Unexplained Deaths

[lildavpot]

ok, ive had nothing but problems just recently with my tanks
Today i found yet another dead fish, but he seemed healthy yesterday?
first problem was 2 mollies i took out of sympathy from my mums work as they had 8 molly and 4 cory dora catfish in a 21 ltr tank they lasted 3 weeks then died, within 2 days
i then lost another molly who id had problems with since i got him but he started to hide and stayed on the bottom like his swimbladder problem had come back.
Next was a platty 2 weeks back that lost alot of weight but that disapeared guessing it died, i did turn my tank upside down trying to find it but couldnt,
I do a 50% water change with a gravel vac once a week use aquarium salts i have had a long standing problem with nitrates being higher than they would be in an ideal world use seachem prime to help keep them lower. anyway my stats are
ph 6.5-7 (i am trying to get this a bit higher without success)
nitrite 0
nitrate 60 ish
gh 60
kh 20
ive had the tank set up for 5 months now and had a smaller tank previously
its a 75 ltre tank with 4 platty, now 1 molly, 6 tetra, 1 small CAE , and 8, 2-3 month old molly and platty fry (waiting for a new home)
im not sure of my temp as my thermometer doesnt seem to be working?
im guessing im doing something wrong, but im not sure what? any advise? or explanations for what might be up with them. im all out of ideas and desperate coz i dont want any more to die

 

[fall-apart-dave]

Sounds like a dark deed to me! Murder be afoot!

nah kidding! I don't really know whats wrong to be honest... Maybe there's a bacterial infection knocking around in there? Are all the others looking perky and happy? You can tell the temp roughly by dipping a finger in the tank (when you've been inside and your hands are warm!). If you can't feel a temperature change on your finger tip, its too warm. If the water feels warm to the touch, its WAY too warm, if it feels cooler than your finger but still warm you're in the ball park and if it feels really cool / cold you know your heater is buggered. Leave some tap water out for a couple of hours for comparrison. You will know what room temp (too cold for most if not all) will feel like to compare then. It's not an exact science but it works in a pinch.

 

[lildavpot]

lol thanx though my thermometer reads 32 so i was just maiking the assumption it was broken on the other hand that may well be the reason. argh im rubbish! lol erm yeah all the others seem ok, at the moment, one mickey mouse platty is looking a bit slimmer than normal but she could have given birth as she never looks pregnant you just find random platty babies, if the tetras dont get them first. i seriously dunno what i could be oing wrong tho. the tank my mum has at work is 21 litres seriously over stocked and nevr gets cleaned out apart from the occasion i get to go in and clean it for them, and their fish seem to do better off than mine do

 

[WILDER]

There is a sign a fish going thin, did the fish go thin through not eating, or went slimmer after giving birth.
Being really skinny can be old age, internal parasites like camallanous worms which livebearers are prone to, fish tb.
What is your tap nitrate reading.
http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/nematodes.shtml

 

[lildavpot]

There is a sign a fish going thin, did the fish go thin through not eating, or went slimmer after giving birth.
Being really skinny can be old age, internal parasites like camallanous worms which livebearers are prone to, fish tb.
What is your tap nitrate reading.
[URL="http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/nematodes.shtml"]http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/nematodes.shtml[/URL]

the platty that died origionally had been a bit tatty looking since i got it and i was shocked whenit did give birth because it looked slim to start off with and it got worse after giving birth it was eating.. or i saw it swimming round at the top when i fed them so im guessing it was. it could have been old but id only had it for 4 months and it was fairly small the molly that died today was quite slim and id had him for about 8 months erm ill just go test my tap water nitrate reading and get back to you.

 

[lildavpot]

lol doing tests on tapwater is one way of making sure i never drink tap water agian the ph is 6??? nitrates are 20 ish btw, my test isnt very accurate. and im bad at working out from charts lol

 

[WILDER]

The nitrate reading of tap water at 20 means you can get your tank nitrate reading down.
I would slighly rinse one sponge not all of them in old tank water if it looks really blocked up with mess.
If you have some shinny fish you could have internal parasites.
What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet.
Check the anus of your fish to see if there enlarged or red and inflamed.

 

[lildavpot]

erm, havent really noticed much tbh not been paying as much attention as i should coz of the amount of uni work i have on at the mo did notice a while back that the poos looked a tad stringy but they have always done that on occasions, i hadnt noticed any swelling either or anything hanging from them not even on the dead fish. thats why ive been a tad confused. the only answer i could thinkof was internal parasites aswell but not really seen much evidence of them?