Fish Losing all colour then die...

Hi Everyone, Been looking for a place for some advice. Here's what's going on...

Here's the history:

We set up a 120L tall tank in March. I cycled it empty for 6 weeks. We bought the tank used. It had sat for 18 months with a bit of water and overgrowth of various algae and was completely nasty. (Probably mistake #1 to buy this.) We cleaned the heck out of it with vinegar water and reused that same sand. We got all new decor. It has an Eheim Classic 250 canister filter (with Mech, Substrat Pro, Foam pad, Wool pad and Purigen), and an Eheim heater. We just did a big clean and water change on the 1st Oct. The sand is already looking grimy again though. I'm concerned all the nasties that were in it still crop up, but a guy at my fave shop said it was my plants breaking down, because I wasn't fertilising. ( I do Seachem Iron and Flouish once a week now since the Oct 1st clean).

All perimeters have been stable since fish were introduced except pH (which likes to keep going up to 7.5-8 even with 2 added pieces of driftwood and all new water added at neutral) and a small spike to 2.0-2.5 in Nitrates just before a cleaning. We had 3 gouramis at the start before getting danios and neons to replace them. Each gourami took a turn at developing a sore in the head and dying. I read there is a virus that they have frequently now days. (20 years ago I had many fish and didn't experience the level of problems I've had with this tank.) Everything else in the tank seemed fine.

On the 6th Oct I was looking to add shrimp even though I knew they could probably get eaten. The guy in the shop (not my fave one) told me to get a spiny eel instead. I was in a rush to leave and got one, but when I looked it up it wasn't even an algae eater... which is what I needed. Luckily we got a refund and returned it, but it was in the tank 24-48 hours. I noticed on removing it, the gill area was a bit reddish... On the 21st, I found one of my danios dead on the bottom, completely lacking colour, no other signs of a problem. (I ran water perimeters that day, no issues.) We had a previous SAE up and randomly die last month, so I didn't think about it too much, other than being annoyed at how poorly this tank is going. Then, this am I see one of my Rasboras suffering in the corner, colourless, trying to breath. It had red sploches on its chest. (Photo attached) I feel like I have picked up a parasite maybe? Definitely feels like an illness is taking out fish overnight suddenly. I'm very concerned now and ready to give up on the tank. Please help!

Here is the stock in the tank and the latest perimeters:

Water perimeters on 21/10/2022
Ph- 7.8
Amm - 0.0
Nitrates - 0.0
Nitrites - 0.0
Kh - 4 drops (71.4ppm)

Current stock:
6 x skirt tetras
4 x copper rasbora (one died today making it 3 now)
6 x zebra danio (5 now, one died on the 21st in the same manner as the rasbora)
6 x neon tetras
1 x baby Siamese Algae Eater (SAE)
1 x mystery snail
1 x baby pleco
Live plants (I don't remember what types, see photo.
Sand substrate
( I am concerned whether it is overstocked actually.)

What are using as a test kit?
What is water gh

Fishmanic said:

What are using as a test kit?
What is water gh

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Hi, thanks.
The kits is the Aqua One 5-in-1 and I don't have anything to test gH.

You can get the gh from your water supplier.. it may be on their online site

How often are you doing water changes? You probably should do another large 75% change

You might find some useful info in the linked thread

Fishmanic said:

How often are you doing water changes? You probably should do another large 75% change

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Not often enough. We did a 25% change between the last big cleaning and I meant to do them at least fortnightly, but life is busy as and of course it didn't happen. So, it hasn't had anything since we cleaned on the 1st.

As far as gH goes for now, when we add new water I test the pH and kH then do additives (Neutral regulator and Biotope Tropical kH balance as required). Our tap water is really soft and comes up as 1 drop kH. I always have to raise it before adding new water. Idk if that factors anything about gH though. I'll look into finding a test kit for that.

Thanks for the link. I saw that thread, but I was wondering if I have a parasite or something, given the red on this fishes chest area.

It looks like septicemia, which is serious and lacks treatments. There are some antibiotic foods some people swear by, but they aren't available in my country. I can't make an informed comment.

It can be viral, and is usually bacterial. It often comes from water quality issues (sometimes an ammonia spike after an overcleaning?), but a fish could carry it in as well.

I'm afraid my advice borders on useless. Ride it out, remove the dead quickly, and then try to establish a simple weekly 25% water change routine.

Your fish like softwater, and ammonia should present as less toxic ammonium in soft and acid conditions. Personally, I'd ditch the additives as they create instability. I have quite soft water too, and I have learned it isn't forgiving. You have to stock lightly, and miss as few weekly water changes as you can.

On the note of rising PH, not illness, if you have crushed coral as gravel or seashells in your aquarium it can raise the PH

JuiceBox52 said:

On the note of rising PH, not illness, if you have crushed coral as gravel or seashells in your aquarium it can raise the PH

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Didn't think I'd chime in, in this thread cause I felt like this was out of my knowledge zone but I am pretty certain they were trying to lower the PH not make it go higher...
To lower it, he can try different leaves, peat moss, R/O water (if he is up for that lol), or just try adding even more driftwood which is something he already tried but it could work. Although leaves would be better because they just continue to rot away and you can replenish it. But the wood will lose its affect in the aquarium after so many water changes, so then its kinda useless and you'd have to revert to other methods anyways

well here's mine as a reference...

I keep my ph around 7.1...anything over 7.5 my fish start acting weird...
also my kh is always around 200-250ppm
and I have similar nano fish...rasboras..neon tetras...zebra plecos...otos both regular and zebras
my tank is a 45gal (170L) with a 300gph internal sump (probably capped around 150-200gph)
and my water changes are about 10-15% weekly straight from tap using a 20-stage tap filter
and no ferts added (root tabs in soil)
my neons and otos breed on this water which you can see below...

I do use co2 as Toronto is hard-water so my ph would naturally sit around 7.5 to 8
raise your kh a bit to prevent them ph swings
as for drift and whatever wood...forget it..it doesn't do anything regardless of how many times people will talk about tannins blablabla...
sure it'll stain the water when you first put it in....give it a month and it's just "there"
the first thing you want is to prevent ph swings so you need to raise your kh...do it slowly
and give the new kh a try for at least a full water change length
see how your ph acts and if it still swings like that..it should stabilize with a higher kh...aim for around 120-150 and you should be fine
good luck

First, do not acquire any new fish until this has been resolved, whatever it may be. Follow @GaryE advice.

Second, do not add Flourish Iron. There is iron in the Flourish Comprehensive Supplement and sufficient in balance with the other nutrients. Adding more can harm plants and fish. Guaranteed.

Third, do not ever attempt pH adjustment using any chemicals/additives/balancers. The pH is tied to the GH and KH of the tap water, and you must ascertain these numbers for the tap water on its own in order to understand what is occurring with the pH. Let a sample of tap water sit 24 hours, then measure pH; this number will be more accurate because the CO2 will be out-gassed. Fluctuating pH is highly stressful on fish.

You need regular substantial water changes, and these will be much easier if the tap water can be used without adjusting the GH/KH/pH every time. And the fish will be healthier.

Rocky998 said:

Didn't think I'd chime in, in this thread cause I felt like this was out of my knowledge zone but I am pretty certain they were trying to lower the PH not make it go higher...
To lower it, he can try different leaves, peat moss, R/O water (if he is up for that lol), or just try adding even more driftwood which is something he already tried but it could work. Although leaves would be better because they just continue to rot away and you can replenish it. But the wood will lose its affect in the aquarium after so many water changes, so then its kinda useless and you'd have to revert to other methods anyways

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Yes lol I was saying that their problem if it going up and they don’t know why, could be caused by that

JuiceBox52 said:

Yes lol I was saying that their problem if it going up and they don’t know why, could be caused by that

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Hm...

Rocky998 said:

Hm...

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Another time I missed the meaning....