Okay, so I got a new 10-gallon tank, a filter and a heater about two months ago. I filled it with de-chlorinated water (using tap water and commercial de-chlorinator) then added several cups of water from a pre-existing tank. I waited several days, then had my water tested. The pet store people said it looked good. So, I bought three glofish (the really brightly colored Danios) two harlequin rasboras, two Corydoras Catfish, and one snail, along with several fake plants and a decoration for them to hide inside. I added the fish. For the first week or so, everything seemed fine. The fish were lively, the water temperature was about 80 degrees, I fed them flake food, but ensured that only enough went to the bottom of the tank to feed my catfish, and I did a partial water on the week mark (using, again, dechlorinated water). My water testing showed almost perfect conditions, as far as nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia goes. It’s soft, and the ph is a little high, but I was told that was normal, and shouldn’t be an issue. Anyway, a little more than one week in, one of my glofish started acting crazy. It would swim upside down, then right itself, and swim under the rocks at the bottom of the tank. I assumed it had swim bladder disease, and fed the fish a couple shelled, defrosted peas. However, it died the next day. A few more days passed, then one of my glofish was showing the symptoms of gill flukes. I added freshwater aquarium salt in a yogurt container with holes in it, as the pet store person had suggested, removed my snail to another dechlorinated dish of water, and treated my aquarium with Lifeguard, an all-around tablet treatment. I removed my carbon filter for this process, (it takes the medicine out of the water) and followed the directions given on the medication, and on the day after the medication was through with, I did a partial water change, then put my carbon filter and snail back in. My glofish died one day into treatment. Then, a few days later, one of my rasboras was doing the same thing my first glofish was doing- swimming upside-down and under rocks, then directly under the surface of the water. I figured maybe the oxygen level in my tank was low, so I did another partial water change, and aerated the water. He died in the night. I keep doing water testing, but I don’t see anything abnormal, and I tried to buy hardy fish to begin with, but I feel like I’m having an abnormal number of deaths… Can anyone tell me what I’m doing wrong? Thanks a bunch…
Hmm… My fish are in a room with windows, but all of them have blinds pulled down. The main source of light they have is their tank lights. Could too little light be the problem?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Ok, losing more than one fish, which can be written off as fate, is losing too many. In 2 years on my 10 gallon tank I’ve lost 1 white cloud minnow for unknown reasons, and one kuhli loach that jumped out.
1. Adding water from another tank does nothing at all. You need to take media from that tank, ideally from the filter, and put it into the new tank, ideally into the filter. Bacteria grows on surfaces, it does not swim freely in the water. Your tank was not cycled properly.
2. 10 gallons is a tiny little tank. Instead of getting 2 danios and 2 rasbora, you should choose just one type and keep 5 or 6 of them, so they can be in a group. They are schooling fish, afterall. This is not why they died, but is a long term issue.
3. Corydora are also grouping fish, so you’ll want about 3 or 4 of them. Some corydora types will get too big for this size of tank, so you must make sure the ones you choose are of a small variety of corydora. This is not why they died, but is a long term issue.
4. Even if you seed your tank with bacteria you need to stock carefully. Start with 3 danio OR tetra. Wait a week. If everything is good, add 3 more of the same type. Wait a week. Add the corydora catfish. Wait. The introduction of too many fish was surely at least part of the issue.
5. You don’t need salt. These are freshwater fish. You don’t need anything except conditioner. The store wants to sell you lots of stuff, but you don’t need it. Keep it simple and less will go wrong.
6. Medications are hard on fish. Using ‘all purpose’ meds on a tank because you feel something is amiss is a good way to make a situation worse. If you can’t identify the problem, don’t treat it blindly. If you know what the problem is, treat it with the appropriate med for the issue.
So what it comes down to is this – cycle the tank properly by introducing bacteria via filter media from the other tank. Add fish gradually, building up the tank over time. Keep grouping fish in groups.
(my 10 for example, is 6 white clouds minnows, 5 kuhli loaches, 4 cherry shimp, and trumpet snails – proper groups and a nice variety of life too)
PS: You don’t really need carbon in your filter, you can just take it out and put some filter media from the other tank in its spot. Notice how easy it is to read posts that are broken up a little bit!
** The tank light is enough and has nothing to do with it.
hello, i have had 8 fish in my life and now only 2 we couldnt figure out why they kept dying. we thought over feeding, underfeeding. butinways what we got to was that i had them directly in the sun and we talked to a local pet store owner and it turns out too much light or too little light could kill them. and the only reason my last 2 fish didnt die is because they are pygmy cat fish and cat fish dont die easily do to light exposure. hope i helped(:
1. Adding water from an established tank does very little to kick start a new aquarium. Some filter media or some of the substrate from a fully cycled aquarium would have been a better choice.
- Please research how to properly cycle an aquarium to get a better understanding of the nitrogen cycle. Done fishlessly it takes 6-8 weeks, and even when seeding the tank I would wait a week before adding fish.
2. You also added more fish than was wise for an uncycled tank, and added them incorrectly:
- GLOfish should be kept in groups of at least 6 and really because of how active they are a 15-20 gallon tank is considered their minimum.
- Harlequin rasboras should also be kept in groups of at least 6.
- Corydoras, unless of the pgmy variety, should not be housed in less than 20 gallons. They too should be kept in groups. Cories do not appreciate salt in their water.
3. What exactly are the results of your tests? Ammonia and nitrite should be at zero, as anything higher is considered toxic and will cause stress and/or death to fish. Nitrates should be kept preferably below 20ppm.
you probably added too many fish at a time and too much bacteria was created and adding 7 fish and 1 snail at a time is alot of bioload. you should only added 3 fish max. a week.
but if you say that all the levels were good then that’s pretty weird because adding 7 fish and a snail would increase the possibility of ammonia and nitrite increasing.
glofish should also be in groups of 5+ and the harlequin rasboras shoould be in groups of at least 6.
did u cycle your tank? maybe that is the problem.
your fish died because your tank was not cycled correctly and you added too many fish at once to an uncycled tank … the fish store is not where you gain knowledge about fishkeeping, they are merely there to sell you stuff … adding water from another tank does virtually nothing as the beneficial bacteria is in the gravel and mostly in the filter … it is impossible your ammonia, nitrite and nitrates were normal after only running your tank for three days (the pet store lied about your water quality so they could sell you fish) … if you had ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrates less than 25 your tank is cycled but this would take a month or two, either test the water yourself and not with the strips as they are not accurate, or get a different store to check your water … with all the death in your tank, the water can not be good … the only thing you did wrong was listen to the pet store … when i was setting up my tank they told me to run my filter for 24 hours and then add 30 fish … and me not knowing any better did so only to return 25 fish to the store later … pet stores are there to sell stuff … and a fish store who does not even advise on how to cycle a tank, and selling you all those fish for a tank that was running for only three days, just set you up to fail … get your tank cycled correctly, make sure ammonia and nitrites are 0 … very important they are 0 (if you do not have live plants the nitates should be less than 25, but nitrates can be managed with water changes if too high) … and then add a couple of fish, if they are okay after a week or two you can add some more … but also, the kinds of fish you want google glofish care and learn how they need to be kept happy and healthy … again, the fish store is not where you get this information … they have sold you fish based on what you pointed and not how the fish should really be kept (i.e. rasboras are schooling fish) … it has nothing to do with light … keep trying, it takes patience in the beginning and you seem to have the motivation to keep fish, it was just the fish store that set you up for failure