fish keep dying? no idea what problem is

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fishfan12

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Feb 4, 2009
Messages
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i have a 15 gallon tank with what used to be 10 fish in it. 8 of them were tropical and two are albino catfish. four fish have died(three of the same type). the reason the first fish dies was a slight ammonia increase (0.25 ppm). i changed the water and the ammonia disappeared. i don't know why 3 others died. in the course of two weeks. currently ammonia is 0, nitrite/rate= 0, ph=7.0, chlorine=0. any ideas as to the problem?
 
api master kit. that is probably the nitrate( it is at the lowest color of still good)
 
How long has the tank been running and what's your maintenance schedule? Ten fish in a 15g tank should lead to some kind of nitrate readings in a well-cycled tank. Are you sure you shook the nitrate test bottles as directed?

What kind of tropical fish and catfish are we dealing with here? If you had eight silver dollars and two albino channel cats in a 15g, I'd be surprised if any of them were still alive. If it's eight neons and two cories, we'd be looking for a totally different set of problems.
 
i have had the tank 1.5 years with the exact same fish through out. it was 3 hi-fi skirt tetras, 3 sunset wag platys, 2 serpae tetras, and 2 albino cory catfish (poop eaters).
 
I may be wrong, but I don't think ANY fish eat poo. :(

+1 only thing that eats poo is a siphon/gravel vac :D

are you sure you are doing your tests right? as BigJim said if the tank is truly cycled, there should be a readable amount of nitrate. have you changed your filter media lately? did the fish show any sign of illness or distress prior to dying??
 
the fish were fine about 5 hours before they died(i left for work and when i came home they were dead) and the catfish are bottom feeders. i have been testing the same way since i got the tank. i change my filter on the first of every month.
 
No need to change your filter, unless it's falling apart or you need to remove meds using new carbon. That is where most of your good bacteria live, so when you change the media out, you run the risk of a mini cycle.
When the filter gets cruddy, just rinse it in old tank water, and put back.
 
No need to change your filter, unless it's falling apart or you need to remove meds using new carbon. That is where most of your good bacteria live, so when you change the media out, you run the risk of a mini cycle.
When the filter gets cruddy, just rinse it in old tank water, and put back.

+1 exactly. if you are using cartridges that have carbon inside, just take them apart and take out all the carbon, and stuff some filter floss inside (polyester fill). this is how i seed my tanks as well, just pull out some of the filter floss and replace it with new, and put the used in a new tank.
 
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