Fish dying!!!! Why!?

[Imat]

I have a 55gallon tank with a good filtration system. This tank has been cycled and used for years (we bought it used and it came with fish that we gave away). We use the API master kit to test water levels etc.

We bought our first fish a week ago.

I HAD

6 otto cats
15 neon tetras
8 black neon tetraa
2 german blue rams

All these are compatible and we have kept temp at 80.00

We had our first fish death 4 days ago (1 neon tetra)

Yesterday one of my rams died.

Today..... I came to find

1 dead otto cat
1 dead black neon
7 dead neon tetras

Wth!?

Im freaking out.

I tested my levels again(have been daily).

Ph 6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

One dead fish was literally disinigrated in the filter... A few have chunks missing... What is causing this!?

???


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[Brookster123]

You picked the most difficult fish to keep alive in the entire store... all those fish are notorious 3 dayers.. if you got them from a chain store? ? Good luck..

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[Imat]

Seriously....sigh. This sucks.

Well if i can manage to not kill anymore or wait until they are all dead and make sure my water is ok i will order those rams online. And as far as schools..... Rummynose tetras maybe? I loved the neons. Are they hard to keep just cuz they are from chain stores?




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[emilygupps]

Danios are pretty hardy... Maybe try a small school of them?


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[Brookster123]

Seriously....sigh. This sucks.

Well if i can manage to not kill anymore or wait until they are all dead and make sure my water is ok i will order those rams online. And as far as schools..... Rummynose tetras maybe? I loved the neons. Are they hard to keep just cuz they are from chain stores?




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If I listed all the fish that died in my 20 tall in 3 months? Oh man, my gf called it the death box.. sometime you just get crap stock.. good rn's can be tough to come by but I've found mine to be pretty tough actually..

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[confusedfishmom]

Neons are notoriously tough, at first. I've been told to expect deaths with those, as much as half of your original purchase.

 

[Delapool]

Tetras I find are hardy once they get established. These were the last fish I stocked to allow the tank to settle first.

 

[Imat]

Well lost another black neon and my last ram..... I am so sad. I dont know what to do. I dont understand what is killing them


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[Delapool]

Any marks on them when they do die? Are the others still swimming and schooling ok?

 

[Imat]

No pretty sure they are all going to die.

They start swimming weird. Almost like they cant breathe. We changed the water. Triple checked our water parameters.

I just noticed some white spots on their fin?? Very small one or two? Idk.


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[mas8394]

Fish bought from chainstores, such as Petco, normally don't last a week. Whether it's disease, genetic mutations, or what ever else. As long as your parameters are fine, send the fish back and get your money back. I personally hate going to Petco and Petsmart for fish, but I have no choice.

 

[confusedfishmom]

Ich. Treat for Ich. Spots show up after the disease has started.

 

[Delapool]

No pretty sure they are all going to die.

They start swimming weird. Almost like they cant breathe. We changed the water. Triple checked our water parameters.

I just noticed some white spots on their fin?? Very small one or two? Idk.


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If you pick up any more fish from there I'd be tempted to test the bag water for ammonia, ph and nitrate just to see how different to your tank water.

Do you mean like white, hard salt grains (ich)?

You can try nursing them a bit with reduced water flow if high flow, lights out, light feeding and basically just leave the tank alone but it sounds diabolical. Here if I bought a dozen tetras, I might have one or maybe two lost. After that they would be established.

 

[Imat]

Dont plan on picking up more fish. Mine are still dying. 1 last night, 3 this morning....


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[MonkeyMonk86]

After there are no occupants, I'd remove the biological filter material and put it in a small QT adding ammonia daily until I could do a PWC and add a few fish to the QT.

In the 55 gallon, I'd run a course of 6 gallons bleach: 49 gallons of water for 3 hours. Then, empty and rinse several times with Super prime water. After running plain dechlor water for a week, if all was successful in the QT (occupants alive and healthy), I'd put the biological back into the 55 gallon filter and the new occupants in the tank.

I'm very radical. I've downed my 29 gallon tank 2X (once for slimy gunk, and once for snails) and only recently got as far as adding occupants. I used Clorox and boiling for the snails.

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Angela1108]

You mentioned you bought the first fish a week ago. That's a pretty big stock list. Even if the tank had been cycled adding that many at once would probably start at the very least a mini cycle if they were added quickly. Just a thought. How often after adding them did you test everything ?


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[Imat]

I guess technically we started buying fish the 4th of august (so a little over a week ago). We didnt add all the fish at the same time but probably within 3 days. We didnt have any deaths until 3 or 4 days ago. We had tested water before adding fish and then tested the water daily after our first fish death.
I still think they are sick with something. Small white dot on their fins.. Like the size of a grain of salt.
I am very new to this though so not sure.

We currently have...

1 black neon
6 neon tetras
5 oto cats

The rest have died.

Talk about super depressing...... Im almost scared to try again in the future. (Dont worry i am not trying to add more anytime in the near future).



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[hroom88]

That definitely sounds like Ich. It is common for fish to die shortly after introduction. One of the main reasons being high NH3 in the water where it was stored. Many of these aquarium fish are wild caught and travel for days in the same poorly aerated container with no filtration. Toxic ammonia builds up within these containers, and by the time they reach the store they are irreparably damaged with disease or severely weakened immune systems. Sometimes the fish are sold the day they arrive. We take them home and introduce them to different water parameters yet again[the store being the first], and we all know what happens in next couple of days. IME I try and get in touch with breeders in my area or buy fish from friends and acquaintances, or last option, pay a comparatively high amount and get fish from a reputed store. The reason many of these stores[don't know about Petco] charge a high amount is because the livestock that they have is usually of good quality and properly quarantined with less mortality.

 

[emilygupps]

That definitely sounds like Ich. It is common for fish to die shortly after introduction. One of the main reasons being high NH3 in the water where it was stored. Many of these aquarium fish are wild caught and travel for days in the same poorly aerated container with no filtration. Toxic ammonia builds up within these containers, and by the time they reach the store they are irreparably damaged with disease or severely weakened immune systems. Sometimes the fish are sold the day they arrive. We take them home and introduce them to different water parameters yet again[the store being the first], and we all know what happens in next couple of days. IME I try and get in touch with breeders in my area or buy fish from friends and acquaintances, or last option, pay a comparatively high amount and get fish from a reputed store. The reason many of these stores[don't know about Petco] charge a high amount is because the livestock that they have is usually of good quality and properly quarantined with less mortality.

+1

The petco in my area will take fish from locals, for instance all the angels sold at petco Redlands come from a local home breeder who donates them to the store, probably because he has way to many but also he told my friend (the manager) that he is tired of the poor quality angels that were sold before.

I have two if his. They are the strongest fish in my tank. One of them I got for free because it was so small, the size of a dime. It's now quarter size and always starving. Tough little baby fish.


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[hroom88]

The sad news is many species[like otos which I have recently taken a liking to] simply cannot be bred in home aquaria. Pros have mixed success with them. For those unfortunately you will have to take your chances keeping your fingers crossed.