What caused my fish to die?

[LiamCH]

I am currently away on holiday, and have been for four days. My sister went into my house today to check on my fish, and I was horrified to hear that all six of my neon tetras had passed on (and been partially eaten.) I've been feeling terribly guilty since, as these are not the first fish I've lost... I originally had eight neon tetras, but all but two died of white spot. Then I got four more, five zebra danios and a betta. They were all fine together... At least, they were until a week after I got the betta - the day before I went away. The betta sadly passed on, though I had noticed it had been swimming funny before that. I assumed it had some sort of disease... Did the disease spread to my neon tetras and kill them? Will my five zebra danios be all right? I'm so worried... And guilty. I can't help but think this is somehow my fault. I know many people (not here) would find it ridiculous, but I've been feeling extremely depressed since I learned of what happened.

I should point out that there was NEVER any aggression amongst any of the fish... I'm certain they didn't fight or attack each other.

What do you think happened? Am I to blame?
Thanks for your advice.

By the way, my tank is ten gallons, well filtered and fairly heavily planted.

 

[logansmomma1228]

Did you treat the whole tank when the previous sick were fish? If they are all dead I would suggest tearing it down and starting over. Sounds like some type of bacterial thing going on.

P.S if you don't QT your fish now would be agood time to start... especially if you dont get them from a place you know takes good care of them.

 

[harmy4993]

my guess is ammonia spike.. thats alot of fish for a 10 gallon tanks. thats 6 neons, 5 danios and a betta in a 10 gallon. all added at the same time it sounds.

 

[LiamCH]

They weren't added at the same time, and when I last checked, ammonia was none-existant. I waited a good week between adding new fish. The last ammonia check was before I added the betta, but surely that wouldn't have changed things significantly?

The zebra danios were fine as of this morning, and are apparently swimming around fine... So hopefully they'll be all right. But would you imagine it to be disease rather than pollution? I did regular partial water changes.

 

[Ilikefishes]

Sounds like a bacterial thing. Quarantining your fish would be a good thing to do from now on. I also would recommend getting a bigger tank since the bigger the tank, the easier to maintain, and use the 10g for a QT. Before you QT the fish, put them in a bucket with an air pump and use SeaChem's polyguard for 15 minutes or more then QT for 2 weeks or a month.

 

[LiamCH]

Thanks. Sadly, I definitely have no room for another tank... Though I do have a small three gallon filled only with snails that I might be able to get a heater for to use as a quaranteen tank, if you think that'd do? I hope I will be able to make the ten gallon work... When you say it's a bacterial issue, do you mean infectious bacteria, attacking the fish?

Thanks for all your help so far.

 

[Ilikefishes]

Yes possibly parasites, possibly even columnaris, if your fish had a white discoloration behind it's dorsal fin area. If it was colunaris, that's good enough to wipe out a tank.

 

[logansmomma1228]

Thanks. Sadly, I definitely have no room for another tank... Though I do have a small three gallon filled only with snails that I might be able to get a heater for to use as a quaranteen tank, if you think that'd do? I hope I will be able to make the ten gallon work... When you say it's a bacterial issue, do you mean infectious bacteria, attacking the fish?

Thanks for all your help so far.

the three gallon would be fine for QT, or you can pick up one of those cheap rubbermaid totes somewhere for cheap. Throw a heater in there and a small HOB filter and you should be fine...