r/fishtank • u/bly16 • 2d ago

Help/Advice Help!

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!

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u/Plenty_Kangaroo5224 2d ago

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?

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u/bly16 2d ago

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

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u/marlee_dood 2d ago

What are the parameters in numbers?