Please Help, Fish keep dying

[DanSully13]

Hi everyone,

I am new here. Unfortunately I wish I was joining for good news, but I am sure as you can see from the thread title it is not.

I have had a fish tank for over 10 years now. I started in college with a 30 gallon community tank that thrived for a very long time. Eventually when my wife and I moved to a bigger apartment 5 years ago I upgraded my tank to a 55 gallon. I went from a community tank to an Oscar tank, I know this wasn't a big enough tank but my Oscar who survived for 4 years and passed around 8 months ago. I decided that having an Oscar was just too much work and would need a bigger tank if I wanted another, so I went back to a community tank.

I thought everything was going to be OK because the Oscar did well, but I can not get this new community tank to work. I just have fish keep dying and at a bit of an alarming rate. I cant figure out the problem and have tried numerous fixes.

Current tank set up is 55 gallons. I have 2 x HOB AquaClear 50 with sponge, active carbon, and biomax. Then I have an Eheim Classic 3315 canister with coarse sponge, ceramic cylinders, substrate pro, fine sponge, and I put an API Nitro-Zorb in there because I was having high Nitrate. The tank is set to 77 degrees. I have an 18 inch bubble wand and a circle bubble stone. White sand bottom with some rocks ornaments and plastic plant ornaments. The rocks and ornaments are older. When I do a water change I make sure to stir up all the sand to get any pockets out that could have nitrate/nitrite creating bio load. I have cleaned all the filters and changed out all media (gradually each thing was removed over 2 weeks so that I did not lose any of the good bacteria in the filters).

Current parameters are PH - 7, Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 10-20 ppm. About 2 weeks ago the Nitrate was around 80 ppm so I got the Nitro-Zorb and did a 80% water change that brought it down.

Currently I have 7 common tetras (Silver, Albino), 3 corys (mixed), 4 neon tetras, 1 Bolivian ram, 1 harlequin Rasbora, 3 fish I can't remember (small blue and orange), 2 loaches. In the past week I think I have lost 3 loaches, 2 corys, 1 tetra. I feed them Fluval Bug Bites Tropical Formula and frozen blood worms (I thaw them before putting into the tank).

I started this community tank 6 months ago and probably had 20-30 fish die so far. I had gourmis, rams, tetras, corys, loaches, rasboras, the small blue and orange fish all die. I keep it to small fish so I know the filter could support any bio load produced. I stopped adding fish because I realized something was going on and it wasn't something to do with bad fish. I have clean

I just cant figure out what could be wrong. Any suggestions would help. Thanks for taking the time to read. I know it is a long post.

 

[Barry Tetra]

Do daily 75% water change, it might be bacterial infection. @Colin_T will help you.

 

[Colin_T]

Are the plants plastic or real?
Real plants, especially floating plants will help keep nitrates down to lower levels. Water Sprite is a great plant to try and if you get too many on the surface you can plant them in the substrate.

Have you checked the tap water for nitrates?
If the tap water has low levels of nitrates, then do bigger water changes or more frequent water changes. I recommend a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate once a week.

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What fish died and what did they look like when they died?
Did the sick fish act unusually before they died?
Do you have any pictures of the fish that died?

Do you have buckets specifically for the fish tank?
Do you have oil grease, cream, disinfectant soap residue or anything else on your hands/ arms?
Does anyone smoke, paint or use perfumes, air fresheners, bug sprays or anything else in the room with the tank?

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The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read when you have some spare time.

What to do if your fish gets sick

If your fish ever looks sick or unwell, then the following steps might help. Test the Water and Clean the Tank. Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH and write the results down in numbers. Check it for general hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) too if you can, but...

www.fishforums.net

 

[DanSully13]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice. Will do a 75% change today. Do you think it would be worth doing a treatment on the tank? Something like a Tetra Lifeguard?

Plants in the tank are plastic ornaments that are approved to be in a fish tank. Any cleaning items used for the tank are specific to the tank. Buckets, sponges, etc. have only been used for things that pertain to the tank. When cleaning I use a Multi Surface cleaner to wipe down calcium build ups on the hoods. Sprayed directly on to a paper towel and then wipe down the tops.

I did not take any pics of the fish after they died. Mainly the fish will be fine, then all of a sudden they will start hanging in a bottom corner and losing some of their color. Then they will just randomly die. There is a bit of fin deterioration and sometimes when the other fish kind of know that a fish is sick they start to pick on it and will tear up the fins. In extreme cases I have come home from work with the sick fish still alive but no fins. In those cases I will euthanize the fish. Some of them looked bloated, others would just get skinny. Some have shown legions or red marks. Never any open soars. In one case I had a Silver Tetra that seemed to have part of his mouth/head deteriorate. I also recently had 2 fish just disappear. I have no body. They were just gone. Fish that have died include: Gouramis, Loach, Cory, Barbs, Neon Tetras, Silver/Albino Tetra, Ram, and Rasboras. There a could more types that I can't remember the name of.

When cleaning I wash my hands first and I don't really use any lotions or anything like that. In the area of the tank there are no cleaning supplies or fragrance producing things.

Again thanks for taking the time to read. I love this hobby, but right now I feel like re-homing what fish are left and taking the tank down. Typically in the past I was able to figure out any problems but this is really taking the fun out of having a tank.

 

[Retired Viking]

Most of us have been where you are and lost our share of fish, it is a learning process. Like @Barry Tetra said do a major water change and vacuum your gravel really good. @Colin_T is good at figuring out what is wrong. My suggestion is to get rid of the plastic plants, there are many easy to care for live plants that will really help your water quality. Plants like hornwort, water sprite and anacharis just to name a few that do a great job of dealing with ammonia.

 

[Colin_T]

When cleaning I use a Multi Surface cleaner to wipe down calcium build ups on the hoods. Sprayed directly on to a paper towel and then wipe down the tops.

What's in the multi surface cleaner?

If you are getting calcium buildup on the hood, the moisture that is putting that there could be taking some of the surface cleaner back into the tank and poisoning the fish.

You can wipe or soak coverglass in white vinegar (available from any supermarket) for 30 minutes or so and it will dissolve calcium build up. Then rinse off with freshwater and put back on the tank.

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There's no point adding medications or treatments unless you know what the problem is. It could be poisoning from the surface cleaner, or a bacterial infection, or something in the water or sand that is poisoning them.

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How often and how do you clean the filters?
Do you clean them all at the same time or one each month?

Have you checked the tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

Can you post some clear pictures of the individual fish so I can check them for diseases?

Where did you get the sand from and did you wash it before putting it in the tank?
Where did you get the rocks from?

When you wash your hands before cleaning the tank, do you use a perfumed soap or a disinfectant hand wash? These can leave a residue on your skin that can poison the fish.

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If the fish are free of diseases then the most likely cause of death is poisoning from something getting into the water. In these cases it is a matter of removing everything from the tank that could be causing the problem and seeing how the fish go.

If the fish are ok in a bare tank without substrate or rocks, then you add the rocks and see how they go. If they are still ok then add the sand. You need to wait a couple of weeks between adding stuff back in but that is where I would start if the fish don't show any signs of disease.

I woud also stop using the cleaner on the hood and use a damp paper towel to remove any residue that might be on the hood.

Maybe add some "Activated Carbon" or "Highly Activated Carbon" to the filters. This will help remove poisons from the water. You can buy big bags of carbon online and it's usually lot cheaper than buying stuff from a pet shop. Try to get carbon that is made up of small pieces rather than big chunks.
Carbon should be rinsed under tap water to remove any dust in it otherwise the tank can turn black.

Test the tap water for everything you can and make sure that isn't the problem.

 

[DanSully13]

What's in the multi surface cleaner?

Pledge Multi Surface - Have been using it to clean the hoods for years and never had a problem like this.


How often and how do you clean the filters?

I try to do it every 3 months for the HOB and 6 for the canister

Do you clean them all at the same time or one each month?

I will clean the HOB at the same time. I take out all media and clean it in tank water. Ring out the sponge and shake off anything on Active Carbon and Bio Material

Have you checked the tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

I have not. There should be no difference in this tap water than the tap water I have been using for 9 years when doing a water change/cleaning. I will see what the parameters are though.

Can you post some clear pictures of the individual fish so I can check them for diseases?

I will see if I can get those

Where did you get the sand from and did you wash it before putting it in the tank?

I ordered it online. It is over 5 years old at this time. Original substrate I put in the bottom of the tank when I got it. It was rinsed thoroughly before it was put in.

Where did you get the rocks from?

The ornaments are very old and do not know how long I have had them

When you wash your hands before cleaning the tank, do you use a perfumed soap or a disinfectant hand wash? These can leave a residue on your skin that can poison the fish.

Normally a soap. Hand soap. Again this is something I have been doing for years with no problems.

Maybe add some "Activated Carbon" or "Highly Activated Carbon" to the filters.

Each Aqua Clear 50 has an Active Carbon pouch in it.

I hope this answers those questions and can help to a possible diagnosis. Again thanks for the help and everyone reading.

 

[FishGuest5123]

When I had sand, I had the same issues. I have switched to gravel and deaths stopped. However, AbbeysDad told me that my issue was in stirring the sand and I shouldn't do that. I actually just drew a knife through it but perhaps that is your issue too.