"Occasional" deaths?

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senemedar

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
363
Location
UK
I'm aware of a fact that from time to time a fish can die all of sudden without any symptoms. But after losing a guppy few days a go and shrimp yesterday, I'm a bit worried...
So the question is - how often that kind of "occasional" (let's call it this way from lack of a better word?) death is happening to you?

Ps.
I - of course - tested the water immediately: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Ph 7.6. I can't test the Nitrates properly due to a fact that my API test is out of date and according to it my Nitrates are above 80... for a tap water :D, and aquarium water's around the same level.
The tank is Aqua One 850; with original filter and extra Fluval 3plus fiter (so overfiltered, I'd say), and it's habitants are listed in my profile.

Pps.
The guppy has shown no signs at all - he just started swimming upside-down at some point and the next day he was dead.
As for the shrimp - she was swimming around like crazy for a few hours and next thing I know, she's lying on the side, dead.
 
I would suggest getting a new nitrate test & figuring out what exactly your tank & tap levels actually are. A reading above 80ppm is quite high. I dont know if your on city or well water or what the regulations for nitrate levels are in the UK, but in the US the EPA sets a max nitrate level of 10ppm for all city drinking water supplies.
 
I'll get the water tested in a LFS this weekend and see what they tell.
For some reason it's hard to find just a nitrate test... I have so many separate kits now that I'm quite hesitant in getting another full set, and the price of API doesn't help :/
 
Have you tried amazon or ebay for the nitate test? Its where I usually purchase the indiviual tests when I run out.
 
I did try eBay, but there wasn't any at the time. I'll look on Amazon, as I didn't think of it before :)
 
That's expensive! Throw an extra £5 and you can have a full API Master...

Anyway, just bought one from API as well, 90 Nitrate tests for £7 inc. delivery. Hope they won't be outdated :/
 
When I think about it, the only thing I've changed recently is the water conditioner; I used the Tetra's Aqua Safe, but the Goldfish one, not the one dedicated for the tropical fishtanks. I would think it would to be the same stuff, but who knows? I know the colour is different (yellow for the goldfish as opposed for the blue one for tropical), but can it be the culprit?
 
I would consider switching to a product such as Prime or Amquel Plus- they both to help to detox nitrates. I am not familiar with Tetra products & dont know what the difference between the 2 products would be.
 
yea i would deffinatly go with the prime 3 dollors and some change for a bottle that will last quite a while i been using it in a 55gal, 2 29gallons and 2 10 gallons for a couple months and only half gone as apposed to aquasafe i would get one water change on all the tanks and the bottle would be gone and it cost here like 4 dollors for average size bottle and takes one capfull per ten gallons where prime is 2 drops per gal to me its definatly a better price
 
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