Polaris
New Member
Hello all,
This is my first visit to this forum and sadly it comes as a result of problems with my tank. The problem is that all of my fish are dying one by one, and I have no idea why. The fish seem perfectly healthy one minute, with no sign of illness or disease, and the next minute they are dead or dying on the bottom of the tank. Every morning I dread going into the fish room because there have almost certainly been some deaths overnight, and I feel very helpless and disheartened.
The tank is a Fluval Vicenza 180 bow-fronted with external filter which has been running for about 10 months. I have performed regular water tests and the chemical levels all seem normal (I have listed them below). The tank is currently populated by Swordtails, Mollies, two Golden Loaches and a single smaller loach whose name I forget (about 1.5 inches long and brown in colour). In addition, there are several Swordtail and Molly fry in there which were all born between one and three months ago. The deaths have been almost exclusively the Mollies, starting with the first-born young fry (which had grown to almost 2 inches in length), followed by the adult Molly fish. A healthy male Swordtail also died under the same circumstances recently too. Previously I had several Guppies in the tank, all of which died as well within 2 months of purchase. The only Guppies I now have are two in the separate quarantine tank, which seem very happy indeed (I am afraid to transfer them into the main tank!) and one surviving baby Guppy which is in a small fry tank in the main tank.
One further problem, which I am uncertain as to whether it is related to the fish deaths or not is that the water has become very cloudy and murky (despite the chemical levels showing as completely normal). This seemed to have started when we did a water change in order to set up a separate 'hospital/quarantine' tank about 2 months ago. Almost immediately after that, the water in the main tank turned very cloudy, to the point where the fish could not be seen. The water change was only about 10% at any one time, but we did two such water changes in the same week and I fear that we may have triggered a mini-cycle by doing this. It is a green coloured cloud and I wonder whether this could be either an algae bloom or whether we may have triggered a mini cycle by changing so much water at a time (but as I say, the chemical levels are certainly at normal levels now). The cloudy water does seem to clear over time, but never completely, and any little intervention in the tank (such as vacuuming the gravel, or cleaning the filter) seems to make it cloud over again. Because of this, I am afraid of performing water changes or cleaning of the tank ornaments for fear of making the cloud worse, or upsetting the chemical water balance. I am attaching a photograph of the current state of the tank.
The tank information is as follows:
Tank size: 180 litres
pH: 7.6 - 7.8 (has been like this for the last month)
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0 - 5
kH: 6
gH: 16
tank temp: 24 degrees
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
No obvious physical problems with the fish. They appear to swim around normally and there are no visual problems with them until the final two or three days of their lives when they slow down slightly, and then just die.
Volume and Frequency of water changes:
10 litres once per week prior to the onset of these problems. However, I have temporarily halted water changes as these seem to make things worse.
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Have used products such as pH Up and pH Down to control pH levels in the past, but the last addition was at least a month ago, and pH levels are now stable. I am trying to avoid adding chemicals to the tank, but did use a dose of Stress Coat yesterday to try to save an ailing Molly (it died anyway).
Tank inhabitants:
1 adult red female Swordtail
2 Golden Loaches
1 Unknown small loach
1 remaining Molly (there had been 4 adult Mollies)
4 young red Swordtails (born about 4 months ago and growing healthily - now about 1.5" to 2" in length)
2 young Mollies (born about 2 months ago - 1 inch long and so far surviving when all their siblings have died)
In separate little fry tanks within the main tank:
1 baby Guppy
4 baby Swordtails (3 of which were born a week ago)
25 (Approx) baby Mollies (whose mother has since died). Over 50 of these were born at once, and I am losing them at a rate of about 2 or 3 per day.
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
None (except for new born fry)
Exposure to chemicals:
None known
Digital photo (include if possible):
Attached.
If anyone can help me to prevent my fish from dying I would be most grateful. Thank you for your time in considering this post.
This is my first visit to this forum and sadly it comes as a result of problems with my tank. The problem is that all of my fish are dying one by one, and I have no idea why. The fish seem perfectly healthy one minute, with no sign of illness or disease, and the next minute they are dead or dying on the bottom of the tank. Every morning I dread going into the fish room because there have almost certainly been some deaths overnight, and I feel very helpless and disheartened.
The tank is a Fluval Vicenza 180 bow-fronted with external filter which has been running for about 10 months. I have performed regular water tests and the chemical levels all seem normal (I have listed them below). The tank is currently populated by Swordtails, Mollies, two Golden Loaches and a single smaller loach whose name I forget (about 1.5 inches long and brown in colour). In addition, there are several Swordtail and Molly fry in there which were all born between one and three months ago. The deaths have been almost exclusively the Mollies, starting with the first-born young fry (which had grown to almost 2 inches in length), followed by the adult Molly fish. A healthy male Swordtail also died under the same circumstances recently too. Previously I had several Guppies in the tank, all of which died as well within 2 months of purchase. The only Guppies I now have are two in the separate quarantine tank, which seem very happy indeed (I am afraid to transfer them into the main tank!) and one surviving baby Guppy which is in a small fry tank in the main tank.
One further problem, which I am uncertain as to whether it is related to the fish deaths or not is that the water has become very cloudy and murky (despite the chemical levels showing as completely normal). This seemed to have started when we did a water change in order to set up a separate 'hospital/quarantine' tank about 2 months ago. Almost immediately after that, the water in the main tank turned very cloudy, to the point where the fish could not be seen. The water change was only about 10% at any one time, but we did two such water changes in the same week and I fear that we may have triggered a mini-cycle by doing this. It is a green coloured cloud and I wonder whether this could be either an algae bloom or whether we may have triggered a mini cycle by changing so much water at a time (but as I say, the chemical levels are certainly at normal levels now). The cloudy water does seem to clear over time, but never completely, and any little intervention in the tank (such as vacuuming the gravel, or cleaning the filter) seems to make it cloud over again. Because of this, I am afraid of performing water changes or cleaning of the tank ornaments for fear of making the cloud worse, or upsetting the chemical water balance. I am attaching a photograph of the current state of the tank.
The tank information is as follows:
Tank size: 180 litres
pH: 7.6 - 7.8 (has been like this for the last month)
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0 - 5
kH: 6
gH: 16
tank temp: 24 degrees
Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
No obvious physical problems with the fish. They appear to swim around normally and there are no visual problems with them until the final two or three days of their lives when they slow down slightly, and then just die.
Volume and Frequency of water changes:
10 litres once per week prior to the onset of these problems. However, I have temporarily halted water changes as these seem to make things worse.
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Have used products such as pH Up and pH Down to control pH levels in the past, but the last addition was at least a month ago, and pH levels are now stable. I am trying to avoid adding chemicals to the tank, but did use a dose of Stress Coat yesterday to try to save an ailing Molly (it died anyway).
Tank inhabitants:
1 adult red female Swordtail
2 Golden Loaches
1 Unknown small loach
1 remaining Molly (there had been 4 adult Mollies)
4 young red Swordtails (born about 4 months ago and growing healthily - now about 1.5" to 2" in length)
2 young Mollies (born about 2 months ago - 1 inch long and so far surviving when all their siblings have died)
In separate little fry tanks within the main tank:
1 baby Guppy
4 baby Swordtails (3 of which were born a week ago)
25 (Approx) baby Mollies (whose mother has since died). Over 50 of these were born at once, and I am losing them at a rate of about 2 or 3 per day.
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
None (except for new born fry)
Exposure to chemicals:
None known
Digital photo (include if possible):
Attached.
If anyone can help me to prevent my fish from dying I would be most grateful. Thank you for your time in considering this post.
I've also done pretty much a 100% water change on 3 occasions where I've had to move the tank. Water changes are the best thing you can do providing it's temperature matched and dechlorinated. 
I've tried to remedy this (temporarily at least) by leaving the light off and partially covering the tank with a towel for the moment. I have also done a large water change (about 50%) and this has certainly helped to reduce the green algae bloom. Hopefully the filter will be able to handle the rest of it, though if not I will do another water change at weekend. If that doesn't work I'll try some of that Sera Aquariaclear. It does seem to be getting better anyway.
/www.gbasonlin...sease_chart.htm
