New Aquarium and platties dead

Question
Hi Chris. I just purchased a 20 gallon aquarium and set it up and it ran for 36 hours before we purchased fish. We purchased 2 Neon platties, 2 Mickey Mouse platties and a dwarf frog. When we brought the fish home we let the bags float for 20 minutes before introducing the fish into the tank. The temp is set at 82 and the filter is a Whisper 20 power. This morning we woke up and both the platy's were dead. I'm not sure on the pH, ammonia, or nitrate levels since the pet store never told me anything about these. Is it normal for these types of fish to die during the first cycling? Thank you in advance.

Answer
Hi Alisha;

It isn't 'normal' to lose any type of fish really, as long as certain precautions are taken and the environment is safe. Acclimating them properly is part of it and it seems you did that. A temperature of 82 is actually pretty high for platies. Your frog likes it a bit cooler too. If your room temperature is lower than 82, turn the aquarium heater down and let it slowly drop to about 76-78 and they will all be okay. Higher temperatures do get it through the break-in faster but if it causes your fish stress it's better to keep it lowered.

Most fish stores do have a guarantee on new fish. If it literally happened the next morning after you brought them home, you might take the little bodies back there and tell them what happened. But, don't get new replacements yet. If you still have two other fish and a frog, that's plenty of creatures to get the tank through the initial stages of break-in. The more fish you have during break-in, the higher the waste toxins are and the harder it is for the fish to survive it. Get some test kits to monitor it's progress. Ammonia and nitrite are the most important at this stage. Here is a link to my article on break-in;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

There are many possible causes for the death of the platies. The most common cause of new fish death is stress. Fish in stores are usually not kept there for very long, especially in a busy store, and they may have arrived the day before or even the same day. Moving to a new home so quickly may have just been too much for them. It happens. Your fish store should keep newly arrived fish for at least 24 hours for observation before selling, but most do not.

I hope everything goes okay...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins