Fish Are Dying

[jason26]

Need some advice!

Have had my tropical fish tank set up for about 9 months with no problems, i cleaned out my tank last saturday and also cleaned my filter in the water i took out the tank i did about 50% water change. On sunday i added 3 more guppies to the tank which i brought from pets at home, since then each day i have been having fish die in my tank, up to yet i have lost 2 of the new guppies and 3 of the older ones already in my tank. I did see a clown loach i have chase one and catch it in its mouth. None of the fish appear to have any white spots but my red tail shark keeps flashing and rubbing itself on the gravel, also have some neons that seem to be fine at the moment.

Could it be to do with the introduction of new fish, could my clown loach be killing them or could i have over cleaned my tank.

 

[MHunt]

Need more information first.

Do you have a test kit? If so do a water test now and see what the stats are. You should have no ammonia, no nitrite, some nitrate is ok, and a fairly neutral pH.

Could be something the Guppies brought with them though. New fish should be quarantined unless you trust the fish shop they are coming from. Even then be careful.

 

[WILDER]

Si9ze of tank in gallons or litres, like been asked need to look at your stats.

 

[jason26]

Just got home tonight and have another dead guppy, will post my test results after checking the water, dont understand why this is happening the tank has been set up for 9 months without any problems.

 

[crazie.eddie]

What size is the tank? What fish do you have? What are the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates and pH levels?

It sounds like you may have done too much at one time.

There is benificial bacteria that thrive on the substrate and media. The benificial bacteria help breakdown the waste and ammonia (which are dangerous) to something less harmless. I'm not sure if you know about the nitrogen cycle; Decaying food & dead fish, fish waste, dead plants, etc. break down and create ammonia. Ammonia is dangerous to the inhabitants in the tank. Nitrosomas bacter feed on the ammonia and then produce nitrites. Nitrites are also dangerous to the inhabitants in the tank. Fortunately, there are nitrobacter bacteria that feed on the nitrites and produce nitrates. Nitrates are not dangerous to the inhabitants, UNLESS in very high levels. Plants, algae, and some diatoms feed on the nitrates.

Therefore, when you cleaned up the tank and media, you disturbed allot of the bacteria, which could have caused our tank to cycle, creating spikes in ammonia and nitrites. Also, 50% of a WC could be too much if not done properly. If your water contains chlorine/chloramines and you did not add dechlorinator, then your fish could have also died from the chlorine content in the water. In order to remove chlorine, you need to agitate the water for at least 24 hours. This will help dispitate the chlorine in the water. Unfortunately, chloramines cannot be removed by the same method and must be removed by chemical dechlorinators, such as Prime. These products bind with the chlorine, so that it is harmless to the fish. Keep in mind, chlorine will also kill the bacteria. If you plan to do a large water change, you should age the water first, by dechlorinating, heating, and letting the water agitate for about 24 hours. Otherwise, small water changes could be fine straight from the tap if you add dechlorinator prior to adding the water.

 

[vancouver]

If you cleaned your filter in tap water, that would have killed all the bacteria in the filter..

The flickering on the gravel can be a sign of parasites.

 

[jason26]

Thanks for all your advice so far, have just tested the water results are as follows:
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

I have a 60L tank stocked with, 2 clown loaches, 1 red tail shark, 6 neons, 6 guppies and 4 black widows.

They have been living happily up until now.

 

[MHunt]

There we go, even the trace ammonia could be killing the fish in a 60L tank.

The tank is really too small for the clown loaches. They can grow to be as long as your tank! Apart from that the stocking isn't too bad. All you can do i think is keep doing water changes every day or every other day till the ammonia reads as near to 0 as possible. Ammo lock or prime water treatments may also help until your bio filter catches up!

What filtration are you using?

 

[kribensis12]

I would consider this over stocking because rtbs can be very tempermental and 5 inches. The tigerbarbs are just plain evil. The guppies will reproduce to make your tank more over stocked and isnt 60 l like 15 gallons?

 

[MHunt]

I would consider this over stocking because rtbs can be very tempermental and 5 inches. The tigerbarbs are just plain evil. The guppies will reproduce to make your tank more over stocked and isnt 60 l like 15 gallons?

Well i have my tank stocked like it's a 20 gal, but it's really about 60 l, but i have mainly small fish. My largest is probably my apistogramma. Followed by the corys and honey gouramis. But jason has large fish that are really unsuitable for a 60l tank. Did he mention tiger barbs in his stocking list, or are they one of the fish that died? Either way, it looks like the bio filtration was tipped over the edge. One way you could keep a similar stocking level is to add extra filtration, either upgrade your current filter, or add a second, but that puts you more at risk if the filter stops working for any reason.

I would either upgrade the size of the tank, or return some of the larger fish.

 

[jason26]

Thanks everyone for your advice, I have not lost any fish since saturday and thought things were settling down until i checked my tank today and have found an outbreak of whitespot on some of my fish, could that have been problem all along or has the stress brought this on.

I have now increased the temperature in the tank and plan to treat the tank with whitespot medication tomorrow.

Just after a bit of advice, is it safe to use king british whitespot control with clown loaches and will i need to take out my carbon filter while treating the tank.

 

[bobbicus]

my 2 penny...........

i would not add anymore fish to that tank period even when whitespot has gone - as they grow will lead to more overstocking and this is 1 of the main reasons tanks fowl!!

yes to taking out carbon in tank and yes to turning up heater .........as to clown loaches i do not know about that sorri!!

http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/diseasehome.htm

this will hopefully help you with whitespot or "ich"

rob