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trouble adding fish after cycling

Hi all,

I added 25 catfish fry to my system on Thursday. I had thought I had done everything right...

I raised the fish tank ph to match the ph the fish were shipped in(7.1 to 7.6ph). I put a temp. probe in the bag with the fish(84deg. F) and lowered the bag into the fish tank so that the bag would slowly cool to the system temp of 76 deg. F. I watched the active and alive fish fry in the bag and waited over an hour to release them into the tank... within five minets all but four of the fish fry died! There were no nitrites nor ammonia in the system when the fish were added... So I don't know what killed them. In case there was something in the system in too high a concentration, I did a partial water change just in case. The four catfish fry who survived are all happy and getting used to the fish tank, so it must have been something that shocked them I guess... any Ideas my friends, I don't want to just add more fish and watch more die if I'm doing something wrong. any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Robert

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Permalink Reply by Matt T. on July 20, 2013 at 6:36pm

Try to release them slowly by adding a little water into the bag at a time. This way they can get accustomed to anything else in the water like, iron, calcium, etc. Not sure if that would shock a fish though. How long was the water in the tank for? A silly question, but I had to ask.....