Absolute disaster. Each day another dead fish.

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Pr
Rocksor said:
Wrong, you are supposed to dose Prime for the whole tank volume if refilling the tank directly from the tap. Putting enough Prime for the water changed increases the likelihood the fish are exposed to chlorine or chloramine. At least part of the full dosage of Prime should be added before filling directly into the tank.
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Prime says on the bottle if you are going straight from the tap to the aquarium to do the whole tank volume. Since I was concerned with nitrogen that's what I have been doing, but I haven't double dosed or gone higher.
 
duanes said:
I agree with GS and would like to add a little of my 2 cents, and cut thru some of the BS in this thread.
There are a number of mistakes that have been made here.
1st, as GS said, you added over 60 fish to a newly cycled tank, and many, as he said, are sensitive.
Adding even half of that number even though its a 200 gallon is risky.I would have added the guppes, and Plecos, and waited a few weeks to a month before adding more.
Maybe my comments are not in sequence, but you also had an algae bloom, and instead of waiting it out, you added an algacide, compromising the beneficial bacteria even more. (the algae was actually good for the tank) Although algae doesn't look pleasant, it helps with an overload of nutrients, from 60+ fish, and by killing it you added more deleterious chemicals.
The cloudy water (bacterial bloom) is also normal in newly set up tanks, especially in an overloaded one.
Then you (as you know) "super' cleaned the substrate and filter, another no no, killing off your good bacteria. This can be bad in even well established tanks.
Going beyond this, what is the pH and hardness of your water?
The tetras you mention are all soft water species that thrive in low pH water (4-6 pH), so if your water is high pH, and hard, this may have contributed to the above problems, and deaths.
Many LFSs have RO units that reduce hardness and even pH, to allow certain species to "exist" temporarily in their tanks until sold to aquarists that want a certain species, but have the wrong tap water to keep it healthy.
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I didn't add 6 fish. I said "of those fish" which meant of the total fish added I put in a section. Of all of those fish they were added in 3 lots, never more than 15 at a time.
 
Gourami Swami said:
Small fish like cardinal tetras etc are not particularly hardy. In a tank which is still not established (I know you cycled and then caused another cycle- tank was never let properly establish) it's to be expected that you are losing fish. When you feed, do the fish come up and eat? What are you feeding?
Also, where did you get the fish? From working in a big box pet retailer, I can tell you that a lot of the fish they get, especially the small ones like the tetras, tend to be pretty weak even in the store; we are always losing neons, platys, small livebearers, even if there isn't a disease at play. My theory is that they aren't genetically the strongest fish in the first place, and the stress of shipping, acclimating to new system, and then being in a store tank with lots of other fish, is too much for them. This is probably true of this type of fish from most LFS's, big boxes especially.

My advice would be don't give up! It hasn't been that long, it's your first go. It took most of us years to really have a thorough grasp of the nitrogen cycle, you've got a big headstart because your doing the right thing; reading and asking questions.
As far as the fish, I would do a big water change andadd some Dr. Tim's one-and-only. If this batch of fish doesn't make it, I would try with some larger hardier fish. You've got the room for it!
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The fish are feeding vigorously. That hasn't been an issue. I am feeding tetra A pellets and algae wafers for the bottom feeders. I was feeding once a day, and they would clean up everything within 30 seconds. Rarely if ever did any piece hit the ground.

I got the fish from Seaview Aquariums in Adelaide.

Thanks for the encouragement. I lost a Cory, pleco and Cardinal this morninig :( I am going to get some "bacteria in a can" from the store today and dose it up. I'll look for Dr Tims stuff.
 
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White Noise said:
The fish are feeding vigorously. That hasn't been an issue. I am feeding tetra A pellets and algae wafers for the bottom feeders. I was feeding once a day, and they would clean up everything within 30 seconds. Rarely if ever did any piece hit the ground.

I got the fish from Seaview Aquariums in Adelaide.

Thanks for the encouragement. I lost a Cory, pleco and Cardinal this morninig :( I am going to get some "bacteria in a can" from the store today and dose it up. I'll look for Dr Tims stuff.
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The Dr. Tim's is the same thing as the "bacteria in a can", its the one that I've used for over 10 years with good results. There are some others that are supposed to work pretty well. I know @rd has supported seachem stability (at least when double dosed) and if he says it works, I'm sure it does.

Sorry to hear your still losing fish, but as Duanes said many mistakes were made, so really not surprising that they arent making it. I would just keep your head up, learn from it, and try until you get it right!

And guys, lets not discuss uaru joey in this thread, not related to the OP's questions
 
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Gourami Swami said:
The Dr. Tim's is the same thing as the "bacteria in a can", its the one that I've used for over 10 years with good results. There are some others that are supposed to work pretty well. I know @rd has supported seachem stability (at least when double dosed) and if he says it works, I'm sure it does.

Sorry to hear your still losing fish, but as Duanes said many mistakes were made, so really not surprising that they arent making it. I would just keep your head up, learn from it, and try until you get it right!

And guys, lets not discuss uaru joey in this thread, not related to the OP's questions
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I didn't add all those fish at once however. Maybe I worded that poorly in the beginning, but I added those fish in 3 lots over a period of 3 months. Thanks for the advice
 
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