Whats going on???? I'm at a lost

[matrix]

Hi all

I own a Rio 180 tank had it for a few months now.

Have in it at the moment

3 pink catfish
6 neons
2 kissing Gourami
4 hatchet fish
1 female Siamese Fighter
3 male guppys
5 female guppys
1 black molly

I do a water change 20% about every 4 to 5 weeks.
Do water tests a couple of times a week and everything is fine . My PH is a little down maybe like a 6.6 -6.8 .
Change my white fillter out when i do a water change. And i've took my carbon fillter out as i've been told to when i bought the tank.
Temp is set at 80

Have no real plant life in the tank just plastic plants as well and some slate.

Main problem is that i seem to have lost a few fish over th course of a couple of weeks. And i have no idea why?

I've lost
2 black mollys
3 guppys
1 Gourami
1 catfish

Last thursday i lost a placostamus i think it is. Added a male Siamese Fighter on saturday he looked great! .
Everything seemed fine but on tuseday i found him on the floor in a right mess his tail was all mashed up. And i seen one of my blue and red Gourami going for him.
We had 2 blue and red Gouramis at this point one was a evil devil always chasing and nipping the other one. Any how the male Siamese Fighter died later that day.
My girlfriends dad came around and he took the evil blue and red Gourami home with him to have in his tank. Then around dinner time today i found the other blue and red Gourami just floating around and about to die. Needless to say he died tonight.
So i have no idea why they've died the past few days other than the male Siamese Fighter.
Everything looks set up fine is it just one of those things? or are my fish not compatiable.
I've looked over my fish they all look healthly no white spots or anything on them.
Anything else i can do ?

Help please!!!

Thank you.

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like bad water quality you should be doing a gravel vac and water change weekly to keep the fish healthy, can you post test results in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, do a gravel vac and water change and the fin rot was from poor water quality.

 

[matrix]

I had my ammonia tested at the shop on saturday they said it was fine.

As for the others i have a paper test you know the ones the nitrite,nitrate hardly change colour to the first level so there fine i guess. Goes white and in shades of pink mines white still.

As for ph it's around yellow orange which looks around 6.8 .

I did my last water change on thursday last week.
As for the gravel change i have gravel and sand so it could get messy

 

[WILDER]

Ok then, the new fish you aded could of fetched something in with ithem are they flicking and rubbing against objects, any heavy breathing, no patches of fungus on the fish,any sign at all to go on.

 

[matrix]

No they look very healthy no rubbing or anything no marks on them at all . All eat well and breathing seems fine as well.

 

[WILDER]

Has there colour darkened an it could be a bacteria infection.

 

[bigfish]

What do u mean by u change the white media at every water change do u mean filter sponges or fine filter floss???

Don't worry we will sort ya out in no time!!!!

 

[matrix]

Neither myself or my girlfriend have noticed any colour change.
Yeah sorry i mean the thin white filter that sits at the top in the filter tank.

If anything as i've just done another water test i'd say the ph might be a bit low but nothing major 6.5-6.8 i'd say

 

[The-Raven]

I think more frequent water changes are necessary. 20% every 4-5 weeks sounds pretty scarce...

 

[WILDER]

Try water changes for the next couple of days and if you are still losing fish maybe use anti internal bacteria med, if you have no scaless fish left add some salt to the tank, good luck.

 

[matrix]

My local dealer said to do that so i followed his advice i'll do them every couple of days now then and see what happens.

Thanks for your help guys

 

[matrix]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Female Siamese Fighter is now dead aswell. She was very healthy and i just went to feed them and now she's dead found her floating near the filter intake.
They seem to die right away with no signs this is the wierd thing

I did notice her head and part of her top part was a dark brown colour. Is that normal cause she's dead?

Also when the blue and red Gourami died it was nearly bent in half. And the catfish look liked it had it's life sucked out of it, no eyes and looked like sucked to death

Really need to sort this out as i'm begining to get stressed over this.
I have no clue waht to do ideas please


Thank you for your time

 

[pica_nuttalli]

the filter floss you've been changing every month is where the majority of your beneficial bacteria live. you don't need to change it until its so covered in debris that water won't flow through.

there's no need to do a "gravel change". you do need to get the crud out of your substrate, however. if you don't already own a gravel vacuum, get one. use it to do a ~20% water change. stir your gravel up a bit as you do this. also, about how deep is your substrate?

its rare that you can keep male siamese fighters with gouramis or female fighters. i strongly suggest you not try it again. your fighter's tail was probably not ruined by finrot but by fighting with the female or the gourami.

sounds like the catfish may have been a victim of the kissing gouramis, but everyone else i'd have to attribute to ammonia poisoning. best thing you can do is water changes more often.

 

[newfishies]

sorry to hear of all of your losses!!!!

if i were you, i would...

invest in a testing kit for ammonia

never keep any bettas/siamese fighters with any guppies or gourami's - they will see each other as cometition, so although you might not see any fighting, they can still stress each other out ( and this stredd can lead to other diseases/death...i also wouldn't keep male and female bettas together

do a daily water change (20% or so) to keep the ammonia down

once the ammonia/nitrate/nitrites are normal and steady do a weekly water change (20%) with a gravel vac.

not change the filter floss, but rinse it out in the tank water you have just removed from the tank to get the major gunk out, without losing the beneficial bacteria...

hope that helps!!! best of luck!

 

[rdd1952]

I think you have an uncycled tank and the ammonia and more likely nitrite are your problem. You need to get a master kit that tests ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph and throw the strips away. You said the lfs said your ammonia was ok but what was the actual reading? I am certainly no expert but here are my suggestions:

Do the daily 20% water changes as already suggested until the tank cycles. After that, do weekly 20% water changes and vacuum the bottom with each change.
Put the carbon back in the filter. The carbon gives the good bacteria more surface to cling to.
Don't change the filter until it is ragged and tearing apart. Just swish/rinse it in dechlorinated water every couple weeks. Everytime you change your filter, you have to start a mini cycle all over again as you have just thrown away a good portion of your good bacteria.