the next day a bad Zebra Danio with red gills. I read up and decide it's either ammonia poisoning or Flukes. I went to the pet shop and got aquarium salt and stress zyme as per the pet store clerk. I use the items as directed and a few days go by nothing changes in water quality or Danio health. 3 days ago the sick Danio died. I was bummed because I was trying to fix the problem. At this point 3-4 days ago my brother and I accept the fact that we rushed things way too soon and have to deal with it and not introduce anything else to the tank. Yesterday another Danio died. And today my Rubber Lip Pleco is dead which was incredibly unexpected. The danios I assumed would die off because they're in a small quantity now and I'm not adding more to a stressed tank. But to lose my Pleco was very unexpected and I don't know why. He wasn't showing any signs of illness. Currently we have still our
2 Cory Catfish
1 Black Molly
1 Red Wag Platy
1 Blue Platy
1 Sunshine Mickey Mouse Platy
1 Zebra Danio
I'm reaching out because I don't know if I should just leave the tank alone and let our biological filter get established or should I be doing something to help the tank and these fish out. None of the remaining show any signs of distress. Aside from the last Danio that I'm sure won't last long. I forgot to mention we've done 3 25% water changes over the last week. Last night we tested the water
Ammonia 1-2 ppm
Nitrite .25-.50 ppm
Nitrate 5 ppm
I'm going to take the fish today back and hopefully just get credit for them as I don't wish to introduce any new fish at this time.

HI there,
Before I address that the corydoras and Danio need to be in schools of 6 I would strongly suggest a water change. Ammonia should be 0 in a tank I would suggest a 50% water change at the moment. Since you said that you did multiple water changes during the week I would assume that your ammonia levels were quite high up. I believe that after a 50% water change your ammonia levels should go down.

 

You will need to do daily water changes to keep your ammonia levels low or buy some bacteria in a bottle to instantly cycle your tank. Also stop adding salt to your tank its not needed for the fish your stocking

 

You will need to do daily water changes to keep your ammonia levels low or buy some bacteria in a bottle to instantly cycle your tank. Also stop adding salt to your tank its not needed for the fish your stocking

Agreed. May I suggest using Seachem Prime and Stability. Prime will purify the water while Stability is bottled bacteria which will help the cycle incredibly. Personally, I used those products to cycle my 120 gallon in 2 weeks.

 

We added bacteria when we started the tank and I only added salt once in reference to someone saying it might help that sick Danio. I'm aware of Danio school size which is why I said I wouldn't be surprised if the other remaining one died as to me not wanting to throw more in just to make a school of danios for them to get sick in return right now. My concern is whether or not doing a 50% water change right now would slow down the process of my tanks biological filter. If it's trying to create a healthy tank and I'm constantly emptying and refilling it wouldn't I be slowing it down. Isn't somewhat elevated ammonia expected early in a tanks life while getting established as long as my Nitrites are keeping up too. I don't mean to sound ignorant. Just reading so much lately and sometimes forums I've read have strongly contradicted each other

 

Did you add the bacteria then wait 2 weeks before adding any fish?

I would say do a 50% right now! It will actually stall or stop your cycle with your ammonia that high plus its incredibly painful to the fish. Above .25 ppm is harmful to them. Do you have Prime? I would add that right away! No 50% wc will help everything, cycle and all. You will not be slowing it down, you will actually be speeding it up. Your nitrites are up too!? Definitely do a 50% wc right now.

I would get a bottle of Tetra Safe Start. What filter do you have?

 

Agreed. May I suggest using Seachem Prime and Stability. Prime will purify the water while Stability is bottled bacteria which will help the cycle incredibly. Personally, I used those products to cycle my 120 gallon in 2 weeks.

Isn't prime just for dechloronating the water

 

No. Prime is not just for dechlorinating. It also detoxifies ammonia so it isn't as harmful to the fish.

Either way you need to do a 50% wc

 

No. Prime is not just for dechlorinating. It also detoxifies ammonia so it isn't as harmful to the fish.

Either way you need to do a 50% wc

Agreed

 

Daily water changes is a must at this point your ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites are all high (they should be at zero). Use Prime for your water changes.

Daily water changes is a must at this point your ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites are all high (they should be at zero). Use Prime for your water changes.

 

I'm sorry about your losses! Starting out is never easy and no one realizes all the info you need to know! We've all been there. I wouldn't always trust the knowledge of the pet store employees since they're not really trained and most are just cashiers filling in.

I would highly suggest getting:
Seachem Prime
Seachem Stability
API Liquid master test kit

As much as I used to love the API products for conditioners and beneficial bacteria additives, Seachem is just overall better and more concentrated.

Your ammonia is high since you never cycled the tank. This is most likely the cause of your deaths.

I would do two 50% water changes and dose with Prime and stability if you can get it. If not use the water conditioner on hand until you can get the seachem products.

I would then do daily water changes of 40 - 50% until cycled. If your ammonia and nitrite test higher than .50 ppm do another 50% water change

Cycling will take time. So until then please read up on the nitrogen cycle. Its extremely important to understand how it all works. Theres some great videos on youtube that explain it