Ok, soo we decided to get a small 5 gallon hex tank all stuff inclusive as an intro to fishy keeping for our 2.5 yr old daughter (or us to keep the fishies and her to pretend to take care of them). We set up the tank on Fri nite (its now Monday am) did the rocks, small live plant and a couple of rocks/decorations. Put the reccomended dose of stuff to start the water and remove the ammonia. The only thing my hubby did half way (and I was not happy about) was to just dump the gravel in without rinsing it. Let it sit for 48 hours and took a sample of water to the pet store at which point we were told that the water was good. Yippee... we buy 3 guppies and a neon. Immediately upon bringing them into the tank I notice one of the guppies is at the surface mouthing on the water and the neon is struggling/gulping. I put in some of the freshwater salt stuff that was supposed to help with gill function and oxegenation.
Well we wake up this morning and 2 guppies and the neon are dead.
So far the other guppy actually looked good this am and i'm hoping he'll hang on.

Any suggestions as to what happened? I'm blaming the hubby cause I told him to rinse all the rocks, he's just the lazy one. In all of my other fish tank experiences I've never had this much death in one nite.

Sorry to hear that most of them didn't make it.

What method did you use to introduce the fish to their new home?
Just wondering if you floated the bagged fish in the tank ... or dumped them in.

Do you have a heater for the tank?

I've never put unwashed gravel in a tank, so I'm not certain what happens if not done that way. I'll guess, however, that all those fine particals that normally get rinsed away would still be in the water and possibly interfere with proper gill function.
Just a guess though.

Robyn will be able to give you more insight.

Good luck with your future fishies!! :)

We did float them for about 20 minutes and then took them out with a small net and put them into the water.

Does the tank have a filter system with it we had got a small hex tank it may have been 3 gal and at that time what I though was a filter was just an air stone thing I lost more fish in that then I ever had after the 5th nemo I decided I was done. But of course it took longer then a day.

Did he just not rinse the rocks or did he use a cleaning product and not rinse them corectly after that?

If it was just unrinsed rocks that seems a bit quick to kill off a tank unless chemicals were used.

so sorry to hear of the fishy loss. I think small tanks are harder to care for I have a 55 gal hex and outside of basic filter changes and vaccumings it maintains its self. But with any tank you have new tank syndrom that will be your biggest problem in a tank so small until the GOOD bacteria builds up to even your water levels. Good luck! BOYS!!!! :angry:

C2

The tank does have a filter system in it with some kinda spinny thing that is called a Bio-wheel (apparently never needs replacing?)
He just plain didn't rinse the rocks, plopped em in the tank and said here we go!
I had to fight with him to remove the jelly stuff off of the plant that we bought, He's not big on reading directions, thinks he knows it all :)

MEN!!!! They are a pain sometimes but they can open cans and change tires! :lol:

I always blame the DH. That is just his lot in life!

Seriously though I am sorry that you lost your fish. I hope you can get it all sorted out.

Just keep the DH away! :lol: :lol:

tia

Yea, the bio-wheel never gets replaced ... unless damaged. It hosts the good bacteria to break down the bad stuff. Important to not let the bio-wheel ever dry out.

There should also be some sort of fiber filter within the filter system too. It physically holds on to particals and organic junk that passes through. This part of the filter does get replaced or at least rinsed clean.

Normally there's a place to put activated carbon (looks like charcoal) somewhere in the system. Some makers put the carbon inside the fiber filter part.

I know what you mean about the jelly on the live plants to keep the roots moist. First time I saw that stuff I didn't know what I had.... then I read the directions! :blink: :unsure: :)

Christina Posted on Feb 4 2008, 02:18 PM

Sounds like that part went OK.

Still not sure why they died so quickly overnight. I hate to point straight to the unrinsed gravel ... but I'm sure there's a good reason why it is a step in the instructions.

Let us know how things go!

PG

I'm so sorry about the poor fish. It sounds like something is direly wrong. What kind of aeration does the tank have? If it's not well aerated, the fish may not have had enough oxygen. The little filter with biowheel will move the water and aerate it some but perhaps not enough.

The gravel should be rinsed but that's not normally a deadly error. It will usually just make the water more cloudy and appear more dirty from the gravel dust. It might harm the gills if there's enough gravel dust/debris in there. If there's no aeration or other water movement, that would make the dust worse.

Did the store test the pH, hardness, alkalinity, ammonia, and nitrite levels? What about oxygen? I doubt it; they usually only test pH and ammonia. The other things should be known as well. What was the pH? There are an infinite number of things that could be in the water; we only test for a few.

The biowheels should be left alone but your filter should have a changeable component as well.

What is the jelly stuff to which you are referring around your live plants? Some live plants come with "cotton" that should be removed. Oh, I think you might mean those water crystal things. Those are normally some sort of polymer.

The tank has a filter and pump system. Its one of those all in one package units you can get at Petco. Would it make a difference if the water just flowed onto the surface vs. actually falling into the tank?
I'm not sure what they tested, it was one of those strippy things and the guy said it was all looking good. Honestly, at that point I was chasing the 2 year old around the store and the hubby was taking care of the water part of the deal.
I can say that it seems like the remaining fish is doing well, he ate last nite and seems to be swimming around quite a bit. My daughter is complaining he has no friends though and i'm afraid to put more fish in. How long do you think I should wait until we get more fish?

5 gallons can not hold to many fish I would try to cycle it because you are going to get HIGH amonia then nitrites then nitrates when the nitRATES come you are at the end of the tank cycling. Get a test kit in a week see if any amonia is registering in the test if it is WATCH it closely do some sml water changes then the big bad nitRITES come watch those water changes ect then once the nitRATES are present you should be well on your way.

let Robyn answer when to put in another fish i would if no amonia is present by a week or so but adding one may over load. Robyn knows all the GPF (gallons per fish) Ratios (haha GPF I just made that up)

I have to agree with robyn that just gravel not being rinsed would cause sudden death in a tank but you never know.

Keep us posted ( I had to tell my daughter when I kept killing her fish that they were visiting relatives and they got there via the toilet that is how fishes drive) it worked.

C2

I would wait for at least two weeks to be sure your remaining fish is doing well before adding more. I suggest adding the same species (guppy right?) as they enjoy their own species most. The suggestion to monitor your ammonia and nitrite levels was a good one. The liquid test kits may take a little longer to use but actually cost less per test and yet are more accurate.

How much the filter aerates the water depends on how the water falls into the tank. The more movement and splashing it makes, the more aeration. Instead of just lowering the water level, I suggest buying a small air pump and air stone and adding that for extra aeration.

They say you can have up to an inch of fish per gallon of water but that is only for small, skinny fish. It doesn't hold for fat bodied fish. Guppies can grow to an inch or two so having maybe 3 to 4 in a 5 gallon is a good amount.

I don't know. If I told my almost 3 year old niece that the fish were going on vacation down the toilet, she might start tossing them in! I tell her the truth, that they're dead. She's catching on because she told me my paradise fish ("that fishy") was dead but she's really just listless. Some people prefer not to discuss death with young children but death is a part of life (it's not good to fear it although we all do) and, with so many animals, I have usually some animal dying every week or two. My poor 14 year old lizard died yesterday. I've been educating my niece about all my animals. She's there when I get home three or four times a week. She wants to "help" which means making me take four times longer to do the task!

Well the last one died sometime during the night. And he actually seemed to be doing soo well. My hubby is "returning" them all today and taking the water in and talking to the "resident expert" and I say that loosely. Depending on how the water tests is if we try this again. If we start all over, i'm doing it this time and will be cleaining everything out and buying bottled water from the store. I can tell the difference in this water compared to the water we had before we moved in the way my hair feels after a shower so I'm thinking the water is a lot harder than we anticipated.

I agree kate was 2 when i told her that. Now she knows there dead she is 4.

Good luck Christi dont give up once you get it down it will be very enjoyable for you and the family. maybe a bit addictive. maybe next a pond!!!!!!!!!!!

Let us know what the "EXPERT" says.

C2

When I stopped using tap water in our aquarium, everything got better right away.

We have very hard water here also. The pH is rather high too ... about 8.5 or so.

PG

Christina, I'm sorry the last fish died. Can you get the store to test for hardness in addition to what they usually do (usually only pH and ammonia I think)? I suggest buying your own test kits; then, you'll be as much of an "expert" as most of the people who work at pet stores.

He should have rinsed the gravel as it has dust which can cause problems. I have no idea if that killed them but its allways good to rinse the dust,junk real well out of the gravel