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Sad start with new tank

4K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Terrainosaur 
#1 ·
Of the 10 guppies and 6 neon tetras I've bought, I only have 6 guppies left. Four guppies died while I cycled (I over-fed). The tetras died I think from temperature change. I didn't get these pets to end their lives, but I keep making mistakes at the their expense.

I guess my question is, are dead fish simply to be expected?
 
#2 ·
Sadly...you can't keep fish without having some dead ones... :(

I haven't been having luck with the oto cats...all my other fish are fine...my water is fine...but there's something up with the otos...either they don't like my water, or they were sick to begin with...I've had 8...I can only find two...4 are definately dead...2 are MIA...hope they're okay... :cry:

So yes, some dead fish are to be expected...

...when you do everything as right as you can...and have dead fish...then as sad as it is, it remains a learning experience...

...but when people deliberately set their fish up in poor conditions...and don't care if the fish lives or dies...that's quite another situation...I consider that animal abuse...
 
#4 ·
...yes, I got that...

...as I said, sometimes fish die...could be the water - even if it's okay, it could just be very different from the 'okay' water that they were used to...could be poorly-bred fish...could be stressed-out fish...likely a combination of factors...
 
#5 ·
sometimes if u add to many fish at the same time, even if your tank is cycled, it can create a bit of an ammonia spike while the tank adapts to the increased bioload. i think it's usually best to add a couple fish at a time. this doesn't always happen and if it does that many fish prob wouldn't have died. so you probably had some unhealthy tetras when you got them. :(
 
#6 ·
Hi Terrainosaur, sorry to hear about the loss of your fish.

How long had the tank been cycled for when you added the new fish?

Could you also give the readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at the time, and the type of test kit you were using?

The more information you give, the easier it will be to help determine the cause of the losses.
 
#7 ·
The ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were 0 starting on that Monday (and continuing that week). Friday was the six-week mark, which is when I got the new fish.

I also changed the blue filter for the very first time that Friday. On Saturday I had a very slight amount of ammonia ... around 0.15 PPM. I did a 1/6 water change and added a small amount of Biozyme (or something) to the water on top of the blue filter.

I use the 5-in-1 strips for nitrites and nitrates and found them to be accurate. Ammonia strips suck, so I switched to the type where you put 8 drips from each of two bottles into a glass tube with 5ml of water.
 
#8 ·
Okay, thanks for the information - that helps.

I'm a bit concerned that you don't have a nitrate reading - nitrate readings should be present after cycling a tank.

What type of filter are you using, and when you say you changed it, do you mean that you completely replaced the filter media?
 
#10 ·
kateyoup said:
Okay, thanks for the information - that helps.

I'm a bit concerned that you don't have a nitrate reading - nitrate readings should be present after cycling a tank.

What type of filter are you using, and when you say you changed it, do you mean that you completely replaced the filter media?
I don't remember what the nitrates reading was at the end of the cycling period, but it was at least in the safe range when I added the new guppies and neon tetras. (I understand how the cycle works.) My filter information can be found under the Tanks button. The filter I replaced was the blue one, not the BioWheel.

Thanks for the replies, but I didn't mean this thread to turn into a discussion of the nitrogen cycle. My question is, is it normal for fish to die? If you had a small tank, cycled it and put small schooling fish in it, would you expect a 100% survival rate?
 
#12 ·
Like Rue, I have trouble with otos. I can only keep 3 alive at any given point. I have come to accept this and no longer even try to keep more than 3. The ones I have are active and healthy, but those others... they just die. Neons are bad about this too, which is partly why I haven't kept any in 8 years and am currently "hooked" on black neons.
 
#14 ·
Rue said:
Sadly...you can't keep fish without having some dead ones... :(

I haven't been having luck with the oto cats...all my other fish are fine...my water is fine...but there's something up with the otos...either they don't like my water, or they were sick to begin with...I've had 8...I can only find two...4 are definately dead...2 are MIA...hope they're okay... :cry:

So yes, some dead fish are to be expected...

...when you do everything as right as you can...and have dead fish...then as sad as it is, it remains a learning experience...

...but when people deliberately set their fish up in poor conditions...and don't care if the fish lives or dies...that's quite another situation...I consider that animal abuse...
I don't agree with the dead fish are to be expected... I've cycled 3 tanks, all with fish, with not one fatality. They are all still going strong (knock driftwood). It's all about the size of the tank, the type and amount of fish used and diligence in testing/changing out water. And help from a good LFS and this forum doesn't hurt either. : )

Of course fish die, just like everything else in the world, but I don't feel that dead fish are a necessary outcome of cycling a tank.

But like musho said, there is always disease, pH, etc. which is probably the case if this tank was truly cycled, or didn't go into a mini-cycle after the addition of fish.
 
#15 ·
I think it is 100% Ok to lose some fish and make mistakes, that is how we learn! no? It says EVERYWHERE DO NOT OVERFEED!!! and yet you did well... i guess u just didnt know how much is overfeed is?? right ? well now you know how much is actually over.
 
#16 ·
@#$%^! I lost another guppy!

I give up. I'm going to take the remaining guppies back to a store and sell this tank. What a colossal waste of money and time. All I got was heartache from this stupid hobby. I'm sick and damned tired of living things dying because of misinformation, misunderstanding and assumptions. @#$% this.
 
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