New Fish Death

[russkev]

Well yesterday I added a male and female Dwarf Gourami as well as 2 Clown Loach. I have just had to take 1 of the loach out as he died very suddently after swimming around very lifelessly over the last 2 hours. I did perform a water test earlier this afternoon and found the following

PH - 7.8 (normally 8)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40-80

So I guess the problem may have been Nitrates being a little high or is it the Ph. The water here is high and very hard so is this a problem of mismatch of water as I read on the net they prefer water with a Ph upto 7. As for the Nitrate it is always this high and I replace water (10%) once a week. In fact just performed a test on tapwater and it produces a Ph of 7 so why does my Ph jump so high in the tank ?

So right now I have left in the tank (The tank being a Juwel Rio 125).

6 x Neon Tetra
2 x Red Tail Guppy
2 x Supra Guppy
2 x Cichlid
1 x Male and 1 x Femaile Dwarf Gourami
1 x Clown Loach
1 x Mono
1 x Albino Pleco

So really the question is that I obviously have hard water and therefore alot of these fish are not compatible with it. I will take the dead Loach back to the shop but before buying any more fish what should I be looking for and how to find out which will be compatible.

I thought the lfs would have advised me better on the fish type but eveidently not.

Any help or suggestions much appreciated as I'm begginning to get stressed with the whole thing and especially losing fish !

Thanks

Kevin

 

[WILDER]

To be honest i would see if the lfs will take the other clown loach back, as they need to be kept in groups, and also they need a large tank of 90gals, with the fish dying i would hold of getting anymore fish just yet.

 

[Fella]

Also the Mono is a brackish water fish, meaning it lives in estuaries and areas where the water is laden with salt, but not quite enough to make it saltwater. It will die in the tank it is currently in, so it's worth returning to the store also.

 

[russkev]

To be honest i would see if the lfs will take the other clown loach back, as they need to be kept in groups, and also they need a large tank of 90gals, with the fish dying i would hold of getting anymore fish just yet.

Thanks for the adivice - Will ring tomorrow and find out, if it's not too late by then !

Any ideas why the Ph will race up to this level. This is the bit I don't understand about the water chemistry !

Cheers

 

[WILDER]

This mean't help, no good at chemistry.
http/www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html

http/faq.thekrib.com/begin-chem.html

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

How long has your tank been set up? The ph is not a problem and i seriously advise you do not mess with it as ph boosting chemicals often cause more rapid ph fluctuations very easily which can result in more fish deaths- your nitrates are high though, what are the nitrates in your tap water as your tap water could naturally be high in nitrates?
You also need to find out what type of cichlids you have as there are hundreds of types and most of them are too agressive for non-cichlid community tanks.

 

[dwarfgourami]

How did you acclimatise the clown loach? If he died that suddenly after entering your tank, it would seem to be the shock either of the journey or of different conditions in your tank. Also, over how long a period have you added all these fish? How long had your tank been running for? A jumping ph is more common in a new tank- and most of the fish you keep are not really suitable for a new tank.

Once you've taken the mono back and maybe the other clown loach, I would not add any fish for a while. Let them settle down, keep testing the water and step up a bit on water changes until the nitrates
stay within 10 ppm above your tap water.

You need to find out what your cichlids are as different cichlids demand very different conditions (and have varying levels of aggressivity).

 

[russkev]

How did you acclimatise the clown loach? If he died that suddenly after entering your tank, it would seem to be the shock either of the journey or of different conditions in your tank. Also, over how long a period have you added all these fish? How long had your tank been running for? A jumping ph is more common in a new tank- and most of the fish you keep are not really suitable for a new tank.

Once you've taken the mono back and maybe the other clown loach, I would not add any fish for a while. Let them settle down, keep testing the water and step up a bit on water changes until the nitrates
stay within 10 ppm above your tap water.

You need to find out what your cichlids are as different cichlids demand very different conditions (and have varying levels of aggressivity).

Thanks for the response. No the fish died after a day of being in the tank. I've spoken to the lfs today and they seem to point to high levels of Nitrates in the water. Tonight did a 20% water change and noticed that after adding AmquelPlus the Nitrates were still above 20ppm. The lfs suggested using RO water and also a tea bag type thing which will absorb alot of the Nitrates in the water. I'm still sseing Nitrate levels rise though after the water has been changed so there must be some other problem with my tank. Indeed the Ph is 7 from the tap but when I check the tank it is around 8.

The tank was setup on the 1st September 2005 and I'm happy that the Ammonia and Nitrites are constantly at 0ppm. The lfs said he wouldn't take the loach back as it would probably kill him anyway with another move. Will try and find out what the Cichlids are !

Thanks again

 

[j.c]

The cichlids prefer a hard, acidic water and the others don't.try to find out what kind of cichlids they are because some can be very aggressive.
But if there haven't been any attacks and live in harmony it should be fine.

 

[anvil63]

Do you have any rocks in the aquarium? Some rocks will leech calcium carbonate (CaCO3) into the water. This will cause pH to slowly rise in between water changes. You can test rocks for calcium carbonate by using vinegar or even better muriatic acid (HCl). If the rocks bubble they're no good.

 

[Ryan.170]

Well yesterday I added a male and female Dwarf Gourami as well as 2 Clown Loach. I have just had to take 1 of the loach out as he died very suddently after swimming around very lifelessly over the last 2 hours. I did perform a water test earlier this afternoon and found the following

PH - 7.8 (normally 8)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40-80

So I guess the problem may have been Nitrates being a little high or is it the Ph. The water here is high and very hard so is this a problem of mismatch of water as I read on the net they prefer water with a Ph upto 7. As for the Nitrate it is always this high and I replace water (10%) once a week. In fact just performed a test on tapwater and it produces a Ph of 7 so why does my Ph jump so high in the tank ?

So right now I have left in the tank (The tank being a Juwel Rio 125).

6 x Neon Tetra
2 x Red Tail Guppy
2 x Supra Guppy
2 x Cichlid
1 x Male and 1 x Femaile Dwarf Gourami
1 x Clown Loach
1 x Mono
1 x Albino Pleco

So really the question is that I obviously have hard water and therefore alot of these fish are not compatible with it. I will take the dead Loach back to the shop but before buying any more fish what should I be looking for and how to find out which will be compatible.

I thought the lfs would have advised me better on the fish type but eveidently not.

Any help or suggestions much appreciated as I'm begginning to get stressed with the whole thing and especially losing fish !

Thanks

Kevin
[/quote
i think it might be you Nitrate but i dont no soz

 

[91-MR2]

To be honest i would see if the lfs will take the other clown loach back, as they need to be kept in groups, and also they need a large tank of 90gals, with the fish dying i would hold of getting anymore fish just yet.

I would agree with this compltely. Clown Loaches get a lot larger than most people assume. I believe I read they could get near 12'' long when fully grown. Also, if there is still a risk to the fish in your aquarium, you shouldn't expose your fish to it.