disease in my fresh water aquarium?!? How to fix so i can start a new aquarium?

Question

I had just gotten my little sister a new fish tank because she had just lost her betta fish so i thought it would be nice to get her a ten gallon tank so she can have a variety of different fish she can enjoy. we let the water sit for 4 days before we put any fish in as we were told to do. we then went out and gotten 11 fish (2 of each kind) and one algea eater we tested the ammonia every other day and it was at high levels around 1 so we bought a solution to fix it which never made it go down all the way but brought it to .25 but i continued to test it every other day to make sure it didn't rise then about a week later i noticed i had high nitrite levels (around .25)and my fish started developing what looked like fin rot so i did a 50% change, within 4-5 days all of my fish but 2 (of the same kind) died and i tested to levels again and now i have low PH! ( around 6) one of my female sword tail fish i noticed had like red spots on her body after she died and my algea eaters tail was turning from black to white and his eyes were white, they were fine one second and then dead the next, it is frustrating and i don't understand why my levels are all whacked, my and my sister were very upset, we did as much as we can and loved having our fish, can anyone help us to figure out what to change so we can start a new aquarium! Any help would be greatly appreciated. THANK YOU! (sorry it was so long but i needed to explain everything)

Answer 1

You should have fishless cycled the tank!

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm



You should not have added so many fish at once even if you had fishless cycled.



None of the fish you mentioned could live to full size in a ten gallon, And very few fish thrive in pairs, live bearers do best in groups of 3 or more. Indian glass fish are schooling fish that need to be in a school of 6 or more.



Indian glass fish are gorgoes fish. But it is hard to find ones that have not been tortured and injected with die, Yes they and the mollies with haearts were injected whith die that may last several months at best, but will kill 80% of the fish which got the treatment, and leave the ones that survive highly open to diseases that spread to the entire tank.

Most fish stores have sections of fish, salt water, fresh, cichlid, goldfish, and all the tanks in the section are connected buy one filter system. So if the store has painted fish, all the fish in that section are open to dieses as well. I refuse to shop at any store that sells these fish, evan though that leaves me to like petco and petsmart and a store 2 hours away.

http://www.deathbydyeing.org/





Ok so, hopfully you will agree that died fish are not good, lets go over the stoking.

There are shooling fish, like tetras and indian glassfish, danios, rasbora,,,, and they need to be in a school of 6 or more of the same exact species.



There are live bearing fish, lke mollies, swords, platies guppies,,, They do best in a group of 3 of the same species, In a small tank "like yours" The must be in same sex groups only. In a tank with males and females, there must be 2-3 females per 1 male. "more females thwn male!"



No pleco of any kind can live in a ten gallon, they are too messy, and they all get too big. bristlenose get to 6-8 inches, so tat wont work!



Mollies get to 4-6 inches and need at least a 30 gallon!

Sword tales might stay a littl smaller but a 25-30 is still reccomended.



It is very important to research any animal even fish, before you buy them. The people in petstores do not always no a lot about the animals, and you can trust them.



a ten gallon is fully stocked with 3-6 guppies. you can add snails or shrimp, but if you want a variety of fish, you need a bigger tank. And bigger tanks are easier to maintain anyway.



Also aim for 78 degrees with tropical fish.

Also float and acclimate any new fish!

http://www.fishlore.com/acclimating-tropicalfish.htm

Answer 2

One thing I always tell new fish owners is to stay away from products that remove ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or change the pH level. NONE of those are needed except in the rare case where there is ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate in your tap water. pH adjusters are nothing but problems no matter what.



Now, another thing you need to know; you should only add one or two fish at a time. Never 11 at once unless you have done a fish-less cycle on your tank. All that does is make waste levels skyrocket and stresses all of the fish out.



About the fish you choose: A lot of fish that are avalible are schooling fish. In other words, they need groups of five or more of their own kind. It is best to start out with only one species of fish and then you can get more if your tank's size allows. A 10 gallon can support about 8 two inch fish.



*******Can you please find out the kind of fish you have left in the tank?******* This is VERY important. You must always know the fish you are keeping otherwise you run the risk of making mistakes. Here's a link to a site where you can browse the fish and see if you find one that looks similar. http://www.petsmart.com/live-pet/live-fish/cat-36-catid-700002 If you don't find the fish there, try this site: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=830



What to do once you know the fish you have: Update your answer or answer your own question with the name of the fish.



Then I'll get back to you on exactly what you need to do to save these two. The steps you should take varries slightly between fish species which is why I must know what kind they are.



If you'd just like to get rid of the two you have left, go ahead and read on...



First find out the kind of fish you want to keep. Any of the livebearer species (guppies, mollies, platies, swordstails) need to be in a tank with only males as a 10 cannot support breeding fish. Once you know that, learn how to cycle your tank. I recommend doing a fish-less cycle. It will take 3-4 weeks but you would be able to have a full tank a lot faster and with fewer deaths. Here's a link to a guide: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/the-almost-complete-guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html If you opt not to cycle the tank first, go and buy 2-3 fish that you have chosen. As I said above, stick with only one species. Guppies, for instance, are colorful, active fish that would do well in a low pH. Cardinal Tetras are another. Limit yourself to only 8 all togheter. Test with your testing kit at the end of every week. Do a water change as needed to keep ammonia and nitrite at or below 0.25ppm (a 50% water change will cut the readings in half.) Do not do more than a 50% water change at a time. If your ammonia/nitrite readings creep up past 0.50ppm in a week then start testing twice a week and using a gravel vacuum. Once your tank is cycled (ammonia, nitrite at 0. Nitrate at a readable level) you can buy some more fish and then wait for the tank to adjust (once again when ammonia, nitrite are at 0 and nitrate is still readable.)



I would do a full take down of the tank and fill it back up with fresh, conditioned water before restarting it. Do not use the ammonia remover. It is better for your fish (and your pH) if you avoid chemicals whenever possible. Water changes are more than enough for most situations.

Answer 3

The levels are whacked because there is no cycle and the tank was severely overstocked. Please, please read up on the nitrogen cycle.

For that size tank I would recommend SMALL shoaling fish like Chili Rasbora if you want active fish.

Or, another betta and you could keep a small group of pygmy cories. Or you could do an all cherry shrimp tank, they're a lot of fun to watch. I do at least a 50% water change a week on my tropical tanks or more depending on the size and stocking. How do you plan on filtering the tank?

None of the fish I read about above are suitable for a 10 gallon unfortunately.

Answer 4

HI :)



Welcome to the hobby. You know guys we all make mistake give this person a break will ya? No one is perfect and I don't know about you, but I had my Betta first in a 1g tank before moving him to a 5 soon to be upgraded to a 10g tank.



So you put fish in and they died? Well yea 4 days is not enough time to grow the nice poop eating bacteria.



So you don't know about cycling a tank? Well you can start here by reading: http://www.myaquariumclub.com/the-nitrogen-cycle-for-everyone-358.html



Basically you feed fish and they poop. That waste kills them so you have to do water changes. You did them, but not enough. It comes to a point that these tiny bacteria grow inside your filter and eat the poop your fish produce. This makes a nice healthy home for your fish to eat and poop in.



So to save your remaining fish do 35% water changes every other day for @4 weeks. You now have a lot of work to do with those water changes. Or test and if you have more than .25ppm of ammonia or nitrite do a water change. Your PH does not matter too much. Fish can adapt, but what they don't like is temperature fluctuations.



In this hobby you have to research first before getting fish. You have to research their adult size; some fish schoo and need to be in groups while others are aggressive. Those Plecos are monster fish. It is better for you to have cory cats or snails, but not the pleco.



Check your stock here: http://aqadvisor.com/

If your stock is more than 100% you are overstocked.



Do not touch your filter pad let the bacteria colonize. Cleaning your tank too much during the cycling process is not good. Just do the water changes and don't over clean.



Read read and read. This hobby is all about doing research. Do not listen to big chain pet-store employees they don't know much instead join a fish forum and start learning about your fish so that they don't die.



http://www.myaquariumclub.com/your-first-aquarium-how-to-make-it-successful-564.html

This is how big plecos get. I hope you got the smaller ones and not the bigger 3 ft ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_wXhXfCWhA

These are the bristles and they are not too big

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ81oKK-lRM

Answer 5

You overstocked your Aquarium.



This messed up your water quality and killed your fish.



Also what kind of algae eater did you get.



If you got a type of Pleco they need 55g+.



Also I need you to tell me more info:

Filtered?



Heated?



Name all your fish?



Cycle Aquarium?



How much did you feed?



Even in a cycled aquarium with 11 small fish your tank will be overstocked.

Update with what I asked and I can help you.

Answer 6

Thank you to everybody that helped I wasn't aware of any of this, the guy told us they would be fine he was aware of the size of the tank and that they were all going together I guess he just wanted us to come back for more business