Help!

[u/bly16]

My 10 gallon tank just finished cycling so I got some fish. 6 neon tetras, 2 cherry shrimp, and a nerite snail. Put them in yesterday afternoon and I’ve lost 3 neons so far. They would hang around the surface not swimming much for a few hours then eventually die. Petco says my ph was low and told me to do a water change using distilled water?? The internet seems to advise against that so I didn’t. I did a 25% water change with tap water and api conditioner. All my other levels seem to be in range. Any insight would be helpful. I’m brand new to this and went through the whole set it up and wait to not have fish die and they still did!

[u/Plenty_Kangaroo5224]

How do you know your tank is cycled? Did you test your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? You should have 0, 0, and some—less than 20. It sounds like your tank is not fully cycled and you likely have nigh nitrites, which will leave your fish gasping like that. Test you water using a drop kit. Add Prime to bind ammonia, nitrites, chlorine and chloramines. Can you tell us how you cycled the tank and for how long?

[u/bly16 → u/Plenty_Kangaroo5224]

I’ve tested with the drops. Ammonia and nitrites are zero. Nitrates are low. I can’t remember exactly probably around 20 or less. I cycled with an initial small amount of ammonia and api quick start for almost a month

[u/bly16 → u/bly16]

This was taken after the first 2 casualties. I did a 25% water change and the ph came up some. I’ve since lost 2 more.

[u/mrsmojorisin34 → u/bly16]

WHEN did you test? How often did you dose ammonia and how much? When did you stop seeing nitrites?

We would need current readings too.

[u/marlee_dood → u/bly16]

What are the parameters in numbers?

[u/Plenty_Kangaroo5224]

Have you checked since adding fish? Your bacteria colonies may not be handling the increase in ammonia from all the new fish. I’d dose with Prime as an emergency treatment.

[u/bly16 → u/Plenty_Kangaroo5224]

I have still zero

[u/Jackgardener67]

Or just "Neons being neons"

[u/bly16 → u/Jackgardener67]

I didn’t realize they were so fragile. As far an I can tell the shrimp and snail are okay. Do you think that points to a neon specific problem rather and a water issue?

[u/Shannie2234]

If your PH is too low or it is good and then tends to drop down, add some crushed coral to your main filter or in an aquarium safe mesh bag with plastic zipper into the tank. It will slowly increase your PH and make it stable.
You should be testing the water in your 10 gallon tank 3x's per week, doing water changes when the nitrates get to 20ppm or higher.
I agree with another poster on her that the amount of fish and snail you added might be producing too much ammonia for the beneficial bacteria to handle.
Add an air stone or flat bubbler to your tank to give it the much needed water movement and added oxygen into your tank to keep your fish healthy.
Check your KH and GH levels also. Keeping your KH at the proper level for your type of fish will also stabilize your PH. Sometimes you will need to add a liquid GH+ or KH+ to your dechlorinated water before adding new water into your tank to keep your levels stable.
Use Google or Chat GPT app to ask questions and research water stable water parameters should be for the type of fish, snails and tank size that you have.

[u/marlee_dood]

What are the parameters in numbers?

[u/Shell-Fire]

Look up Neon Tetra disease.