2 months - 15 fish dead! What am I doing wrong?

[KiwiGal77]

Was the tank cycled before you put the fish in?
How often have you been checking water parameters?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
What test kit are you using?
What water conditioner are you using?

Definitely don't get any more fish until you work out what's causing the deaths.

 

[Acorno]

OK water changed tonight and I tested the water afterwards and the tap water.

Tap water was coming out about 8, same with new tank water.

Is this right for the type of fish?

Sounds right for guppies. I don’t know about the neons though.

 

[itiwhetu]

I think a pH of 8 is too high for your fish, I would be reducing the water changes, adding drift wood to the tank and trying to see if the pH will drop.

 

[Lynnzer]

wrong pH isn't a death warrant. It may well affect the fish in the long run but not this quickly so forget any mention of it being the cause.

 

[paulfoel]

Are you spraying anything nearby. My missus loves to use air freshener but it's dangerous to fish if it gets in the water.

No not near

 

[Rocky998]

Lets be logical. It can't be the PH causing the issues.
Guppies like a higher PH and yet they died out faster than the tetras which are more sensitive.
In my opinion, the PH does not explain the deaths and to be honest a PH of 8 is fairly healthy for guppies.

 

[Lynnzer]

I have to wonder if it's the feed you use. As the problem is wide among the different species and it seems that the water is OK then the only thing left is the food. Maybe it's old, a bit mildewed or something. Try changing it to a new different type. Maybe even just use bloodworm or other dried or frozen food.

 

[Sanityassassin]

I have nothing to offer regarding the guppies, never kept them. But neons prefer soft water, your 8.0 seems way to high.

Yes, fish can, and do adjust to "different" water, but if your neons were in a 5 or 6 pH at the store, which is better for them, and then you take them home and dump them into 8 pH, that could cause them stress and their eventual demise.

 

[outofwater]

There seem to be 3 variables left to discard:
1. Food, as @Lynnzer suggested
2. Something leeching from inside the tank
3. Something outside the tank causing contamination

You (op) have addressed 3, and somewhat 2 as well. Yes, all you have inside the tank is from the pet store but things happen. It might be useful to know the frequency with which the fish were dying, when was the last fatality and if you have any pictures of any of the dead fish.

Barring that, I can't think of any other way of finding out what is causing this or how to address it other than putting the fish in a bare tank and adding substrate, plants and decorations one step at a time. Are all those plants live ones? In my limited experience both species are hardy, although neons seem to take a little extra to establish themselves and thrive.

Good luck

 

[Lynnzer]

A bare tank option may produce the answer however studying all that's been said, there's one other thing that springs to mind.
I still suggest changing the food BUT, could you perhaps be adding too much water conditioner. ie Prime. It seems to be the only other additive you use.It's supposedly non toxic with potential for depletion of oxygen if dosed too high but best to eliminate this.
If the food is changed and the Prime is fine then I would perhaps not go for a full bare tank setup; I suggest though that removing the substrate would be something to do.
You know quite often, and in fact too often, the retailers are chasing profit rather than paying attention to what they sell. The coloured substrate/gravel may look nice for the children which is what I think you're doing here, but may not be supposed to be used in fish tanks. It's a slim chance there's some sort of toxicity leeching out. That wouldn't necessarily show in your water testing. All sorts of chemicals can be invisible in water unless it's laboratory tested.

 

[itiwhetu]

A bare tank option may produce the answer however studying all that's been said, there's one other thing that springs to mind.
I still suggest changing the food BUT, could you perhaps be adding too much water conditioner. ie Prime. It seems to be the only other additive you use.It's supposedly non toxic with potential for depletion of oxygen if dosed too high but best to eliminate this.
If the food is changed and the Prime is fine then I would perhaps not go for a full bare tank setup; I suggest though that removing the substrate would be something to do.
You know quite often, and in fact too often, the retailers are chasing profit rather than paying attention to what they sell. The coloured substrate/gravel may look nice for the children which is what I think you're doing here, but may not be supposed to be used in fish tanks. It's a slim chance there's some sort of toxicity leeching out. That wouldn't necessarily show in your water testing. All sorts of chemicals can be invisible in water unless it's laboratory tested.

You will find that members on this site will say it is impossible to use too much water conditioner. Which is why hardly anyone measures it accurately.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

What leaps out at me is the rockwool...the stuff used to raise aquarium plants in large numbers and what is wrapped around the rootstock/bulb etc before the plant is put into one of those plastic pot thingies....or the ceramic collar that is also used for smaller and more delicate plants when on sale at the shop.

In the shop there is very little flow from filters, no fish buzzing about etc, so the rockwool stays neatly inside the pot or collar. And they are packed into their plant only aquariums very very tightly, so little or no movement.

Once the plants are placed into an aquarium and have some space to stretch themselves out, and there is a reasonable flow from the filters brushing over them and the fish get nosy and start snuffling and digging in them....the rockwool breaks down.

Filaments of rockwool are microscopic but they can and do lodge in the mouths and gills of the fish over a fairly short time, they are free floating in the water and every breath a fish takes, every snuffle and every feed, those filaments are entering the fish.....eventually making the fish very unwell and then death follows. Filaments clog the mouth, throat, gills and digestive system.

It is why it is always advised to remove plants from their pots and the rockwool before placing them into an aquarium

 

[Lynnzer]

What leaps out at me is the rockwool...the stuff used to raise aquarium plants in large numbers and what is wrapped around the rootstock/bulb etc before the plant is put into one of those plastic pot thingies....or the ceramic collar that is also used for smaller and more delicate plants when on sale at the shop.

In the shop there is very little flow from filters, no fish buzzing about etc, so the rockwool stays neatly inside the pot or collar. And they are packed into their plant only aquariums very very tightly, so little or no movement.

Once the plants are placed into an aquarium and have some space to stretch themselves out, and there is a reasonable flow from the filters brushing over them and the fish get nosy and start snuffling and digging in them....the rockwool breaks down.

Filaments of rockwool are microscopic but they can and do lodge in the mouths and gills of the fish over a fairly short time, they are free floating in the water and every breath a fish takes, every snuffle and every feed, those filaments are entering the fish.....eventually making the fish very unwell and then death follows. Filaments clog the mouth, throat, gills and digestive system.

It is why it is always advised to remove plants from their pots and the rockwool before placing them into an aquarium

Sort of like asbestosis eh? Yeah, removal from the tubs is recommended however things are happening too quickly to affect the fish here. I reckon rockwoolestosis would come on over a period ot time with the fish showing signs of distress for at least a few weeks first. However, remove the rockwool as a precaution.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Sort of like asbestosis eh? Yeah, removal from the tubs is recommended however things are happening too quickly to affect the fish here. I reckon rockwoolestosis would come on over a period ot time with the fish showing signs of distress for at least a few weeks first. However, remove the rockwool as a precaution.

The rockwool serves a purpose when the plants are grown in the supplier nursery.

They soak up the extra nutrients given by the nursery workers to encourage faster growth in the early stages, it is designed to hold onto those ferts and feeds and give a more concentrated dose to the plant. Rockwool soaks everything up like a sponge....including excess food, ammonia and other toxic substances found where fish are in a confined space. It is therefore totally feasible that not only are the fish affected by the filaments but also the concentrated ammonia and other waste products taken up by the rockwool. A fish snuffles for food in that rockwool and gets a heavy dose of whatever else is in there too....quite a bit of rockwool per plant in comparison to the size of a Guppy ot Tetra, so a decent overdose of concentrated toxins like ammonia and filaments etc straight into the fish as it snuffles and breathes

 

[Lynnzer]

The rockwool serves a purpose when the plants are grown in the supplier nursery.

They soak up the extra nutrients given by the nursery workers to encourage faster growth in the early stages, it is designed to hold onto those ferts and feeds and give a more concentrated dose to the plant. Rockwool soaks everything up like a sponge....including excess food, ammonia and other toxic substances found where fish are in a confined space. It is therefore totally feasible that not only are the fish affected by the filaments but also the concentrated ammonia and other waste products taken up by the rockwool. A fish snuffles for food in that rockwool and gets a heavy dose of whatever else is in there too....quite a bit of rockwool per plant in comparison to the size of a Guppy ot Tetra, so a decent overdose of concentrated toxins like ammonia and filaments etc straight into the fish as it snuffles and breathes

I can't disagree with that. Rockwool is in itself inert though like any closely woven or packed substance could feasibly store unwanted stuff but that would also apply to the substrate. Given that the tank is almost new and the water is frequently changed, a build up of harmful waste is not really going to happen quickly. The difference would be the potential of rockwool filaments coming loose and I still can't see that affecting the fish as quickly as is happening here.
I have also had plenty of rockwool containers in my tanks, some for extended periods when I didn't know the plants could be removed and split. I think most everyone has done the same, in which case we should have surely run into this problem many times. I had one tank with at least 7 of the rockwool tubs in it once.
I say that it's some sort of toxin, though where it comes from is as yet unknown.
The op should remove the substrate and do a 100% water change as a 1st step.