My fish died :(

One of my neon mysteriously disappeared after I noticed another of the four visable neons swimming weird. It kept on floating to the suface and strugglng to swin back down again. Anyway I thought the fish had gone down the filter somehow but it was nowhere to be found. We finally found it sqaushed under a rock (it was dead)
Anyway I just the left the defective swimmer that was still alive till the morning. I was certain it was going to die.
This morning i woke and looked in the tank -minus the stone and the all the neons, four of them were swimming perfectly fine! I was postive all my neons had new tank syndrome.
Obviously, I need to do a big water change but I'm not sure how do I take the neons out of my tank and put them in a bowl, so that the new water doesnt affect them while it is unconditioned and cold. or will they cope?
Plus. I heard you can give fish prawns and cucumbers. Will neons be able to fit that in there mouth or not. And do i have to buy fresh prawns or can i just give them it from frozen?

Aquanovice, why is it going to be unconditioned and cold?

Before changing any water and adding it to a tropical tank, you MUST treat it with a dechlorinator, and make sure it is the proper temperature by adding some warm water.

If you just pour cold untreated water in the tank, you run the risk of causing shock to your fish, and ultimately losing them all.

Can you just remind us of the details of your tank - size, what fish you have in it etc and whether it was cycled, then we can help you a bit more.

Also, have you tested your water and if so what readings did you get?

Sorry to hear about your fish, Aquanovice.

Re: prawns. I use the frozen ones and just leave them defrost before putting them in the tank attached to a plant weight so that they'll sink. I've found there's no need to cut them up as the fish just peck away at them.

Aquanovice, I have just been having a check back on some of your other posts - is this the tank that you started to do a fishless cycle on on Feb 17th??

If it is are you sure that it has cycled properly? If you are now cycling with fish then please remember to keep a close eye on your water stats. You may need to do daily water changes to maintain the quality and to keep your fish well.

Diana wrote:

Aquanovice, why is it going to be unconditioned and cold?

Before changing any water and adding it to a tropical tank, you MUST treat it with a dechlorinator, and make sure it is the proper temperature by adding some warm water.

If you just pour cold untreated water in the tank, you run the risk of causing shock to your fish, and ultimately losing them all.

Can you just remind us of the details of your tank - size, what fish you have in it etc and whether it was cycled, then we can help you a bit more.

Also, have you tested your water and if so what readings did you get?

Reinforcing the point

You're just sneakily trying to up your post count, aren't you Matty?

My tank is an aqua 40 (40 L). I have now 4 neon tetras. 2 plants, a piece of wood in it, pea sized natural gravel.
I found white spots on my fish today.
I don't know if i cyled it properly. However, I went to the pet shop today and talked to the guy who is head of the fish place. I asked him for white spot treatment and took me through what I need to do. I asked him where the water testing kits were and he showed me them. But then he said it's not really nessercery to test the waters . He said i can do but that's only for real fish enthuiast. he aslo said if things in my tank don't get better then I do need to test the water. he said I'd be fine if i just treat the fish. So, lets see how it goes

Aquanovice the man in the fish shop is talking a load of bull. I haven't been into fishkeeping long but realise that you are running into problems in your tank already and it is only going to get worse if you follow the advive given by them.

The white spots could be something like ich or a fungal infection, both of can be triggered by poor water conditions. it is fine for the man in the pet shop to tell you bad advice because everytime you follow it you pay him more money trying to put it right.

It always strikes me as strange that pet shops stock water testing kits but never recommend their use - why?? Because if people used them they wouldnt have to fork out loads of money on medicines and new fish to replace the ones killed by poor water conditions.

The advice you get here doesn't cost you anything so I suggest you do the following if you want to get a healthy tank -

Get yourself an API MAsterkit and start testing your water every day.

You are looking for ammonia readings of 0, Nitrite readings of 0, Nitrate readings of less than 40.

To get those readings you will probably have to do daily water changes or your fish will get more sick and die.

The choice is yours, but people on here have learned from experience and give advice based on that - whether or not you take it is up to you, but it seems daft not to listen to them

Good advice there fishfan - you've been learning! :lol:

Good for you, Fishfan - we have taught you well, my young Padawan. :lol:

It's good advice. Aquanovice, get wise, and listen to the people on here mate.

You run the risk of losing your fish if you dont. get a testing kit as recommended and get testing the water - what have you got to lose by doing that?

Got to agree with all the above - theu dont cost that much and they are the first indicator sometimes of why a fish has died or is getting ill.

Mary wrote:

You're just sneakily trying to up your post count, aren't you Matty?

I'm doing well aren't I

@ Aquanovice - Put the heater up a bit as well

Ok, I don't know what to do. I've already started treating them with a white spot treatment. I was gonna put them all to sleep then cyle the tank again but now im not so sure. Im definalty gonna get the water testin kit wen they are in stock again.
What do you guys think i should do?

First of all, you can still treat for whitespot if thats what your fish have, but quite right what matty said about turning the temp up a little (a degrees or two) as this also helps with whitespot!

Is there any chance this so called fish shop of yours can take the neons back until your tank is ready? Its a worth a try.

Also, dont feel bad by listening to any advice from LFS (local fish shop), we've all been there and done it! I actually think they're so full of bull they actually believe it themselves! They'll try their best to get you to buy all sorts of things from them that wont actually benefit you at all. Best thing to do is when they're "advising" you come and check on here before you buy their product. 6 times out of 10 you wont need it!

If there's a way around these problems WITHOUT using chemicals then that's always going to be better for your fish.

But DO get an API master test kit, about £19 in p @ h it may seem expensive but once you've brought one we can help more with your problems my knowing your stats.

Hope this helps

You will find if you keep treating for WS it is quite an easy disease to cure Good luck

Well done aquanovice on treating the fish, and for wanting to get a water testing kit.

Whereabout are you based? If you do not have a selection of pet/aquarium shops nearby then you can always take a specimen of your tank water to the shop and ask them to test it for Ph, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.

ask them to write the results down for you and let us know what they are. You can sometimes get an API Masterkit on ebay for a bit cheaper if that's any use.

Good Luck with the whitespot, and let us know if you need any help

ok thanks but what is P @ H ???????????

Pets at Home

Where are you from aquanovice? do you have a P@H nearby, or some other fish shops?

Maidenhead Aquatics are superb

I live in Leeds, West Yorkshire but my mum won't drive me to pets at home if it far
Ill try to get there somehow

If you live a distance from shops, try ebay. You will more than likely be able to get everything you need from there, or take a specimen of your tank water to your local shop and ask them to write down the readings for you. Most shops will do that and they dont charge either! .

In the meantime, are you managing to do the water changes ok? Dont forget that the new water will need to be warmed slightly and treated with dechlorinator too before adding it to your tank.

Are the fish still sick with whitespot? Hope they're improving, so give us an update on them if you can

It's a pain when you have thing going wrong in your tank, but don't worry, it can all be sorted, so keep us up to date and let us know how you are getting on.