Unknown Cause in Fish Deaths

[Guppylover]

Over the last three days 4 of my fish have died. Three guppy fry (large though) and one peppered cory. The thing is that I don't know the reason why, there are no funny marks or spots on their bodies or anything. The last thing they do before they die is start breathing a lot, the colours on their bodies satrt fading, their pupils grow larger and just float around (or with the cory tumble across the gravel).
The tank is a 10gal, with a filter and heater. The fish inside are *now*:

2x Dwarf Gouramis
2x Peppered Cories *one died*
1x Guppy fry *three died*
2x Golden Algae Eater

Right now I worried about one of the golden algae eater, all it is doing is staying under the Java Moss. Is this normal behaviour or is that golden algae eater the next one to die?
I'm kind of having second thoughts on keeping up this fishkeeping hobby because this is the third time something like this has happened to my tank, and the result is almost all my fish dying with me having no idea why!

 

[tstenback]

sounds like a gill related illness. the fish start gasping for air as they are suffocating and as it progresses they will loose control of their motor skills and eventually die. What are the parameters for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in your tank? Gill problems are almost entirely related to parasites so perhaps a treatment for parasites would help but i would check the water parameters first and get them confirmed. HTH

 

[Guppylover]

I had the water checked the week before and everything was fine, umm about the gills disease all the guppies went to the top of the water but the cory stayed on the bottom, is that a different disease or the same? Should I also get my water checked this week?

 

[suemack]

hi guppylover ....sorry you're having problems

it works out a lot easier in the long run to get a couple of the basic test kits and test your water at home. I've got the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH kits. But in the meantime ....yep would certainly pay to get your water checked out as soon as you can, then you'll have a better idea if it's the water or disease that's the problem.

What sort of filtration do you have in the 10 gall tank? ....other thing I was wondering is how big are your gold algae eaters? How often and how much water do you normally change? The more info you can post the better ideas we'll hopefully come up with. With my tanks when there appears to be a problem my first response usually is to do daily w/changes, sometimes only little ones and see if that helps.

Just thought......when did you add the last new fish into the tank?

rambling thoughts I know .......but post some more info if you can
sue

 

[judcoynehunter]

sounds like a co2 problem 2 me what aeroation do you have

 

[Guppylover]

Ok, I got my water tested today and every thing was good. I couldn't find out the exact numbers but my pH, nitrates and nitrites were good. I found some test kits but they were quite expensive so I'll try and buy them later.
With the filter I have a jet pump and filter and it works as a waterfall in my tank, so there are like air bubbles everywhere.
My algae eater are 4.5 cm long, and yes I heard they grew large and get very mean towards the other fish in the tank, so I going to remove them but only after I have this sorted and if they still live...
I change my water every 2 weeks about 30%, but for now I'm going to start doing it every week 20%, I heard it helps... does it?
The last time I bought a fish was 3 weeks ago, it was the Dwarf Gouramis.
What is co2? Sorry not so used to all this water managment stuff )

 

[Guppylover]

*Update*
My last guppy is starting to have the same symtoms as the other had and so is my female peppered cory, what do I do?
My golden algae eater (the male) is starting to show aggresive behavior to all of the other fish in the tank. Should I remove him? He is stressing out my Dwarf Gouramis.

 

[tstenback]

I think its time to take some kind of action here. I would do an immediate 25-50% water change. If they are all breathing fast then you either have a water quality issue(dirty or low oxygen level) or you have a gill disease of some kind and usually this is parasite in nature. So you either do a large water change and observe to see if there is any improvement or add a med that may help your fish. THere appears to be no outword symptom other than the fish are gasping. Can you see anything around the gills? What color are the gills are they red or brownish? HTH

 

[Guppylover]

The gill colour is the colour as usual, pinkish-red. You can't see it looking straight at the face or the side only when you look inside the gill can you see the colour. Nothing outside of the gills either.
I removed my golden algae eaters, and placed them in a tempory tank for the moment *it's not a real aquarium tank but it was clean*. I had to because they were getting really aggressive now and starting to take chunks out of things, including the Dwarf Gourami. So I decided they had to go.
I've done a water change 45%, the fish seem fine. I can't expect perfectly good behavior from the Dwarf Gouramis because right now they are covered in scars, but they are still eating and playing around with each other. The last peppered cory *Yami* is doing very well, swimming around and scavenging around the gravel. Golden Algae Eaters are ok too and the last guppy seems to be recovering he has stopped gasping at such a huge rate and is swimming around.
The second peppered cory not going to make it, poor thing... lying still in the corner of the tank... not moving... I better get him out

 

[tstenback]

There are several things that you should do now to continue the recovery process.
First take the algae eaters back to the LFS and if you can get credit for them great . Second and most important you need to get test kits for at least ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You cant leave the testing of your water to someone else, who may or may not know what they are doing. If until you get the money for the kits, you need to take the water to the LFS to test then ask for the specific results for each test. Also ask if you can watch so that you can learn how to do it when you get your test kits, i find that this often works as the LFS worker sees it as a chance to sell you something.
Keep an eye on your injured gourami and for the next several days do a 20% water change every day and dont count your cory out just yet many here have stories of fish seeming to come back from near death. Good Luck, Guppylover

 

[Guppylover]

Thank you so much tstenback and everyone else too, mabye fishkeeping has a bright side to it as well as a darker one.