the answer may be obvious to the pros

[starting small]

ok this is the story thus far......

I have a one month old setup including a 25 litre tank with undergravel filtration, some fake plants and sick fish..... :oops:

My fish are, (1 x female siamese fighter, was 2)

(5x tetras all up i have had 11)

(1x catfish)

now as you can see i have not been having much luck with the little fellas.

the first to get sick was the tetras, to begin with i thought they had damaged fins, almost looked like they had been eaten, i checked with the shop i bought everything from and she said that the siamese might be eating the other fish, i have also spoken to others who laughed at that idea.

Upon re- reading books i began to wonder if i had tetra disease, but with nopics of the disease to work with its kinda hard for a newbie :-?

Then one of my fighters got sick, startde being lethargic, hanging around the surface breathing air and generlay not looking good, she eventualyy died and the other remained healthy, until sunday when it to became unwell, (which coincided with some of my second batch of tetras getting sick).

I have tried medications from shop, frequent water changes, limiting diet, and increased temprature on advice from others but nothing seems to work :roll:

PLEASE, if anyone can give me some pointers it would be greatly appreciated,

thanks

[bikiegirl]

hi sorry to here u r having problem may i ask what

filter u r useing

what is the ph

how long was the tank been running for be for u add the fish

cheers bikiegirl

[Caryl]

Bad mix of fish and too many too fast. There is no way you can have that many fish in so small a tank. Has anyone told you about cycling a tank?

A tank needs good bacteria to eat the waste the fishes produce. When you set up the tank with its under gravel filter (ugf) it was ready for the bacteria to grow but they can't do that until you add some fish to produce the waste. More waste = more bacteria and vice versa. As the bacteria grow you can slowly add more fish and so the tank 'cycles'.

A tank that size can't handle the 14 fish you bought - even if it was fully cycled. If the shop sold you both the tank and the fish then they should have known better :evil:

Most likely the fins were 'burned' from the excess ammonia from the fish that the ugf couldn't cope with. Also the tetras would eat the fins on the Siamese fighter not the other way around. Neons can swim a lot faster than fighters.

Your remaining fish may or may not survive their experience but keep up daily water changes to help get rid of the excess waste until the tank cycles properly. Do you have any test kits? I have some here and am happy to help if you live in Blenheim. Let me know and I will get you on the right track.

Are you in Blenheim? Our club meets tonight and you are most welcome to attend. I am el presidente

18 Aug

7.30pm

Flat 1,88b Scott St (back flat)

[starting small]

thanks for the advice so far, sorry cheryl i only just saw reply, maybe next time,

ok some more details,

ugf = i cant rember , its one with a carbon filter if that helps (one head flows alot more than the other) I will try and find the name.

ph = Lady at the shop said not to worry, i will buy one tommorow!

tank time, tank was running for 4 nights before i added 2 fighters, 5 tetras and 1 cat fish.

just noticed a white growth on the top of the siamese

cheers

[starting small]

intresting...

was just told that a friend of a friend had had a tank running for 10 years and bought a new fish from same shop as me and it was carrying a disease and they all carked it,

maybe time to start from scratch....... :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

[Alan]

That's why you have a quarantine tank

Lot cheaper in the long run,

saves a lot of heartbreak too.

Alan

[Caryl]

Where are you? I am willing to come and visit you and help before you buy more fish or unneccessary meds, kits or equipment.

[MGilchrist]

Hi SS

some advise

if you can get together with Caryl, this will help

start small with everything but the tank, you had two many fish in the tank for its size, especially during cycling, I know this does not help now but do not buy anymore fish untill things stabilise.

cycling this is important, go slowly, very few fish and frequent smaller water changes are better than infrequent large changes, treat the water to remove chlorine (in your case get a new bucket that is only for the fish wash with water only, no soaps, fill with 5 - 7 litres treat and leave till up to ambient temp, change daily)

Ph test kit is important, also ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, if you are close to a pet store they may be able to test a sample for you, if not then again Caryl can help.

Medicating the tank may be necessary now, but be aware carbon in the filtration system may need to be removed as it can suck out the meds. please tell us what meds you have used.

Lastly water quality is the most important thing for your fish and in such a small tank things will go wrong rapidly if it is not right.

sorry for your lost fish, and Caryl sorry for making free with your name

Mark

[Shelley]

I have gone through a similar thing. It doesn't help knowing that at the time...you didn't know.....but I found a forum very much like this one for overseas and learned about cycling this of course does not help the ten fish I have watched die

Learning the hard way will make sure we don't make the same mistakes again and I have told my daughter we will not be getting more fish until we are certain the tank is a loving safe and happy environment for our fishies to be. I have learned in a very short space of time that forums such as these, hold a whole lot more information that the average pet shop. (The pet shop we visited had only water hardness kit, nitrite kit and PH)....I have just ordered various 'essential' items from a store I stumbled upon whilst buying fishie products on trademe....and am so looking forward to getting the water conditions sorted once and for all for these beautiful creatures. Good luck with your new tank...and good luck with the remaining stock.