New fish to the tank PLEASE HELP

yosmitesam said:

A Water Change????
I never cycled my tank, sorry for being ignorant but how do you do that>>???

PLease help me

Click to expand...

Like Myrock has said you need to be vigilant about changing your water - probably a couple of times per day. Make sure the water you're adding is the same temperature as the water in the tank and also condition the water you add (with Prime or some similar product). Buy yourself a test kit like the one at the link below and start monitoring your ammonia and nitrite levels. In a cycled tank both will be at 0 ppm. For now you're going to need to do your best to keep them below 1 ppm.

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/Fish_Water-T ... ml?tc=fish

You should read up on the nitrogen cycle and water chemistry in general so that you have some understanding of what you're trying to do. Check out the link below for an overview.

http://www.freshwater-aquarium-fish.com ... mistry.htm

Try to borrow a filter or some substrate or rocks from a friend with a cycled tank. They'll help seed the bacteria in your tank so that you can cycle more quickly.

Good luck.

yosmitesam said:

A Water Change????
I never cycled my tank, sorry for being ignorant but how do you do that>>???

PLease help me

Click to expand...

Here's the short version of what's happening. In aquariums, fish produce ammonia as a waste product. When ammonia builds up, it is toxic to fish. A bacteria will eventually grow in your tank in your filters, on rocks, on the substrate, any surface, etc that will break down ammonia to nitrite. Nitrite is also toxic when it builds up, so after a while a second. Bacteria will grow to break down the nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate won't kill fish unless it gets very high, and you can remove it from your tank by doing regular water changes every week.

So what's likely happening in your tank is that ammonia is building to toxic levels, and unfortunately it will kill your fish before the bacteria grows to break it down. By doing water changes, you can remove most of the ammonia and hopefully save your fish. You'll probably need to do this daily for 4-6 weeks bfore enough bacteria has grown that all the ammonia is converted first to nitrite and then nitrate. The process of growing this bacteria is called cycling.

If it sounds like a lot to do so many water changes, well it is. Most people either cycle their tank before adding their fish, or they go through this new tank syndrome wondering why their fish keep dying with no knowleedge of cycling or what's going on in the tank. You may want to consider returning the fish to the store and doing a fishless cycle - it would be much less stressful on you and your fish, and then when you add fish later you won't have this problem. If you want to save the fish and keep them, then you need to be changing a lot of water and get a test kit - you want ammonia and nitrite to stay as low as possible through water changes <1ppm until eventually the tank cycles and there is 0ppm of both. If these fish don't make it, save yourself the stress and heartbreak and finish cycling fishless before going out to buy new fish.

Good luck to you and post here if you have any more questions.

P.s. what size tank do you have?

Also, look into something like dr. Tims bottled bacteria to turn 4-6 weeks into a week or 2 or less if it works