aquarium of death

Question
hi, i have had my tank set up for about two weeks, it is a 55 gallon.  i first put one tetra, one plecastomus,(spelling is bad), one red tail shark and two tiger barbs, which all come from my old 5 gallon tank.  all the tests on water where good so i decided to add more fish, which i think i got too happy with.  i added 6 pictus cat, 5 more shark, 4 more tiger barbs, and another plact, and two algea eaters.  next thing i know everyone is dying.  the 6 cat died first, then everyone else started dying off.  i also notice that there is little white puffs like cotton in the tank, helpppppppp.  i dont know what is wrong.  i have tested water and its good, even took some to petsmart and they tested it and it was good.  so they said to get some medicine, maracyn, and i added it to tank.  to see what is going on i also added some cheap gold fish.  i dont know what to do.. i have had this tank for almost two years, didnt wnat one this big, finally put it up and now they are all dying.         please help me somehow.  thank you so much.  dale

Answer
Hi Dale;

Oh boy. You and your fish have really been through a lot in such a short time. Big tanks are actually much easier to care for than smaller ones. It's just that there are too many fish in the tank way too soon. It isn't through a break-in period yet. That takes 6 to 8 weeks. Make a water change of 25% right away, an do it again for each of the next two days. This will help the fish feel better. Ask your fish store to test the following toxins; Ammonia, NitrIte and NitrAte. You will probably find that nitrite is beginning to rise and probably ammonia is still present too. NitrAte may not be there at all yet. When you get the tests done, get the results in writing so you know what the levels are and you can watch to see that they go down eventually. Don't let them just say "it's fine" or "it's a little off", we need actual numbers to work with. You can get your own kits too so it's easier to monitor.

The little white cotton puffs in the tank are from decaying food. The fish are feeling sick from "New Tank Syndrome" toxins so they aren't eating very much. Leftover food then grows the ugly white cottony stuff on it. Most of us overfeed our fish at first too so cut back on that until we can get them to feel better. When you do feed them, make sure that you put in enough for them to eat from all areas of the tank within 5 minutes. Do it that way all the time, not just during break-in. Feed them once a day. Or, feed enough to eat within 2 to 3 minutes twice a day if you like to feed morning and night. The whole idea is to let them feed for 5 minutes in a day without leaving leftovers.

Here is a link to my article on new tanks to help you know what's going on in there;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

Let me know how it's going.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins