HELP fish dying!!!

[sammy2012]

i bought a jewl rekord 600 (60 litrte) 4 months ago set it up as instructed and everything was fine.
i wanted a bigger tank so i baught a fluval roma 125 (120 litre) and was told if i transfer all my water from my old tank and fill it up with treated tap water it would be fine to put my fish straight in so i did exactly that everthing was fine and today when i turned the tank light on 1 guppy 1 moontailed molly 1 siamese algue eater 2 tetras and 4 barbs were dead and all the other fish are hovering at the top of the tank.... can anybody help me please thanks Sammy

[butterbean]

Did you also put in all the gravel/sand decorations plants filter etc, and did you test your water ?

[sammy2012]

i put the old plants tank ornaments but i put new gravel in but i washed in hot water before i put it in the tank.... what i dont understand is how they was fine for 2 days then over night there all at the top of the tank and just under half the fish died

[KevinVA]

Did you also transfer your filter and/or filter media to the new tank?

[ijankrom]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. There can be several reasons for their demise.

My first thought is not enough beneficial bacteria to complete the cycle. I'm thinking it might have been a different story if you included the gravel from the established tank, also not moving all the fish over at once. My thinking is without that beneficial bacteria in place when you moved all those fish over at once and they started doing there thing, there was nothing there to convert the ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate. So your ammonia levels spiked and your fish freaked.

Another thought is temperature. You moved from 60 to 120 L and added water to make up the difference. Was the water temperature matched? Though I would not think a small change in temp would cause your fish to stress that much to put them belly up in the first 12 hours.

Moving forward, check levels and make sure a cycle has completed before adding more fish.

[ijankrom]

+1 for above.
Even though the filter media is not sized the same as your new filter system, you can just add them to the new tank for beneficial bacteria.

[butterbean]

Have you done a water change? without vacuuming. You really need to test your water to see where you are at. What did you do with your old gravel, was it left in any of the water?

[Azurescriber]

Do an immediate water change to lessen the ammonia levels.

Putting old water in a new tank is absolutely pointless. The good bacteria is in the filter material, and the gravel.

Get an API liquid test kit to measure the levels of toxic waste buildup in your tank, so you know when to do water changes.

[mermaidwannabe]

Your beneficial bacteria is in your filter media. You should have seeded your new filter with media from the old one, or tranferred the old filter with its existing media over to the new tank.

As added insurance, in case of an ammonia spike as occured in your situation, treating the new tank with Prime would have temporarily neutralized the ammonia.

It would have helped if you could have transferred the existing gravel from the older tank to the new one, as well. Some BB is in the gravel and everything else inside an established tank.

You may have lost some of your cycle, and that's why the deaths are occurring.

Also, how well oxygenated is the new tank? Is the filter powerful enough to provide the necessary filtration as well as adequately oxygenate the larger tank? Your fish gasping for air at the surface indicates they aren't getting enough oxygen. You may need an airstone to supplement the filter. And if the filter isn't adequate, you'll need a second filter to augment it, or replace the one you have with one that is rated at least twice the gallonage of the larger tank.

If you transferred the water from your other tank, I see no need for dechlorinating unless you added new water, as well. If so, did you dechlorinate it first?

If you don't already have one, get an API master test kit and test your water. Then you'll know what's happening and why.

--mermaidwannabe

[sammy2012]

the old fiter is a fitted unit in the old tank and the filter spongers are a different shape and size to my new filter so what should i do just put my old filter sponges in my tank for a day or 2??? and i had my water tested at a fish store a week before i got this new tank and they said my amonia and all other levals are fine