# Little Discouraged



## huenemeca (Jan 27, 2011)

I have a tank that is a little less than 20 gallons. I have never had more than 10 fish in there at a time. I have had the tank for 10 months and have had about 7 fish die. Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong?

The water seems fine
ph 7
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20


I would really like to have a nice big tank 120 gallons. But if I can't keep fish alive I don't want to make the investment.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

huenemeca said:


> I have a tank that is a little less than 20 gallons. I have never had more than 10 fish in there at a time. I have had the tank for 10 months and have had about 7 fish die. Is this normal? Or am I doing something wrong?
> 
> The water seems fine
> ph 7
> ...


Well it was kinda normal for me before I tried a planted tank.

although many people run non planted tanks successfully, you might try a planted setup. Sure worked for me anyway.

my .02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Any symptoms (appearance or otherwise) of what may have killed them? Fairly new fish or fish that have been in the tank a while?


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Parameter wise looks good.

Do or have you used any type of chemicals such as pH buffers?

History on the fish would help too such as how long you had them prior to passing on?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Good call on the buffer....not many have a dead-on 7.0.


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## danilykins (Dec 22, 2010)

I have found that smaller tanks are HARDER to take care of than smaller ones. I had a 10g tank, and my fish were always dieing on me. My husband has nick named me the fish killer. When you have a smaller tank, inconsistencies in water is a huge deal for the fish. But when the tank is larger there is a little more give.

Even though you haven't had anymore than 10 fish in there at a time, if the fish are over 2 inches in length, then you are over stocked, and the fish wouldn't be happy. Its like living in a 3 bedroom house with 6 adults. Yeah there is room, but at the same time its crowded.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Did you wait before adding fish, until your aquarium's nitrogen cycle was established? If not, ammonia and/or nitrite might be responsible for the first few deaths. It looks like your cycle is established now, by the looks of your water parameters.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Tank is 10 months old.

I forgot to say....don't get discouraged. I think we have all been there at one time or other. If someone hasn't yet, it will happen eventually. Like what was mentioned, smaller tanks are harder and even small things can be big when felt by the fish in a small tank. A larger tank will not be the same.


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## huenemeca (Jan 27, 2011)

I will try to answer all the questions.

Symptoms: a few of them were bloated I think I was over feeding them. So I cut down on the food and the deaths slowed down. Then in the last month I have had 2 die. One day they are fine then next they are really sluggish and then the lay on their side and curve.

I do not use any chemicals except for when I am doing a water change. To remove the cholrine and stuff it is called AmQuel+. The 7 was just a rounding. Last I checked it was more like 7.2 or something like that. 

Yes, it cycled first. I used a gold fish to cycle it the bought the other fish. I only put in about 3 fish at a time and the they were not fully grown and 3 were cardinal tetras so I don't think it was over stocked. 

Would I have better luck buying the RO water from the fish store?


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## Scuff (Aug 10, 2010)

huenemeca said:


> Symptoms: a few of them were bloated I think I was over feeding them. So I cut down on the food and the deaths slowed down. Then in the last month I have had 2 die. One day they are fine then next they are really sluggish and then the lay on their side and curve.


Sounds like the symptoms of nitrate poisoning. How often and how large of water changes are doing on this aquarium? How often do you feed and how much?


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## huenemeca (Jan 27, 2011)

I change 5 gallons out every 2 weeks. I feed them one pinch of flakes once a day.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

huenemeca said:


> ....
> 
> Would I have better luck buying the RO water from the fish store?


No. the problem is from your fish not your replacement water.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I would change out 3-5 gallons every week.


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## huenemeca (Jan 27, 2011)

Ok, I will start changing the water every week and hope that it stabilizes the tank. I want to get 3 more cardinal tetras but don't want them to die. I currently have 1 cat/algae, 3 guppies, and 2 cardinal tetras.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Were you testing since the beginning? I would guess you had some ammonia or nitrite problems at one time perhaps because of over feeding or cycling. 

Also bear in mind that other chemicals that we use around the house can kill fish. Be careful about using, soaps, detergents, bleach, perfumes, polishes etc around the tank or on your hands before you put them in the tank.


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