Hey community,
Just found this community earlier today and need some help. Last week i purchased this tank (starter kit that came with everything) for a good price and wanted to get back into aquariums. After filling up the tank with water and letting it “cycle”, thought it would be a good time to add some fish.
I was handed some test stripes from a local shop and when tested, it seemed to pass all the tests. Last night i bought 8 fish (4 neon tetras, 2 Red-gold guppies and 2 algee eaters). Things seemed to be fine until i checked on them this morning.
All of the neon tetras had died. 2 of them were floating and two of them havent been counted for. As i prepare the decreased ones a proper burial at the upstairs bathroom, I wanted to reach out to the community and see what i did wrong, how to improve to sustain a healthy environment for them.
Please let me know any recommendations, clearly the information here isnt enough, so i can update the information when needed.
Thanks,
Would you be able to explain what you did to cycle the tank?
Usually one week isn’t long enough to fully cycle a tank, especially since it seems as if it went from 0 life to basically fully stocked overnight. I’m guessing if the tank was cycled, it was cycled for a much smaller load of fish/life and the larger introduction shocked the system and the ammonia is too high.
Basically just letting the water “air out”, letting the water cycle through the filter. No additives / chemicals were added. Thinking about taking a sample of water to the shop and see what they can suggest. I like the notion that you mentioned about it being no life in the tank, to having alot of life all at once. Makes me want to research it more.
I was super bummed when i woke up and saw them dead. I feel bad. I dont want it to happen again
Ah ok, so the tank wasn’t cycled then. Cycling is essentially getting beneficial bacteria to start living in your tank and reducing the waste chemicals produced by aquatic life to a less harmful chemical (nitrogen cycle). Essentially the idea is you’d continuously introduce some sort of ammonia into the tank and monitor the water until it drops to 0.
This seems to be a good article to get started: https://www.freshwatersystems.com/blogs/blog/how-to-cycle-a-fish-tank
I’m sorry for the loss of your fish though. Aquariums can have a bit of a learning curve and we have all made mistakes. I hope this’ll be a sad but good learning experience and that you’ll continue to explore this hobby!
Fantastic blog post. Very helpful!
Letting the water “air out” often does not work anymore. Many municipalities have switched to chloramines for water treatment. Unlike chlorine, chloramines are long-term stable in water. This means they need to be removed either by treating the water with chemicals or filtered out with reverse-osmosis or activated carbon.
I think this is the answer. The tank not being cycled is obviously a problem, but not one that will kill off relatively hardy tetra overnight. Chloramines will. You need dechlorinator.
Since it is a new tank adding some beneficial bacteria like safestart would be good then letting it sit for at least two weeks without adding anything else. Take it for testing by a local aquarium shop and if it’s all clear then add some fish. It sounds like the tank was not fully cycled unfortunately. Best of luck man don’t let it get you too down, everyone has to learn somehow.