Just lost 4 barbs in 2 days

[Ford]

On Monday I found one of my barbs had died. On Tuesday I found another one. Tuesday night I come home and find two more. At this point my girlfriend and I are really bumbed and confused.
We have one left and he is kind of twitchy and has lost a lot of his coloring. I put him in a small holding tank and mixed in a small amount of salt hoping this will help.

I usually vacume the gravel and do change about two 10% of the water every week.
I don't use any chemicals and the only treatment I use is some Aqua plus tap water conditioner.
I have a black pop belly mollie (my fav), two pineapple swordtails, two fine tial Mollies and two algea eaters (cant remember what kind ).
The two algea eaters are about one week new.
There all in a two gallon long tank.

What could be causing all of them to die?
Will it effect my other fish?
What can I do?

Please help, I'm kind of new to this,
-James

 

[juliethegr8t]

Hey welcome . First of all, is your tank cycled? This is reaaaallly important, and if you don't know what cycling is, check out some other posts, read all about it! If your tank is cycled, you still could be having a nitrite or ammonia spike, both of which will kill fish - so test your water asap.

Secondly, even if your tank is completely cycled and your water parameters are safe (which I doubt because of the following), you are WAY over stocked in a 2 gallon tank. Wow, you can fit about 1 or 2 fish in there safely, and you had 12 fish if I counted right. The rule of thumb is about 1 inch of fish to 1 gallon of water. So please, please, do something soon! Buy a larger tank if possible, because your fish will all suffer until this is remedied. Several of your fish can get large (depending on the species of algae eater you have), so you're going to need something like a 20 gallon, minimum.

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Ford]

I'm sorry I meant a 20 gallon not two. I have no idea where the two came from... I guess it was a bit late...
I'm going to buy one of those test kits today to check on my pH and nitrate levels and all that good stuff. Is there any type in particular that everyone recomends?
-James/Kristyne

 

[lordmoose]

I'm sorry I meant a 20 gallon not two. I have no idea where the two came from... I guess it was a bit late...
I'm going to buy one of those test kits today to check on my pH and nitrate levels and all that good stuff. Is there any type in particular that everyone recomends?
-James/Kristyne

Most test kits on the market are pretty good. You need to be testing for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. It sounds to me like a typical case of "new tank syndrome". You need to cycle a tank for around 6 weeks, this allows vital nitrifying bacteria to build up in the tank and filter medium.

 

[Ford]

I went up to the pet store today and picked up one of those 5 in 1 test kits. I get home tear it open, read the directions and then boom! I realise i'm an idiot and got a salt water kit . Oh well I guess the girl friend is just gonna have to take it back and get the right one for me tonight cuz there aint no way i'm driving back down there...
-James/Kristyne

 

[AllusiveLife]

But wait, only one type of fish is dying not the others. It doesn't make sense... The Barbs would seem more hardy kind of fish than the other ones besides the algae eaters.

 

[juliethegr8t]

I went up to the pet store today and picked up one of those 5 in 1 test kits. I get home tear it open, read the directions and then boom! I realise i'm an idiot and got a salt water kit . Oh well I guess the girl friend is just gonna have to take it back and get the right one for me tonight cuz there aint no way i'm driving back down there...
-James/Kristyne

Aww.... that's pretty embarassing, but gave me a good laugh !! I actually almost did the same thing, so I thought I'd share to make you feel better. I literally carried the testing kit all the way to the checkout, and as I was standing in line, realized it said "saltwater" in nice big letters across the top. Needless to say, I turned a pretty shade of pink and hurried back to the aisle to exchange it. Anyways, as for your situation - once you get the right kit and get your results back, post and let us know what your results are. That should help.

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> only one type of fish is dying not the others.

Barbs are pretty hardy, but are soft acid water fish. The others in there are hard water, even brackish, (mollies), if the tank has a very high pH and hardness, the barbs would be the first to notice it. Are they new additions or regular tank members that have suddenly started turning over?