Dying Fish

[Louise S]

Hi. I am a newly to the forum .

I have a 70l freshwater tank which has/d 2 bala sharks, 2 tiger barbs, 4 scissor tails, 2 plecostemus, 2 swords. I recently bought 2 mollies and added them into the tank after 30 minutes aclimatising. I also bough 5 new plants. Tank PH is 7. The tank has been going for over 12 months. The mollies died within 24 hrs and one week later both bala sharks have died and today, two weeks later, both swords have died. My tigers are also on their way out - I am distraught!! The dead fish all looked their normal color, no obvious change is poo, although one bala sharks mouth did seem be stretched and the one tiger now looks like it is hyperventilating, I have just done a 50% water change - any other suggestions I am desparate!!

Thanks in advance

 

[MegaZerino]

Hi. I am a newly to the forum .

I have a 70l freshwater tank which has/d 2 bala sharks, 2 tiger barbs, 4 scissor tails, 2 plecostemus, 2 swords. I recently bought 2 mollies and added them into the tank after 30 minutes aclimatising. I also bough 5 new plants. Tank PH is 7. The tank has been going for over 12 months. The mollies died within 24 hrs and one week later both bala sharks have died and today, two weeks later, both swords have died. My tigers are also on their way out - I am distraught!! The dead fish all looked their normal color, no obvious change is poo, although one bala sharks mouth did seem be stretched and the one tiger now looks like it is hyperventilating, I have just done a 50% water change - any other suggestions I am desparate!!

Thanks in advance

what are the parameters? and it could be some sort of parasite

 

[Louise S]

Ph 7
Temp 28
Ammonia o,3
Nitrite o,4
Don't know hardness

 

[Aqua Tom]

0.3ppm Ammonia!!!!


Masissve water change is needed now & I do mean massive. 90% today then another 90% tomorow.



Tom

 

[Louise S]

Oops 0,03 ammonia, but have done a 50% water change anyway and planning another 50% tomorrow....

 

[MegaZerino]

Oops 0,03 ammonia, but have done a 50% water change anyway and planning another 50% tomorrow....

if fish keep dying then i would do a hundred percent change, or try and isolate them all so that it doesnt spread, but maybe like me you dont have enough tanks, so you could just put them in buckets which is what i would do

 

[Livewire88]

Oops 0,03 ammonia, but have done a 50% water change anyway and planning another 50% tomorrow....

How are you measuring the Ammonia level?

0,03 seems a very accurate number to give, and sorry to say but you are way overstocked for the tank of that size, do you have any photos of the tank??

 

[betta fish]

Hi, welcome to the forum, How large are the plecs? common plecs can get very large and are messy, a 70l is too small for one at it's adult size so your filter may be struggling to deal with the all the waste, how often did you do water changes before the deaths? also what type of filter are you running?

 

[snake007]

Plecs probably raised the ammonia with all of there poop.
Also balas need 100g +
Barbs are shoaling fish.

 

[Louise S]

Hi All - thanks for the advice!!

Okay the Tigers have gone too (I did isolate them in a back-up tank) and all the Scissors and Plecos look good /
I had the water checked at the aqua shop and they use an electronic reader of some sort and the shop the water is fine.
I bought my own ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests and have an electronic PH tester and confirmed all is fine
The only sign of sickness the fish had was a "hyperventilating" from about an hour before they died.
I was doing a 20 -25% water change every week and using a cycle tonic with each change.
One pleco is about 6cm long and the other is only about 3cm. I had a total of 14 fish in a 75 liters (+/- 20 gallon) tank.

I did a 50% water change yesterday and a 90% today. I will cycle the water for a couple of weeks and see how things go as I still have no idea what went wrong except that the tank may have been overstocked (although I comply with the 1 inch per gallon theory??). As the mollies are gone I won't replace them with another hard water fish (didn't know this - thanks Betta Fish) and will move the little pleco into another tank.
Snake007 what does it mean for my tank if the barbs are shoaling fish -although they are gone now

Thanks for the comments and any further input would be great!

Photo below:

 

[FishBlast]

Ph 7
Temp 28
Ammonia o,3
Nitrite o,4
Don't know hardness

Hi, welcome to the forum, The ph measures the hardness of you water, at ph 7 your water is neutral so it's neither soft nor hard, I know that Mollies are a hard water species so this ph is a little low for them, although this may or may not be the problem here.
How large are the plecs? common plecs can get very large and are messy, a 70l is too small for one at it's adult size so your filter may be struggling to deal with the all the waste, how often did you do water changes before the deaths? also what type of filter are you running?

I'm glad my dad never bought me plecos. I'd be struggling with a pet whale by now.

 

[Whitey_144]

Hi All - thanks for the advice!!

Okay the Tigers have gone too (I did isolate them in a back-up tank) and all the Scissors and Plecos look good /
I had the water checked at the aqua shop and they use an electronic reader of some sort and the shop the water is fine.
I bought my own ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests and have an electronic PH tester and confirmed all is fine
The only sign of sickness the fish had was a "hyperventilating" from about an hour before they died.
I was doing a 20 -25% water change every week and using a cycle tonic with each change.
One pleco is about 6cm long and the other is only about 3cm. I had a total of 14 fish in a 75 liters (+/- 20 gallon) tank.

I did a 50% water change yesterday and a 90% today. I will cycle the water for a couple of weeks and see how things go as I still have no idea what went wrong except that the tank may have been overstocked (although I comply with the 1 inch per gallon theory??). As the mollies are gone I won't replace them with another hard water fish (didn't know this - thanks Betta Fish) and will move the little pleco into another tank.
Snake007 what does it mean for my tank if the barbs are shoaling fish -although they are gone now

Thanks for the comments and any further input would be great!

Photo below:
View attachment 66105

whats cycle tonic, is it a dechloirantor? is your filter fully cycled?

 

[Livewire88]

The paint from the toys you have in your tank may be casuing an issue and poisoning your fish, also are they metal?

I dont know this for sure but do you think it is safe to have painted toys in a fish tank?

 

[This Old Spouse]

I thought the same about those toy trucks. I'd remove them immediately.

I'm wondering if your filter has been cycled. You said you've had the tank running for 12 months, but what is your cleaning regimen? Do you dispose of the filter floss when it gets dirty? What do you add to the water when you replace it? Do you use temperature matched water?

Welcome to the forum. We're here to help!

 

[snake007]

Snake007 what does it mean for my tank if the barbs are shoaling fish -although they are gone now

They need to be in groups of 6 minimum.