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All my fish dying - at a complete loss

Mitch90

New Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
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Location
Scotland
Problem:
I have had my tank up and running since the end of December 2020 (approx 3/4months). I am at a complete loss as my fish are slowly but continually dying. A point to note is that it is not the same kind of fish but multiple fish species that are dying where they appear to look fine last thing at night but unexpectedly wake up in the morning to find one dead or near death. The only signs of issue that I would say I can see are that the female guppies have a black outline around their stomach but are not pregnant/fat and that at varying points the majority of fish have white stringey poo, but not all the time and only on occasion.

About the tank:
110 litre / in built superfish filter tank/ tropical fish currently sat at 26degrees celecius temperature, with aeration bar at the back.

Water readings:
No3 - 0-20 (20 at a push)
No2 - 0-0.5 (0.5 at a push)
Ph - 7.0/7.5 (7.5 at a push)
Kh - 80
Gh - 60-120 (120 at a push)
Ammonia - 0

Current fish that are left:
3 swordtails
2 plecos
1 red tailed shark
2 normal guppies
4 endler guppies
1 neon rainbowfish
1 molly

Deaths within the last couple of months (they have not all been in the tank at once):
6 neon rainbowfish
2 mollys
2 male guppies
1 sword
2 endler guppies
3 opaline gouramis

What I've been doing so far:
- I have been testing this water super regular and have even had the water checked with the pet shop stuff too and it reads the same where they have said it is not a water quality issue as the readings are fine. Have done this for the last 2/3weeks now.
- I do partial water changes once/twice weekly with the main gravel clean being on one of these.
- I use acuclear to remove the occasional cloudy water
- I have started using Melafix treatment as that's what the shop recommended. Now on Day 4 of this treatment where I don't think it is helping any. I actually think it's making the fish more sluggish where the death count seems to have speeded up a little. The water readings haven't changed since using this products?

Has anyone got any suggestions as I am at a complete loss with it. Have attached a pict to show you what my aquarium looks like for thoughts.
 

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Problem:
I have had my tank up and running since the end of December 2020 (approx 3/4months). I am at a complete loss as my fish are slowly but continually dying. A point to note is that it is not the same kind of fish but multiple fish species that are dying where they appear to look fine last thing at night but unexpectedly wake up in the morning to find one dead or near death. The only signs of issue that I would say I can see are that the female guppies have a black outline around their stomach but are not pregnant/fat and that at varying points the majority of fish have white stringey poo, but not all the time and only on occasion.

About the tank:
110 litre / in built superfish filter tank/ tropical fish currently sat at 26degrees celecius temperature, with aeration bar at the back.

Water readings:
No3 - 0-20 (20 at a push)
No2 - 0-0.5 (0.5 at a push)
Ph - 7.0/7.5 (7.5 at a push)
Kh - 80
Gh - 60-120 (120 at a push)
Ammonia - 0

Current fish that are left:
3 swordtails
2 plecos
1 red tailed shark
2 normal guppies
4 endler guppies
1 neon rainbowfish
1 molly

Deaths within the last couple of months (they have not all been in the tank at once):
6 neon rainbowfish
2 mollys
2 male guppies
1 sword
2 endler guppies
3 opaline gouramis

What I've been doing so far:
- I have been testing this water super regular and have even had the water checked with the pet shop stuff too and it reads the same where they have said it is not a water quality issue as the readings are fine. Have done this for the last 2/3weeks now.
- I do partial water changes once/twice weekly with the main gravel clean being on one of these.
- I use acuclear to remove the occasional cloudy water
- I have started using Melafix treatment as that's what the shop recommended. Now on Day 4 of this treatment where I don't think it is helping any. I actually think it's making the fish more sluggish where the death count seems to have speeded up a little. The water readings haven't changed since using this products?

Has anyone got any suggestions as I am at a complete loss with it. Have attached a pict to show you what my aquarium looks like for thoughts.
did you cycle?
 
OP’s readings are within range so tank is cycled. Does appear to have a tad bit of nitrite though. Can you check your tap after to see what it s?
 
I think so ?. I didn't have anything in the tank for about the first 10 days. Where the first fish to be added were the neon rainbow guys. They have only just recently started dying within the last few weeks and have seemed to last the longest - pathetic of me to say that given that its only 3/4months.
 
Problem:
I have had my tank up and running since the end of December 2020 (approx 3/4months). I am at a complete loss as my fish are slowly but continually dying. A point to note is that it is not the same kind of fish but multiple fish species that are dying where they appear to look fine last thing at night but unexpectedly wake up in the morning to find one dead or near death. The only signs of issue that I would say I can see are that the female guppies have a black outline around their stomach but are not pregnant/fat and that at varying points the majority of fish have white stringey poo, but not all the time and only on occasion.

About the tank:
110 litre / in built superfish filter tank/ tropical fish currently sat at 26degrees celecius temperature, with aeration bar at the back.

Water readings:
No3 - 0-20 (20 at a push)
No2 - 0-0.5 (0.5 at a push)
Ph - 7.0/7.5 (7.5 at a push)
Kh - 80
Gh - 60-120 (120 at a push)
Ammonia - 0

Current fish that are left:
3 swordtails
2 plecos
1 red tailed shark
2 normal guppies
4 endler guppies
1 neon rainbowfish
1 molly

Deaths within the last couple of months (they have not all been in the tank at once):
6 neon rainbowfish
2 mollys
2 male guppies
1 sword
2 endler guppies
3 opaline gouramis

What I've been doing so far:
- I have been testing this water super regular and have even had the water checked with the pet shop stuff too and it reads the same where they have said it is not a water quality issue as the readings are fine. Have done this for the last 2/3weeks now.
- I do partial water changes once/twice weekly with the main gravel clean being on one of these.
- I use acuclear to remove the occasional cloudy water
- I have started using Melafix treatment as that's what the shop recommended. Now on Day 4 of this treatment where I don't think it is helping any. I actually think it's making the fish more sluggish where the death count seems to have speeded up a little. The water readings haven't changed since using this products?

Has anyone got any suggestions as I am at a complete loss with it. Have attached a pict to show you what my aquarium looks like for thoughts.
I agree with the person who responded. Looking at your tank it looks like your tank is not fully cycled. The low ammonia is good but you shouldn't have any nitrites at all nor should it fluctuate too much.
My tank used to look like that when it was cycling- you can either continue doing a fish in cycle and risk killing more fish OR you can take out all fish and do a fishless cycle. You can google it and there are dozens of websites that give detailed directions!

If you want to keep your fish, continue dosing your tank with PRIME. This is what I did and it prevented any further deaths while the tank finished cycling.
 
OP’s readings are within range so tank is cycled. Does appear to have a tad bit of nitrite though. Can you check your tap after to see what it s?
I did the tap water on its own at the shop and they said it was OK. They did say that the week prior there had been a slight ph spike but that it was fixed now.
 
OP’s readings are within range so tank is cycled. Does appear to have a tad bit of nitrite though. Can you check your tap after to see what it s?
If the test kit/readings are accurate, but shouldn't have trItes in a cycled tank
 
I agree with the person who responded. Looking at your tank it looks like your tank is not fully cycled. The low ammonia is good but you shouldn't have any nitrites at all nor should it fluctuate too much.
My tank used to look like that when it was cycling- you can either continue doing a fish in cycle and risk killing more fish OR you can take out all fish and do a fishless cycle. You can google it and there are dozens of websites that give detailed directions!

If you want to keep your fish, continue dosing your tank with PRIME. This is what I did and it prevented any further deaths while the tank finished cycling.
Thanks for the comment . The numbers really aren't fluctuating at all though which is why I find it really odd. When I say nitrates, I would honestly say they look like zero but have the faintest bit of pink to them where at a push it looks as if there is a little present. I can never quite tell with these strips.

Surely the tank would be fully cycled by the 3 /4 month mark. Is it usually longer?
 
Thanks for the comment . The numbers really aren't fluctuating at all though which is why I find it really odd. When I say nitrates, I would honestly say they look like zero but have the faintest bit of pink to them where at a push it looks as if there is a little present. I can never quite tell with these strips.

Surely the tank would be fully cycled by the 3 /4 month mark. Is it usually longer?
Depends. If you did fishless cycle where you added ammonia then it is probably cycled. If not then no. I’m pretty sure that’s how that works
 
Sorry guys! I'm starting to think I have made the biggest rookie mistake possible for fish keeping.

I think I've just been allowing my tropical fish to live in heated safe tap water that's going through a filter. All I thought I had to add according to 'pets at home' was api make tap water safe and remove sludge grime solution. I have added nothing else to this water at all over the last 3 months.

Can't believe I've made such an error. Can I fix this by adding the other stuff in now?
 
Sorry guys! I'm starting to think I have made the biggest rookie mistake possible for fish keeping.

I think I've just been allowing my tropical fish to live in heated safe tap water that's going through a filter. All I thought I had to add according to 'pets at home' was api make tap water safe and remove sludge grime solution. I have added nothing else to this water at all over the last 3 months.

Can't believe I've made such an error. Can I fix this by adding the other stuff in now?
Add Seachem Prime. Also never ever trust what that store has to say.
 

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