I have a 20 gal tank and in the last month I've lost 4 of my inhabitants - 2 oto cats (don't know the cause but they had plenty of food), 1 dwarf flame gourami (showed dropsy, don't know the cause) and a gold mystery snail. I'd like to get some more otos because I know they do better in small groups but should I wait awhile to make sure there aren't any more fatalities, or might this just have been a bad month?
should I replace the fishies lost?
- Thread starter hbeth82
- Start date
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mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
Did your water params look ok? I lost 13 fish in 24 hours the other day with good water params and no diseases apparent in my tanks... Alot of people highly suggested thoroughly cleaning everything with a vinegar solution, changing the filters, and making sure buckets, gravel vacs, python, anything coming in contact with the tank was cleaned as well... you may want to consider doing the same before adding fish to prevent the possibility of a disease being in the tank and killing the new fish as well...
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
It is better to wait a bit (maybe a few weeks) to make sure there is nothing in the tank that will kill your new inhabitants. Basically, you are QT'ing your own tank just in case. A good cleaning in addition is not a bad idea either.
Thanks for the advice. I guess it makes the most sense to hold off for a month or so before getting any new occupants, tank just looks kinda empty 
.
I'd had trouble with high-nitrate levels in the tap water in late spring/ early summer (attributed it to a lousy test kit, never imagining that tap water could be 40ppm+) but then started using purified water and now tap is much better. For the last several months, the water parameters have been fine - 0 ammonia & nitrite, nitrate <20ppm.
Is it possible / likely that the high nitrate levels earlier this year caused enough harm to the fish that it just took them a while to get sick and die? Or do fish start having problems much more quickly than that? Feel horrible that I didn't notice the nitrate in the tap sooner.
. I'd had trouble with high-nitrate levels in the tap water in late spring/ early summer (attributed it to a lousy test kit, never imagining that tap water could be 40ppm+) but then started using purified water and now tap is much better. For the last several months, the water parameters have been fine - 0 ammonia & nitrite, nitrate <20ppm.
Is it possible / likely that the high nitrate levels earlier this year caused enough harm to the fish that it just took them a while to get sick and die? Or do fish start having problems much more quickly than that? Feel horrible that I didn't notice the nitrate in the tap sooner.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
40 is prob not high enough to kill ... the fish you have are fairly hardy & should be able to handle a gradual increase in nitrates to that kind of level.
When it gets to 100 or 200, nitrates are reputed to cause organ damage in goldfish & indeed had been blamed for delayed (weeks or months) sickness & death.
When it gets to 100 or 200, nitrates are reputed to cause organ damage in goldfish & indeed had been blamed for delayed (weeks or months) sickness & death.
