tigerson Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 hey im new to keeping fish and my local pet shop advised i get two neons well i bought the tank set it up as the manual said. I then added my two neons well it was time for bed so i left them next morning to my dissapointment the two neons where at the bottom just being dead. well i whent back to the shop and got two more these also died what should i do before i buy my next "victims" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 hi, first of all im assuming you bought the tank home set it up, filled it, heated the water and added the fish?? if so the most likely reason they died is what they call new tank syndrome, meaning that the tank had not gotten into its rythm, you'll hear about cycling a tank and stuff like that. the most people loose alot more fish before they learn patience and learn about the pets they keep, good on you for finding the site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerson Posted May 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 yea well i just poped into the shop again today and the guy did readings with some water i took him andd he says that we just gotta wait and see what the final outcome will be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 as fish waste enters the water it breaks down into ammonia that then in turn turns into nitrite that then turns into nitrates. ammonia is toxic to fish as is nitrite, nitrates are not good in high ammounts but will almost always be present un at least very small amounts if you add fish to an aquarium to fast then the bacteria that breaks down these chemicals are not present in numbers high enough to break down the fish waste and the fish risk death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Hi Tigerson, how big is the tank you have the neons in? I assume you have a heater and filter, did you give the new gravel a good wash? To wash the gravel best way i've found is to put it in a bucket and run a hose into it letting it overflow for a while, i use my hand to stir the gravel and have the hose going on full, gets rid of all the lil bits of rubbish out of the gravel. Cycling; basically your fish will excrete waste, this waste and excess food will produce amonia (poisonous) usually there are good bacteria in the tank that turn amonia into nitrite and more bacteria that turn nitrite (slightly poisonous) into nitrate (poisonous in high concentrations) some nitrate will be used by live plants in the tank. These good bacteria live in mainly your filter media some in the gravel and a little bit in the water. It takes time for the bacteria to grow to a point where they will eliminate most of the waste in your tank, you still have to do water changes to dilute the nitrate either weekly, fortnightly or monthly depending on tank size and how heavily stocked the tank is, there are products (Stress Zyme or Cycle) that contain bacteria that will speed up the cycling process. Did you set the tank up, put the neons in and they died the day after your tank was setup or was it a few days later? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nilocagain Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Just a little addition to last post, Cycle needs fish waste to feed it as its live bacteria (not sure about Stress Zyme) I myself used Cycle on a 4' 450Lt tank the day I set it up 2 months (the tank did go cloudy for 2 days though) ago adding 8 fish and haven't lost a fish in that tank (touch wood) yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 I would be surprised if amonia would build up so fast in a tank with only two neons (unless it was very small). I think it was more likely one of 1) Chlorine in the water, did you use tap water? Did you let it sit over night before adding fish? Chlorine will kill fish and takes 12-24 hours to get out of tap water if left to sit. 2) Incorrect temperature, your temp should be at about 24 degrees cent, but can be so low as 20 and as high as 28 with out problems. Quick changes in temp will also kill the fish. 3) Soap, bleach, etc in the tank, did you clean anything that went into the tank? 4) Fish not accliatised correctly. Fish need time to adjust to the temp and water parameters of your tank, to do this you need to float the bag with fish into in the tank for 15 minutes, then slowly add water from the tank, say 1/4 cup every 5-10 minutes for 1/2 hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Hi tigerson...and...greetings from Cape Breton! I'm a newbie at this...but...my BEST advice...listen to what these folks are telling you...they have more knowledge than a...snowstorm has snowflakes! Great site here...people are fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Oh...tigerson...don't forget to put polysterene under your tank! Heh Alan...I remembered :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 What exactly did the manual say? How big is the tank and what have you put in it so far? (filter etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 my local pet shop advised i get two neons well i bought the tank set it up as the manual said. They should of advised something more hardy like mollies,platies....neons are no good for cycling a tank. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerson Posted May 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 hey thanks for all your great advise i went and bought a whole lot more supplies and have changed water and now i wait to see if they live or die i mite just buy guppys instead of neons :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Angl Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 I've cycled nearly every tank i have with the 6 same neons, and they've done me proud, they got the reward of living in my 6ft tank with another 14 neons and they still try to beat each other up :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerson Posted May 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 many thanks people of fnzas i have really learned alot about how not to kill my neons and hopefully my new neons will live past the night Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_from_nz Posted May 14, 2005 Report Share Posted May 14, 2005 Hi Tigerson, I'm the one that sold you the tank. I hope the neon's you got today are doing better than the last ones. For thoes interested the tank is a 28L Aqua One cr320 Napiers tap water is safe for fish, yes it did have a heater and was up to temperature. When the fish died ammonia was 0 nitrates 0 and nitrites 0 The tank was brand new and no chemicals were sprayed around the tank. I advised 2 neons for cycling because I thought they would be easily hardy enough (my first tank many a year ago was cycled on 4 Neons and 3 glowlights similar volume and was fine) The PH did come out at 8.0 could it be that the ph was a little high??? this has now been buffered down to 7.0 using Aquarium Pharmisuticles PH Down They collected 2 Neons today and have been given a squirt of Cycle to try and see if it helps. If you do have any more problems Tigerson call me and I will come around with some cycled water out of one of our display tanks and some cycled gravel. Good luck, Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Now THAT'S service! well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me love fishy Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 How are the new neons Tigerson? Did they survive? I guess its just the frustration of fishkeeping, sometimes you have no idea why they die and as some fish are hardier than others even when they are the same species you never can tell. Honestly its a mystery sometimes why some survive when others die. Anyway hope your newbies are alright and loving their tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerson Posted May 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2005 hey dan and the two neons we got from you have succesfully been alive for 3days now they are swimming happily and they are being all active and yea so thanks for everyones help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.