i think i poisoned my piranhas :(

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AlexLeon

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 14, 2011
5
0
0
new jersey
hello,
i am alex and i wanted to keep red ballied piranhas so i went to aqua scape and i bough a kit and i bought anotherone by mistake but i think that is not the problem. i have a 30 gallon tank with 2 filters one for 30 and one for 20 also i have 2 heaters. they gave me 2 liquids: atress coat+ that says fish and tap water conditioner and another one: blackwater extract that says replicates blackwater conditions. they said i have to use them and leave it for 3 days ad i did. then i bough 12 baby piranhas and i said, i saw on internet that i have to control the ph and amonia too and they said yeah and they gave me 2 kits to control both. That made me little angry cos they didnt say anything and if i wouldn't ask they wouldn't give me anything. then i put the piranhas an they were good for 2 days, i was feeding them 2 times. at 11 am and at 11 pm then after 2 day i did the tests and i saw that both amonia and ph were too high and i put the liquid to low the ph and it didnt work so i went to petland and i said that and they said: oh i know what is the problem. your water and tank are new so u have to do something with thw minerals in the new water and thay gave me 2 bags of dustthat says: buffer and water conditiones, automatically sets ph to 7.0. i asked if i add it with the fishes in and they said yeah it is not poison and they gave me something to amonia too:aqueon amonia neutralizer. again i asked do i have to put them with the fishes in and they said yes. well i did and the ph worked but the fishes were dying one by one, i tough it was normal cos at aquascape they said they fight and it is normail but one day i think the 3rd day all!!!!! my fishes were dead. well 2 of them were alive but they died the next day :(. mm i had 3 fishes more, those that stick to the glass and clean the tank. all of them died. i have the heaters on 86 but the keep the water on 79 or 80 so i dont think that is the problem. mm i added 2 kind of stone, one is yellow and has so much yelow dust but i though it would be fine if i put it in the tank and i dont move it, the other one is like a black stone. well that is all i wanna try again but not without help.
i hope u can help me.
sorry for my bad English :)
:)
 
:welcome: to MFK!

You might get more responses here.

How high exactly were the ammonia and pH? Actually, the ammonia does become more toxic as the pH increases but I wonder what would have caused your pH to increase. Your ammonia increased as a result of too many fish in a small tank. Your tank unfortunately is overcrowded and since your tank is still at the beginning phase of nitrogen cycle, then I am not surprised your ammonia rose quickly.

Could you please test both KH and GH? If at all possible, invest yourself in API liquid test kit and test the nitrite and nitrate as well. We need to look at all 6 parameters as much as possible since the cause of your piranhas' death is linked to water quality issues.

Ditch the pH adjusting chemicals. They will do more harm than help your fish. If your pH increased, decreasing it with very low KH is very dangerous as it tends to make the pH swing. pH swings can drive your fish batty and kill them.
 
You've come to the right place. :)

First of all, before you can add fish to a tank, you have to cycle that tank, otherwise the ammonia builds up and kills the fish. I prefer the fishless method, simply because doing it with fish is detrimental to that fish, and since there are other ways, it is not necessary. This explains it in depth: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207575

Once the tank is done cycling, you can add fish. Don't use stuff that changes the pH, as it is not of utmost importance. Fish can live in a wide range of pHs, and messing with the pH means you could create pH swings later on. So you won't need the blackwater extract, or anything else which messes with pH.

12 small piranha probably wouldn't be cramped in a 30 gallon, but they do grow large, almost a foot, if not a little bigger, and eventually they'd need a pretty big tank. Also, those fish that clean the glass are plecos, probably common plecos. Honestly, they don't always clean the glass very well, and they poop a lot, and they do require their own veggies, otherwise they start sucking on other fishes' slime coats. They also get to be three feet long, so it's better to just have an algae scrubber and do it yourself.

Also, if you're setting your heater to 86 and the water is at 80, then that heater is too small, and if it is overworked it could malfunction, or stop working altogether. Get an adequate heater (or get another one of the same size as the one you have now, you want a total of about 100 watts to heat 30 gallons well).

I would take the dusty rock out, who knows what it could be releasing into the water column.
 
AlexLeon;4793200; said:
hello,
i have a 30 gallon tank with 2 filters one for 30 and one for 20 also i have 2 heaters. then i bough 12 baby piranhas
Click to expand...

ooo man. dude not trying to be a downer but that just isnt going to work out. Most adult piranhas need anywhere from 20-50 gallons PER FISH. Going to have some serious problems quite quickly. im really not trying to be someone who is telling you what to do, simply trying to inform you to save you some money and prevent headaches. hopefully i read this right and am not being the bad guy in all this.Ill do a search here and pull up an article to show you im not pullin this outta my rear end.
 
Best to start from scratch and learn the basics of fish keeping esp. the nitrogen cycle first. Baby Piranha are horrible fish to cycle a tank with for many reasons.
Aquascape in Jersey is a fish good dealer and I'd be real suprised if they were giving you that info. 30 gal. is a good growout tank for 1 RBP for 1 year, 3 RBP's for 6 mo,
or a one month holding tank for numerous juvi's. Before you waste any more money
figure out a future plan for the RBP's. 12 RBP's will require a tank size of over 200gals
rather quickly.
 
wow reasearch AHEAD before you go buy stuff. 12 piranhas need like a 300g tank not a 30g. there is something called cycling where yes a lot of your fish will die and thats why people use fish they dont care about... i dont know where to start other than it was a bad move and you should probably go do homework for a while before you try again. my rbp went from the size of a dime to a solid 6" in the last 8 months and i have 4 in a 100g tank. not trying to be an *** but if by some chance you didnt kill them in 2 days, they would live maybe a month before they all ate eachother from a small tank
 
biggest piece of advise I can give, get a bigger tank.

As for your other problems, pH should be fine, don't need to mess with it too much, RBP's have a high tolerance level. Do weekly 20% water changes and your ammonia levels should be fine. Remove any uneaten food and waste. Good luck
 
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