help 8 fish died..

[fatfatfish]

I have no idea what is going on with my tank. And ANY help or suggestions I would be willing to try at this point. Here is the time line, I need to know what I am doing wrong. Info about my tank: 20 gallon long. Temp:78 f Ammonia: 0 Nitrite:0 Nitrate: 0.5. If you need more info let me know. I am new to this so I dont know what else to list. Here the time line of events.

I used to have a 9 gallon tank and I had 7 small, babies really, about almost 1/2 an inch long each, tiger barbs. They were in that tank for a month and a half. The tank cycled (with 3..added the rest later) and everything went great.

Then I realized that my tank was not a good tank for them (thanks to you all on the forum who helped with that) because it was a 9 gallon tall Biube tank and swimming up and down is not the same as back and forth for fish. So, I got a 20 gallon long tank.

I set it up and a transfered the fish. Before I transfered them (about 5 days before) I got 2 more baby sized tiger barbs, for a total of 9. So then I set up the new 20 gallon tank. I transferred all the plants, gravel, and water into the new tank. I even transfered the filter and let it sit in the new tank in case there was bacteria in it that would be beneficial to the new tank. I don't know if that was necessary but I did it anyway. I let it sit in the fishless tank for 3 days.

Everything was going fine after the transfer and then one day I noticed that one of my fish had little white spots on him..maybe this was 5 days after the transfer. I researched the spots and it turned out to be ich. I did not want to treat with chemicals so I read that you can treat it with aquarium salt. I found different sites that said "Use 2 teaspoons per 5 gallons.....Use 1 tablespoon per gallon.....Use 1 teaspoon per gallon..."....lots of different people saying different things. So I added 3-4 tablespoons gradually over 3 days...for a total of about 8 tablespoons. That could have been my problem perhaps.

Okay...so fast forward 2 days..the spots are gone....fast forward 5 days and 8 fish are dead. One survived..I have no idea how. I did no partial water change for 3 days because I wanted the salt to really get rid of the ich..which it did. Now I need to find out if that is what got rid of my fish too. I looked in the tank at one point and 4 were dead..I was so sad..so I freaked out and started doing major water changes..50% one day...15% the next....and 10% after that. The remaining fish looked TERRIBLE. Their little stripes were completly faded, and looking just sickly. Their fins looked torn up..but it was not from fighting. They looked like they were struggling to breathe. Then slowly, the other 4 died over the next 2 days while I did whatever I could to save them.

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG

So its been a week since then. One little guy survived..I dont know how. He didnt even look like he was effected by anything. His stripes never faded and he never looked sick. I wanted to get my survivor some family again..so I went out and got 5 more baby tiger barbs.

When I went to the pet store they had aquarium salt..a little jar of it, in most of thier tanks. It looked like quite a few tablespoons full and the pet store tanks are small. So I thought "well, if they can tolerate that much salt, did I put waaay too much in, or was it not the salt that killed them at all?"

So I am watching the fish now, because I am paranoid. And tonight,after they have been in this tank for 10 hours one of the little ones stripes look faded again....and he started doing this werid thing were he stopped swimming and just floats up towards the surface and then its like he suddenly wakes up and happily swims off again. BUT IM SCARED....should I do another big water change to get any remaining salt out of the tank..or would it be okay by this time with all the water changes Ive already done. Is it the salt that killed them? Does it sound like it was something else?

[emc7]

8 tablesoons (24 teaspoons) for 20 gallons, is a safe dose for most aquarium fish, even recommended by some people (aquarium salt sellers) for all tank, but not nearly enough to effectively treat ich. I'd guess disease killed your fish. Do you have a heater in the 20g? Ich thrives in cool water, so you have to careful with the temp of large water changes too. Big water changes are actually helpful against ich (you get some the disease organism out of the tank) and alway good when you have dead fish polluting the water, so I don't think that hurt. That salt that you used was reduced to 38% of what you started with by your water changes anyway. If you see ich again, find explicit 'salt cure' instructions on this board or someplace else and follow them exactly. After a death, don't add fish for 3-4 weeks after you think the tank is 'cured'. Otherwise, you will just get more deaths. There is nothing disease likes more then a newly arrived stressed fish.

[Kribensis12]

Hmmm, a Nitrate reading of .5 I would guess your tank wasnt cycled, as Nitrates should be in the 20 range. Did you just let the filter sit in the tank with no fish? If you did, that would have killed off all the bacteria as they need ammonia to survive. Ich is best treated with Copper Safe and Warm tank temp.

[fatfatfish]

thanks for the replys to everyone who did. I know it was a long and tedious post but everything has been helpful!

[Fishfirst]

disease plus doing things too fast (50% change)

[COM]

I second emc7's notion on the tank temperature. Ich tends to thrive below 75 degrees.

Two comments: next time you add a lot of fish or set up a new tank, try using a product like Bio-Spira. This is live bacteria and it will help to manage the bio load caused by the fish. I know that Bio-Spira is controversial but I have had success with it and so has every other person I know who has used it.

Secondly, I have to tell you that Aquarium Salt is a gimmick. You can use a much cheaper alternative like Kosher Salt. I don't think that you need an amount anywhere near 8 tablespoons unless you are keeping Mollies. They like salty water.

[Clerk]

Bio-Spira isn't really controversial.. its a well known product.

As for aquarium salt, I think I have seen that cheaper then kosher salt. The main thing aquarium salt is avoiding is Iodine and other harmful additives.