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So far everyday this week something is dying. Today i scooped out 2 paltys and a neon, and 2 days b4 that i scooped out 1 more platy and 1 more neon. My tank is also super cloudy for no arpparent reason. People say it is a mini cycle.. or a bacteria thing. I just dont like it.. And on top of all of that, thanks to PETCO ich has made it even worse! I also did a 40% gravel vac(i know.. to much) a few days back. Its a 10 g, had 6 neons and 3 platys, im now down to 2 overly-infested ich filled, side swimming half dead neons. The wirdest thing is.. my fish that died today ( 1 neon and 2 platys ) were JUST fine YESTERDAY!!!!

Ammonia is 0 mg/l
Nitrite is <0.3mg/l
Ph is a bit to acidic... but wouldnt cause these sudden problems

At this rate im going to quit fish keeping

a very sad ham~

First off if you still have nitrites you are experiencing a bacteria bloom. The people at PETCO did not cause your ich problem it was the fish you bought and the fact that you introduced a sick fish that had not been quarentined to your stock. I say get a QT tank and this kind of thing wont happen. Also get through your cycle before adding more fish.

my tank is 10g.. i coocnt have a QT even if i wanted.

Sorry about that; this sort of thing is always maddening. Let me give you a few pieces of advice:

(1) I think you overcrowded that tank -- especially considering that Neons are actually annoyingly delicate fish. I'd stick with either the Platys OR the Neons -- along with a few Corydoras or Loaches to clean up all the uneaten food on the bottom of the tank before it starts to decay and your fish eat it at that point and give themselves serious bacterial food poisoning. (This is a really major cause of fish deaths, although it took me a long time to solve the mystery.)

(2) Cardinals are actually tougher than store-bought Neons these days -- but make sure you're done cycling the tank before you put either type of fish in it. Both Neons and Cardinals are more sensitive to dirty water than many other types of fish.

(3) The anti-Ich medicine I've used with enormous success over the years is Rid-Ich.

(4) Don't give up yet. Fishkeeping is definitely a Learning Curve type of experience.

Thanks bruce. I've heard the oppostite abotu neon to cardinal hardiness. Doesn anyone else think thats crowded. i heard i could fit a few ottos in there.. and i thougth that was overstocked.

hammie-

I can relate to your frustration... I killed 6 of my Tiger Barbs while getting my tank cycled, and picking up a nasty case of Ich along the way.

I was about ready to give it up too. It does take time to learn and with my 20g, I learned that it's easy to mess up the water quality with that small of a tank. I't is probably much easier to do so in a smaller tank.

As far as the QT goes, it really doesnt amtter what the size fo your main tank. The QT is simply a second tank, cycled and set up where you can put new fish for a time after you bring them home from the LFS. Basically, it gives the new fish time to hang tite in caase they have some yuck (Ich). This way you wont bring the disease into your new tank. Personally, I dont have a QT tank yet, but I can certinly see the value in having one. Plus, it would give me an excuse to start another tank.

if scotty can do ti so cna i

Yes I would say it was over crowded especially for a 10g tank. To put it this way after 35+years I finally decided to have a desk tank (there are photos in the link) as you can see I took a lot of trouble to get it correct right from the start. I very soon discovered even with all my experience and FP it was not going to be an easy task. I did the cycling with Zebra Danios and in fact they started to breed.
I would say that the smaller the tank the harder it is to maintain reason you have no room to go if something goes wrong and it will and many times it is totally out of your control.
I just bought 4 small Cardinal Tetras and within 48 hrs I had a problem there was no sign of any thing being wrong some of the new and older cardinals just died including my Betta. I still have no idea what happened but every thing is setteling down now. All I could do was just watch them die. I dosed the tank with two bacteria products one being a live bacteria just in case there was a spike and I also use Pimafix and Melafix.

If you have nothing in the tank I would strongly consider a total new start that means pull it all down and completly wash every thing then go through the process of recycling again. There is plenty of advice on FP on how to do that slowly and corectly I prefered using 6 zebra Danios after the tank was OK I transfered them to the 5ft tank.

This might seem very hard for you to do but in the long run it will work out best. Finally locate a good LFS NOT a super market type store. Get to know the people in the LFS before you buy any thing. Call in at different hrs and just see what they are doing. Ask plenty of questions even the ones you know the answer to this will tell you if they have a knowledge or they are just sales people.

Cardinals V Neons this has come up several times but from my long term experience with aquariums the Cardinals have always been considered a hardier fish and easer to keep.

I would stick to a good tank of cardinals to start of with and certainly dom not mix live bearers with cardinald. A small tank of livebearers wouls soon be very over loaded. BUT you could go with some male guppies as they are colourful and easy to look after.

I hope this helps you.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Good info keith But alot of your stocking ideas are a no-no in ham's mind. Im done with all tetras, and almost all schoolers completely. I wasnt at all thinking of competly starting over, but now it sounds like a dandy plan But i do have lots of plants.. i dont know if they can make it if i start cyclign again.

I also had live plants in the tank while it was recycling and they were not stressed out at all.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos


Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thanks kieth u da man not to wait 4-6 weeks :/