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Need some serious aquarium help2007-11-24 23:38:52

so i did it all wrong, got a new tank and stocked it too soon, ive been following all the rescue advice ive been given on previous requests, got a charcoal filter, been performing 1/4 water changes, did a gravel vac, cut right down on the feeding, but 2 of my fish died last week, and yesterday went away for the night and most of the rest were floating on the top dead, upon my return this morning.

where do i go from here? i now know about the nitrogen cycle and that it wont kick in until after 3 weeks, so do i just leave my tank (ive had it 2 weeks now) and continue doing !/4 changes and restock, slowly, in a couple of weeks time, or due to the deaths of my fish, must i strip everything down and start again..??

all serious advice is welcome.

Answers:

Cut down to 2-3 fish if they haven't all died off by now. If they are all dead, get 2-3 zebra danios, they are hardy and will fit into a community tank later. How big is this tank, anyway?

Continue doing the 25% water changes, but only do them every 4th day. No, don't strip the tank down, the fish probably died from ammonia spikes which are part of the nitrogen cycle (that is why you are doing the partial water changes now to keep the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates low). If you strip it down now, you will have to start the cycling (nitrogen cycle) all over again!

You do have a heater, don't you. Cold water will kill off tropical fish in short order. Tropicals require 72-78 degrees. Goldfish are coldwater fish, don't mix them with tropicals!

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I would put in new water. Just make sure you know where your aquarium stands. You can't be sure that the fish died because of something you did or something they already had.