fish dying

[sbowers]

I have a 29 gallon tank that has been set up for three years. In the past 4 months I have been losing fish over a slow period of time. At first I thought it was just some of my older fish that would be reaching about 5 years. However recently some of my newer fish have started dying. I have had these fish for about 6-8 months. At this time I have one pearl gourami that is staying close to the bottom of the tank, not eating, and when she does swim her tail is held lower than her body. I also have a debauwi catfish that was doing fine this morning and is now swimming with its tail lower than its body. It is also breathing rapidly and staying near the bottom of the tank. My other fish (rainbow shark, 2 gold barbs, 3 zebra danios) are showing no signs.

My ammonia levels are 0, my nitrite levels are also 0, my nitrate levels are less than 5, and my ph is 7.0. The water temp in my tank is 26-27 C. The tap water in my house is hard water but I condition the water with a water softner before I add it to the tank. I do water changes (20%) every two weeks.

I appreciate any help.

 

[Fishsmurf]

Sbowers,

Hi.......

You seem to eliminated most of the common causes of distress already, ie water chemistry all ok etc.

You have said that you are adding a water softner, are you also adding something to remove chlorine & chloramine from the tap water?

The only other thing I can think to ask is, have you added anything new to the tank recently, ie fish, plants, decoration? Basically as the rest of the paremeters seem fine and the tank has been established for a while may be something "piggybacked" it's way in?

Not much help at the moment, but with this info we can maybe narrow down whats going on......

 

[sbowers]

I have not added anything new to the tank and I do treat my water for chlorine and such.

Thanks again for any help.

 

[Kryten]

What sort of pump filter system do you use, and what medium do you use within that

Also have you changed the way in which you clean the pump, as some people start to wash it under the tap to save time, which destroys all the beneficial bacteria in the pump.

Do you use an air pump. If fish are struggling for oxygen as you have described, it may be worth investing in a pump with an air stone just to perk the water oxygen level up, or if you can't afford that in the short term, buy some oxygenating tablets, which are available in most good pet stores, and drop the recommended amount in the tank, you may see an improvement

If you do, a pump would be a wise investment

 

[Fishsmurf]

Sbowers,

Sorry for the time delay disapeared to do a bit of reading up & have a chat with a few people about your situation.

Although ideally the catfish should be kept in schools of six or so and the gourami's in at least a pair this still wouldn't explain the prob's you have, however it could be something to look at for the future.

General consensus seems to be pointing towards some form of bacterial infection, which in turn bring me back to water quality.

You have mentioned that you are doing 20% water changes every couple of weeks. Are you cleaning the substrate (gravel vac or equivalent) at the same time?

I know it's seems like a basic question but the more info we can get the easier it is to find a solution......

In the short term & until we can sort out the problem one suggestion would be to do a couple of water changes, maybe step it up to 20% every two or three days until we get this sorted, this at least should help out the fish that are in the tank until we can find a more permanent (sp) solution....

HTH

 

[sbowers]

I use a penguin bio wheel 170 gph power filter. I do clean the gravel when I do water changes. The tank

does have live plants which I did not mention before. I just cant think of anything I have done differently

with the tank. I will try the oxygen tablets and water changes.

 

[cryosi]

can you list the dead fish thanxs

 

[sbowers]

The fish that have died are: two cherry barbs, these both were about 4-5 years old, a pearl gourami (not the one that is sick now), emperor tetra, and a dwarf gourami. The cherry barbs just died, I never noticed any signs, the emperor tetra appeared to have a swim bladder disorder. The dwarf gourami is the most recent death and is acting exactly like the fish that are sick now.

 

[sbowers]

It has almost been a week now and I have made sure the water in my tank is flowing well and is oxygenated. The pearl gourami that was acting weird is eating a little now but her behavior is stil the same. It may be because the other gourami died but I dont want to get more fish if I have a problem in my tank. The catfish is still acting the same, except I noticed the other morning when I had to get up early 4 AM it was acting normal but by the time I got home for lunch it was up in the corner of the tank with its tail down and exhibiting the same behavior patterns as it has been. So I started watching the fish a little later at night and once the tank light is out after a couple of hours the fish acts somewhat normal (swimming around and such) but once I turn the light on it swims back up to the top and and stays their with its tail down. All the other fish are acting normal and water parameters are the same.

Does anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Angel Lady]

It has almost been a week now and I have made sure the water in my tank is flowing well and is oxygenated. The pearl gourami that was acting weird is eating a little now but her behavior is stil the same. It may be because the other gourami died but I dont want to get more fish if I have a problem in my tank. The catfish is still acting the same, except I noticed the other morning when I had to get up early 4 AM it was acting normal but by the time I got home for lunch it was up in the corner of the tank with its tail down and exhibiting the same behavior patterns as it has been. So I started watching the fish a little later at night and once the tank light is out after a couple of hours the fish acts somewhat normal (swimming around and such) but once I turn the light on it swims back up to the top and and stays their with its tail down. All the other fish are acting normal and water parameters are the same.

Does anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks

what you are saying in your post is the same thing my mollie fry is doing and i havent done anything either except give them some blood worms I sure hope someone comes up with something real soon before i lose all of my babies in the meantime i will be trying to find some answers