Fish Keep Dying, Need Help

[framkefamily]

Tank stats:
36 gallon bow front tank
aqueon quiet flow 30 filter and marineland penguin 150 biowheel filters
temp: 78 degrees F
ammonia less than .25
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
 
 
We got our tank and did a fishless cycle with pure liquid ammonia for 3 weeks. When it seemed cycled, we added all of our fish. We added 5 dwarf gourami, 3 red wag platys, 4 guppys, 9 neon tetra, 3 albino corys and 1 sterba cory and 3 otos . Within 24 hours one of the gourami was really not doing well. We returned him to the store before he died. Over the past week and a half we have lost 4 of the gouramis, 1 platy, 1 guppy, 7 tetra, and 2 of the albino corys. Since our water parameters seem ok, I'm at a loss as to what is going on. We use Prime to treat the water for chlorine etc and we added stresszyme when we did our water change a week after adding the fish (25% change). 
 
The only other thing to note in hind sight, the store when we bought the gouramis had one dead fish in the tank and another that didn't seem healthy. We obviously didn't take the unhealthy looking one, but now i'm wondering if the tank was sick.
 
As far as the appearance of our fish goes, there aren't any notable signs of sickness. Please help! We don't want to lose the rest of the fish.
 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

What are the exact readings?
 
What signs were the fish showing before they died?
 
What fish do you have now?

 

[Paradise3]

That's a lot of fish to add to a newly cycled tank.... I'd think it's caused an ammonia spike and this has affected your fish

 
What test kit are you using?

 

[framkefamily]

We have been checking the amonia since we put the fish in and the highest the amonia ever got since then was .25 so  I don't think we had an amonia spike. When we were doing our fishless cycle we were bringing the amonia levels quite high so the tank would be able to fully stocked when we were done. Everything we read about fishless cycling said when the tank was cycled it was ok and preferable to stock your tank so the bacteria wouldnt die back from starvation. 
 
The fish just got really in active before they died. For the gourami, they would either hang out at the very top in the corner for a long time. The last gourami hung out in the top corner for a day or so and then eventually was laying on his side on the bottom. He would try to right himself and swim to the top and could manage it sometimes, but would sink back down to the bottom eventually. 
 
We are down to 2 platy, 3 otos, 1 sterba corycat, 3 guppys, 1 gourami and 2 neon tetra. We lost our last albino cory last night.
 
We are using the API master test kit. Here are this morning's readings.
 
PH: 6.6
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20ppm
 
I dont have the kits to test anything else. Are there any I absolutely need to get? I am at a loss. 

 

[fm1978]

I don't suppose you asked your LFS what their own water params were, did you?
 
It's perhaps doubtful that it's anything to do with NH3/NH4, NO2 or NO3 (if your tests are definitely accurate) however there are other parameters that may need to be checked just to rule them out.
 
I agree with Paradise that that was a whole lot of fish to add all in one go, despite the appearance of a cycled tank. It could make it all but impossible to know what is going on exactly. For example, you mention that there was already a dead fish in the gourami tank... Now, this could have been caused by something that may only affect DGs (DGD), but it may also have been something that could affect all your fish. Because you added a lot quickly, you have no way to rule out cause A or B.
 
All I could suggest is;
 

1. don't add any more fish
2. ask your LFS to test ALL the water perams they can (and compare them to their own)
3. don't make any more changes 
4. keep your water as clean as you possibly can and allow things to settle

Once you're confident that everything has settled and your fish have stopped dying, then you should have a look at what you have left and try to make sure that your fish selections and numbers are good. For example, corys like to be in groups of 6, and while different species will mix OK, they work much better in same-species groups.
 
Best of luck and I really hope you do find out what's going on before there are any more losses!

 

[Meeresstille]

After you've put the fish in the highest your Ammonia got was .25 you said! Did you check for Ammonia every day? And did you do a water change after that? How long do you think your fish were exposed to Ammonia after you've added them?
 
Did you measure for Nitrite, after you added the fish, and if so, how high was that? How long were they exposed to it you think?
 
How did you acclimatize your fish to your tank? Your pH is rather at the low end and I'm wondering if they may have been used to a higher pH at the LFS. Fish will be able to get used to a different pH but they need to be given lots of time to acclimatize, best using the drip method!
 
Did you notice any white, salt sprinkle kind of spots on your fish? Anything else unusual besides gasping at the surface? I'm suspecting it may have been ich, and although ich is a parastie that can be identified with salt like sprinkles kind of spots on the fish, the parasite sometimes settles in the fish's gills making it hard for them to breathe, and you will not be able to see any spots.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

It is pretty rare for a tank to cycle in 3 weeks unless it has been seeded with bacteria to help it along or is pretty well planted. Dosing too much ammonia can actually harm the bacteria, so can nitrite levels that get too high.
 
Hanging at the surface during cycling, especially if ammonia has dropped, is caused by nitrite poisoning. This affects fish internally and it blocks the ability of the blood to carry oxygen, so the fish appear to be suffocating even in well aerated water. They hang at the surface trying to get air they can not process due to the nitrite.
 
There is a reason the site cycling article uses 3 ppm for ammonia levels. There is a reason it tells folks to check nitrite as well as ammonia.
 
Can you post all your water parameters from day one including your tap. Then list how much of what ammonia you dosed and when and list the readings you got for both ammonia and nitrite along the way (please provide either dates or else state day 1 or day 5 etc. so we know what happened when.
 
FYI- At the 6.6 you report it would keep ammonia minimally toxic or not toxic at all depending on the level.  Unfortunately, lower pH increases the toxicity of nitrite.
 
So, if as I suspect, the tank was not actually fully cycled when you added fish, and then number of fish was too great as well. The results are not  unexpected. As far as I can tell from the limited info available is that the loss of fish is likely why your numbers are starting to look better, the deaths cut the ammonia creation in the tank way down.. But the damage that was done can take a some time to kill fish. Ammonia at too high levels or for too long can damage fish gills as well. So you may still see more deaths. There is no way to know.