I probably should have listened....

[Jeff]

but I jumped the gun and put 8 fish in a tank 4 days old. They have been
good to go for about 5 days, then the last 3 days I have lost one a day.
Both catfish are dead as is one sword. So does the color of the fish carcass
tell anything, the catfish were already albino, but the sword was red, all
three have lost all thier color. I know dead things turn white but just
wondering if this isnt indicitive of something..what?

I read somewhere that fish that dart around a lot are in distress and fish
who run up and down the glass/acrylic of the tank are also in distress.
Well, one black molly has stopped moving altogether and is just laying on
the bottom but still alive (Probably next to go) and the other black molly
is going insane running up and down the tank in one corner. The other fish
are darting around, but no quite as much.

I screwed up on this one, didnt I?

[Gill Passman]

Jeff wrote:
> but I jumped the gun and put 8 fish in a tank 4 days old. They have been
> good to go for about 5 days, then the last 3 days I have lost one a day.
> Both catfish are dead as is one sword. So does the color of the fish carcass
> tell anything, the catfish were already albino, but the sword was red, all
> three have lost all thier color. I know dead things turn white but just
> wondering if this isnt indicitive of something..what?
>
> I read somewhere that fish that dart around a lot are in distress and fish
> who run up and down the glass/acrylic of the tank are also in distress.
> Well, one black molly has stopped moving altogether and is just laying on
> the bottom but still alive (Probably next to go) and the other black molly
> is going insane running up and down the tank in one corner. The other fish
> are darting around, but no quite as much.
>
> I screwed up on this one, didnt I?
>
>

I guess you know the answer to the question....

It took a few days for the ammonia/nitrites to build up to toxic levels.
I would do a 30% water change immediately (treating the water for
chlorine/chloramine) and invest in a test kit and something to
neutralise your ammonia - I've used AmmoLock in the past - others use
other products so take a look around for what is available local to you.
Test the water at least once a day for ammmonia, nitrite, pH and nitrate
and keep up the water changes (at 10-20% daily) until you get zero
readings on the ammonia and nitrites. Depending on where you leave you
might be able to get hold of products that speed up the cycling process
by adding bacteria - we can't get hold of the ones that most people seem
to have the best success with in the UK. Also add salt with the water
change to allieviate the effects of any nitrite toxicity.

Obviously don't replace the fish until the tank has cycled.

Gill

[jim]

"Jeff" > wrote in message
...
> but I jumped the gun and put 8 fish in a tank 4 days old. They have been
> good to go for about 5 days, then the last 3 days I have lost one a day.
> Both catfish are dead as is one sword. So does the color of the fish
> carcass
> tell anything, the catfish were already albino, but the sword was red, all
> three have lost all thier color. I know dead things turn white but just
> wondering if this isnt indicitive of something..what?
>
> I read somewhere that fish that dart around a lot are in distress and fish
> who run up and down the glass/acrylic of the tank are also in distress.
> Well, one black molly has stopped moving altogether and is just laying on
> the bottom but still alive (Probably next to go) and the other black molly
> is going insane running up and down the tank in one corner. The other fish
> are darting around, but no quite as much.
>
> I screwed up on this one, didnt I?
>
>

What is the PH of your water? If high, the ammonia problem is even worse.
Have you added any chemicals to change PH, hardness, etc? If not, I would
do 30-50% water changes every day. Otherwise, your ammonia and nitrite will
rise to toxic levels.

You have 8 fish producing waste. If you change 50% of the water every day,
it's similar to 4 fish producing waste and changing 25% of the water every
day (still need to do the math here). If you change water every day, the
ammonia, nitrite concentrations will level off (not keep rising). If you
don't change water, the levels will rise until all your fish are dead.

Good luck. You can still get through this with enough water changes. One
last thing, make sure the new water you add is the same temperature and is
treated.

[Elaine T]

Jeff wrote:
> but I jumped the gun and put 8 fish in a tank 4 days old. They have been
> good to go for about 5 days, then the last 3 days I have lost one a day.
> Both catfish are dead as is one sword. So does the color of the fish carcass
> tell anything, the catfish were already albino, but the sword was red, all
> three have lost all thier color. I know dead things turn white but just
> wondering if this isnt indicitive of something..what?
>
> I read somewhere that fish that dart around a lot are in distress and fish
> who run up and down the glass/acrylic of the tank are also in distress.
> Well, one black molly has stopped moving altogether and is just laying on
> the bottom but still alive (Probably next to go) and the other black molly
> is going insane running up and down the tank in one corner. The other fish
> are darting around, but no quite as much.
>
> I screwed up on this one, didnt I?
>
>
You're in the same boat as many enthusiastic beginners. Now you must
concentrate on keeping your remaining fish alive. Did you read the
beginner section of the FAQs yet? http://faq.thekrib.com

At this point, the bio load is getting more reasonable for cycling.
Don't even THINK about replacing the dead fish - you should be cycling
with about four 1" fish. Your darting fish are probably showing signs
of ammonia poisoning. Also watch for gasping and purple gills.

Whitening of a carcass is indicative of death. Nothing more, nothing
less. You can only get information from the color of a fish while it's
still alive. Pale color in most fish species is an early indicator of
stress.

The lives of your remaining fish depend on your changing enough water to
keep ammonia and nitrites below toxic levels. Check with a test kit to
see how much to change because it's very hard to predict. Nitrites must
stay below 2 ppm. Acutely toxic ammonia levels depend on the pH and
type of fish. I'd guess that safe levels for mollies are about 0.5-0.8
ppm for pH below 7, 0.25-0.5 ppm for pH 7.5, and below 0.25 ppm for pH
7.8-8. BTW, for a cycled tank, ammonia and nitrites should always be zero.

Add 1 tsp of pre-dissolved aquarium or grocery store pickling salt for
each 5 gallons of water to help with nitrites. Each time you change
water, add 1 tsp/5 gallons of salt to only the replacement water. At
the end of the cycle, stop adding the salt and it will gradually dilute
away.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Rod Bacon]

I was keen not to fall into this trap myself, although I still suffered
some losses.

Even when the tank has cycled, don't add too many fish in one go. The
good bacteria will be balanced with the current (minimal) load, and
won't easily adjust to an influx of new fish.

I added around a dozen fish to my 5 cycling danios, and subsequently
lost a few of the new stock about 2 weeks later. I also didn't perform
water changes frequently enough in this period. Although it can be a
pain in the backside... water changes... water changes... water
changes... I can't stress it enough.