R.I.P Dalton

[Yaoilover12397]

So the last few days something has gone very wrong. In three days I've lost six fish.

2 glofish
1 molly
1 bambooshrimp
1 Corydora
1 Betta

My mom thinks something is wrong with the tank especillay since the last three where found in the little lits for the filter. I've covered the bottom slits with a plant and we are going to talk to someone at our LPS. The one that sold us the tank.

I feel like maybe I shouldn't own fish...Everytime one dies my dad makes a joke abotu if i'm powdering and perfuming them like his sisters did..it makes me feel sick inside...like its my fault...I don't know what else to do. I have AQ salt, i feed them twice a day and give them blood worms once every two weeks. They have plants and decorations to hide in...What am I doing wrong?

[dragonflie]

I am sorry you are having troubles.

I have been looking through your previous posts, and am unable to find when you started your tank, nor your water change schedule, nor water testing schedule.

It is unlikely you are losing fish due to getting stuck in the filter. It is more likely they are either already weakened and/ or ill, or dying...then getting drawn to the filter. Healthy fish should have no problem getting away from the intake.

Again..I've been looking through your posts, but have been unable to answer the following questions, so I apologize if you have covered this elsewhere that I just have not discovered.

When did you start your tank? How often and how much are you changing the water? What are your current ammonia/nitrite/nitrate amounts? And...I did read you had a power failure due to weather on..what was it, 8/31? How long was your filter not running during this time?

Many quick deaths in a fairly new tank often tend to be due to the effects of cycling. That of course does not rule out disease. But it's the first thing you want to rule out. I would start by testing your water.

[Yaoilover12397]

I found out what happened. We got bad advice form a worker at my LPS. We saw his supervisor today and he said he was so sorry. He gave us a free clarifier and told us what to do.

Its a 29 galleon bio cube.

I usually do two 50% water changes a month. I started my tank a month ago.

I don't know my exact levels but i plan to buy a kit in the next week. The guy told us our nitrate were way way up. Due to what we did from the guys advice.

during the power outage we had five days but each day i ran the filter about 2-3 hours on our generator power.

[dragonflie]

Ok given this info:

It's been running and stocked a month, so does that mean it's only gotten 2 50% water changes so far?

The fish were likely suffering from ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning in that case. The nitrates are the least of the problems, IMO. It is MUCH LESS toxic of the three by products, and unless you have particularly sensitive stock (some invertebrates such as snails and shrimp, and even fewer actual fish), the nitrates are unlikely to have caused the deaths.

When you are doing a fish-in cycle you will likely need to be doing daily water changes to keep ammonia in check; and nitrite next when the ammonia starts to process to nitrite. This process can take alot of time; fish-in cycles take notoriously longer to stabilize vs fishless cycles...because of the water changes necessary in a fish-in to keep your stock healthy. The process might be shortened had you gotten either a working bacterial supplement (Tetra's Safe Start is the only one I know of that works well), OR seeded your tank using existing filter media from a cycled tank.

Of the bacterial colonies you do have; many might have died during the power outage. Rather than reiterate, I suggest reading this: http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/article/D...th_Power_Cuts/ it explains better in detail what happens during a power outage, with lengths of outages included.

Thing is...it sounds like your tank wasn't cycled. But even in a cycled tank a power outage that long can be disastrous unless very specific measures are taken as outlined in the link I gave you. I'm not sure based on what you've said so far that you are familiar with the details of the nitrogen cycle. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask. :)

Oh..and smack your LPS in the forehead about the bamboo shrimp. A bamboo shrimp should never be recommended for even a newly cycled tank. While it is DOABLE, it is not ideal for them; as they are filter feeders and their source of nutrients is in the water column in the form of micro organisms. A newly cycled tank will not have enough for them to eat; unless you are target feeding them with a turkey baster. They only scrape their delicate fans on the surfaces if they are starving.

Again, I'm sorry for your troubles. It is unfortunate but most stores do not provide information about the nitrogen cycle, and it is a necessary thing to know about, in my opinion.

*I'm curious about the "clarifier." What product is it exactly? Water clarifiers are almost never necessary, as all they do is clump up fine matter so it can be caught by your filter.

[Yaoilover12397]

I did use Tetra's Safe Start. I think we had some confusion. I cycled my tank for a week. No fish when i first got it.

Over the time i have done 3 water changes due to what happened.

I once again used Tetra's Safe Start and put it in when i did a 50% water change today.

Bah I'm so bad at explaing via the internet like this. >.<