Very frustrated --- fish deaths

[Drayven]

So I got into keeping fish last summer and for the most part I really enjoy it but I seem to have terrible luck keeping my fish alive. I haven't really had a death in a few months now but over the past 2 weeks I've lost 2 danios and I have a gold dojo that is on it's way out. The first danio just turned up dead one day with no previous signs of illness, a few days ago the dojo stopped coming out to eat and is now hanging out with clamped fins and if I check her to see if she's alive she swims away but it's a very erratic flopping kinda swimming almost like she's had a stroke and half her body doesn't work. This morning I woke up and found one of my original danios that's been in the tank since last Oct. dead, just last night it was out swimming around and eating.

I check my water fairly regularly and I have no ammonia/nitrites and my nitrates are typically well below 20. For a long time I did 10% water changes weekly but since I got my Python a month or so ago I've been doing 50% changes and treating the tank with Prime as I refill it. The whole time my swordtails have been doing fairly well and I actually have like 3 or 4 generations of them in there right now, as they get big enough I take them out and sell them to the LFS and they just keep breeding. Anyone have any ideas what I can check?

50 gallon breeder
76-77 degrees
Dojo Loaches
Swordtails
Danios
Bristlenose
Yoyo loaches
Ghost/Cherry shrimp
1 celebes halfbeak

It's a tank that has a fairly healthy plant population and one the driftwood I've been cultivating a patch of green hair algae. I tried to fight it but it kept coming back so I just control where it grows now.

Anyone have any ideas of what I can do to help keep my fish alive?

 

[BigJim]

It sounds like your water parameters are in line and you're using a good dechlorinator.

Do you use any other chemicals on the tank?
What other decor do you have?
Where do you buy your fish?

 

[Drayven]

I ocassionally treat with melafix if I see any spots or sores appear but that hasn't happened in quite a while. I did put a dose of melafix in last night to see if that might help the dojo a bit.

As for decor I've got the live plants, a big piece of driftwood I got from the LFS last summer, black aquarium sand and some river rocks secured together with 100% silicone to make some walls. There's also a few plastic/silk plants. I'm running an AquaClear 70, I have a Hydor Koralia 4 I think it is and a couple air stones to keep the water moving.

I don't stir up the sand as much as I probably should but considering my big dojo likes to bury himself and I have some malaysian trumpet snails in there I think I shouldn't be getting any gas pockets or anything.

I don't think I'm overfeeding as I give them a small pinch of flakes and 3 shrimp pellets twice a day.

I get my fish at a fish store around here that's quite well respected and has been in business for I think 20 years now.

Now that I think about it though I think some of my silk plants have started to lose their coloring I'm wondering if maybe the dye is leaching out and doing something bad? I'll try to remove those later when i do a big water change.

 

[BigJim]

What kind of silicone did you use on your rocks? If it contained any kind of anti-mold or anti-fungus agents, it may be the source of your problems.

I would say your sand is getting stirred properly. My MTS do a good job all by themselves.

Doesn't sound like you're overfeeding to me.

I have my doubts that your silk plants are causing the issues, but I could be wrong.




By the way. . . . GO BUCKEYES!

 

[Drayven]

The silicone I used was 100% silicone with no anti-mildew/bacterial stuff.