Fish and Shrimp Are MIA!

[Linnie]

Hey all,

I have a 3-month old 29-gallon tank with guppies, mollies, a gourami, platys, and snails. Two ghost shrimp went missing. Two catfish died, one with a missing tail. A pregnant platy died. My African dwarf frog died after a week, with limbs missing. And tonight a guppy is missing. The values are all within normal range and the temp is 76. Monthly water changes and filter cleaning.

Is it possible the black mollies or gourami are killing/eating fish and shrimp? I'm new to this and want to figure out this murder mystery....

 

[coralbandit]

Who test your water???
Normal is 99% BS IMO!
Sounds like you have/had a few too many fish and shrimp that might not get along so well?
Most here change water more often then mothly(more like weekly) but if you tested your water yourself you could let your nitrates guide you.

What you got left,
what kind of filter are you using,
and do you have your own test kit(what kind{liquid or strip}).
Should be long before we can get you enjoying the fish hobby...

 

[Linnie]

he filter is Aqua Clear 110. I am more inclined to follow the advise of you all on this forum than the employees at the pet stores, so I'll try doing the water cleaning more often!

Just tested now (Tetra EasyStrips)...ph 7.2, alkalinity around 100, chlorine 0, hardness 150 (hard), nitrite 0, and nitrate about 20.

Right now I have a gourami, 2 black mollies, a guppy, 2 Mickey platys, and 2 snails

 

[unstopaBULLFish]

From what I've heard Strip testing is very inaccurate.... I reccomend getting an API freshwater master test kit. $23 on EBay which is much cheaper than In Petstores. These are ESSENTIAL to finding out why your fish and shrimp are dead/ missing.

If you're Params are okay then My thoughts would be your fish may have parasites or infections... Ghost shrimp could have been eaten by gourami


Sent via the power of my aching thumbs
Cn

 

[Linnie]

Thank you very much! I'm going to look into that now

 

[unstopaBULLFish]

No problem... Second you get the test kit we can help you find this problem.


Sent via the power of my aching thumbs
Cn

 

[coralbandit]

0 nitrite and 20 nitrate says your tank filter is cycled.
20 ppm nitrate is good if the test is accurate.
I agree that liquid is they way to go.
Sounds like you still have fish that can get big fr tank ,but not the end of the world.
Just may take more work.
The 110 on 29 is mucho good!(along with the numbers from test if correct again).
Let tank stabilize(add no fish) and change 25-50% water weekly.
Make sure it is close to tank temp and dechlorinated when changing.
What you got in the 110 for media? stock stuff?(I love Aquaclears!)

 

[Oto]

Do you have any shrimp left? Sometimes what you think are ghost shrimp turn out to be marcos. I found out when I caught one eating my endlers. They could probably eat off a tail or a frog leg.

 

[Linnie]

What do you mean for media and stock....decorations? I'm still learning all this terminology, lol.
There are no shrimp left, they just disappeared one night. Waited a few days, then cleaned the tank VERY carefully,but no sign of them. I've seen the gourami nipping at catfish tails before (or what seems like nipping)...and shortly after, both catfish died (one w missing tail). The store employees said all these fish and creatures were compatible as they were added. I have to do my own research though next time though

 

[coralbandit]

What do you mean for media and stock....decorations? I'm still learning all this terminology, lol.
There are no shrimp left, they just disappeared one night. Waited a few days, then cleaned the tank VERY carefully,but no sign of them. I've seen the gourami nipping at catfish tails before (or what seems like nipping)...and shortly after, both catfish died (one w missing tail). The store employees said all these fish and creatures were compatible as they were added. I have to do my own research though next time though

I was wondering if you had anything special in filter?
The media is what came with the filter.

IMO gouramis can be pretty tough.
Any of those fish could have eaten a shrimp,but you might want to look in the filter??

 

[ArtistGardener]

One thought on the shrimp only.... a 110 filter on a 29 gallon tank is pretty heavy-duty. Ghost shrimp might have been sucked into the uptake tube--or gotten stuck there then eaten by the gourami. And yes, monthly water changes are not near often enough. Hope things settle down for your tank. You might want to move the lever on your filter to the right to reduce the water flow/intake to a less dramatic level, too.

 

[Linnie]

Thank you! We actually inherited this tank/filter from a family member who was no longer using it. I didn't realize the filter was so strong (although I'm glad it's an efficient one). I'll try turning it down later. Poor shrimp

 

[Gillie]

The store employees said all these fish and creatures were compatible as they were added. I have to do my own research though next time though

Rule #1 Ultimately the stores goal is to make a buck so unfortunately quite a few of them will feed you a load of ? to do so.

Research is imperative and your phone will be your best friend at the store. I use mine to google things I've never seen or compare prices on the spot to make a decision.

Out of curiosity what fish did you have in there?

 

[Linnie]

Good point about the store employees, or at least some of them.
The ones that didn't make it were....2 ghost shrimp, an African dwarf frog, a mickey mouse platy, a guppy, and a pink dalmation molly.
What we have in there now...2 mickey mouse platys, 2 black mollies, 2 snails, a gourami, and a guppy.

Definitely not adding more for a while...

 

[Gillie]

Hmm, I really don't see any real problems with the stock except for the pink dalmatian Molly, dalmatians should be black and white so if yours was pink, it was injected with dye and likely doomed anyway.

 

[Linnie]

I don't know how to add a photo, but the fish was definitely pinkish and named as pink....how sad that they're dyed! I Googled images and the black and white is nice without any changes!