Lost four fish recently

[Rob 28]

Tank has been going for about 6 weeks now. Ammonia, nitrite are nil and nitatre is below 10ppm

I've lost 2 ancistrus and 2 swortails in the last couple of weeks.

I can see no signs of illness - no ich, no swollen bellys etc.

Could it be they were just week fish from shop ?

Cant think what it can be - could i have under-fed - i generally feed once per day as ive got a bit para about this overfeeding issue.

The corys and ancistrus and gouramis seemed to eat well but the swordtails seemed to take in a flake of food and then spit it out again so i didnt actually see them swallow a great deal. Used a variety of foods too inc. algae flakes, flakes, pellets, bloodworms, brine shrimp.

The water is hard - which swordtails like i beleive. The PH is 7.6 but then the top of the scale on my tester kit is 7.6 so it could be higher than this and i will have to test this i guess.

I did notice the male swordtail that died was shimmying like a snake a few days before he went and wonder if this could be due to low oxygen ? I did dose the tank with anti fin/fungus rot 2 weeks back because i saw some a white patch on one of the ancistrus that died. I read on the box that this can lower oxygen so i added an airstone. ive tested the oxygen level and it seems a bit low despite the incrased airation of both airstone and pump.

Could it be the oxygen or high PH ? Or could it be cos ive moved plants too much in the tank and stressed them ? They all looked lively and happy before they died. Remaining corys, gouramis and ancistrus look fine at moment.

Sorry for such a long rambling post - im usually to the point but im lost !

Thanks for any ideas guys.

p.s. i really fell quite guilty that ive lost fish because i wanted to do it so right

 

[Mo99]

Hiya, Sorry to hear about your loss.
have you had your N02 checked by anyone else, your tank is fairly new and you should be in at the end of your nitrite cycle. As the test kit could be wrong , it does happen. Also it could be that some of the fish you bought may of been sick, don't worry about under feeding as fish never die from lack of feeding (and i mean not feeding them for months is another matter). IMO the fish you started with may not have been very hardy, so the water conditions may of just pushed them over the edge, the pinned articule on tank cycle mentions that cyceling actually affects fish from which they never recover. I hope this helps, do the water chages 20 % keep an eye on water conditions. good luck..

 

[thecichlidaddict]

As far as your water goes, you will want to purchase a high range PH test kit. Hardness is different then PH. When PH is high it is considered alkaline, when it is low it is considered acid. Fish will not just die from a less then ideal PH and most of the time they will adjust without a problem. When you do test your PH for a higher range, keep in mind that many aquarists including myself keep their fish in water that is 8 or more successfully.

Unless your tank is seriously overcrowded oxygen should not be concern, especially if you are running an airstone, which will provide plenty of water disturbance.

How big is this tank? How often do you do water changes? I'm assuming you treat the water that you add to the aquarium?

Sometimes fish die and it can't be helped. Sometimes a few fish die in a row with no apparent cause. As long as it doesn't continue or become a regular occurance, you may not need to worry. I'd suggest leaving your tank as it is and not adding anything new until you are sure things are stable. Observe the tank from a distance and make sure that you are not having any aggression issues in the tank--you shouldn't, but you never know.

 

[Rob 28]

make sure that you are not having any aggression issues

now that you mention it - the male gourami is very aggresive and hounds the female gouramis all day long - not really the other fish though. I wonder - could the chasing, albeit of the other gouramis, be unnerving the swordtails that died ?

Thks for you replies. (will get a better ph tester, 50 us gallon tank and 20-30% water changes per week)