Help Fish Keep Randomly Dieing

I set up my tank about 4/5 nonths ago. It had cycled and theb I put fish in it. 3 endlers, 2 black mollys, 3 guppies, two platys, 2 neons and a pleco. I have a 29G jbj hqI tank with a sponge filter abd heater. I have a few plabts and feed them once a day. I do water changes once ever two weeks of about 30%. I tested my water on the 17th and ammonia is 0.25 nitrite is 0 nitrate is 10 and ph is 7.6. my fish ever since I put them in tge tank are slowly dieing off one by one. Every couple days too degine with then its gone to once a week. In the end I lost 2 ebdlers, 1 black molly, 1 guppy, and a pleco. I don't understand why they keep dieing off I feel like I'm doong everything I can but I'm starting to feel like I shoukd just stop keeping fish cos its not fare on them keeping dieing. Oh ny temp is at 26c. Help me please I dint wabt then to carry on dieing and they show no sign of illness either.

 

Hmmm ... that's quite a mystery ... are you sure you have properly finished the nitrogen cycle?

Also, are you keeping a close watch on the water parameters?

 

Yep I waited till it was all cycled before putting them in and yep every 2 weeks I’m checking the parameters. I just don’t understand why there dieing off I have never heard anything like it before x

 

Alright. Well, all I can say, if I understand correctly, is that checking the water parameters every 2 weeks when animals are dying is simply not really enough

If I were you I would check the water parameters every day. Get a 6 in 1 Test (strips) and test daily. Also, get a separate Ammonia Test and do that at the same time.
If you don't check water parameters daily when fish are dying you may be having unknown spikes of certain chemicals.

 

I have the apI master test kit and will do thank you.

 

Alright. Well, all I can say, if I understand correctly, is that checking the water parameters every 2 weeks when animals are dying is simply not really enough

If I were you I would check the water parameters every day. Get a 6 in 1 Test (strips) and test daily. Also, get a separate Ammonia Test and do that at the same time.
If you don't check water parameters daily when fish are dying you may be having unknown spikes of certain chemicals.

Don't use the strips. They are basically useless.

What size is your tank? If you're showing ammonia I'm guessing you killed your cycle somehow. Do you change your filter media? You need to be doing water changes weekly

 

I clean it out with water when the water pressure gets low or when it looks dirty it’s a 29 gallon tank. I have an apI master testing kit x

 

I clean it out with water when the water pressure gets low or when it looks dirty it’s a 29 gallon tank. I have an apI master testing kit x

How do you clean it? You might be killing the bacteria by cleaning it

 

I run it under hot water

 

I run it under hot water

You're killing your bacteria and restarting your cycle every time you do that. When you do a water change, just squeeze the sponge/filter media in the old tank water and put it back into the filter. Until you get your bacteria built back up, you will need to do water changes daily to keep ammonia and nitrites down. Dosing Prime will make the ammonia and nitrite unharmful to your fish while you're reestablishing your bacteria. Make sure to check your levels daily as well until you are recycled

Edit: Do you only have a sponge filter on the tank? You probably need to get another filter, that could also be part of the problem.

What kind of pleco do you have?

Neons need to be kept in groups of at least 6, so once this gets figured out, you need to add more.

Your temperature is a little high as well. They should really be around 22-23C

 

You're killing your bacteria and restarting your cycle every time you do that. When you do a water change, just squeeze the sponge/filter media in the old tank water and put it back into the filter. Until you get your bacteria built back up, you will need to do water changes daily to keep ammonia and nitrites down. Dosing Prime will make the ammonia and nitrite unharmful to your fish while you're reestablishing your bacteria. Make sure to check your levels daily as well until you are recycled

Edit: Do you only have a sponge filter on the tank? You probably need to get another filter, that could also be part of the problem.

What kind of pleco do you have?

Neons need to be kept in groups of at least 6, so once this gets figured out, you need to add more.

Your temperature is a little high as well. They should really be around 22-23C

No, don't use Prime when cycling ... you will be removing all of the ammonia and nitrites, which are NEEDED by the bacteria ... the bacteria will starve if you remove all of their food.
Also, if you remove ammonia and nitrites you will be making the time to cycle the tank a LOT longer.

It's very unfortunate that you lost your bacteria. Do enough water changes so that the fish are not so affected, but you need a tiny bit of ammonia and nitrites in there to build up the bacteria cultures.

Just keep the ph anywhere above 7.0 and the temperature at around 78F/26c it helps to make the bacteria thrive more.

 

No, don't use Prime when cycling ... you will be removing all of the ammonia and nitrites, which are NEEDED by the bacteria ... the bacteria will starve if you remove all of their food.
Also, if you remove ammonia and nitrites you will be making the time to cycle the tank a LOT longer.

It's very unfortunate that you lost your bacteria. Do enough water changes so that the fish are not so affected, but you need a tiny bit of ammonia and nitrites in there to build up the bacteria cultures.

Just keep the ph anywhere above 7.0 and the temperature at around 78F/26c it helps to make the bacteria thrive more.

Prime doesn’t remove anything. It simply makes it safe for the fish. You want to keep ammonia and nitrites under 1 ppm, prime will detoxify these amounts but it is still present. The temperature at 26 is pretty high for the neons

 

Prime binds/removes ammonia. Look it up, there are plenty of articles out there that explain why to not use it while cycling, just saying

All the articles and places I have researched Neon Tetras on (having had them myself) say that the max temperature is around 26-27. Even the FISHLORE Neon Tetra page says so: Neon Tetra Fish

26c is just fine for Neon Tetras and will help the cycle along.

 

Thank you guys for your help and I will change the temp to 26c I was so clueless about why they where randomly dieing. Is it safe to have the fish in the tank while I cycle it ?

 

Thank you guys for your help and I will change the temp to 26c I was so clueless about why they where randomly dieing. Is it safe to have the fish in the tank while I cycle it ?

It's better to do a fishless cycle, if you have a cycled tank to move them to than that would be better, if not just keep up with water changes and monitoring the levels

 

Yes it is safe as I am currently going through the same cycle with fish in but keep a close eye in the water parameters so you don't garm your fish

Harm lol

 

Thank you guys for your help and I will change the temp to 26c I was so clueless about why they where randomly dieing. Is it safe to have the fish in the tank while I cycle it ?

It is safe to keep your fish in the tank while you cycle as long as you keep a close watch on the water parameters
You want to check the parameters (Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates) every day, just to be sure. Do a water change if the numbers on those 3 (especially Ammonia/Nitrite) are high until they are low enough.

I prefer doing fishless cycles, not just because it is a lot faster since you can have as much ammonia and nitrites in the tank as you want, but also because fish don't suffer then.

I think it'll be ok though! Keep us posted! Good luck!

 

Thank you all for your help. I sadly don’t have any other cycled tanks to put them into so I’m going to have to leave the fish in there for now. Does anyone know roughly how long it will take for the tank to cycle again

 

You're most welcome! We all needed help at some point, so I'm definitely happy to pass it along!

And I can't say for sure how long it would take .. anywhere from 2-5 weeks maybe. Can't help there, sorry.

 

Prime binds/removes ammonia. Look it up, there are plenty of articles out there that explain why to not use it while cycling, just saying

All the articles and places I have researched Neon Tetras on (having had them myself) say that the max temperature is around 26-27. Even the FISHLORE Neon Tetra page says so: Neon Tetra Fish

26c is just fine for Neon Tetras and will help the cycle along.

As Valerie mentioned 26c is quite high for neons. I'd lower the temp like she suggested.

 

As Valerie mentioned 26c is quite high for neons. I'd lower the temp like she suggested.

From my experience I've always kept them at roughly 25-26c and they handle it perfectly fine. The majority of information on Neon Tetra care says the same. Up to 26c is not a problem whatsoever.
It is in their range.

Also, the temperature can be lower after fully having cycled the aquarium. Lower temperatures are worse to complete the cycle.

 

The major of information doens't say the same. The mentioned ranges are minimum/maximum which fish can handle for some time.

From my experience I've always kept them at roughly 25-26c and they handle it perfectly fine. The majority of information on Neon Tetra care says the same. Up to 26c is not a problem whatsoever.
It is in their range.

 

The major of information doens't say the same. The mentioned ranges are minimum/maximum which fish can handle for some time.

To be honest, if the maximum/minimum temperatures could only be handled for a while I don't think that all these pages (including FishLore) would have the max-temp at 26c.

If it really wasn't so nice to handle it wouldn't be their "recommended" temperature range.

 

Also, the temperature can be lower after fully having cycled the aquarium. Lower temperatures are worse to complete the cycle.

I doubt a few degree would make a difference. I would never do a fish in cycle (amd defintely not with neons) but okay.
Warmer water contains less oxygen which could get worse when ammonia / nitrites appear.

Seriously Fish even mentions 28C so you must be right !

To be honest, if the maximum/minimum temperatures could only be handled for a while I don't think that all these pages (including FishLore) would have the max-temp at 26c.

If it really wasn't so nice to handle it wouldn't be their "recommended" temperature range.

 

I doubt a few degree would make a difference. I would never do a fish in cycle (amd defintely not with neons) but okay.
Warmer water contains less oxygen which could get worse when ammonia / nitrites appear.

That's the thing. I'm not sure if you're fully aware of what happened to the thread-owner's aquarium, but he has accidentally killed his nitrifying bacteria while having already gotten fish.

He is not purposely cycling a tank full of Neon Tetras.

For the fish to suffer least it is VITAL to make the cycle end fast, wherever it's been left off.
For a cycle to go faster it needs the highest temperature possible and good aeration. That's just the fact and that's what I think would be best for him and the fish.

With everyone saying that Neons thrive at a lower temperatures it is then HIS choice whether or not to lower the temperature a bit or not.

I don't want to argue about it, to each their own, but Neon Tetras will not be under stress or any other bad health condition just because they are put at their max-range temperature (which is the MAX range because they can handle it up to there).

 

BTW I think we keep almost all fish to warm over a long period of time.
And I also think that is the reason for a too short lifespan of all kinds of fish (including neons)

 

Seriously Fish even mentions 28C so you must be right !

The min/max ranges probably come with a 2 degree give or take maybe. Not sure.

BTW I think we keep almost all fish to warm over a long period of time.
And I also think that is the reason for a too short lifespan of all kinds of fish (including neons)

I guess it could be that they grow too fast or so when at high temperatures, leading to a faster death.
That is sad of course. I wouldn't want that.

 

4-6 weeks for your tank to cycle again depending on your parameters.

 

Thank you guess for all your help. My ammonia has been going to 0.25 every day so I have been doing a quarter water change daily and it seems to lower it for a little bit then goes back up. And as the temperature is a little high for neons I added an air pump with airstone it's one with two air tubes to make sure there's enough oxygen in the water and they seem to be really happy. Thank you all for your adive. I also added more plants as I read that helps speed up the cycle.

 

I added more plants today as saw somewhere that they help with the cycle. So hopefully that will speed it up. Only thing is I'm going away for a week in 5 days time will they be ok without me ?

 

I came back off holiday yesterday to find my black Molly had died sadly but about 15 baby fry in my tank. Going to test the waters today x

 

Ok post the results on here so we can advise further if needs be