BAH I must vent

[mrcrabbs]

I HAVE LOST 2 MORE FISH. MAYBE 3. Last night my beta was barely moving. Now I cant find him. Then when I got up my bamboo shrimp just molted and he died. I was kinda expecting that but still. THEN MY ANGEL FISH WITH NOTHING WRONG DIED. AW FOURTH ANGEL FISH THAT HAS DIED. Anyways, I will get a warantee on him but still. I think everything is fine but I just dont get why they are dieing. I had a nitrite spike in my tank around 10. The fish were fine then but can that cause damage in the long run? Well I guess I will be doing some thigns on my tank day. BAH

 

[Cheese Specialist]

There must be something wrong in your tank if that's happening. NitrIte of 10 is a lot, is the tank cycled?

I don't think you should buy any more fish until you sort it out, warranty or not, it's a waste of life.

I can't help but wonder why your NitrIte is that high. Levels like that IMO would be enough to kill already weak fish.

Can you give us some info about your tank, like what size/cycled/levels/fish/recent additions/recent problems etc?

Sorry to hear what's happened, I'm sure we'll sort it out.

 

[mrcrabbs]

Well the spike was about 2 weeks ago maybe 3. ANyways last I checked everything was normal and I will go to petsmart or something and get some more strips today. I have a 29 gallon, and a crab, angel fish, bala shark(other died 2 days ago AR), beta (presumably dead) and 2 blue gouramis. My tank is cycled everything is pretty much normal. No fish died during the spike, except my crab who we saved. He was on his back but we got him back to health. My last addition was about a week ago. Besides having your parameters to high what else could be killing the fish.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Stress/disease could be the culprit but bad water is at the heart of most problems IME.

Your tank may have been overcrowded. How many angel fish did you have at once? Do you know that youre bala is going to need a much larger tank and at least 2 other balas asap as well?

I think you should test your water and then we can try and work out what's up. But do not get any more fish.

 

[mrcrabbs]

I had 2 bala and they were getting bigger. What do you mean by bad water? I had 2 angel fish. I dont think my tank was at full capacity. The bala sharks were only like 3-4 inches if that and nothing wrong. When the bala died or right before it, it started acting crazy. It would start twisting and flipping and just couldnt swim straight.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

You keep saying there was "nothing wrong" but clearly there was or you wouldn't have had so many deaths.

Your tank was likely to have been at capacity. Balas grow to a foot and need at least a 6ft x 2ft tank, although not straight away obviously. Angel fish get very large although very flat but need a lot or room for their fins and many say that they should be allowed 10 gallons each.

When I say bad water, I mean amonia/nitrIte/nitrAte problems.

You say the bala twisted and flipped? That sounds like it could be an internal bactera infection or similar. I had a problem like that once with goldfish and I treated for internal bacteria.

I'm not sure though, I'm sure someone else will give you their opinion.

 

[mrcrabbs]

Well going by the 1 gallon per inch rule then I had 17-18 inches maybe. At most 20. Most of those fish died so it is less now. The bala sharks are not big and was going to give them away if they get bigger.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Well going by the 1 gallon per inch rule then I had 17-18 inches maybe. At most 20. Most of those fish died so it is less now. The bala sharks are not big and was going to give them away if they get bigger.

The inch per gallon rule is nonsense IMO. Also, when you calculate it, you're supposed to use the adult size of the fish not the size it is now. Your balas alone would have been 24" and then then angels 16" on top of that.

The balas may become stunted before you give them away, it's better to either choose to upgrade or not keep them to prevent stunting.

 

[mrcrabbs]

That is true.Well I made a mistake and my bamboo shrimp IS alive. I thought what he shed was himself. Didnt look at it closely. So he is still alive, but the angel is dead.

 

[mrcrabbs]

Now that I have been thinking about it, the bala shark is the only one that has died recently besides the angel fish, BUT, when 4-5 of the angle fish you got from a store die- you assume it is the store.

 

[G_Sharky]

You said the bala was twitching the night before it died right...I think that your tank hasn't cycle yet...I use to have the same problem back when i have a 10 gallon tank and my bala and irridescent shark did the same thing before they died and they suffer from ammonia and nitrite poisoning....check your water parameters again i think your tank is going into a minicycle... When your cycle finishes your not supposed to add fish right away, wait a week before you buy any fish and don't get to many maybe 1 or 2....

 

[mrcrabbs]

I dont have the nitrite problem anymore. I had it 2 weeks ago. Could the bala have gotten poisoning?

 

[noelberg]

I dont have the nitrite problem anymore. I had it 2 weeks ago. Could the bala have gotten poisoning?

quite possibly. ammonia and nitrite spikes can be deadly to fish. the hardiest can live through them sometimes while the weakest go first.

 

[mrcrabbs]

During the spike no fish died. My crab I saw was on its back, but i got it out of the tank and got a"kritter keeper" or whatever it is and put him in there till the problem was resolved. I was thinking that maybe there is not a problem. Besides the angel fish the only fish that has died is the bala. I will see what the readings are.

 

[mrcrabbs]

PH is 7.4
Nitrite is 0
nitrAte is 4
The schmuck at the store didn't test ammonia and I didn't want to impose upon him anything else. I was pushing it as it is. Ammonia should be fine.