# New tank syndrome!



## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Hi!!

(I am new to this forum, so please tell me if I do something wrong), I went to Petco three days ago and bought a fishtank and gravel. A salesman told me to come back the day after to get the fish and decorations. So I did, but when I put the fish in, (following all the "introductions to the new tank" directions very carefully) 3 of the four died in 20 minutes! (The one that lived is a black and white spotted molly) Then, today, they water began to get cloudy. I looked it up and I found that Petco had left very vital information out of their panflets. No one told me about the nitrogen cycle, or about new tank syndrome! I am pretty sure that the fish died because they suffered from the syndrome. I still have one fish left, and looks like, if I go from here cautiously, he might survive. 

*Problems with tank:*
Cloudy Water
New Tank Syndrome
Has not gone through Nitrogen Cycle Yet

_*Questions:*_
What caused the cloudy water and is it harmful to my fish?
Do I need to take my fish back to Petco to keep him alive during the cycle?
About how long will it take to come a full cycle for a 14 gallon tank?
How can I be sure it has come a full cycle?

_Sorry, I know this is alot. But I'm new to this. Any help I could get is appreciated!!! _


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## swordtail36 (Aug 16, 2010)

I think it takes about a week for a tank to cycle. The cloudiness should go away in a couple days, don't worry this is normal. The people at my petco are hopeless except one guy who i never see there anymore.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Would you recomened me get a cycle kit? Someone told me I should, what do you think about it?


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## Merf (Feb 24, 2009)

There really isn't a set time for your tank to finish cycling. Purchasing a test kit will be a way of telling where your tank is at in the cycling process as time goes on. You're first going to get an ammonia spike, which will then turn to nitrites and finally nitrates. When your ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero and your nitrates are under 40 ppm and stay that way then your tank is fully cycled. 
Both ammonia and nitrites are toxic to fish and purchasing the test kit will also help you know when those levels become toxic and when you'll need to do a water change.


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## swordtail36 (Aug 16, 2010)

I don't know much about cycle kits, but i think all there good for is to speed the process up. It might be good for you since you have a fish in a uncycled tank. I would wait for someone else to post something here for better advice.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Ok!!

Thanks guys! I'll go pick one up in the morning!!!

I have 2 more questions: _How often should I be feeding my Molly?
How often should I clean my tank?_

*To clean it, do I take 15% of the water out and replace it? Do I have to do any scrubbing? *?


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

Idk that your tank being uncylced could have caused them today in 20 minutes your ammonia and nitrites would have to be absolutely through the roof for it to affect them that fast. I guess my questions would be what size tank do u have a filter on it and if so what size? What is your water temp and do u have a heater? Were the fish properly acclimated? Did you treat the water before adding the fish with some type of declore? if you didn't i would recomend spending your money on prime and not some other chemical. Did you properly wash the gravel this could be the cause of your cloudy water. it takes a long time to wash gravel properly? Your first concern is making sure you get the tank cycled before adding any more fish. i would actually recomend taking the fish back that you currently have tell them you want store credit since you werent properly advised in how to set up the aquarium so that when your tank is cycled you can use the credit to get another fish. If you do keep him then you are either going to lose him or have to work extra hard and spend some money on chemicals to ensure your levels stay low for him while the tank cycles through.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I'm with Rev on this. New tank syndrome kills within days or weeks, not minutes. Usually quick death is something toxic in the water (like chloramine) or a drastic change in a major water parameter (salinity, hardness, temperature). Ask about store water parameters (pH, hardness, if they add salt) and bring them a sample of your tank water and ask them to test it for you. Also, give us a list of everything you added to your water. Cloudiness is not usually a sign of anything fatal. It goes with new substrate.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

That actually makes sense because when I bought the fish, two died in the bag from stress before we even left the store. Maybe the fish were in bad condition to begin with. I bought the aquarium in a kit, with a filter and heater. I checked the temperature of both the water in the bag and the tank and they were the same. One of the fish died instantly apon release (but was looking terrible in the bag, anyway). So, in answer to your question, I can't think of anything else that could have killed the fish in the tank. But I think there was something wrong with Petco's fish, because A: two died before we left the store and B: they had 6 tanks on quarentine for Ich. 

Thanks for telling me that New Tank Syndrome takes a while to kill- that will prove that fish didn't pass away due to my mistake. 

Thanks guys!


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## toddnbecka (Jun 30, 2006)

The quickest way to cycle your tank is to use filter media from an established tank to seed the new setup. Fast-growing live plants are also helpful for a new setup, but need sufficient light.


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## petlovingfreak (May 8, 2009)

Petco is notorious for ich! Did you add something to your water to remove the chlorine? what is your water temp at?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

how far away is the store? Fish will occasional die in transit if, say, they got fatally injured by the person netting them or they attack each other in the bag, or they water quality in the bag gets bad because the fish were in there too long. But it should be rare. Did you do something like leave them in the hot car for a while? The cheapest thing is to make the store honor the guarantee and give you some healthy fish, but once you get sick fish from a store, I get tempted to tell you to shop somewhere else. If the fish in the tank looked bad, they should have told you to come back in a week or two and not sold you sick fish.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

ive never once seen a tank being quarentined at petco or petsmart they get their fish from one of the same distributors as us and i can tell you fish def come in sick. so the ones that died before leaving the store did u get new ones or still bought them?


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Revolution1221 said:


> ive never once seen a tank being quarentined at petco or petsmart they get their fish from one of the same distributors as us and i can tell you fish def come in sick. so the ones that died before leaving the store did u get new ones or still bought them?


I asked for different fish, twice! One died first, and when they replaced it, another one died! The ride in the car was literally 5 minutes. We went straight home and let the bag sit in the tank water for about 15 or so minutes, adding the tank water gradually. And yes, I put a "dechloronation" product in the water and let it get stirred around in the water for about a day before adding fish. I did notice one of the fish nipping at the neons, but they pretty much left it alone. And I checked over the fish when they died, they showed no sighns of external distress. They just sank to the bottom and died.  Thanks for the tip about the filter, but I don't know anyone who has a freshwater fish tank! I'm the only one.


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## sq33qs (Jul 12, 2010)

Hey there, it sounds like the fish were sick before you did anything to them, I highly doubt this was your doing. It's unfortunate that your fish died, but I would be mad as hell with the store, for selling you sick fish and wasting your time and money by not giving you all the correct advice and details. 

Your tank should finish cycling before you add new fish or you might encounter even more problems. Good luck.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Thanks! Yes, I'll do that! I now have a kit for testing the water, and I will watch very closley.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

I may have missed it, but did you say how big your tank is?

Make sure your new test kit contains tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. If it is missing any of those, you can usually purchase those testers individually. Kits that use liquid drop reagents are more accurate than test strip kits.

Sounds like the fish that died were already sick and had nothing to do with your tank.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

My tank is 14 gallons. I bought a test yesterday and began recording data. Thanks for the help!!


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## dan3345 (Jan 27, 2010)

Welcome to the forums first off. And when you put your fish in the tank did you acclimate them by letting the bag float in the water before? Or did you just get them out and put them in? If you did the first thing then your fish were probably sick before hand. Its good that you bought a test kit. But be warned, while they do give you an idea of your tank conditions, its not that accurate. For instance (and maybe mine is just a fluke or something), but my tank always come up saying nitrates are through the roof, at over 200ppm. I know for a fact this is wrong. Since then I have switched to a new brand. API. Which is far more accurate.


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## Fawnleaf (Aug 17, 2010)

Oh!! Thanks! I'll watch for that. I bought an ammonia tester kit today at the store. My readings are actually very low. This test is more reliable, I think that the other ones. This one requires you to get a sample of the water and put it in a test tube, put in chemicals and watch the color of the water.  And yes, I let the bag sit in the water for about 15 minutes, coming it check in every few minutes or so. But I am definetly NOT going to buy fish from Petco again. They don't look to healthy in the tanks anyway.  

Peace~ :fish: :fish: :fish:
Alissa


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