Two fish died today

[Jen283]

Hello -

I have a 10 gal aquarium which had 2 platies, 1 platy fry, and 3 cory catfish.

The tank seemed fine for about 2 months - the platies even had babies! (which was a pleasant surprise)

However, today two of my fish were dead - one of the two original platies and the smallest of the catfish. I noticed beforehand that they seemed a little stressed/timid... I don't know. It seems weird that they died on the same day.

So I took them out, did a partial water change and tested my water - it's perfect now, so I don't think it could have been high in ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, etc... because I would have gotten SOME kind of reading if that was what killed them. Maybe it was just social stress? I know the catfish are supposed to school and the little one never seemed to fit in, and the living platy always seemed to bully the dead one.

I did not notice any white spots on either of the dead fish that would indicate a case of "ick."

 

[BettaGal]

Hello -

I have a 10 gal aquarium which had 2 platies, 1 platy fry, and 3 cory catfish.

The tank seemed fine for about 2 months - the platies even had babies! (which was a pleasant surprise)

However, today two of my fish were dead - one of the two original platies and the smallest of the catfish. I noticed beforehand that they seemed a little stressed/timid... I don't know. It seems weird that they died on the same day.

So I took them out, did a partial water change and tested my water - it's perfect now, so I don't think it could have been high in ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, etc... because I would have gotten SOME kind of reading if that was what killed them. Maybe it was just social stress? I know the catfish are supposed to school and the little one never seemed to fit in, and the living platy always seemed to bully the dead one.

I did not notice any white spots on either of the dead fish that would indicate a case of "ick."

Your tank is massively overstocked by the platys, which are very very very messy fish. This will make your water quality go to crap very fast. Platys are livebearers, which means all they do is eat and breed. Next time you do a water change, test the water before you do the change.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I would not call it massively over stocked. Incorrectly stocked but not bad. Did you test your pH? Is it stable? Did the fish show any signs of sickness? Eg: clamped fins, gasping, marks, fuzz, slime, listlessness, sores on the mouth, stingy poop, white threads coming from fish, red gills.

 

[Fett999]

With the platys, I'm guessing its the female that died? You should really have 2 females to every male. I don't think the surviving one was bullying if it is the boy. He probably overstressed her always running around her looking to make more fry. With 2 girls in the tank it spreads his advances between the 2 cutting down on the stress each one feels. If she was feeling stressed anyway then if there was something in the tank she would have been more susceptible to it. The cory may have been ill, which could explain why the others wouldn't let it shoal with them as most fish will try to push out an ill fish from the area. As mum ma says, were there any other signs of illness at all? And how regularly have you been testing the water? It's always best to test before a water change so that you know how far out the readings are.

 

[Jen283]

Actually it was the male platy that died. In fact he did seem to have clamped fins, so maybe the two were just sick and hopefully there isn't a bigger problem.

The female was about twice the size of him and would chase him away even when he wasn't near her. I've even caught her trying to bully the catfish a few times... I think I just got an abnormally aggressive fish. (for a platy anyway, she has never actually nipped or attacked a fish that I've seen)

My pH last night was 7.0-7.2. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrates 0-5. I test once a week (usually) before I vacuum the gravel/partial water change.

I'll post an update in a day or two with water parameters and how the fish are doing.

 

[Jen283]

Took a reading yesterday:
pH 7.2
ammonia 0 ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
nitrates 0-5 ppm

The fish seem to be doing well Hopefully it was just a case of two sick fish.