Fish Dying.......

CHMVASS

I HAVE A 29 GALL AQUARIUM WITH GUPPIES AND TETRAS AND THEY ALL WENT BELLY UP? I DON'T KNOW WHAT WENT WRONG. MY LEVELS WERE ALL OK EXCEPT PH WAS A LITTLE HIGH, AND I HAVE NOT CHECK THE AMMONIA LEVEL. WHEN THEY DIED IT WAS LIKE A MUCUS HANGING OFF THERE BODY. DID I HAVE A FUNGUS OR A DISEASE AND IF SO WHAT SHOULD I DO BEFORE I GET NEW FISH?

penna32

sounds to me like they had some type of parasites

Eb0la11

I would suggest starting over. I think its always hard to diagnose a sickness, especially when theres no fish in the tank to "observe" under the conditions.

I would try to find a small local fish store, ask them to supply you with some gravel or a used media filter to start the nitrite cycle for a new tank. It shouldnt take much longer than a week if you go this way.

Then I'd probably add a hardy fish like a gold fish to get the tank's biological system to begin treating the addition of new ammonia which is produced from fish waste. You want to build up the "good" biological colonies slowly until they can handle more fish.

After this you can start to add fish 1 at a time once a week.

Make sure to check ammonia/ammonium levels. You mentioned your PH being a bit high, meaning it was basic right? If thats the case then your fish's waste will turn to ammonium which is very toxic. Try to keep the tank's pH below 7.0 initially, until that biological colony within the tank is established and able to break down ammonium and ammonia into Nitrite and Nitrate without any problems.

Too many fish can overwhelm even a great biological colony though, so dont over populate with fish.

Kuli_Loach

Clean your tank and let it run for a period of time before placing a fish in it. When you do place a fish, only one or two to see if it is right. Then over a span of weeks, every week add one or two more until you meet the desired and amount of fish you need. Never overload your tank, remember, and inch of fish per gallon and I go by that for the filter more than the tank. I have a 10 gallon with a 20 gallon filter. I know I have over 10 inches of fish in there but I have a larger and better filter on it so the fish do fine. If you place to many fish at one time in the tank, it causes an ammonia spike which will kill everyone of your fish.

Tommy Gun

Welcome to the forum CHMVASS and Eb0la11!

While starting over seems like the obvious thing to do here since you are now fish less, and of course, since there could be a few ways to define 'starting over', I would hold off for a little bit until you can figure out what might really be happening here.

My reasoning here is as simple as this...FISH DO NOT ALWAYS DIE BECAUSE OF AN ILLNESS OR DISEASE!!!!!

That said, without any signs or symptoms, there is not one of us who can say for certain that your tank is infected with some sort of parasite, bacteria, fungus, or anything along those lines.

The mucus that was on your fish is also not a definite sign of a fungus or illness either...although it does give you a clue.

Are you using any sort of dechlor conditioner in this tank? If so, what product are/were you using?

True, it is good to start off with fish that are more hardy than others until you can become more familiar with running an aquarium since they may be able to survive if you make a few mistakes here and there, but I would caution anyone who might feel that a hardy (a.k.a. cheap) fish are disposable in any way....meaning that you should not buy a goldfish and keep it in a tropical aqaurium just to cycle a tank...IMHO, it is unethical and there are much better options such as hardy tropical fish.

Of course, this point is mute if you want to keep a coldwater fish tank, in which case you shouldnt have tried keeping tetras in it.

Ammonium is LESS toxic than ammonia.

While pH does make the difference between ammonia and ammonium...it has nothing to do with the ability for bacteria to create nitrites or nitrates. For the record, nitrItes are also very toxic to your fish and so it is not something you will want to see in your water.

You should not try to adjust pH based solely upon the age or how well established any tank is. pH is NOT NOT NOT a chemical that you can remove or add like one might suggest. IMHO, your best best is to try to maintain a CONSTANT pH level, regardless of what it is right now, rather than to make an attempt to keep it at any specific number. Even a freshwater fish which is best off in acidic water (less than 7.0) can survive in a pH which is very alkaline (over 7.0) if given time to adjust (acclimate). pH is less of an issue than it might sound like in most cases!!!!!
Be very careful when using this 'rule' or guideline...it does not pertain to all fish. Case in point...you are not going to do well if you put a 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon tank.