Aquarium fish dying surrounded by a ten gallon reservoir, betta, mollie, platie?
I have a ten gallon aquarium. I started it by letting the water cycle for a little over a afternoon, then a put a crowntail betta in. After a few days, I put in four marble mollies. They adjectives seemed to be doing fine, but a few days later one of the mollies died. I never saw him looking lethargic or anything. About a morning after that, I went and got two mickey mouse platies. They seemed to be doing ably too, but then one of the platies died! A couple days later, all the fish seem to be to be doing fine- swimming, eating, not bossing each other around, but then my betta dies! What could be wrong?
New tank, no nitrogen cycle established, the fish die.
Have a read of the join below about the nitrogen cycle.
Running the tank for 24 hours is NOT cycling, it's just letting the wet settle. A full cycle takes several weeks, either without fish (adding ammonia artifically) or beside just a few hardy fish.
If you just have one or two fish moved out, just do a large partial water switch (about 50%) and leave them in the tank for 2 or 3 weeks.
The number of fish you put within the tank was OK, but the tank be new, uncycled and the ammonia buildup killed them. If you dont do a proper fishless cycle then you MUST build up the fish numbers slowly, over almost 6 weeks.
Ian
You have several problems. First, you put too many fish surrounded by your tank at once. Your tank did not cycle in one day--it take over a month, and you need an ammonia source. Running your tank without one does nil. Your fish died of ammonia poisoning, because you haven't established the beneficial bacteria you need nonetheless.
Go buy test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Then read up on proper fish tank cycling here:
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php
Also, mollies take too big for a 10 gallon tank--they need at least 20 gallons.
it takes plentifully longer than a day for your tank to cycle
Same happened to me. I got a normal betta and get two dalmatian mollies, first the dalmatian mollies died then the corry that I got later after the mollies next the betta died after killing the corry. I'm guessing either you got a sick fish or the betta is butchery them or they're ganging up on each other.
Answers: You haven't established a nitrogen cycle within the tank yet, and harmful chemicals could be building up within the water. I'd get some water question paper strips to see what your nitrate, nitrogen, and ammonia readings come out to be (and you'll need these to know when the cycle completes itself). And I'd read up on how to establish a nitrogen cycle--it can taken anywhere from two weeks to two months. There are also some products out that can dramatically drain the time it takes your tank to cycle (Bio-Spira, being one). You can grasp bacteria from another tank (by a handful of gravel or dirt, usually) to seed your container and speed up the process, too. You should research on how often you need to do water change to keep the fish alive that you have right now, at the terribly least.
And be careful to not overload your tank--that already sounds like too lots fish for a ten gallon aquarium. You're going to have bioload problems down the road, and are likely already encountering some.
Bettas are also not totally strong swimmers--they can't take a strong currents for a long period of time, and filters can sometimes incentive them problems. It also doesn't sound like it could be a lack of nouns in the water, since Bettas are labyrinth fish and can breathe oxygen straight from the surface of the river; I'm not sure about platies or mollies, however.
Lastly, it's also possible that you started off next to sick fish, or that one fish was sick and is spreading it to the others. The most important thing right presently is to not add another fish until your nitrogen cycle is established. Your starter fish have a chance to take used to the adverse conditions over time, but new fish won't.
go to a good aquarium store and pay the additional for healthier fish that last longer
It has nothing to do near where you got the fish from it's where you put them - into an uncycled reservoir.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692(a)N0...
where did you capture your fish Petco?
They always have sick fish. Theyhave 6 tanks hooked up to one filter. They put one sick fish contained by..and the sickness filters to all 6 tanks.
You never know the age of the fish when you bought them.
I am certain you put the chemicals in and the temp is 78 degrees..?
I have found walmart have good fish at cheaper prices and they Last!! Or a mom and Pop fish store generally in a strip precinct.
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alll tanks need conditioner like 'amquel' so the fish don't die from our polluted stroke water.
Put some in as soon as you can. no need to lug out the fish.
Good luck!
