New tank with dying fish

[Kleger86]

Hi everyone! This forum has been so helpful in my new fish keeping journey so far but I am a notorious over doer and I want to make sure I’m doing the right things. 
I am brand new to this so please dumb down any advice you have for me. 😄I have a new 10 gallon tank. It is planted with easy plants, I also have a hang on back filter that came with the tank with a pre filter sponge, a heater set to 76, an air stone and I used Fritz 7 (the bacteria stuff) and Fritz complete. I am also using easy green fertilizer and root tabs which I added at the beginning but I haven’t added again. It was set up and running for about 2 weeks, my plants were all showing growth, and I got 6 glow tetras. The fish were doing fine for the first few days. I was checking the the water twice a day with the aquarium co op strips and doing water changes as needed. According to the strips I had no ammonia, my nitrates fluctuated, and my nitrites seemed to go up to one and back down after a water change. A few days ago I lost a fish, the next day another fish. After that I decided to go and get the API water test. After I tested with that it looks like my ammonia is .5 and my nitrites are 1. I promptly did a water change but when I tested again a few hours later the tests were still reading the same so I did another 25% change. Also with changes I use the Fritz complete and a little bacteria. Then a few hours later I lost another fish. He was hanging out on the top almost gasping and then slowly died. I feel so bad, like I’m a fish murderer! Any suggestions would be so appreciated. Do I just have to wait this out? Am I doing too many water changes, should I be doing more? Also for reference my ph is 7.2 kh 120 and gh is off the chart high, like 300. Thank you to anyone who read this whole thing and has any advice. I really appreciate it. 

[Galabar]

Hi @Kleger86,

This is a very common scenario for new folks to the hobby.  Please take a look at this thread:

The two best things you can do now is to (a) stop feeding and (b) water changes. You're fish will be Ok with very little food.  The less food you add the less ammonia you will add to the tank.

For a "fish in" cycle, I find this to be very good advice:

Also, from the other thread, this is a good explanation of what is happening in your tank:

 

Edited January 2 by Galabar

[Kleger86]

@Galabar thank you so much. I’ll definitely watch these videos and scroll through the thread. I was feeding once a day sparingly, or at least what I thought was sparingly, but I will cut back further. And for the water changes, should I still do them as needed even if it is multiple times a day? 

[Galabar]

On 1/2/2024 at 3:45 PM, Kleger86 said:

And for the water changes, should I still do them as needed even if it is multiple times a day? 

That's a tough one to answer.  You'll see a lot of disagreement on here as to how much ammonia is safe/unsafe.  My advice would be to continue water changes, at least once ever day until you start to see better readings.

Edited January 2 by Galabar

[Kleger86]

Thank you! I guess everything can’t be an exact science!

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/2/2024 at 3:45 PM, Kleger86 said:

And for the water changes, should I still do them as needed even if it is multiple times a day? 

You don't want to be using dechlorinator that often.  It is recommended at most once per 24 hours.  So my suggestion would be to do one 50% water change per day until things resolve themselves.  At most, do a water change every 12 hours (morning and night).  Anything more than that, you're likely doing more harm than good.

You can see it here in the FAQ section about how often to dose it.

https://www.seachem.com/prime.php

Quote

A: Prime® will bind up those compounds for up to 48 hours. If they are still present after that time frame, they are released back into the water, unless Prime® is re-dosed accordingly. Also, if your ammonia or nitrite levels are increasing within a 24-hour period, Prime® can be re-dosed every 24 hours.

 

fritz complete is going to be very similar to prime.  I'm sure they have their own FAQ section as well on the website, but I happen to recall these particular questions being answered by seachem.

[Tony s]

I have done the exact same thing when starting. Besides frequent water changes, it would be helpful to grab a bottle of Prime and follow the dosing directions. It doesn’t eliminate the ammonia or nitrite, but it binds it into a non-toxic form so it’s not damaging your animals. Needs to be redone every couple of days until the bacteria have had a chance to grab hold. I still keep a bottle on hand just in case

 

[Kleger86]

On 1/2/2024 at 9:04 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

You don't want to be using dechlorinator that often.  It is recommended at most once per 24 hours.  So my suggestion would be to do one 50% water change per day until things resolve themselves.  At most, do a water change every 12 hours (morning and night).  Anything more than that, you're likely doing more harm than good.

You can see it here in the FAQ section about how often to dose it.

https://www.seachem.com/prime.php

 

fritz complete is going to be very similar to prime.  I'm sure they have their own FAQ section as well on the website, but I happen to recall these particular questions being answered by seachem.

The Fritz says it’s safe up to 5xs the dose so in my case 5 pumps per day for a 10G tank. I’ve never used that much though. 

[Kleger86]

On 1/2/2024 at 9:12 PM, Tony s said:

I have done the exact same thing when starting. Besides frequent water changes, it would be helpful to grab a bottle of Prime and follow the dosing directions. It doesn’t eliminate the ammonia or nitrite, but it binds it into a non-toxic form so it’s not damaging your animals. Needs to be redone every couple of days until the bacteria have had a chance to grab hold. I still keep a bottle on hand just in case

 

The Fritz complete does the same thing but it still shows up on the tests so I get all confused and nervous. I did so much research and felt so prepared. I guess some things you just have to figure out as you go. 

[Tony s]

Yeah, it will show up, which threw me. My usual reaction was , Ok now what did I screw up.  But it absolutely takes time and personal experience. YouTube helps but it’s not going to be the same. Most fish keepers learn by losing fish along the way. Which can be very discouraging. But you’re never going to do something that someone else didn’t mess up first. My first reactions to things like  ich was immediate panic. And overdoing things. At least that’s how I learned. 
 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/2/2024 at 7:05 PM, Kleger86 said:

The Fritz says it’s safe up to 5xs the dose so in my case 5 pumps per day for a 10G tank. I’ve never used that much though. 

Yes and no.  Seachem prime is the same way, safe up to a really high dose.  That removes oxygen from the water when you dose it.  So it's not about "x pumps per day" as you'd just be decreasing oxygen over and over.   It's a very different impact if you're dosing once.  2x dose is normal for chloramines in the tap, while something like 5x dose would be for extremely toxic ammonia conditions.

Based on everything I've read and been recommended, I would stick to one 50% water change per 24 hours.  That one dose binds the ammonia for 24 hours minimum, so you're safe there too.  After the WC, you'd add in your bacteria and give it 24 hours to do it's thing.

[Kleger86]

On 1/2/2024 at 11:10 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yes and no.  Seachem prime is the same way, safe up to a really high dose.  That removes oxygen from the water when you dose it.  So it's not about "x pumps per day" as you'd just be decreasing oxygen over and over.   It's a very different impact if you're dosing once.  2x dose is normal for chloramines in the tap, while something like 5x dose would be for extremely toxic ammonia conditions.

Based on everything I've read and been recommended, I would stick to one 50% water change per 24 hours.  That one dose binds the ammonia for 24 hours minimum, so you're safe there too.  After the WC, you'd add in your bacteria and give it 24 hours to do it's thing.

That is extremely helpful. Thank you!!!

[Galabar]

There is a lot of disagreement as to whether SeaChem Prime, Fritz Complete, etc. are able to "bind ammonia."  There isn't much (or any) good experimental evidence to show that it works (or doesn't work).  However, they all will eliminate chlorine/chloramines.

My advice for those products is, if you have them, use them, but assume that they don't bind ammonia (continue water changes).  If they do bind ammonia, that is just an extra benefit...

 

[Schuyler]

Do you have a local aquarium club? I think there is a club finder on aquarium Co-op's website. I would reach out and see if there's anyone local who can share some seasoned media. That would be way better than any bottled bacteria.

[Kleger86]

On 1/7/2024 at 3:20 PM, Schuyler said:

Do you have a local aquarium club? I think there is a club finder on aquarium Co-op's website. I would reach out and see if there's anyone local who can share some seasoned media. That would be way better than any bottled bacteria.

I think I have things under control for now. I have a great small local fish store. Between them and this group I think I have a handle on things. I believe that I was incorrectly reading the test strips in the beginning and allowed the ammonia and nitrite levels to get too high. Even though I have that under control now the damage was already done to the fish. There’s definitely a learning curve to this!