hey yall, new here and possibly got an emergency. i had bought a 10 gallon tank for my neices for xmas. on monday we went out got some fish. i made sure the water was the right temp, the ph was balanced before we put them in there. i heard from them yesterday that the water was cloudy, and this morning two of the fish have died. the fish they have are a molly dont remember the full name it was a yellow golden color, a white micky mouse, a turqoise tail, a orange one which i dont know the name, 4 neon tetras and a slime sucker. a tetra and and the molly were the ones to die. the light went out and i think the fixture may have been bad, i picked up a new one to install. any ideas on to why the water was cloudy and why they may have died. sorry i dont have too much info, i can try to get more if needed. thanks in advance.

The cloudy water is sometimes part of the cycling process. It happen sometimes,alot of new tanks and even established tanks get cloudy it nothing to really worry about it will correct itself. There are thing that you can get at the LFS to clear it up but IMO it just another thing you are buying.

As far as the fish dieing, i'm guessing that the ammonia levels of the tank are very high. The reason I can say this is the tank has not benn properly CYCLED. This is a process that converts ammonia which is deadly to fish into nitrates and nitrites, which are less deadly to fish, and can be easily removed by weekly water changes. It is a bacteria colony that froms in the gravel, the filter floss basicly anywhere that is left undisturb. It takes 6 to 8 weeks for the cycling process to finish. Water Changes should be a weekly event and only 20% of the water should be repalced (2gallons on a 10 gallon tank), and the gravel should be vacumed in 4 sections and new section each week. For the safety of the fish and for hearts of the parents and you niece, do I 20% WC today. Do not vacume the gravel unless they have been over feeding the fish. She should be feeding the fish 2 times day, and only enough food that is all eaten in 3 to 4 mins. Nothing should settle on the gravel, this will only increase the ammonia in the tank and without the cycling completed it's not good. You can go to the LFS and get a product called Cycle and add that to the tank as per instructions and that will help some. If by chance all the molly's die, than you can either try a fishless cycle or you can purchase new fish. If you do go the route of new fish, than try and pick up a hardier fish for the cycleing process, Zebra Danios are a very hardie fish.

I hope this helps you and if you have any more question or don't quite understand what I've told you, just let us know and we can clear it up for you.

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Gold Coast Aquarium Society South Florida
www.goldcoastaquarium.org

thank you very much for the info, ill be heading over there in a bit and ill go over it with them so they will know what to do. thanks again.

It's best to vacuum the gravel often. especially in a tank this size,where two nieces may both be adding too much food. Change 20% or so of the water daily until the tank is established.
It's a good idea to leave the light off for a few days when adding fish. This will reduce the stress on them and allow them to get settled in. It's also good practice to only turn the light on,in an un-planted tank, during hours that the tank will be viewed. This will lessen the chances of algae outbreaks.