# Learning the hard way I guess



## Cat216 (Jul 29, 2012)

Set up my 55 gal about a month ago. Cycling with fish (mollies/platys) because I didn't know there was an alternative until I had already added fish. Long story short, been trying to cycle and do everything right, but with no much info I got confused. I think the problem is I didn't change water often enough. Somewhere I got the notion that changing out too much water too often hindered the cycling process, so I was only doing it about 1 time per week. 

In the past 3 days I have gone from 11 fish down to 1 and he has spots on his tail and his eye looks big. I keep checking my water with a test strip (that was all I could find at the store) and it says my nitrates are fine but everything else is off. I turned up my heat a bit. It has been keeping about 76 degrees. I did another 25% water change yesterday.

Taking a water sample to the pet store next week. I would appreciate any suggestions. I have invested this much time and money into this aquarium and I want it to work out without killing my fish all the time.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

The trick when cycling your aquarium with fish is to keep just enough amonia in the water so that the filter bacteria has enough to grow, but not enough to poison the fish. To me it sounds like you let the amonia level get to high which killed your fish and made your last one sick. I don't know how to treat your fish so I would do some research online and wait for other people to respond. 

As for future cycling; I would change about 20% of the water every second day until the aquarium is cycled. Test the water before and after each waterchange to see the difference it makes. Your aquarium should cycle in a few weeks if you do this. 

If your fish dies I would drain the whole aquarium, and bleach everything in there (gravel, decorations, heater, and filter housing), and toss the filter media. Once you are sure you cleaned everything you can add fish again and try cycling it again.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

he probably has fin rot and pop eye not sure the treatment but anyways if he doesnt make it i'd restart a fishless cycle with the tank and disinfect the tank either using bleach or increasing temp of the tank to around 90* for around two hours


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

ok...i know that i am not the sharpest knife in the drawer ; but......
i don't "cycle" my tanks...i don't own a test kit...i never test the water....i often do more than 50% water changes and rarely use dechlor....never use any other conditioners..
but i never have much in the way of losses....How come ??
here is a 55 with just a few small fish in it...i don't think that ammonia killed them or had anything to do with them dying...i think it was diseased fish from the shop...
cat...you don't happen to live in Cleveland do you ?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I also think disease is a bigger problem in this tank.


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## Cat216 (Jul 29, 2012)

No, lol, I do not live in Cleveland. Small rural area with not a lot of acess to many aquarium shops. The one I got my fish from really seems top-notch, tanks are spotless, the staff are very knowlegable. I think I have to take the blame here. I am an information gather and I think probably got my facts crossed somewhere on the proper amount of water changes. 

I had all those fish 3 weeks with no sign of disease until just a few days ago. They started hanging out on the bottom, not swimming as much. My last little guy is giving it his all and I'm trying to keep him but may not succeed. 

I really hate to have to start over from scratch again with draining the tank and scrubbing everything, plus dumping my filters, which I am assuming have the beneficial bacteria in by this time? 

Thank you all for being so helpful. This is an expensive learning experience ($40 in fish) not having most of them make it but I hope I get the hang of it all pretty soon.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

see if you can find some Aquari-Sol and treat the tank...if you lose that last fish , triple dose the tank. and in 3 days do a 50% water change..triple dose again..3 days do another 50%...then after 3 more days start doing 40% water changes every other day for 1 week.....set your tank temp to 78-80 degrees......then start adding fish again...maybe 5 or 6 smaller fish at a time...with about 1-2 weeks between additions....


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## Cat216 (Jul 29, 2012)

lohachata said:


> see if you can find some Aquari-Sol and treat the tank...if you lose that last fish , triple dose the tank. and in 3 days do a 50% water change..triple dose again..3 days do another 50%...then after 3 more days start doing 40% water changes every other day for 1 week.....set your tank temp to 78-80 degrees......then start adding fish again...maybe 5 or 6 smaller fish at a time...with about 1-2 weeks between additions....


Sounds like a plan. I changed 25% of the water again today and now my lone fishy is swimming at the top just staring at me like "you idiot". :-( I know I will eventually get it straightened out, just hard to be patient.

Thanks for the advice.


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## aMawds (Aug 29, 2012)

Sounds like you started all wrong, and learned quickly. I just went through all this. Personally I wouldn't bleach anything. First because it's nearly impossible to get bleach off everything, and because it just sounds like a horrible pain. Chlorine kills. That's why it's in our water lines. To kill everything in the water that it possibly can. It's effective. If the last fish goes, I would suggest doing the biggest water change possible with no dechlorinator. In a couple days, do it again. Then let the filter run for about a week while the chlorine dissipates. I would dechlorinate as well because I don't trust the whole "it just goes away" technique. But to each his own. Then do a fishless cycle with pure ammonia. 

However do whatever you can to save this fish. Since both Molly's and Platy's benefit from some aquarium salt, I would suggest immediately getting hold of some. Common table salt works too, but try your hardest to find alternatives that have no additives. I've used table salt, the kind with iodine and such to cure ick, and there were no problems. Dose about a tablespoon every 5 gallons or so. Some do more, some do less. Preferably during a water change so it's dissolved. Salt tends to kill off almost all freshwater parasites and such. But you need to raise salinity slowly over the course of a week or so. Rapid changes in anything kills fish by stress. Obviously the little guy is beyond stressed already. Also buy some prime. Great water conditioner that also helps during the cycle by turning the ammonia into ammonium, which is much less potent to fish and is eaten by the same bacteria. Neutralizes nitrites in a similar way as well. Water changes are still necessary though. And if you have a 55 gallon tank, there's no excuse to use test strips. You dove in big. Get the API master kit. Bit expensive but really nice to know you have an accurate tool to diagnose problems in your tank. If those strips showed high levels, they were probably higher.


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## Cat216 (Jul 29, 2012)

I bought the test strips as a "better than nothing" test, as they were all I could find and didn't have a way to get to the pet store at that time to get the proper test kit. I agree with you, I think the strips are worthless. The only change I have seen is my nitrates are in a proper level, but everything else has been the same since I started testing. I have been using Prime since I started, and some with each water change. As for the size of the tank, it was definitely bigger than I wanted, but I got such a good deal on it I couldn't pass it up. I got the tank, stand and all the equipment to go with it, except for an air pump for less than I could have gotten a 15 gallon set up.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

It is pretty easy to kill fish with ammonia or nitrite in a new tank. Esp. if you add all the fish at once and overfeed. When the test strip say the level is dangerous, believe it and change water until the level is "safe". Sometimes that takes a 10% changes, sometimes 99%. If the fish show any distress (lethagy, gasping at the surface, ignoring food) always do a water change first and see if it helps. Once the first tank is "cycled" you can seed new tanks from it. But the first one is hard. Disease is also a problem in store fish. Often they get exposed to stuff in the store but take a few days to really get sick. 

Stores will often tell you not change water during "cycling". This is bad advice if you have fish in the tank. A few more days to get to the next step vs. all dead fish.


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

I never cycle tanks, but I don't have yucky city water.
Like everyone said adding so many fish at once will cause an ammonia spike and eventually kill the fish...


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

hey!!!!!! wait a minute...i have city water.....and it ain't yucky......lol


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## aMawds (Aug 29, 2012)

I'm lucky enough to have well water, run through a 4 micron filter, then through a UV sterilizer. I don't have to use water conditioners! I still do though... for the possibility of heavy metals. But the water comes out of the tap with no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. Glad I don't have to deal with any of that. 

That kind of deal is near impossible to ignore. I would have absolutely done the same thing. In fact... I'll trade you my 15 gallon setup for your 55 any day x)

EMC7 I was told the same thing. They swore that if I took their advice. They also said a couple fish would likely die. All of my fish died except a famale paradise, which got pretty sick. Saved her though. Should have stuck with my 15 percent water changes =/ but now the tank is cycled and it's inhabitants are happy. Plus I didn't do a water change for two weeks and my nitrates got to maybe 20ppm. I need to add more fish already.


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## mikkolopez (Sep 1, 2012)

Fishless cycling would be my bet once you start again.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Suburban Atlanta water is great. Straight from the sky by way of the man-made lake. City of Atlanta water is nasty. Likely has something to do with the Antebellum pipes. Really, parts of the system were here before Sherman marched through.


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