Can Someone Help Me With My Fish Dying?

[Clarey]

Hello,

I'm a new member and I joined because I've recently had some trouble with my fish. I have an octagon tank that I was told would be suitable for up to fifteen tropical fish. I had six fish - two black mollies (a male and a female), two playtes (a male and a female), and two guppies (a male and a female). They were fine for six months so I recently increased the amount up to twelve fish. The people in the garden centre I bought them from said this would be fine. A few days later my fish started to die off, mainly one a day.

So far I have lost five fish - four of which were my original fish in the tank already, and it seems to be mostly males that have died, and only one of the new fish has died. I did a water change after three of them had died, just in case. My tempreture in the tank is set to 26c-27c, and I normally change the water (about 20%) once every two weeks. When I rang the place I got the fish from they suggested it might be stress from introducing the new fish. I do seem to have one aggressive female guppie who goes for the other fish - could she be causing some of the stress?

Can anyone give me any advice as to what I should do to stop any more dying? I obviouly don't want to introduce anymore fish for a while, but what else should I do? I think I have one fish that looks like she is on the way out at the moment as she's just swimming at the top of the tank in an odd manner.

 

[vinylman]

We'll need to know the size of this tank first. If you can't get an accurate measurement in gallons/litres, then the dimensions of the tank. Have you tested the water?. If so, what are the readings?.

 

[WILDER]

We need more info like the above member has asked for.
Size of tank in gallons or litres.
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
How long has the tank been set up.

 

[Clarey]

Thanks - my tank measures 39cm in height by 34cm in width and it's an octogon shape.

I don't have a ph testing kit. When I bought the tank I was told I probably wouldn't need one. Is it a good idea for me to invest in one? I use stuff to make the tap water safe and I also us stuff to break down and bactaria.

My tank has been running for six months with no problems until I introduced the new fish.

 

[WILDER]

Do a water change now, take a sample of your tank water to the lfs and tell them to write the readings down for you.
Yes invest in a liquid master kit.

 

[Clarey]

Thanks - I will buy a kit. I only did a water change on Friday - is it a good idea to keep changing the water so often?

I'm watching the tank now and the aggressive female guppy is attacking the fish that looks a bit weak. Could she be causing some of the stress?

 

[WILDER]

Should be doing a gravel vac and water change once a week.
Do another water change till you get your stats.
The female time out in a container at the top of the tank.

 

[Clarey]

Thank you again - when I bought the fish they told me I only needed to change the water once every two weeks as over cleaning could get rid of the good bacteria.

 

[WILDER]

When the tank cycling yes.
But once a tank has cycled weekly maintance.
Do a search on it don't believe everything the lfs tell you.

 

[Clarey]

I've just bought a liquid master kit online as suggested and I am in the middle of doing a water change. Hopefully no more fish will die until it arrives.

Thank you so much again.

 

[WILDER]

Will know more once you get water stats, it the first thing to ask, as bad water quality can show symtoms of desease, so its hard.

 

[Clarey]

Update

I have been doing water changes but doing them blind as I didn't have a testing kit and I found my female swordtail dead when I got home from work last night. I now have six fish left.

Yesterday my testing kit arrived so I did another water change (cleaned the gravel as well with the syphon), and then did a water test. The results came back as follows

Ph 7-8.5 (somewhere in between the two)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

And now a day after that I've done the tests all over again and got the same results. Does this mean my filter is cycled, or do I need to carry on doing daily water changes?

Would the practical solution from now be to keep testing the water and if the results show signs of getting high to do a water change, but if things stay the same do another 25% water change in a few days time?

 

[fishkers]

Your tank readings are good, I have read what everyone else said. Those readings mean that your tank is cycled so something else is going wrong. You can stop your water changes every day because that won't help anything it will just stress your fish more...

what kind of ornaments or plants do you have in the tank?

 

[Clarey]

Thanks - I'm so glad my water changes can stop for now!

I have two plastic plants, a rock with a hole in it that I got from a pet shop and three mid sized pebbles - which help hide the air pump. These have been in the tank for six months.

 

[Christine1014]

Hi Clarey, something seems a little "off" with your water stats. When ammonia's being broken down, it increases the nitrite levels. NitrAte eats up the nitrIte. So if your tank's all cycled and your ammonia is being processed properly, you're always going to have Nitrates (i think most people say up to 40 is fine) unless your tank is really heavily planted (plants use up a lot of nitrate).

Please don't take this as an insult, but did you follow the directions *exactly* when you did the test? I think it's the nitrate tests that requires the bottles to be shaken for a certain period of time, then the test tube shaken for a certain period of time, then 5 minutes before you compare to the color chart.... Doing it in a hurry and skimping on anything will affect your results. But if you did it just as the instructions said, I'd then take a sample to the LFS and let them test it, and compare to what you got. That should at least tell you if the problem is your tank or your test kit.

good luck... you'll get it all sorted out eventually!