Suicidal clown loaches

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

So tap water
Nitrate & nitrites - 0
GH 6/7
KH 3/6
PH 7.6
Chlorine 0

So tap water is unlikely to be the problem, thanks for testing that! My advice for the next step is to do another 60% water change today - As soon as you reasonable can. While doing it give the gravel a good clean in areas where you won't be stressing the loaches out, and check that there's no dead fish/snails or anything. Dim the lights again and let the loaches settle.

Give the tank about an hour to settle once it's refilled, then test it again, using both kits, let us know the numbers.

2 dappinos

What are those? Never heard of 'em, and google isn't helping!

Tank 2 (yoyo)
3 yoyos the chubby one is a female, she is about 5 from previous tank owner. Other two I added about a year ago from babies.
1 Congo tetra
One huge plec (first buy from a pet store, don’t tell you the grow huge!)
Maybe 10 bristle nose plecs? They breed
I think 4 sparking gourami but rarely see more than 2 at a time.
Rainbow shark.
Plus a snails for the yoyos to eat.

My tanks have got very mixed as moving aggressive fish apart.

Dude...! Your stocking is a bit of a nightmare, I'm sorry! But can come back to that later. Main thing is to try to save the clowns right now. But I'm hoping and praying that the huge pleco is not a common plec...

What size is tank 2!! I've asked like 3 times! But I know I'm pelting you with a lot of questions, sorry.

The guppies were in the second tank but I swapped them when I moved the shark to avoid him killing those. The guppies are the only new purchases. Minus the heaters for both tanks.

Yep, some disease/parasite/infection could have easily been introduced from the guppies or platies. But we have to rule out water conditions first since we haven't seen any other indications of a treatable problem yet. Doing the second large water change today and testing the water is the next step.

 

[Burrell10]

Danios sorry auto correct got me there…
I think you know it’s a common plec
I’m so attached to the plec, but he is ok at the moment once he’s too big. I will take him to our local zoo as they home common plecs because stupid store sell them and don’t tell you how big they get when you buy your first fish!! He’s got be like 8/10 now, my fish fish.

I’ll wait 4 hours and do another change and check again.

Tanks around 350L

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Danios sorry auto correct got me there…
I think you know it’s a common plec
I’m so attached to the plec, but he is ok at the moment once he’s too big. I will take him to our local zoo as they home common plecs because stupid store sell them and don’t tell you how big they get when you buy your first fish!! He’s got be like 8/10 now, my fish fish.

I’ll wait 4 hours and do another change and check again.

Tanks around 350L

Why wait four hours? If you're gotta go do something I understand, but as far as your fish are concerned, the sooner the better. You don't need to wait for the sake of the tank/fish. Doing it right after the first one wouldn't be a problem either. The beneficial bacteria in the tank live in the filter and on hard surfaces - the substrate, tank walls, decor etc, not in the water column. So as long as the new water has been temperature matched to the tank temp and treated with a water conditioner, it's not doing anything bad to the tank or fish, only helping them by diluting the nitrates and any other irritants in the water.

 

[Colin_T]

Try to gravel clean under ornaments to get rid of any waste that has built up there.

If fish are stressed, be careful doing 2 water changes on the same day. If you do 2 per day, try and do them 12 hours apart so the fish can recover from the first water change.

I didn't know about the pH difference before but right now I would stay with one 40-50% water change every second day for a couple of weeks due to the pH difference in the tap vs tank water. Too many water changes too suddenly can cause pH shock and alkalosis in the fish. Alkalosis is where there is a sudden rise in pH and that could happen here if the pH was really low.

---------------------
The fish don't show any signs of disease. The damage to the noses is just physical damage from swimming into something hard. It probably happened when they were freaking out.

This is in my opinion, still an old tank, high nitrate, low pH issue. You have done a number of water changes and the pH is still a lot lower than the tap water, and there appears to be nitrates in the tank. That would suggest the pH was much lower before you did water changes, and the nitrates might have been higher than the test kit showed.

It's possible the original test kit has gone off and is giving incorrect readings. Perhaps test the same sample of water using both test kits, at the same time. If they give significantly different results, that would suggest one kit is dodgy.

If the kits do give noticeably different readings (eg: one kit says the pH is 6.0 and the other says it is 6.5), take a sample of water to the pet shop and get them to test it. Take both of your test kits too and test the same sample at the same time. Compare the results to the shop test kits and write the results down (in numbers) at the time.

Check the expiry date on the test kits. Make sure test kits are kept cool, dry and out of light. Heat, humidity and bright light destroy the reagents in the kits and cause them to go off quickly.

I used to keep my test kits in an icecream bucket with lid, on the bottom shelf of the fridge.
*NB* Make sure children and animals can't get the test kits because they contain poisonous chemicals.

*NB* Make sure the paper strips stay dry. If you keep them in the fridge, try one in a sealed container and see how it goes after a week. There might be moisture/ humidity that gets into the container and messes with the test strips.

---------------------
I would reduce the temperature to 26C so there is more oxygen in the water. Maybe get another thermometer to make sure the water temperature is what it says it is. Try to get a glass thermometer that sits in the water. When you look at them at the shop, take them all off the shelf and check the temperatures. They should all be the same. If one or two have different temperatures to the rest, avoid getting those two because they are faulty.

See if the fish will eat any frozen food like bloodworm or brineshrimp.

Are the other fish in the tank eating or acting weird?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

@Burrell10 - Any update on the clowns?

 

[Burrell10]

I wish I could say there was…. None have died but they are still very confused, best way to describe their behaviour.

They swim around still bumping into things, float around like they are died! Haven’t experienced any major fits like a couple weeks ago where they smash into everything until they become unconscious.

Not sure if the constant water changes or what’s affected the loaches has killed off my endlers though as 3 disappeared with no trace.

All tests of the water are perfect. Zero nitrate now where it was 20 before. I’m just lost for answers and just resided to the sadness of watching them float around

 

[Colin_T]

Do big regular water changes and gravel cleans once a week and give them a chance to recover.

 

[Alice B]

Did they eat a fish that died of mysterious symptoms or none at all? Enteric septicemia causes the behavior you are describing in some fish species.

 

[FishNturt808]

You could also try taking the new heater out of the tank. Since that is the newest addition. I’m surprised nobody has mentioned that yet.