Water is fine but fish dying each day

[isherwoodc]

Hi all, coming to you in a bit of a downer and desperately needing help.

We have had tropical fish for around 10 years - 200l tank with a bn pleco, several shrimp and groups of guppies and tetras. We were up to around 15 fish in total a few weeks ago and monitor the water frequently using the testing solutions. We have never had an issue this bad since we caught white-spot from a bad shop (which we managed to treat).

Our fish have slowly been dying one by one, apart from one day where we came down to find 4 dead fish. We have lost a whole group of rummy-noses, a whole group of guppies and are down to 4 or 5 fish, of which 2 are looking to be on their way out.

This has been happening over the past 2 or 3 weeks, no routine has changed since we started fish keeping many years ago and have never had a problem like this.

It started roughly a week after we bought 5 or 6 new guppies. For the first week everything was fine, but then other fish started to hang around the top looking pretty fed up. Gradually over the past 2 weeks we seem to get another fish go up the top looking sick and then dying the next day.

We have tested the water extensively - of which all the levels are fine, checked the filter material, done water changes, but nothing seems to be stopping whatever it is that's going on.

We are running out of ideas and really worried we're going to end up with an empty tank which will just be awful.,

Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated

Thank you

 

[Slaphppy7]

What kind of test kit are you using?

What is the gh (hardness) of your source water? Tetras are soft water fish, guppies need hard water

 

[isherwoodc]

What kind of test kit are you using?

What is the gh (hardness) of your source water? Tetras are soft water fish, guppies need hard water

Hi there, we use the API Master test kit (liquid).

We don't test the gh - but will order a test kit if you recommend - could the water supply have changed recently and possibly cause it?

Mainly baffled as nothing has changed in our routine for many many years and all of a sudden we've lost so many.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Good kit, that's the one we like to generally recommend

Not a good idea to mix soft and hard water fish, that's the reason we need to know your gh...you can usually find this information on your municipality water quality report...not sure where you are located.

My *guess* initially on the fish deaths is that the new guppies brought in some kind of disease that has spread throughout the tank...I'm no fish disease expert, and again, that is only a guess....

This is why having a QT tank on hand is so important when acquiring new fish

How did you treat for white spot? How long did you treat? How long has it been since treatment was discontinued?

 

[isherwoodc]

Good kit, that's the one we like to generally recommend

Not a good idea to mix soft and hard water fish, that's the reason we need to know your gh...you can usually find this information on your municipality water quality report...not sure where you are located.

My *guess* initially on the fish deaths is that the new guppies brought in some kind of disease that has spread throughout the tank...I'm no fish disease expert, and again, that is only a guess....

This is why having a QT tank on hand is so important when acquiring new fish

How did you treat for white spot? How long did you treat? How long has it been since treatment was discontinued?

Is there any treatment we could add that could fight any potential diseases without troubling them too much?

The whitespot was probably about 5 years ago and I believe we used a separate temporary tank and treatment but can't remember off the top of my head now.

I will get a GH kit just as that would be useful to know and possible rule it out

 

[Slaphppy7]

Never treat a tank unless you know what you are trying to treat

The fish don't show any signs of ich presently, correct? How do they look after they die? Discolored, bloated, etc....

What are your current readings for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte? What kind of water conditioner do you use, if any?

Tap water, well water?

Yes, let's find out what your gh readings are, both tap & tank

 

[isherwoodc]

Never treat a tank unless you know what you are trying to treat

The fish don't show any signs of ich presently, correct? How do they look after they die? Discolored, bloated, etc....

What are your current readings for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte? What kind of water conditioner do you use, if any?

Tap water, well water?

Yes, let's find out what your gh readings are, both tap & tank

The majority have looked fine, they've just swam around the surface for a day, then either hiding in the plants the next day or passed away.

The latest guppy we lost was slightly different in that it lost all the colour in its tail first.

There are no visible wounds or ich or markings on any of the fish we've lost.

We are using tap water with Easylife Aquamaker and Filter medium

I will do another test today when I can and let you know the readings.

 

[Slaphppy7]

The majority have looked fine, they've just swam around the surface for a day, then either hiding in the plants the next day or passed away.

The latest guppy we lost was slightly different in that it lost all the colour in its tail first.

There are no visible wounds or ich or markings on any of the fish we've lost.

We are using tap water with Easylife Aquamaker and Filter medium

I will do another test today when I can and let you know the readings.

Hmmm. I've never heard of either of those products, but the "filter medium" is probably something you don't need, sounds gimmicky, from the bit I've read about it...and I can't find an ingredient list

Have you always used these 2 products?

 

[Essjay]

EasyLife is a European brand, which suggests you are in the UK if not somewhere in Europe. If you are in the UK, you don't need a GH tester, just look on your water company's website for hardness.

EasyLife AquaMaker is a water conditioner which does all sorts of things

• Removes chlorine
• Removes chloramine
• Removes heavy metals like copper, zinc and lead
• Binds and detoxifies poisonous ammonia
• Binds and neutralizes toxic nitrite
• Binds and neutralizes nitrate
• Destresses fish
• Protects the mucous membrane and gills of fish

The website does not have much info on FilterMedium
https://www.easylifeaquarium.co.uk/...lter-medium/filter-medium-freshwater-aquarium but it sounds like the usual snake oil.

Neither product should cause problems for the fish, though FilterMedium possibly doesn't really do anything useful.

 

[hansgruber7]

Sounds to me like you introduced some sort of disease or parasite with the new guppies you introduced. I doubt it's a water quality issue if you haven't changed anything significant. You could try to figure out what it might be and treat it. You could also look into the Aquarium Co Op Quarantine trio of medications which worked for me in a somewhat similar scenario.

 

[isherwoodc]

Hmmm. I've never heard of either of those products, but the "filter medium" is probably something you don't need, sounds gimmicky, from the bit I've read about it...and I can't find an ingredient list

Have you always used these 2 products?

Yeah have used for a few years at least, mainly the one to sort the water when we add more in after a change.

I've had a look online and our water is Hard/very hard (which has always been the case in our area)

Here are test results:

pH: 7.8 - 8.0
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: Between 5 and 10 ppm

Tank is 200 litre with Fluval 306 pump

Now have:

2 cardinal tetras (lost a handful over the past week)
4 leopard guppies (one looking miserable up to)
1 watermelon guppy (after losing the others)
1 bn pleco who is probably about 8 yrs old
7 or 8 amano shrimp which we've had maybe 4 years

 

[Slaphppy7]

ANY ammonia is not good...I would get some decent conditioner, either Seachem Prime, or API Tap Water Conditioner...do a large WC, keep an eye on params, and WC's as necessary the next several days...but, this won't help if any diseases/parasites have been introduced to the tank

 

[isherwoodc]

ANY ammonia is not good...I would get some decent conditioner, either Seachem Prime, or API Tap Water Conditioner...do a large WC, keep an eye on params, and WC's as necessary the next several days...but, this won't help if any diseases/parasites have been introduced to the tank

Will do this, we did a large change a few days ago but it seemed each time we changed the water they'd get stressed out and we'd lose more. Seem to be in a vicious cycle of trying to resolve it and causing more stress

 

[Slaphppy7]

Will do this, we did a large change a few days ago but it seemed each time we changed the water they'd get stressed out and we'd lose more. Seem to be in a vicious cycle of trying to resolve it and causing more stress

Sorry to hear that...it can get really frustrating when you don't have all of the answers

 

[Naughts]

Yeah have used for a few years at least, mainly the one to sort the water when we add more in after a change.

I've had a look online and our water is Hard/very hard (which has always been the case in our area)

Here are test results:

pH: 7.8 - 8.0
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: Between 5 and 10 ppm

Tank is 200 litre with Fluval 306 pump

Now have:

2 cardinal tetras (lost a handful over the past week)
4 leopard guppies (one looking miserable up to)
1 watermelon guppy (after losing the others)
1 bn pleco who is probably about 8 yrs old
7 or 8 amano shrimp which we've had maybe 4 years

Can you give a number for the hard water? In PPM or DGH?
What are the test results for the source water?