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Hi everybody~ im new at this, so please forgive me if i did anything wrong. i set up a tank with a power filter, no heater cuz my rooms really warm, some gravel and some ornaments. i added "prime" water conditioner. its been running for few days. i added 4 tiger barbs in yesterday and 3 of them died today, theres one more left but that one is swimming and getting pushed by the currents the waterfall from the power filter made.
cOULD MY fish be dieing because of the waterfall hitting down from my power filter?

What can i do, please help. some people say it becuase of ammonia and nitrite and its a uncycled tank but how much ammonia and nitrite will there be anyways...its only been one day since theres fish in the tank. there cant be that much ammonia or could there be?

If i could get some urgent help, that would be great.thankyou

It is probably ammonia. Not sure from your post but it sounds like your tank was just set up and you added fish a few days later. If so your tank is not cycled and you are probably having an ammonia spike. Do a 50% water change to try and dilute and remove the ammonia. Replace the water with conditioned tap water as close to the same temp as your tank water to try and reduce the stress on your one remaining fish. I dought that the filter has anything to do with the fish deaths.

you need a heater to keep the temprature from fluctuating. though i have no doubt it was ammonia.

Tank size would be a help, if the filter is that powerful, it could be that the tank is too small for the fish load you dropped in. Danios are generally the best choice for fish cycling a tank. A better choice would have been to fish-less cycle the tank using ammonia and cycle. It takes about 3 weeks no matter which way you go. Test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. A fully cycled tank will have no ammonia or nitrite but will have a nitrate reading. Do a water change, double dose the prime and let the tank settle down and fully cycle before adding any more fish.
Actually there can be enough ammonia after one day and only one fish to cause the fish problems, that's why the fishless cycle is the better way to go. It takes at least one week for the bacteria that change ammonia (NH3) the most toxic, to nitrate (NO2) less toxic, but still not good, then it can take an additional 2 weeks for the bacteria that change nitrite (NO2) to nitrate (NO3) which is the least toxic. After the tank is cycled you want to do water changes freuently enough to keep the NO3 from going above 40 ppm. In a tank with no live plants, under 10 ppm NO3 would be ideal. With live plants, 10-20 ppm would be considered acceptable.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
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Do you have a thermometer to see what temp your tank is? What is the size of the tank and how much Prime did you add?

Your tank... did you clean it out with anything before you filled it? Your gravel or ornaments?

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so right now, i should just do a 50 % waterchange?

yes, and what size is the tank please?


"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

hi benny, here's the link, it was written by keithgh, so it is a good one, hope it helps.

Fishless cycling

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

thankyou everyone! you guys are great. just a little update: i did a 50% water change and im gonna start cycling the tank.

What size is the tank?

the tank size is 5 gallons , i did a 50% water change, filter is runnign but no fish in there. im planning to put a betta in there. but i have one question... since bettas are so hardy , can i buy one tomorrow and put him in the uncycled tank? im still adding the "cycle" Live bacteria product in.

Sorry but 5 Gal. is too small for a school of Barbs.



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I agree, 5 gallons is too small for a school of anything. Although bettas are hardy, they, or any other fish really, shouldn't be used to cycle. I understand that, being new, you'll want to get some fish in there straight away, but you have to wait until the ammonia and nitrIte are both at 0ppm (you can buy test kits at your LFS) After the tank is cycled however, a betta could live in there very happily.

ok sure thanks! what i will do is buy my betta first and keep him in a bowl since i want a fish so much. and just put him in after i have use "cycle" product in the tank and my ammonia and nitrIte are both at 0ppm. then ill put them in!~ how bout that?--> ill use put in some flakes for the ammonia everyday.. is that ok?(fishless cycling) or should i buy 2 danios

Benny, the betta would still have to cycle the bowl, and each water change in the bowl will cause a mini-cycle. You changed the water last night, put the betta in the tank, change the water every couple of days and feed sparingly during this time. Add cycle as often as needed, and use the prime with each water change, at double the dose. Bettas can cycle a tank, they cycle their bowls all the time. He'd really be happier in the 5 gallon tank than in a bowl. The tank isn't big enough for too many more fish anyway, so just enjoy the betta in there for the next month, then we'll figure out what you can put in there.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Since ammolock doesnt remove the ammonia like amquel and other such products, couldn't he add ammolock to keep the fish in good order and allow the cycle to do its job? I have used a product called cycle before and it didn't do me any good, I ended up buying refridgerated live bacteria called turbostart I think and it did the trick by lowering the cycle to a week or two. But IME cycle never quite worked for me. Not that I am saying it wont work for you, but just food for thought.

Im not saying you're saying it is bad.
well...i already used it, and nothing bad happens,im sure a product will do its job, besides "cycle" is from the hagen company. such a big company wont lie. IME, cycle works perfectly.

"The unique fabrication process of Cycle ensures that the bacteria contained in the bottle are dormant. These mirco-flocs, made up of thousands of cells, wait until conditions are favorate to develop. Each dose provides the aquarium with an incredible concentration of lve micro-organisms that reproduce rapidly."

The cycle before, needed to be in the fridge but not now.Thats why Cycle is so good, unlike other live bacteria products, u have to store it in the fridge. The new Cycle doesnt need to be refridgerated. thanks for the advice though.

Well like I said I used nearly a whole bottle of it on a tank and it did nothing, one dose of the live stuff and 2 days later BAM cycled. After the dose 2 hrs later the water had decreased in amonia and nitrite content about 33%

The problem with ammolock is that it still registers on most test kits, so you have no idea what your ammonia level really is. It gives a high reading and newbies often will panic over it. It's better to leave it and allow the cycle to happen. Really, every time you do a 100% water change on a betta bowl, the bowl has to re-cycle, I think it can handle the initial cycle of a 5 gallon tank. Mine cycled his vase numerous times, and he cycled the 2 gallon a couple of times as well.

Benny, just keep an eye on him, if he seems to become lethargic all of a sudden, or suddenly seems to go crazy, starts gasping at the surface, then test the ammonia, nitrite levels and do a 25-30% water change, leave the gravel though, don't vac it, add the dose of cycle after the water change as per instructions on the bottle, he will do just fine.

Bettas are great fish to watch when they have some space to move in. Mine likes surfing in the current from the filter on his tank, he gets right in there and hangs ten (his tail) with the harlies. He loves the live plants and goes on hunting expeditions, rooting around in the plants, looking for goodies to eat, he's much more active than he was in his old home, a candle vase, and before that a 2 gallon hex tank.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus