Dead rasbora

[Leonor Filipe]

Hi,
Today I woke up to find a dead harlequin rasbora in my community tank, I have no ideia why since none of them have been behaving oddly.
I've had my school of 7 rasboras for around 6 months with no major issues other than some fin nipping at the biggining by my largest tetra (he's calmed down since).
Water parameters are:
Nh3 25
Nh2 0
Nh4 0
Gh 4
Kh 4
Ph 6.9
Cl 0.2

It's a 10 gallon tank, I've been doing 35% water change weekly and I did it twice this week cuz levels are good but not what I'd like them to be in terms of kh and gh and chlorine and also cuz tetra seemed to have buyoncy issues but nothing about the rasboras seemed like a red flag.

Could this be natural causes or should I be concerned about an infection, illness, bacteria or general bad water/environment?

PS- all rasboras were accounted for yesterday night and all seemed in good health. The deceased rasbora does not seem to have been victim of aggression, and she was found floating on the top of the tank in between some surface plants.

 

[fishyfun&fans]

There’s a few things that stick out to me

6 Rasbora and how many tetra?

Are you running an overpowered filter?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

So you have 6 Harlequin and a number of tetra...in a 10 gallon tank?
If your ammonia reading really is 25, then I'm surprised more fish aren't dead.
The GH/KH relates to water hardness and shouldn't be changing...this is determined by your water supply.

I suspect you're not using a water conditioner, as you're getting a positive reading for chlorine. With this in your tank, it also means that your tank isn't cycled and so the fish waste isn't being processed properly.

Going forward, you need to use a water conditioner on your tap water and keep on with the water changes on a daily basis.
Please tell us exactly what fish you have in there and is the tank well planted, with live plants?

 

[Essjay]

Nh3 25
Nh2 0
Nh4 0

I think that's supposed to be
NO3 25
NO2 0
NH4 0

But I agree, there should be zero chlorine. And if the first one is supposed to be nitrate 25, that's also a bit high - how much nitrate is in your tap water?

As Bruce said, 10 gallons is too small for harlequins and almost all tetras, I'm afraid. The only tetra suitable for 10 gallons which springs to mind is ember tetras

 

[Colin_T]

I think that's supposed to be
NO3 25
NO2 0
NH4 0

NH3 / NH4 is ammonia / ammonium
NO2 is nitrite
NO3 is nitrate.
nothing major to worry about with this.

Pictures of remaining fish and dead fish if you have them?
Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this happened?
When was the last time you cleaned the filter and how do you normally clean it?
Do you dechlorinate the new tap water before adding it to the tank?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

NH3 / NH4 is ammonia / ammonium
NO2 is nitrite
NO3 is nitrate.
nothing major to worry about with this.

Pictures of remaining fish and dead fish if you have them?
Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this happened?
When was the last time you cleaned the filter and how do you normally clean it?
Do you dechlorinate the new tap water before adding it to the tank?

Just to check...
An ammonia reading of '25' is nothing major to worry about?

 

[Essjay]

There are three reported levels of NH-something so it is likely two of them should be NO-something and NH was written by accident.
I don't think any test kits measure 25 ppm ammonia while most measure 25 ppm nirate.

 

[Leonor Filipe]

So you have 6 Harlequin and a number of tetra...in a 10 gallon tank?
If your ammonia reading really is 25, then I'm surprised more fish aren't dead.
The GH/KH relates to water hardness and shouldn't be changing...this is determined by your water supply.

I suspect you're not using a water conditioner, as you're getting a positive reading for chlorine. With this in your tank, it also means that your tank isn't cycled and so the fish waste isn't being processed properly.

Going forward, you need to use a water conditioner on your tap water and keep on with the water changes on a daily basis.
Please tell us exactly what fish you have in there and is the tank well planted, with live plants?

My mistake, I meant:
NO3 25
NO2 0
NH4 0

I now have 6 rasboras, 3 emperor tetras (I'm trying to find them a new home cuz they need a larger tank and larger community that I can't provide), 1 ancistrus, 3 Cory's and one zebra n. snail. The tank is only planted with live plants, anubias, vallisneria, bacopa and aponogeton.
With every water change i use a dechlorinate and será bio nitrivec.

 

[Leonor Filipe]

I think that's supposed to be
NO3 25
NO2 0
NH4 0

But I agree, there should be zero chlorine. And if the first one is supposed to be nitrate 25, that's also a bit high - how much nitrate is in your tap water?

As Bruce said, 10 gallons is too small for harlequins and almost all tetras, I'm afraid. The only tetra suitable for 10 gallons which springs to mind is ember tetras

I'm doing daily water changes now. Nitrate in the tap water is a little lower at 15(? I think I'm not sure right now). I've gone to 2 pet shops today looking for a chlorine test cuz the strips aren't being very accurate (I tested tap water today and no matter how much anti-chloeine product I added the result wouldn't change) so Monday I'll go a specialized fish shop to purchase a proper test.
When we got the fish we were told at the shop the tank size wasn't small but we've found it to be overstocked and cramped and are now trying to re-home the tetras, should I do the same with the rasboras then?

 

[Leonor Filipe]

Just to check...
An ammonia reading of '25' is nothing major to worry about?

My mistake I meant no3 not NH3. I was told before that was still safe? But apparently not. I'm now doing daily water changes to lower Nitrate levels

 

[Leonor Filipe]

NH3 / NH4 is ammonia / ammonium
NO2 is nitrite
NO3 is nitrate.
nothing major to worry about with this.

Pictures of remaining fish and dead fish if you have them?
Have you added anything to the tank in the 2 weeks before this happened?
When was the last time you cleaned the filter and how do you normally clean it?
Do you dechlorinate the new tap water before adding it to the tank?

I added a zebra nerite snail a few days ago to deal with se algae, could it have passed something on the fish?
Tap water is always dechloronated.
I clean the filter every couple of weeks, I was a few days early this time than two cuz of what happened with the rasbora. I susually disassemble it all and clean each part individually in water from the tank or dechlorinate tap water, is what I'm doing wrong??

Ps- cloudy water in video and photo is because we added será bio nitrivec

 

[Essjay]

Emperor tetras are quite big, active fish which need quite a large tank. 90 cm/36 inches long is considered the smallest sized tank.
Harlequins aren't as big or active as the tetras but they still need a tank at least 60 cm/24 inches long. So yes, they do need rehoming as well.

10 gallons is quite a small tank. You need to look at the so called nano fish such as ember tetras (Hyphessobrycon amandae) or chili rasboras (Boraras brigittae) if you have soft water or endlers if you have hard water.


Never take advice from anyone who works in a fish store. Most of them haven't a clue.

 

[fishyfun&fans]

That tanks even more overstocked than mine and I use a big oversized filter that I maintain to an extremely high standard and do very regular water changes and clean ups(of the substrate)

You really should remove some of those fish if not most of them

especially if your not using oversized gear to filtrate the tank and doing regular changes and cleaning the substrate very often(twice a week + ideally)

 

[Leonor Filipe]

Emperor tetras are quite big, active fish which need quite a large tank. 90 cm/36 inches long is considered the smallest sized tank.
Harlequins aren't as big or active as the tetras but they still need a tank at least 60 cm/24 inches long. So yes, they do need rehoming as well.

10 gallons is quite a small tank. You need to look at the so called nano fish such as ember tetras (Hyphessobrycon amandae) or chili rasboras (Boraras brigittae) if you have soft water or endlers if you have hard water.


Never take advice from anyone who works in a fish store. Most of them haven't a clue.

Yeah I'm quickly learning that the hard way... Thank you for your help, I'll start looking into a new home for them.

 

[Leonor Filipe]

That tanks even more overstocked than mine and I use a big oversized filter that I maintain to an extremely high standard and do very regular water changes and clean ups(of the substrate)

You really should remove some of those fish if not most of them

especially if your not using oversized gear to filtrate the tank and doing regular changes and cleaning the substrate very often(twice a week + ideally)

I was already looking into rwhoming the tetras, now I know to do the same for the rasboras. In the meantime I'll do more water changes and sunstract clean ups, thanks for the help