Help!

[emily684]

I have a ten gallon tank with a Betta, four Neon Tetras, four live plants (Amazon Sword) and 1 Mystery Snail. About four to five days ago I bought three Neons to complete my school and a Mystery Snail. Two or three days ago my Neons started dying on me and I don't know why, out of the six I currently have four left and one of the four is currently at the top of my tank gasping violently. I also recently noticed that my Betta is also suffering, he has fin and tail rot (which I'm currently taking care of with Bettafix). I'm not sure if they are dying out of stress or by anything in the water, I don't have any test strips nor can I go buy any. I'm worried that I might lose the whole tank. What should I do?

[Slaphppy7]

You really need to get a liquid freshwater test kit, it is essential for proper fish keeping, here's the one most of us use

https://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?id=580

Without knowing your water parameters, it will be hard to offer advice on what the problem may be.

In the meantime, I would advise a large water change, and treat the water with Seachem Prime

http://www.seachem.com/prime.php

[Silbar]

Hi Emily. to AC. How long has this tank been running? How did you cycle it?

[emily684]

My tank has been running for about a month and a half, I ended up stocking my fish tank too soon when it first started out.

I've already done my first water change to my tank last week and everything seemed normal, after I got the new fish they all started dying, I lost another one last night and I can tell there's another dying currently.

[Slaphppy7]

You really should be doing water changes weekly with the stocking you have.

How much water did you change?...which water conditioner did you use?

I can't stress enough the importance of saving up your $ to buy that liquid test kit.

[emily684]

I really want that test kit, I've looked at it many times, but I don't have the money for it right now.

I changed about half of the water and used Aqueon water conditioner.

[Slaphppy7]

I would do a large water change, match the tap temp to the tank temp, and use the Aqueon stuff.

Save your $ and get the test kit, and the Seachem Prime when you run out of the other stuff.

[emily684]

Will do, thank you for the help!

[Slaphppy7]

You are welcome.

I can tell you, neons many times aren't the most hardy fish...just depends on if they are overbred/weak stock from your source