Strange Regular Fish Deaths

[Ozzy Ozborne]

i have a strange situation where i lose a couple of fish each week.............no obvious reason,and they all look healthy even when dead !!!

I check the water each 2 days and results are always:

Ammonia nil
Nitrate nil
Nitrate 40
PH low 7.6
PG high 8.0

I change 10% of thw water weekly using dosing for chlorine etc

I have a 180 litre juwell (set up 3 months ago-fish in cycle)with:

1 angel
2 black mollies
1 clown loach
1 bristlenose plec
2 dwarf gouramis
1 silver/gold gourami
6 guppies
3 platties

the fish are random which i lose from the above.
I have a planted tank -do not use ferts
No C02 injected

has anybody any ideas what could be going on
The fish look perfectly healthy

thanks

 

[Geoff1991]

You spraying deodorant or anything near the tank?

 

[mark1979]

10% maybe a little low,up it to say 25% maybe?

but saying that if your tests are ok im not sure

 

[Ozzy Ozborne]

no deoderant at all

i have increased to 25% the last few days but lost another today

 

[Geoff1991]

Any signs as to the cause of death on the dead fish?

 

[Cro-Baller]

Do you run an air pump? If not try running one at night as your fish maybe starved of oxygen due to the plants releasing Co2. During the day there should be no need to run an air pump as the plants release oxygen during this period, there's no reason why you can't run one all the time though.

 

[Spishkey]

do you have any roadworks going on in your town?
last year i started losing fish with no idea how or why it was happening, a few fish every day for months, i kept replacing them yet they kept dying.turns out they were making a new roundabout and roadworks 4km up the road, and lots of nastys were getting into the water, thus making the water company pump more stuff into the water to keep it good.

its only a short while after the roadworks finished did i stop losing fish

 

[arobinson1984]

I'm guessing from your test results you are using a liquid based test kit? the API master kit?

I also would recommend increasing your water changes as 10% isnt a lot at all and if there is anything nasty in your water it wont be getting removed with such small changes. Personally I do either 1 or 2 water changes a week on my 125 litre tank and I change 50% each time to keep the water nice and fresh.

Whenever you do your water changes you could try adding a little extra dechlorinator as a precaution although I dont think this would be the prob because if your water had excess chlorine in it then it would be killing off your good bacteria in your filter and your ammonia / nitrite readings wouldn't be zero.

Just a quick note, the clown loach will outgrow your tank. All other fish are

Andy

 

[Ozzy Ozborne]

i run an airpump 24 hours per day...................the tests are using an api test kit

as i started 3 months ago witha fish in cycle (guppies/platties) could their deaths be attributed to this?

I did dose Testra C02 but lost 8 fish in 1 week,which I thought had to be down to this.I have stopped now !!


all help appreciated..................

just one more question.................how do i know that i have enough oxygen in the tank for the fish................and how then do i increase if req?

thanks.................

 

[Geoff1991]

That, may explain a lot.

Are they all cycle fish?

If so, thats just the end result of the cycle. Its taken its toll on the fish and now they are starting to die off.

Edit:

If the fish are gasping, the oxygen could be low. Increasing oxygen is simple, surface agitation.

 

[Bobtastic]

Platies are subtable for fishin cycling, I would imagine it's more to do with too much C02 in the water. U should have a drop checker (which is basically a pH indicator) to show how much C02 is disolved into the water.

I assume its a planted tank. Are you shutting off the C02 over night? It could be that the C02 is ok during the day when the plans are using it but the levels get too high for the fish over night when the plants start using up the oxygen in the water too.

One possible theory?

 

[degsod]

Are you using any fly spray or have an room air fresheners in the vicinity, some of these are fatal towards fish

 

[Ozzy Ozborne]

Im not using C02 anymore and also don't use fly sprays in the room................however today;

I have noticed one of my platies at the top of the tank for ages-looks like he is getting air?
Now hes has gone to the bottom under the filter and looks like he is gasping -his mouth is constantly opening and closing.
When i fed them he was not interested?

Anybody got an idea whats going on?

Thanksn

 

[arobinson1984]

Is your filter high enough in the water to cause surface disturbance?

The filter outlet should be just a couple of mm below the surface to create ripples on the water surface which is usually enough for the majority of fish.

Andy

 

[indigoj]

I agree with whoever said it is probably the after affect of the fish-in cycle combined with the problem you had with co2 it may have weakened the fish sufficiently that they can't survive.