Is there an expiration date on the bottle? This product is really for starting a new tank though I am not sure of its effectiveness. If the bottle was old the bacteria it contains could be dead in which case dumping it into the tank would be dumping in the results of dead bacteria which would be ammonia.
Did the fish really hit itself that hard on the glass?
Did the fish really hit itself that hard on the glass?
That is very odd. That's more a flight response like it was trying to escape from something very bad. I suggest you do some research on the product. I've read some not so good things about it.
Oh no, so sorry to hear that that you're having so many problems 
I think it's always so much worse when you have no clear indication as to what on earth is going on. Just a thought, but is there a possibility that your water supplier might have added anything to the water to clear the systems through? Might be worth a call to see if they added anything on the day you did a water change?
It's the only thing I can think of other than what the others have already suggested to you.
I think it's always so much worse when you have no clear indication as to what on earth is going on. Just a thought, but is there a possibility that your water supplier might have added anything to the water to clear the systems through? Might be worth a call to see if they added anything on the day you did a water change?It's the only thing I can think of other than what the others have already suggested to you.
jocie1976
Fish Fanatic
I'm so sorry to hear you've been having problems! I've also recently had a rash of deaths, but mine were angels, also for no apparent reason. The sore on your clown, is it possible that a pleco may have caused it? I have seen many varieties of plecos cause this type of wound on other fish. And you had mentioned that you would keep plants if you could find find something the silvers wouldn't eat. Try Java Fern. It has an unpalatable taste to almost all fish and is known for its abilitly to live in tanks with plant eaters when nothing else can. Hope this helps and good luck!
Thanks for the support everyone.
No further problems since... hopefully we've cracked it. The fish (still) look happy - plenty of movement and eating well.
I'll give Java Fern a go... last time I tried plants I ended up spending a long time fishing out a million tiny bits of plant out the tank
I'm really nervous about doing the next water change - after the holidays I'll ring the water company and see if there's any joy there. Maybe they have a schedule.
No further problems since... hopefully we've cracked it. The fish (still) look happy - plenty of movement and eating well.
I'll give Java Fern a go... last time I tried plants I ended up spending a long time fishing out a million tiny bits of plant out the tank
I'm really nervous about doing the next water change - after the holidays I'll ring the water company and see if there's any joy there. Maybe they have a schedule.
Darn it - one of the baby bristlenose plecs was dead this morning.
I've rung up Severn Trent and they said that there wasn't any emergency work in the area and no extra chemicals were added to the water (they would have sent out letters in advance which is useful to know).
Out of the five new arrivals (the small silver sharks), there is only one left. Funny thing is that I've only found two bodies... I've moved all the bogwood etc and rocks and I can't find any more - I did wonder if they were rotting somewhere but I can't find them. I guess it is possible that the other fish ate them once they were dead, although you'd think there would be leftovers. Another alternative is the huge catfish could have swallowed them. I'm sure his mouth is big enough but I've never seen him go for other fish - not even the tiny plecs, and fish haven't been going missing. These silver sharks aren't that small - we're talking 2-3" so I guess I'd be surprised.
There doesn't appear to be anything obvious rotting in the tank. There's a fair bit of bogwood debris, and there's always bits of gunk and fine sand that float up when you disturb the sand, but there's nothing obviously out of place.
I'm really not sure what to do ... I'm scared to feed them, scared to change their water, scared to do anything, scared NOT to do anything...
In terms of food they are getting some flake food, catfish pellets, algae wafers, and frozen mussels or big prawns for the catfish (although to be honest most everything in the tank has a go at those including the vegetarian silver dollars!).
I'm wondering about giving the filters a clean (perhaps one today and one next week) in case they aren't performing well - but I haven't noticed a drop-off in the amount of water cycling through and I'm a bit worried about doing anything like that at the moment in case it makes things worse.
O and apart from the clown loach mentioned above, none of the other dead fish have had visible problems whilst alive or any marking when dead.
(And my other tank needs a water change but I'm dubious about doing that as well!)
I've rung up Severn Trent and they said that there wasn't any emergency work in the area and no extra chemicals were added to the water (they would have sent out letters in advance which is useful to know).
Out of the five new arrivals (the small silver sharks), there is only one left. Funny thing is that I've only found two bodies... I've moved all the bogwood etc and rocks and I can't find any more - I did wonder if they were rotting somewhere but I can't find them. I guess it is possible that the other fish ate them once they were dead, although you'd think there would be leftovers. Another alternative is the huge catfish could have swallowed them. I'm sure his mouth is big enough but I've never seen him go for other fish - not even the tiny plecs, and fish haven't been going missing. These silver sharks aren't that small - we're talking 2-3" so I guess I'd be surprised.
There doesn't appear to be anything obvious rotting in the tank. There's a fair bit of bogwood debris, and there's always bits of gunk and fine sand that float up when you disturb the sand, but there's nothing obviously out of place.
I'm really not sure what to do ... I'm scared to feed them, scared to change their water, scared to do anything, scared NOT to do anything...
In terms of food they are getting some flake food, catfish pellets, algae wafers, and frozen mussels or big prawns for the catfish (although to be honest most everything in the tank has a go at those including the vegetarian silver dollars!).
I'm wondering about giving the filters a clean (perhaps one today and one next week) in case they aren't performing well - but I haven't noticed a drop-off in the amount of water cycling through and I'm a bit worried about doing anything like that at the moment in case it makes things worse.
O and apart from the clown loach mentioned above, none of the other dead fish have had visible problems whilst alive or any marking when dead.
(And my other tank needs a water change but I'm dubious about doing that as well!)
Skysters
Fish Fanatic
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2012
- Messages
- 99
- Reaction score
- 0
not sure about the rest of the fish the first time around but ur clown could have reacted to the treatment u put in , my hubby put treatment in a few weeks ago the clowns went crazy swimming so fast they were slapping into the glass , had to do a emergancy water change ..soon after they were fine ..so that could be the reason ,,,,,,,,, and for ur missing fish , the other fish /clowns would have had a feast ..
check your water is fine , do u test with a liquid test kit? if not a option is to take a water sample to nearst lfs
cleaning ya filters is a good idea , like ya sed one this week maybe the other cpl weeks later ......
but its hard to just without water stats ..
any visible signs of fish flashing at all ? mine flash if water is off ..
check your water is fine , do u test with a liquid test kit? if not a option is to take a water sample to nearst lfs
cleaning ya filters is a good idea , like ya sed one this week maybe the other cpl weeks later ......
but its hard to just without water stats ..
any visible signs of fish flashing at all ? mine flash if water is off ..
Hi Sue - what do you mean by flashing? That's not a term I'm familiar with.
I've just redone my water tests with the liquid tests:
Nitrate 25
Nitrite 0
ph 6.8
Ammonia - a slight trace possibly 0.1
Copper 0
I also did a 6-1 test strip just in case anything else jumped out. One thing on there that I wasn't expecting is that chlorine may not be zero. I haven't got a liquid test for chlorine, and it is really hard to tell on the strip colours to be honest but there is a possibility that it might not be quite at the bottom of the colour chart on that. This makes me wonder if I messed up the dosage of Prime on my last water change. Would I be safe adding more? Can you overdose with dechlorinator? Should I add a dose to do the entire tank? I don't want to do any more damage.
Also I didn't like the fact that the ammonia test wasn't pure yellow - there was a definite hint of green. If it was green then it was only just!
By the way, thanks again for the helpful posts.
I've just redone my water tests with the liquid tests:
Nitrate 25
Nitrite 0
ph 6.8
Ammonia - a slight trace possibly 0.1
Copper 0
I also did a 6-1 test strip just in case anything else jumped out. One thing on there that I wasn't expecting is that chlorine may not be zero. I haven't got a liquid test for chlorine, and it is really hard to tell on the strip colours to be honest but there is a possibility that it might not be quite at the bottom of the colour chart on that. This makes me wonder if I messed up the dosage of Prime on my last water change. Would I be safe adding more? Can you overdose with dechlorinator? Should I add a dose to do the entire tank? I don't want to do any more damage.
Also I didn't like the fact that the ammonia test wasn't pure yellow - there was a definite hint of green. If it was green then it was only just!
By the way, thanks again for the helpful posts.
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
345 -
225 -
224 -
185 -
183 -
170 -
159 -
156 -
143 -
142 -
141 -
133 -
115 -
94 -
88