New catfish just died!??

[haniepluta]

Hi,

I just bought a 10 gallon fish tank and purchased two guppies, dalmation fish, snail, rubber mouth pleco,black molly and a catfish. They all seemed fine and eating well, the cat fish was swimming around and didnt seem bothered or stressed out...couple hours later i see him at the bottom of the tank on his side and it looked like he got caught in the plants. So i moved him out of the plant and then he just started swimming on his side and got "stuck" to the filter which then he swam back down to the bottom and stayed on his side....
the water temp. was around 22-25C. The tank has filtration and i just out it all together today! :( Im new to this and im upset that he died. ( i removed him and put him in another fish bowl with water temp. a little warmer 27C...it looked like he started to come back but now hes just upside down on the top :( what happened?!!!!! HELP!!

PS the lady at the pet store told me they should all get along fine and that the tank was big enough for all the fish....

[cocoa_pleco]

is this a new tank? sounds like it wasnt cycled and the ammonia built up

[Jellygirl]

Hi there and welcome to the forum,

It sounds a bit like you were sold the tank and the fish and all the equipment on the same day - is that so, because if it is I think you should find another store to purchase your fish and equipment from.

Your tank needs to be established -(i.e. cycled by this it means have good bacteria in your filter to deal with all the waste products that the fish will expel). This is really important if your fish are to be healthy and not keel over suddenly

Try looking at the information on cycling in this forum. I can't really help you much as I am fairly new to fishkeeping myself, but this is a really helpful site and I'm sure someone will come on and advise you soon.

If it has cycled it would be helpful to post your water parameters so members will have a better insight to what is happening in your tank. All fish shops will sell these water test kits.

Good luck and sorry to hear of your loss.

Jellygirl

[fins_n_fur]

It definitely sounds like your tank wasn't cycled and personally I think a 10 gallon is not the right home for even a small pleco. You'll need to read this thread as you are cycling your tank with fish so you don't lose any other fish: [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

If you don't have a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, you'll need to get one immediately (preferably drop/liquid test kits and not the strips).

[Lady Hobbs]

Read the links in my signature to learn about cycling but keep in mind, too,

Little Tank = Little Fish You had no room in that tank for a catfish. The rubbernose also will get about 6 inch and probably not the tank for him, either. He should be in a larger planted tank where he has a constant supply of algae.

[troy]

Read the links in my signature to learn about cycling but keep in mind, too,

Little Tank = Little Fish You had no room in that tank for a catfish. The rubbernose also will get about 6 inch and probably not the tank for him, either. He should be in a larger planted tank where he has a constant supply of algae.
For all we know it could have been a pygmy corydoras. So you can't say that fish was too big for the tank without knowing what species of catfish it was.

[Lady Hobbs]

Good point except a catfish is not a cory. From the catfish family, tho.

[annageckos]

Hi,

I just bought a 10 gallon fish tank and purchased two guppies, dalmation fish, snail, rubber mouth pleco,black molly and a catfish.

Like everyone else said the tank needs to be cycled before putting fish in it. Take the others advice on how to cycle your tank. Onto you fish. A 10 gallon would be fine for some guppies and a snail or two. Rubber mouth pleco I would not put in a tank smaller than 30 gallons and one with algea for it to eat. Dalmation "fish" I am going to assume it it a dalmation molly and the black molly need a bigger tank too IMO. These fish also do better in groups. Now the catfish, what kind was it. Catfish is a very broad term. Most catfish in the trade get too big for a 10gallon.


They all seemed fine and eating well, the cat fish was swimming around and didnt seem bothered or stressed out...couple hours later ...... ( i removed him and put him in another fish bowl with water temp. a little warmer 27C...

What happened was most likely an ammonia spike that killed the catfish first. But also taking the fish from one temp and putting it into a bowl with a higher temp likely shocked it. When ever you change the temp you want to do it slowly.

PS the lady at the pet store told me they should all get along fine and that the tank was big enough for all the fish....

I would find another store or not take any advice from them in the future. Your tank was not ready to have fish put in and is not big anough for the fish you got. Most LFS emploies either don't know or don't care. Once in a while you will find a really great store/employee. Alway take what the store tells you with a grain of salt and look up any advice they give you first. Good luck

Anna