S.F.D.S.

[Branch1]

Sudden Fish Death Syndrome
Why does it happen?

I have had what I thought was a fairly stable tank until now.

PH Neutral with slight variance around this point tending towards acidic.

Ammonia 0

Evryone eating no strange behaviour.

I have lost a few fish with teething problems and other disasters- (my tank burst in the first wek).

One of my first fish, a poor mans tetra-(??Silver cloud mountain minnow??) who has survived everything is now sick- won't eat, shimmying and flubbing.
No spots or fin rot nor gill worms. His tank mates of the same species are fine!

In addition suddenly yeserday a serpae and a glowline just died!

WTF???

LFS advised change 20% water and wait and see. So....

He is still fighting this morning but I have seen dying fish before.

What is the life span of tropical fish- what am I doing wrong?

My fish rely on me for care and I am frustrated!!

 

[heresmike]

Are you testing for nitrite and nitrate also? Are you doing regular partial water changes to keep the nitrates down?

 

[Branch1]

I have ot really tested for nitrates, but I changed approximately 2/3 of the water over 2 weeks about 3 weeks ago.

There have been no further deaths after 20% water change. But the sudennes of the other 2 fish is worrying.

No other fish appear to be styurgggling. At this time

The LFS where i purchased my ammonia test kit did not have a nitrate test kit.

I will look around for other testers

 

[heresmike]

If you can't find a nitrite and nitrate test kit, maybe you could take a water sample to your fish store. Most fish stores will test your water for free. The reason that it's good to test for those is that high nitrate levels are toxic to fish, and nitrite is no good either. In a cycled tank, your ammo and nitrite should always be 0, and nitrates should be kept below 40. You do this with weekly or bi-weekly 20% water changes.

 

[Branch1]

Any other advice?

How long is a tropical fish life span?

How many fish do beginners usualy loose?

Do other people experience this probem?

If not the nitrite nitrate levels other possible causes and treatments?

Signs: Shymmying- Side movements with no forward movement
Fish stops eating
Colour fades
Tail droops
Fish starts to loose balance, bouyncy control and orientation
Fish adopts a head to surface position and increasingly heads
towards surface (??Air hunger??)
Fish dies

 

[Branch1]

Coolio!
Thanks a stack I will take a sample in.

I am lloking for new shops all the time as I don't have a lot of faith in the ones I have seen so far.

The assistant at my LFS is quite knowledgeable but the owneis not -so products available are limited as is support.

 

[clutterydrawer]

The lifespan of a fish depends on which species of fish it is.

I think sometime fish just die. I lost one the otehr week to similar symptoms - poor swimming, lying of top of fitler, inability to swim against current, swimming ehad up, etc. All my other fish are incredibly healthy (is it tempting fate to say that??) and I never found out what caused the death.