Tropical fish dying off

[slopes]

Lady Slopes lad has a tropical tank in his bedroom, he followed the instructions with regards to setting it up, put some de chlorinater in the water etc and once he had chosen his fish(can't recall their name), introduced them into the tank as per the instructions from the supplier.
Now, he feeds them once a day as per instructions, yet last week he noticed one floating to the bottom, turns out it was dead. Today, 3 more out of the original 7 have died.
It's a hardwater area we live in.

Any ideas why this is happening??

[Ilikebeaver]

Manufacturers instructions often don't suggest doing a proper cycle of the tank before putting fish in.

Good information here:

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_51/fishless-...

[slopes]

Thanks for that information, strange that the supplier didn't recommend doing that when they sold us the kit seeing as this particular supplier has quite a good name i understand. Heyho, it's a learning experience

[Big Al.]

I would suggest to buy a PH kit, and carry out a PH test if you water is very hard (alkaline) your fish may be acid loving.

I would also suggest a nitrate kit as well, this test will tell you if your water is healthy for the fish to live in.

What fish are they?

[Turn7]

Id go one further and buy an API master kit and test for Nitrite, Ammonia ans Nitrate.

Does sound like an uncycled tank though.

[MocMocaMoc]

If I recall those de-chlorine things do nothing, as the water companies changed their chemicals to something nigh on impossible to remove... I'm too stupid to remember the specifics, however.

Best off going to Pets at Home and picking up some ready made R/O water. It's not expensive and saves a whole load of bother.

And cycling the tank, obv.

And not feeding everyday - you're just adding poison in the form of either uneaten food, or fish sh*t... either way the system wont be able to cope with all that fish food. I think I feed my marines three times a week!

[slopes]

Okay, thanks for all the advice. Not sure what the fish are, little golden things, might be barbs,
The thing that surprises me, is that this company has a very very good reputation, yet didn't mention once about cycling the tank or getting a kit to test for those things. I am sure that is the most likely reason and am a little put out with this company for not mentioning about cycling the tank, but as i mentioned earlier, it's a learning experience

[Big Al.]

Can you post a pic of the tank?

[Turn7]

Slopes - if the supplier is one that has multitudes of branches and uses the name of a town quite close to Slough - they do not know their arse from their elbow...

[jonlk]

MocMocaMoc said:

Best off going to Pets at Home and picking up some ready made R/O water. It's not expensive and saves a whole load of bother.

What's 'R/O water'?

We're having a similar problem with a 25l cold water tank - 20pc water changes are looking like they're not working and PetsAtHome haven't suggested it.

Cheers

Edit: just worked out it's not going to help our sole fresh water survivor. Any ideas welcomed though.

Edited by jonlk on Sunday 24th February 12:54

[croyde]

Goldfish then tropical fish. Found the whole thing a nightmare and they all died in the end even though I pH'd, cycled, never overfed etc. Didn't have that problem with my Goldie when I was a lad. Survived in his bowl for years and got a swim in the bath once a week whilst I de-algaed his bowl. Eventually I gave him to a mate with a garden pond.

Now have kittens. Much easier to look after apart from the horrendous vet bills.

[832ark]

RO water is not a good idea for freshwater tropicals as it can cause pH problems. You either need to add a buffer or mix with tap water. What's in the 25l tank? That's not really suitable for fish of any kind.

[832ark]

RO water is not a good idea for freshwater tropicals as it can cause pH problems. You either need to add a buffer or mix with tap water. What's in the 25l tank? That's not really suitable for fish of any kind.

[slopes]

Turn7 said:

Slopes - if the supplier is one that has multitudes of branches and uses the name of a town quite close to Slough - they do not know their arse from their elbow...

Nope, this particular company is well known for breeding a certain type of Japanese fish, based near Shefford and that's as much as i will give away. They have an excellent reputation it seems, i used to work with a guy who was mad about Koi, and when i mentioned this place, he said they were good and knew what they were doing.

Big Al, not yet, my phone is fubar again, but from memory it's a 54L tank that came with everything he needed to get started. He's added a couple of ornaments designed for tanks, some plants and gravel, then filled it with water, added some dechlorinater(we were told we needed it) and turned it on. It got left for two weeks or so before we got him the fish, and he followed the instructions on how to introduce them to the tank to the letter.
I can only assume that when they sold us the kit, they neglected to tell us about 'cycling' the tank, so i might go back there and ask about a kit to test for nitrites, amonia and nitrates, cycle the tank properly and start again.

[slopes]

jonlk said:

MocMocaMoc said:

Best off going to Pets at Home and picking up some ready made R/O water. It's not expensive and saves a whole load of bother.

What's 'R/O water'?

We're having a similar problem with a 25l cold water tank - 20pc water changes are looking like they're not working and PetsAtHome haven't suggested it.

Cheers

Edit: just worked out it's not going to help our sole fresh water survivor. Any ideas welcomed though.

Edited by jonlk on Sunday 24th February 12:54

RO water is reverse osmosis water, looks similar to what you get on water coolers at work. I know a guy who details cars for a hobby, he uses it to rinse the cars off after washing them

[Big Al.]

Who long are the fish and how many did you introduce to the tank?

[slopes]

Big Al. said:

Who long are the fish and how many did you introduce to the tank?

Erm, the fish are about half an inch long, mostly gold, they tend to agitate their tail fins a lot and we put 7 in to start with, no other fish been introduced yet and as i mentioned earlier, we are down to 3 now and i suspect that will be zero by tomorrow morning

[Big Al.]

OK, do the fish have any form of problems with their fins or scales, do they have any minute white spots anywhere on the fish?

[slopes]

Big Al. said:

OK, do the fish have any form of problems with their fins or scales, do they have any minute white spots anywhere on the fish?

Nope. The only problem that i could see, was that one or two of them seemed to stay at the surface upside down, and they only seemed to stay at the filter end of the tank, but i didn't see any white spots on them anywhere

[Big Al.]

Are they gasping for air so to speak?