Fishless Cycling Problem

I can empathise with the rasbora who doesn't like light as my tetras developed an irrational fear of light, resulting in me not having the light on for 18 months until I "bit the bullet" eventually round about the time I decided to try live plants. If it's any consolation, they did eventually get used to it with some perseverance on my part.

I found that cherry barbs fed from the bottom of the tank as well as food floating in the water. One way to make sure they all get some is to split the food in two. Put one half straight into the tank, this will float and the upper feeders will get most of it. Pu the other half in a small pot of water, leave it for a couple of minutes till it is completely soaked and sinks to the bottom of the tub then pour it all into the tank. Add both lots of food at the same time. The harlequins will be busy trying to catch the floating food while the presoaked food sinks quickly giving the barbs chance to get some.



Empty yoghurt pots, cheesecake tubs etc are useful for all sorts of things, make sure you wash them clean with plenty of water before using them.

It is quite possible you did grow a lot of bacteria, but your results were so odd that we can't say just how many you grew. It looks as though you had enough for at least the number of fish you have now.

Nitrate does go up but you have only a few fish so the filter bacteria don't have much ammonia to turn into nitrate. As you get more fish you should see more nitrate.

Besides the lilies, what other decor do you have in the tank?

Fish can be shy when you first get them, it can take a while for them to settle in and become confident.
When there aren't enough of them, they are also skittish. I know in your case that there will be more of them so they will probably settle down then, if not before.
Fish are also skittish if they have nowhere to hide, which is why I asked about decor. It sounds backwards but the more places there are to hide, the more you will see the fish. Just knowing that there is somewhere to run to makes them more confident.

That looks nice  Plenty of hiding places for the fish.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you   

Sorry to hear about your losses. 
I hope that things in your tank settle down soon.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you too.

There are two schools of thought about acclimatising fish.
The most usual is along the lines you do, but more so. Let the bag sit in the tank for 10 mins to warm, then add a bit of tank water every 15 mins until there is twice as much water as when you started. Then net the fish out of the bag so as little as possible shop water gets into the tank.
A variant of this method is used for very delicate fish. Empty the bag with water and fish into a bucket. Set up an air line tube to siphon water out of the tank and into the bucket, tying a knot in the tube to adjust the flow of water to 1 drop every few seconds. Run this until the water has doubled in volume. This method takes a long time so the bucket needs to be heated.

The other school of thought was expressed by a member on here, I've forgotten who  . This member said that it takes well over a day for fish to adjust so adding water to the bag for an hour or two does nothing to acclimatise the fish so you may as well just put the fish straight in the tank.


I prefer to err on the side of caution and add a bit of water every 15 mins till there is double the amount of water in the bag.

That's one problem with nosey fish - making sure they don't get sucked up when cleaning the tank. Been there, done that .........

To me, in light of the number of fatalities, it seems that there is something not quite right and which needs addressed but I'm not entirely sure what to advise.

However, I have also read a number of extremely positive reports about Seachem Paraguard lately, and, looking at details of the product, I'd be inclined to give it a try. Before you do so, though, how many fish are displaying strange symptoms?