Fish Keep Dying

[Brian0317]

For the life of me I can't remember the name for the type of fish I have..

Anyhow. I have 2 fish, that sort of look like tiger fish. Hopefully it will not matter.
These 2 fish have been in there forever and never die. However everything else I put in there does.
I have had a few sunset and white mickey mouse platy's. After awhile it seems they start getting humpback and then die. I just recently bought some black and orange molly's. Well after about 3 weeks only 1 of the 4 is living.
The pet store said I could put other fish with the 2 I have now, that they are all community fish.
Could there be something wrong with my tank, or do you think these other 2 fish or killing them some how?

any help would be appreciated.

 

[5teady_2012]

Whats your tanks stats?

ammonia?
nitrite?
Nitarte?

 

[Davo86]

sorry but how will not knowing the id of the fish not matter?
if they look like tiger then they are likely to be tiger barbs, which are great fin nippers, that if kept in small numbers can harass and do great damage to other fish.

Pictures could easily confirm their id, and as 5teady stated water stats will also give us an idea of other problems

 

[Brian0317]

Sorry.. I have never tested the water for ammonia, nitrite, etc. how do I go about doing that.
Also reading in another post where someone didn't have a heater and the varied water temp could cause disease.
I have a heater, but even on the lowest it will go the water gets above 80. Without the heater and just using the light the water stays around 70-75. I have a 26 gallon aquarium, so don't know if the heater I have is to powerful or what is going on.

Here is a picture of the fish I have.

 

[5teady_2012]

You need to get a test kit m8 form your lfs, also your temperature should be around 26C 78F

 

[Davo86]

The fish are black widow tetras and should be ok in a community tank
a constant temp of 80F is fine for most community fish,

 

[Colin_T]

black widow or black skirt tetras need to be kept in groups and will nip fins on some fish like angels and male fighting fish. But they shouldn't kill other fish.

I would say there is something wrong with the tank water. Get some liquid test kits or take a glass full of your tank water to the local fish shop (LFS) and have them test the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH. Write the results down and post them back here.

 

[Brian0317]

black widow or black skirt tetras need to be kept in groups and will nip fins on some fish like angels and male fighting fish. But they shouldn't kill other fish.

I would say there is something wrong with the tank water. Get some liquid test kits or take a glass full of your tank water to the local fish shop (LFS) and have them test the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH. Write the results down and post them back here.

Yeah.. black skirts are the name of those fish. I will take a sample to my LFS tomorrow and see if they will test it out.
Thanks for the help

 

[Strippy]

black widow tetra are fin nippers and should be kept as a shoal of more than 6 plus to minimize aggression. not generally considered a community fish with livebearers. but they are not tiger coloured... probs tiger barbs