I killed my first fish :( a warning to beginners:

[Richalds]

We'll today I purchased 9 neon tetras after cycling my tank for 7 weeks. Being the first small fish I've had I didnt think of any possible problems before adding them to the tank.


Sadly this evening (after the tetras had been in there for 5 hours) I was counting them and couldnt find my 9th. I looked all over then finally found it. It was stuck up against the intake tube of my filter. I gasped and quickly turned off the filter but it was too late, he was dead :(


I feel really awful but it's a learning experience I guess. Still very sad though....


So anyways I opened up the second intake hole on the filter (i had turned it off and it was only sucking from the bottom) so I REALLY hope that the suction pressure is evenly distributed and the neons now have enough power to not get stuck...


:(

[William]

Sorry to hear that and thanks for sharing.

[AQUA_KING]

What proberly happend was he died, and then when he floated to the top, the water pushed him around and he then got stuck after he died. Its nothing you did its just he was proberly ill, when you buy so many your likely to get an ill one. sorry for you loss and i hope the rest are healthy.

AQUA_KING

[DemonShark]

Sorry hope the rest do fine its not your fault

[Richalds]

Well it looks like AQUA KING is right. It wasnt the filter, the fish died and was then sucked into the filter.


I've got a huge problem now. I believe my tank was never cycled. How is this possible? I'm not sure. I had 3 swordtials in there for seven weeks!! I tested the water before buying the neons and I have very little ammonia and minute traces of nitrite/nitrate, so I assumed it was cycled and ok.

Anyways my nitrites have sky rockted the last few days and that is what is killing the fish. I've lost 6 neons (3 left) and 1 swordtail.


For the past 3 days (since I noticed the nitrate, shortly after the first 2 fish died) Ive done 15% water changes everyday, but its not helping at all!


What do I do? My nitrite is currently at 3.0, it's borderline toxic! I have little to none amonia and about 20-30 nitrate.


Is there anything I can do?? please help...

[Richalds]

BUMP

need some help :( the nitrite was high again today (tuesday) and i just did another 20% water change.

[William]

Sorry for the silence. (looong power outage)

Make sure that your remove all dead plant and animal debris.
Make a very large water change 40-50% (since this is desperate times.) which will hopefully cut the nitrate in half. siphon the bottom of the tank.

After that keep doing your daily water exchanges.

Don't feed your fish for a week.

add airation if you haven't allready.

How to you clean your filter?

[Richalds]

thanks william will do that.


yes i have replaced my filter cartridge last week when i bought the neons.

ill check again tomorrow and if needed do a big water change.

the airation is on and full blast.

[William]

Changing filter cartridges removes a lot of bacteria and should not be do too often. I change every other year.

[Richalds]

really? the filter said to change them every 2-4 weeks. i never change biowheel.

[William]

What kinf of catridges are you using?

I have heard a lot of this change them often talk from sellers lately and it seems to me like a ploy to sell more. An older cartridge contains more bacteria. by changing it every 4 weeks you remove the bacteria and the filter never work as well as it could.

[Richalds]

I'm using these:

http://www.amazon.com/Marineland-Penguin%3b/dp/B000256EKS/ref=e_deav_acc_1_2/104-7287152-7527145?ie=UTF8

[William]

I haven't used those ones but I say just wrinse them in cold/room temp water every 3-4 weeks and replace them much less often. If you aquarium works well and you remove debrise they should last a long time.

[MagickFish]

I ended up killing my first neon tetra to, poor little fish, I was told that tetra could go well whit goldish from the saleperson at the zoo shop witch was obiously not true as the little tetra was eaten by my hungry goldfish, it nearly killed Goldie to, he floated whit his belly in the air for houers before he manged to vomit up the tiny fish. I felt so bad, after that I learned to read up on the different fish and whatever or not they went well together before trusing the pepole that only fish to sell.

[Jammy]

Hi,

Yesterday I introduced a Bristlenose Catfish and 6 Neons (No other fish in this new tank). This morning one of the Neons looked to be "panting" and within 30 mins was sticking his nose up against the surface of the water. Within another 30 mins he was not swimming any more and we removed him.

2 hours later another Neon started to do exactly the same thing. The fish shop replaced both this afternoon and already 2 more have done the same thing. 4 left.

I have checked the water - had two shops check it also - Ammonia = Zero, Nitrate and Nitrate = Virtually Nothing. Both shops said the water was not the problem.

I am expecting to lose them all, since there seems to be nothing to do.

One lady in one of the shops did say that Neon Tetras were also known as suicide fish and never lived very long! I wish someone had told me before I bought them.

I would be interested in any suggestions as to what the problem could be. Is it Neon Tetra Disease brought on by stress?

Thanks.
Jammy (age 13)

[William]

Neon tetras are not suicide fish and should live atleast 2-3 years. They can however be sensetive during moves.

How did you introduce them to the tank?

[Jammy]

I Intorduced them by leaving the bag untied in the water so the temperature inside the bag warmed up and then after an Hour or so I released them into the Tank with the water inside aswell.

[MagickFish]

My neon tetra lived quite long when I had them, and I realy did not have mutch problem whit them, my main problem was that the other wish in the tank got bigger than the little blue cuties and my alage eater got an apetite for them.

In my experience pepole in zoo shops will say many funny thing and I have lost a few fish by following their advice.

[William]

Jammy see my answer in your other thread.