Dead platy

[Pckerfreak44]

I have 3 serpae tetra 2 neons 2 platies and some ghost shrimp. Last night one of my plates ( she was pregnant.) died. I tested the water and nitrates and nitrites are somewhat high, and my ph is really high. What happend? Lol

 

[Aces11]

How long has the tank been set up? Is it cycled? And how big is it?

 

[Pckerfreak44]

Bout a week and a half. It's fully cycled. Ten gal

 

[maxwellag]

If it has been set up for only a week and a half, there is no way it's cycled. Cycling isn't just letting the tank run for a few days empty, it's making sure the beneficial bacteria will be able to support the levels of ammonia in the tank.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Not really sure if your tank is cycled. But it is very common for platys to die when giving birth!

 

[Aces11]

If your nitrites were high, I don't think it's fully cycled. After a cycle, ammonia and nitrite should always be zero. Did you add all the fish at one time?

 

[Pckerfreak44]

Well I took my old filter from my other tank that's fully cycled and I'm using it in this tank so I thought that was an instant cycle? And no I put the serapes in there then couple days later the rest.

 

[Aces11]

Well if you used an established filter, then it really should be almost instant cycled. Maybe you had a mini cycle of some sort. Did you change the media at all?

 

[Pckerfreak44]

Nope I just took it out and put it in this tank. I'm thinkin it was just cuz she pregnant and the spike of the nitrates stressed her out to much? Maybe I put too many fish in at one time so it had a little miny cycle. I did a water change this morning.

 

[maxwellag]

Well I took my old filter from my other tank that's fully cycled and I'm using it in this tank so I thought that was an instant cycle? And no I put the serapes in there then couple days later the rest.

are you sure the filter that you moved to the new tank had good bacteria (cycled)? If so, I think your problem was that you stocked too fast. You should've added the serpaes and waited atleast a week, and tested the water. When it had no ammonia or nitrite, you should've added more. I think what happened is the bacteria did not have enough time to multiply and adjust to the ammonia levels (of the platies and serpaes combined) and the ammonia levels became too high for the platy to survive. The reason only one died is probably because usually the weakest or sickest fish die from ammonia first. (Unless they're too sensitive)

 

[Aces11]

Yes you probably stocked too quickly. It was probably a spike in ammonia or nitrite that killed the fish because I don't think nitrate is nearly as toxic.

 

[maxwellag]

Yes you probably stocked too quickly. It was probably a spike in ammonia or nitrite that killed the fish because I don't think nitrate is nearly as toxic.

I agree. Nitrate isn't toxic unless in numbers of (roughly) over 30 ppm.

 

[Pckerfreak44]

Oh yea good point. And that's what I was thinking. The filter defiantly had good bacteria. It was running in the other tank for about a month or two. So I don't think that could be a problem. It had to be the new fish too fast. Ill make daily water changes for a week and give the bacteria enough time.