My fish are dying off one by one.

[weezerbot]

I really don't know what to do about this. In a matter of two weeks I have lost 5 fish. I have a 20 gallon tank which was planted until a week ago when my anacharis started to disappear. I yanked it out and two days later one of my Silver Dollars was dead. About three days after that, the other one kicked...I figured it was because they had gorged themselves to death! Let me back track a little to death #1, which was my cool pleco guy and I have no idea the cause of death on him. Ok, so this morning I wake up and one of my Tiger Barbs and my male Dwarf Gourami (*sniff*, Benny) were dead! The barb was no surprise, he hadn't been looking too good, not sure if it was a parasite or if he had gotten beat up, his stomach was sunken in and one of his little fins was torn up...but not fin rot. Last night he was looking very dark, almost black in some spots, and I said to myself he will be lucky to make it through the night. As for Benny, that was a total surprise, I don't know why he died, he has been just fine.

All of these fish except for Benny I have had for over 2 years. They lived 1.5 of those years in another 20 gallon tank with nothing but a cheesy filter and an algie problem...with no problems!! I hardly ever tested the water and never added anything to it like buffer or nitromax as I do now. I moved in January and got them all a nice new 20 gallon tank with canister filter. I test their water weekly and do water changes...the only thing I have noticed changed was my nitrates have slowly crawled up to 40, and I have a diatom problem (brown rust like stuff) showing up in the tank. Because of this I have been leaving the light off most of the day.

Any suggestions, please? I'm really tired of my fishes dying!!

 

[zilla870]

well first off if the people here are going to help u they will ask water parameter. its the first question everyone asks if u dont tell them. for me still a newbie and i would say water change of 25% to 50% and maybe it was just a parasite like you thought

 

[Meredith]

Answer these Qs to ensure we have as much information as possible about your ailing fish and its environment:

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
9A~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

 

[weezerbot]

Well many of these questions were answered in my first post so I will not repeat...please re-read if the following answers still leave you with questions:

Nitrate=20
Nitrite=0
ppm hardness=120
ppm alkalinity=120
pH=8.0
ammonia=0.25

Last water change was yesterday 80%, including filter change. Canister filter is a Cascade 700.

I managed to have no dead fish yesterday, but today I came home to yet another, so currently in my tank I have:

2 Tiger Barbs, 2 years old, 2 inches
1 female Dwarf Gourami, had for 2 months, 1.5 inches
1 common pleco, had for 3 weeks, 3 inches
1 Otto Cat, had for 5 days, about an inch

The only change made to diet was adding anti-parasite medicated food (jungle), started last week.

I really have no idea what is going on here. I do my filter changes once a month and water changes about every 2 weeks or so, about 25%. No new decor or anything like that added. The only other info i can provide is the last three fish after they have died, parts of them have turned white. I don't know if that is normal but none of my other fish have ever done that. I also just noticed the Otto Cat seems to have a white fuzzy spot on his back. I have never owned one of these, but I don't think thats normal!!!

PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[zilla870]

ph for dwarf gouramis is suppost to b in range of:6.5-7.5. otos is suppost to be:5.5-7.5. tiger barb ph: 6.5-7.5. on the oto the spot sounds as if it is a fungus. get somefungus clear. it may help! hypostomus plecostomus is the only fish to go to 8.0 ph.

 

[weezerbot]

ph for dwarf gouramis is suppost to b in range of:6.5-7.5. otos is suppost to be:5.5-7.5. tiger barb ph: 6.5-7.5. on the oto the spot sounds as if it is a fungus. get somefungus clear. it may help! hypostomus plecostomus is the only fish to go to 8.0 ph.

Any suggestion on lowering the pH? The water here in Phoenix is especially hard, and I've read its better to maintain a regular pH than to continue to mess with it and have it constantly fluxuate. As for the white spot, I guess its not fuzzy at all, its just kinda there...again, not sure if that supposed to be there or not!

Thanks in advance!

 

[zilla870]

fungus clear shouldnt hurt but it worth the try. i have heard that some bogwood and driftwood will lower ph.

 

[SteveM]

Any suggestion on lowering the pH? The water here in Phoenix is especially hard, and I've read its better to maintain a regular pH than to continue to mess with it and have it constantly fluxuate.

I believe you have read correctly - the last thing your fish need if they are stressed and dying is for you to start chasing some magic pH value.

Was that 0.25ppm ammonia before or after the 80% water change? If it was after then you had over 1ppm before, which at a pH of 8 is deadly. Maybe pulling the plants is causing your tank to cycle.

 

[weezerbot]

Was that 0.25ppm ammonia before or after the 80% water change? If it was after then you had over 1ppm before, which at a pH of 8 is deadly. Maybe pulling the plants is causing your tank to cycle.

It was after the cycling, but also after my latest death had been in the tank, I'm guessing for a few hours. I was planning on putting plants back in after I had gotten rid of the Silver Dollars, but now that they are all dead and I don't think there is anyone else left who will threaten the plant life. I was also thinking driftwood, but haven't gotten around to looking at any yet. The thing is, this tank was planted for a mere week...before that my plants were fake! It could very well be that its cycling, but I test once a week and my ammonia has never been over 0.25. I was thinking about getting some antibiotics and medicating everybody for a week, and see what happens after that.

 

[weezerbot]

*Update*

Well the 5 fish I have left in the tank have survived a few more days, so I think things are starting to settle down. I went and got some new plants yesterday, and I'm now medicating for fungus and parasites. I'm off to look at getting some driftwood today, and hopefully in another week or so Joon will have another Benny! Thanks for all the help you guys and I will keep you posted.

 

[mattrox]

I what is your routine with the filter changes. If they lasted 2 years the pH of 8 probably didn't do the damage that you had now. Try to get a handle on what caused the problem because you don't want a repeat down the track.

 

[weezerbot]

My routine? I change the filters once a month. I wish I knew what was going on...the only thing I can think of is maybe I had too many fishes in my tank. I guess that means I need another tank!!