Please save my fish, fish dying plz help

[Obsessed with fish]

Too many fish in a small tank, added too fast, the most common rookie mistake.

Thanks! That's probably it

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Does seem like alot of fish for a 20 gal. And the corys fav food is shrimp and snails so those shrimp are toast eventually. Neon tetras don't school and barely move if the aren't given enough length to swim. Not sure why but its a well established fact.

Edit I should add don't follow that stupid 1 gal per inch of fish rule it leads to overstocked unhealthy tanks.

My tank is 50cm long, 48cm tall and 36cm wide, is it not long enough?

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Stop adding fish until you figure out what is going on and let your tank settle down. You might have added too many fish too soon. Just because a tank is cycled does not mean you can add a ton of fish at once and a 22g is not that big of a tank. Have you tested your water to make sure your levels are fine? A new tank needs to be tested frequently, especially when fish are being added. What size filter does the tank have (that was asked already)? Buy test kits if you don't have any or get your LFS to test it. As mentioned you will get more help in the freshwater forum for each of your particular fish. I still keep freshwater but not the fish you have. I used to have neon tetras and they're notorious for having diseases. Guppies aren't a heck of a lot better. That's why I don't keep these fish anymore.

I just bought another filter because I checked the litres per hour for my filter, and its not enough. I ordered a small sponge filter to add

 

[Obsessed with fish]

A freshwater tank is a very different set of rules. I keep 400 fish in 55 gallons and I add them 300 at a time.
You do not have too many fish for 20 gallons
No I do not QT 400 fish at a time. I add that many every 2 months or so. They are food for my lions.
I just ordered another box of livebearers. 350-400 fish come in one big bag.

Do not do 50% water changes weekly. 10-20% would be sufficient. I do 20% monthly if even that. I use 1/2 and 1/2 RO and tap dechlorinated with Prime
Does your filter actually work? I use under gravel and sponge filters.
Use some dip test strips. You can find out a lot with one test.
I add broken sea shells to buffer pH.
Do not overfeed. None is better than too much.
I keep my tank at 78 F.

Thanks! I'll do 30% changes instead of 50% from now on. I ordered a sponge filter because it seems that my current trickle filter isn't enough filtration.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

I agree w/FW forum. Most have a pretty strict list of Qs they’ll want you to answer about your tank and husbandry before they can offer advice.

The tank does not seem overstocked to me for 2.5 months TBH, so I don’t think that’s the issue. But 50% water changes every week is too much.

Did you add all the fish at once after the cycle ended?

Yes I added the fish a 3rd every week after the cycle ended. I'm doing 30% water changes from now on

 

[Obsessed with fish]

I used to have quite a few deaths in my first year owning freshwater fish also.
Mine was from lack of research and just doing stuff wrong.
I used to rinse my filter media out under the tap ( which you should never do ) should just squeeze/ rinse it out in your dirty tank water after a wc.
I stocked my tank with to many fish far to quickly ,( need to stock slowly and give your filter and tank time for bacteria to rise to your bio load)
I realised my ph from my tap water was higher than the recommended for fish I was keeping as they preferred a lower pH so I added drift wood to my tank and now my tank runs at lower pH.
Once I had hang on the back filters and it said to change the filter cartridges each month ,buy because I was changing them all I was basically
Throwing away the good bacteria,( meant to only change 50% a time ) decided to ditch the hang on back and got 2 internal sponge filters at each end of tank and got a nozzle facing upwards to break the surfaces water to promote " gas exchange "

But for you going forward I just checked and 22 gallons is 83 litres so I would personally get rid of at least 3 them Cory cats or maybe even all of them or give all 6 back to lfs and say want 3 back in a few weeks time as I think you way over stocked for a new tank and with that filter so slowly stock and can have more fish. And do 10- 20% water change each week using a Gravel vac and vac the gravel ,add a little drift wood,add a few hardy fast growing plants and keep all dead leaves trimmed,having plants is good imo
As they eat the waste of the fish ( prefer amnonia but can intake nitrates) maybe go to local library and get a few fish books or a charity shop and buy some books or brand new books your choice .
You say trickle filter so if water only trickling put slowly then water is only going through it slowly, so imo I would get an internal sponge filter with a nozzle so can face it up for gas exchange ( break water surface) don't want to big a filter and to powerful as small fish will just hide in a low flow area.
Neon tetras are imo a very small fish so if they die,I would change to cardinal tetras as same colours but more of the colour and bigger tetras ,
Buy some test kits buy not strips,you say you don't think your tank cycled ,well if you don't test the water then that's it you can only think / guess.
Don't feed to much ,but also don't feed to little,ask your local lfs to show you what a pinch of food looks like as I know I used to feed to much to often.
Most important thing that changed my fish dying was doing research on them and as my tank progressed It matured and got to stage no fish die or sometimes I may buy 6 cardinal tetras and 1 dies after day or 2.
Now on my freshwater tank which is a 40 gallon roughly I have 3 clown loaches and 14 cardinal tetras and that's it and do a 20% water change every 3 months ,but this is mainly because lots plants and I test the water ,water change for me is just to reduce nitrates as it slowly rises.
Anyway good luck

Thanks, my ph is at about 6.5 wich is a bit low, I added some bi xarb soda wich increased it to 7. I ordered a sponge filter to add to the tank. Thanks! I'll do 30% water changes instead from now on

 

[Lyss]

Thanks, my ph is at about 6.5 wich is a bit low, I added some bi xarb soda wich increased it to 7. I ordered a sponge filter to add to the tank. Thanks! I'll do 30% water changes instead from now on

Crushed coral in a media bag in your tank or filter can help keep ph from dropping too low. One thing that can happen when it drops suddenly or too low is the nitrifying bacteria can slow down or die off. I don’t think 6.5 is too low but it’s on the line. A drop in ph can also kill your fish, especially if it’s a rapid drop. Baking soda is not the best idea b/c it can increase the ph too rapidly, and only temporarily.
Rapid changes in ph are bad for fish.

I also read that your ammonia went up to 1. Assuming that’s not a testing error, that’s a definite problem and fish-killer. You need to find the reason for the ammonia spike. Could be ph issues. Did you remove or replace filter media?

I also think 30% is too much water change weekly. It was suggested to you earlier in the thread 10 or 20% and I would adhere to that. Changing out too much water at a time can also cause rapid changes in ph or temp that can harm fish. Only change that much if it’s an emergency, like to remove ammonia, and if you can match the ph and temp to the tank pretty nearly exactly.

Do not use RO water for your freshwater tank unless you remineralize it! This can be accomplished like another poster said by mixing with half dechlorinated tap, or by adding a product like salty shrimp gh/kh+ to it.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Crushed coral in a media bag in your tank or filter can help keep ph from dropping too low. One thing that can happen when it drops suddenly or too low is the nitrifying bacteria can slow down or die off. I don’t think 6.5 is too low but it’s on the line. A drop in ph can also kill your fish, especially if it’s a rapid drop. Baking soda is not the best idea b/c it can increase the ph too rapidly, and only temporarily.
Rapid changes in ph are bad for fish.

I also read that your ammonia went up to 1. Assuming that’s not a testing error, that’s a definite problem and fish-killer. You need to find the reason for the ammonia spike. Could be ph issues. Did you remove or replace filter media?

I also think 30% is too much water change weekly. It was suggested to you earlier in the thread 10 or 20% and I would adhere to that. Changing out too much water at a time can also cause rapid changes in ph or temp that can harm fish. Only change that much if it’s an emergency, like to remove ammonia, and if you can match the ph and temp to the tank pretty nearly exactly.

Do not use RO water for your freshwater tank unless you remineralize it! This can be accomplished like another poster said by mixing with half dechlorinated tap, or by adding a product like salty shrimp gh/kh+ to it.

I think its because I went somewhere for a night and a neon tetra died and no one was there to remove it. I came home and my tank looked like a swamp for some reason. I did add filter media, but I did not replace any. Ill do the crushed coral thing and hopefully that should help! I'll do 20% every week from now on. Thankyou!

 

[ss30]

I sadly don't, are there any alternatives?

Nope IMO.

 

[Lyss]

Nope IMO.

this is a freshwater tank — RO should never be used for freshwater unless it is used by someone who knows what they’re doing and it’s remineralized.

 

[ss30]

I think its because I went somewhere for a night and a neon tetra died and no one was there to remove it. I came home and my tank looked like a swamp for some reason. I did add filter media, but I did not replace any. Ill do the crushed coral thing and hopefully that should help! I'll do 20% every week from now on. Thankyou!

If one Neon Tetra caused your 20g tank to look that bad then it says to me that your biological filtration is not good enough.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

If one Neon Tetra caused your 20g tank to look that bad then it says to me that your biological filtration is not good enough.

After it died i added some biological filter media because before that I only had filter wool in there. Now I have filter wool and filter media

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Hopefully

If one Neon Tetra caused your 20g tank to look that bad then it says to me that your biological filtration is not good enough.

Hopefully The sponge filter will help to