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Anyone have suggestions how to keep my fish alive until Petco opens tomorrow?

chrono1081

chrono1081

macrumors G3
Original poster
Hi guys,

I added fish to my new aquarium today (not my first aquarium by any means but its been about 10 years since I had one).

The water was conditioned, the temperature was good, and I added fish the way I was supposed to...

...yet they are dropping like flies. I lost one straight from the pet store but the other 6 are dying. I just flushed two of them, a third one looks like he is about to die and another one is missing in the tank (presumed dead, I can't find him anywhere).

Its a small tank, only 8 gallons and it only has neon tetras, no other fish that would eat them (and a ghost shrimp is in there but he's little).

I've never had this happen before with an aquarium and wondered if anyone had any suggestions/advice. There is no real plants in the aquarium, the temperature is 78 degrees, the water is flowing and they've been fed. Stress coat was also added in.

Also I tried to go to the aquarium forums but my verification link has still not arrived so I figured I'd try mac rumors in hopes a fish expert was on here.

I feel so bad for them 🙁 I've never been a bad pet owner.

I'm taking water straight tomorrow to Petco to see if anything is wrong with it. It tested good before so I can't imagine its the water but who knows.
 
That's strange. It sounds like you did everything by the book, but it seems like something shocked them. I hope you get it straightened out. I haven't had and aquarium for years but they are enjoyable.
 
Yea its unfortunate 🙁 The ghost shrimp seems to be the only one doing ok. I've even checked the pump pressure to make sure its not too swift. It blows right into a plastic plant so its pressure gets dissipated pretty fast.

Even though they're fish I still feel bad for them 🙁
 
Are the fish supposed to be in 78 degree water? I know the tropical fish I used to own (Oscars, Australian catfish) loved that temp but it killed off the feeder fish. I had to keep them in a separate tank at around 70.

Also is the water all fresh? I know the fish I had needed water a bit more seasoned, which would be too late for you. So my tank started out with just cheap feeders until the water had a chance to build up a good level a bacteria.

Have you done a full KH, GH, pH, NH3, and NO2 test? Are the levels correct for your fish? Perhaps crank up the bubbler some. Not too much as a noisy tank can stress the fish.

Also I wouldn't go to PetCo for advice. I'd go to a store that specializes in fish. You'll get superior selection, advice and prices. Feeder fish are usually way cheaper and there is room for bargaining on the higher end fish.

That's all I know on the subject.
 
How did you introduce the fish to the new tank? Did you slowly let the water temperatures acclimate and slowly mix in tank water with bag water, or did you dump them in?
 
velocityg4 said:
Are the fish supposed to be in 78 degree water? I know the tropical fish I used to own (Oscars, Australian catfish) loved that temp but it killed off the feeder fish. I had to keep them in a separate tank at around 70.

Also is the water all fresh? I know the fish I had needed water a bit more seasoned, which would be too late for you. So my tank started out with just cheap feeders until the water had a chance to build up a good level a bacteria.

Have you done a full KH, GH, pH, NH3, and NO2 test? Are the levels correct for your fish? Perhaps crank up the bubbler some. Not too much as a noisy tank can stress the fish.

Also I wouldn't go to PetCo for advice. I'd go to a store that specializes in fish. You'll get superior selection, advice and prices. Feeder fish are usually way cheaper and there is room for bargaining on the higher end fish.

That's all I know on the subject.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice 🙂

I checked the water with a test kit I bought, everything looks fine. Sadly I lost another one and now one more will croak any second, leaving me with one fish and one shrimp out of 7 fish and a shrimp :/

Sadly Petco is the only place we have around here, there are no other pet stores anywhere nearby :/
 
When I had an aquarium my procedure was to float the bag the fish came in for an hour or so to get the temp matched up. What did you do?

The only thing I've seen kill fish straight off is chlorine. Did you use a declorinating solution?

Bummer. Fish can be so cool.

Dale
 
Designer Dale said:
When I had an aquarium my procedure was to float the bag the fish came in for an hour or so to get the temp matched up. What did you do?

The only thing I've seen kill fish straight off is chlorine. Did you use a declorinating solution?

Bummer. Fish can be so cool.

Dale
Click to expand...

Well, only one is left alive and he is barely hanging on. I expect him to die within the hour. The ghost shrimp seems to be doing OK.

I used a conditioning solution and the water tested find. Everything looked normal. I also floated them for the recommended time, and I added a little bit of the tank water in with their store water slowly. Everything looked great around 9PM but between then and now they all died off 🙁

EDIT: And now I just have a shrimp tank 🙁
 
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If you bring your water into a reputable fish store (not petco) they should be willing to test it for you.
 
Could be the news bacteria and what not in the water is not there yet. Every time I set up a new tank I would get some deaths at the beginning but after the first round it gets a lot better. Hence the reasons cheap fish at furarb
 
adk said:
If you bring your water into a reputable fish store (not petco) they should be willing to test it for you.
Click to expand...

Sadly Petco is the only one we have around here :/ There isn't anything close that deals with fish.

Rodimus Prime said:
Could be the news bacteria and what not in the water is not there yet. Every time I set up a new tank I would get some deaths at the beginning but after the first round it gets a lot better. Hence the reasons cheap fish at furarb
Click to expand...

This is what the people on the aquarium forums think it is, however they're also puzzled how they all died within 5 hours since apparently it usually takes a few days if there isn't bacteria. Some people think some chemical got introduced along the way (there's been nothing near the water so I don't know how that would happen).

Anyway thanks for all the advice guys 🙂
 
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