Not Again!

[tom_os]

some of you may know i have had no luck with my fish over the last few weeks

2 suindays ago 12 fish died

last sunday 2 fish died

today i have aother problem

i woke up and had a look in the tank and saw my GBR on its back, still breathing. i knew there was a problem so i instantly started a water change (it was due for its weekly) the temp, ph and everything was working fine. i didnt bother about taking other readings

whilst doing the water change one of my pitbull plecos went crazy!!! he was jerking everywhere hitting the glass for about 20 seconds then just collapsed on his back on the floor. i finshed the water change but then had to go diving so couldnt stay home

anyway got home and all the fish are fine like nothing has happened.

is this any clear sympton of any diease or problem?

 

[destinyxrose]

some of you may know i have had no luck with my fish over the last few weeks

2 suindays ago 12 fish died

last sunday 2 fish died

today i have aother problem

i woke up and had a look in the tank and saw my GBR on its back, still breathing. i knew there was a problem so i instantly started a water change (it was due for its weekly) the temp, ph and everything was working fine. i didnt bother about taking other readings

whilst doing the water change one of my pitbull plecos went crazy!!! he was jerking everywhere hitting the glass for about 20 seconds then just collapsed on his back on the floor. i finshed the water change but then had to go diving so couldnt stay home

anyway got home and all the fish are fine like nothing has happened.

is this any clear sympton of any diease or problem?

Sorry to hear about your fish troubles.
Just wanted to say that Ph, and Temp are important of course to keep track of, BUT you REALLY need to keep a close eye on Ammonia and NitrAte/NitrIte readings. Just because the temp and PH are fine doesn't mean what so ever that the ammonia and nitrAte/nitrIte readings are ok. So I mean, of course you want to check the temp and ph, you don't need ice cold acidic water but the other readings are just as if not more important than those.

As for your your pitbull plecos, when you were doing the water change it could have just been stress that caused him to act so irratically. My advice is make 100% sure that the new water you are putting in is the same temperature so you don't shock him, and that you are using something to remove the chlorine/chloramines from the water. And if you just use buckets or whatever to remove/add the water I strongly suggest a gravel vac cuz they require less effort and don't scare the fish as much.

As for your GBR that is a major concern. The fact that he seems fine now after the water change may just be high ammonia or nitrite in the water. I would definitely keep a close eye on him though. Are your fish showing any other signs? Scratching against rocks or decorations or the glass? Going to the surface a lot for air or seeming to be breathing hard? Any discoloration or spots on them? And did you find out what was going on with your other fish that passed?

Best advice I have at this point is keep a close eye on them, watch for ANY other possible symptoms. Constantly check your ammonia and nitrite/nitrate readings, (and if you can, chlorine too because that can kill a fish fast as well). Let us know if ANYTHING new comes up immediately, because if it isn't the water stats, then they very well may be sick. A fish lying on the bottom on its back is never a good sign. Hope things get better. Sorry if I am no help or if you have heard all this before. But Good Luck.

 

[Truck]

tom...this is becoming a regular occurance, i would send your tap water off to be analysed to see what is in it, postpone all water changes until you get the results.

 

[tom_os]

yeah thakns for your advice.

the thing is, there is another tank in the same room which gets exactly the same water from the same tap and those fish are unaffected

tonight all the fish looked perfech, bright colours etc

 

[Truck]

yeah thakns for your advice.

the thing is, there is another tank in the same room which gets exactly the same water from the same tap and those fish are unaffected

tonight all the fish looked perfech, bright colours etc

is something leaching stuff into the tank? are you using carbon? if so how old is it?

 

[tom_os]

carbon is a week old

just looked in the tank and fish arnt looking good, ram is near the surface and corys looking pale

just took tests:

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
ph 7
temp 27

thinking about it i have a piece of spiral wood which went in before the problem started. i think i soaked it but cant remember. could this be it? it was bleached with everything else though

 

[destinyxrose]

carbon is a week old

just looked in the tank and fish arnt looking good, ram is near the surface and corys looking pale

just took tests:

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
ph 7
temp 27

thinking about it i have a piece of spiral wood which went in before the problem started. i think i soaked it but cant remember. could this be it? it was bleached with everything else though

I don't really recommend using bleach on fish decorations but thats just me. Because wood absorbs there may be a chance that not all the bleach was rinsed off. If so it could be putting toxins in your tank. Not a sure thing but if it were me, I would take out the wood and do another water change just in case. That's just me. I recommend that if you purchase new decorations, if you are concerned, use really hot water to rinse them off especially on things absorbent like wood and even then possibly rinsing it off after that with old fish tank water just to make sure there isn't anything in your tap water. But since you do bleach your decorations, make a thousand percent sure its rinsed well.

I can't tell you that this is the problem, but thought I'd throw that out there just in case. From what I have researched doesn't seem that you are in the wrong by using bleach but I personally think it could be risky. Hope things get better soon.

 

[tom_os]

thanks

basically i bleached everything in my tank last week because i had all these problems. i was hoping the bleach would kill whatever was killing my fish

i did rinse everything really well

will see what heppens tomorrow