Non-urgent fishie help!

[Loopyness]

Not sure whether this is the right place to put this, but im sure one of you lovely people can help me.
First of all i have a question..... Can fish just die for no reason??
I seem to have fish die on me for no reason, my molly,2 gouramis and 2 catfish have died from the mysterious killing problem, could it be something to with ammonia and stuff like that? Suppose i should buy a test kit to check that my water is okay. But i thought to myself if it was my water, how come some of the other fish havent been affected? My catfish at the minute, has been in the tank for...... 4 months, and hes fine, my betta has been okay (apart from having dropsy at the minute ) all the fish that have died have just died overnight, they have been fine when i go to sleep and when i wake up they are dead, its upsetting, i dont want anything to happen to any of my other fish because i love them (yeah i know they're only fish)
Any moments of cleverness anyone has to offer will be helpful!!
Loopy

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Hi,

I don't think that fish die for no reason maybe unless they are really old. However, I do think that there are things that we cannot control and that we cannnot treat or even detect.

I think you should get your water tested ASAP if you think it could be amonia/nitrite/nitrate. A possible reason for some fish being ok is that some fish are more 'hardy' than others and can live in worse condtions. If you have had a fish for 4 months then the coindtions could have developed slowly over that time allowing the catfish to adapt to it.

What kind is your catfish btw?

I hope this helps.

 

[Loopyness]

i think its a sailfin catfish,he's just brown and orangey colour. the other two which died were just normal ones (not sure of the proper name). one lasted a day and the other about a month. the one that lasted a month was put in with the sailfin catfish, and that one was okay but he wasnt.

 

[G_Sharky]

Your tank was probably still cycling during the time you first bought your catfish and was probably exposed to ammonia and nitrite spikes and that could definetely shorten the lifespan of a fish. When you use fish to cycle your tank there's a good possiblity that those fish would die during or after the cycle especially when the fish isn't that hardy. That maybe your answer, but i'm not a fish expert that's just my 2 Cents......

 

[Loopyness]

i did a fishless cycle before i put any fishies in the tank. then the first fish i put it were danios,white clouds and my betta, and about a week later a catfish. Maybe it could have been a spike....nasty evil things i dunno......

 

[babyfish]

How big is your tank? and how long did you wait in between putting in new fish? A test kit is really essential when you are first stocking your tank as spikes can happen really quickly. Fish that have been in your tank have become acustomed to the pollution levels so they aren't affected as much as new fish

 

[Landlocked]

How big is your tank? and how long did you wait in between putting in new fish? A test kit is really essential when you are first stocking your tank as spikes can happen really quickly. Fish that have been in your tank have become acustomed to the pollution levels so they aren't affected as much as new fish

I agree. You cannot hope to seriously keep fish without a test kit. Get one now, if you haven't already.