110g Freshwater, pretty much a tropical/community fish tank
Fluval 306
Water Parameters:
Tank is 77*
PH: 8.0
NITRITE: 0
NITRATE: > 5
(Taken a week after a water change)
About 6 weeks ago, I added 2 dwarf gouramis, red tail shark, & 5 platies/swordtails to a tank that already had a pleco, clown loach, a silver dollar, giant danio, and rafael catfish. I also replaced my air pump as it was barely pushing enough air to get any bubbles out of a 4" air stone. Over the past 6 weeks, I have lost 2 fish, and treated a third successfully, I think.
Gourami died ~3 weeks ago, Clown Loach died ~1 week ago, Silver Dollar looks better.
Dwarf Gourami
Immediately after adding 2 of these to my tank, my mature Giant Danio began terrorizing all the new fish. The swordtails went to the opposite side of the tank, found a home, and all was good. The shark found a sanctuary in some rocks, and has called it home, and was not bothered again. However the Gouramis were constantly picked on by the Danio. No matter where they went, the Danio followed. They got along with each other fine, even seemed to team up against the Danio, but he just wouldnt quit picking on one of them. I woke up one morning, and couldn't find one of the Gouramis. I looked all over in the tank without moving anything, but no luck. The Danio has also calmed a bit. I thought I had lost him. The next week I did a thorough cleaning of my tank, and found that the lost Gourami had dug a hole in the gravel in the back corner of the tank and been hiding. He looked to be in very poor health, very frail, and refusing to eat. I quarantined him, and attempted to feed him alone, but he wouldn't eat, and died within the day. He did not have any discoloration, just looked malnourished.
Clown Loach
About 2 hours after adding these things, my mature clown loach got stuck face first in my filter pick-up tube (There was not a strainer on it). He was there for maybe 5 minutes until I unplugged my filter, and it left his mouth bloody. About 12 hours later, he got sucked up against the pick-up again, but this time it was his side for about 20 minutes, and it left a pretty defined "hickey" on his side. His demeanor never changed, but I was able to find a strainer local and placed it on my pick-up. I had added an 8" air stone near the pick up that he had been playing in, which I think led to him getting stuck. Approximately a week later, I noticed that he had become very thin and developed white patches on his sides similar to how a sweat stained ball cap looks. I immediately asked my local fish store for advice, was given medication to soak his food it (dried shrimp), and told to feed him the medication for 3 days. I believe we were treating for a parasite. After about a week, the patches went away, but even with over feeding, I couldn't get him to gain weight. He remained very active and playful, until last week, when he began laying on the gravel, and eventually died.
Silver Dollar
About a week after the clown showed symptoms, my silver dollar appeared bloated and had puffy eyes. There was not any discoloration or white marks on him, but he began to act a little erratic, swimming into the glass, and darting all over the place. The local fish store I used (non-chain) was closed at this time, so I visited one of the big box stores. I was suggested a general medication to treat a variety of diseases, and I treated the entire tank for 7 days. The bloat and puffy eyes has since gone away, his behavior is more active than I remember, but is no longer erratic. He appears happy.
Concerns
My major concern is...are these three fish having issues related? Or is it possible that the three fish having problems are isolated incidents that just happen to occur within 6 weeks of each other? Outside of water parameters and observing fish appearance/behavior, is there any way to tell if I have eliminated any harmful influences? How long should I wait to add companions?
I bought a liquid test kit to replace my strips, and that is where my water parameters are from. I did not buy the GH KH add on, but everything in the tank appears to be in a really good range. I want to add Danios to hopefully calm my current one down, I also wanted to add Clown Loaches (initially to accompany my current one, but now to replace him, as I really like how entertaining those fish are). But I obviously don't want to add any fish until I get things figured out. The diet in the tank had been mainly tropical flakes and dried shrimp pellets, but I have replaced the pellets with frozen shrimp brine.
Long read, I know. I'm sorry. I hope breaking up these incidents into groups helped though.
THANK YOU for taking the time to help me!
Fluval 306
Water Parameters:
Tank is 77*
PH: 8.0
NITRITE: 0
NITRATE: > 5
(Taken a week after a water change)
About 6 weeks ago, I added 2 dwarf gouramis, red tail shark, & 5 platies/swordtails to a tank that already had a pleco, clown loach, a silver dollar, giant danio, and rafael catfish. I also replaced my air pump as it was barely pushing enough air to get any bubbles out of a 4" air stone. Over the past 6 weeks, I have lost 2 fish, and treated a third successfully, I think.
Gourami died ~3 weeks ago, Clown Loach died ~1 week ago, Silver Dollar looks better.
Dwarf Gourami
Immediately after adding 2 of these to my tank, my mature Giant Danio began terrorizing all the new fish. The swordtails went to the opposite side of the tank, found a home, and all was good. The shark found a sanctuary in some rocks, and has called it home, and was not bothered again. However the Gouramis were constantly picked on by the Danio. No matter where they went, the Danio followed. They got along with each other fine, even seemed to team up against the Danio, but he just wouldnt quit picking on one of them. I woke up one morning, and couldn't find one of the Gouramis. I looked all over in the tank without moving anything, but no luck. The Danio has also calmed a bit. I thought I had lost him. The next week I did a thorough cleaning of my tank, and found that the lost Gourami had dug a hole in the gravel in the back corner of the tank and been hiding. He looked to be in very poor health, very frail, and refusing to eat. I quarantined him, and attempted to feed him alone, but he wouldn't eat, and died within the day. He did not have any discoloration, just looked malnourished.
Clown Loach
About 2 hours after adding these things, my mature clown loach got stuck face first in my filter pick-up tube (There was not a strainer on it). He was there for maybe 5 minutes until I unplugged my filter, and it left his mouth bloody. About 12 hours later, he got sucked up against the pick-up again, but this time it was his side for about 20 minutes, and it left a pretty defined "hickey" on his side. His demeanor never changed, but I was able to find a strainer local and placed it on my pick-up. I had added an 8" air stone near the pick up that he had been playing in, which I think led to him getting stuck. Approximately a week later, I noticed that he had become very thin and developed white patches on his sides similar to how a sweat stained ball cap looks. I immediately asked my local fish store for advice, was given medication to soak his food it (dried shrimp), and told to feed him the medication for 3 days. I believe we were treating for a parasite. After about a week, the patches went away, but even with over feeding, I couldn't get him to gain weight. He remained very active and playful, until last week, when he began laying on the gravel, and eventually died.
Silver Dollar
About a week after the clown showed symptoms, my silver dollar appeared bloated and had puffy eyes. There was not any discoloration or white marks on him, but he began to act a little erratic, swimming into the glass, and darting all over the place. The local fish store I used (non-chain) was closed at this time, so I visited one of the big box stores. I was suggested a general medication to treat a variety of diseases, and I treated the entire tank for 7 days. The bloat and puffy eyes has since gone away, his behavior is more active than I remember, but is no longer erratic. He appears happy.
Concerns
My major concern is...are these three fish having issues related? Or is it possible that the three fish having problems are isolated incidents that just happen to occur within 6 weeks of each other? Outside of water parameters and observing fish appearance/behavior, is there any way to tell if I have eliminated any harmful influences? How long should I wait to add companions?
I bought a liquid test kit to replace my strips, and that is where my water parameters are from. I did not buy the GH KH add on, but everything in the tank appears to be in a really good range. I want to add Danios to hopefully calm my current one down, I also wanted to add Clown Loaches (initially to accompany my current one, but now to replace him, as I really like how entertaining those fish are). But I obviously don't want to add any fish until I get things figured out. The diet in the tank had been mainly tropical flakes and dried shrimp pellets, but I have replaced the pellets with frozen shrimp brine.
Long read, I know. I'm sorry. I hope breaking up these incidents into groups helped though.
THANK YOU for taking the time to help me!
