Help !

[TheBruce1314]

Hay. I'm very new to this forum thing and don't know what I'm doing but I am very desperate for help!
Over the last 2 weeks I have had several unexplained dead guppies then about a week ago a noticed 1 of my female swordtails fins were clamped to her so I done a 25% water change hoping that would help but it didn't. I checked the water quality and all was fine. After a few days another female went the same way. I've done another small water change but things are getting worse! The first female has died and my guppies are extremely thin looking as is 1 of my tetra. I have noticed them rubbing on occasion and studied them, there are no white spots on the fish or any other markings. I have also tried treating for velvet (through others advice) but after 2 more days my poor poor fish still look very unwell! PLEASE somebody help me.

120 litre tank
4 swordtails 1 male/3 female (left)
4 guppies all female (left)
4 silvertip tetra
6 neon tetra
Countless babies (guppies/swordtails)

Water quality is all fine

 

[dskidmore]

1) Please post the actual tests and test results instead of saying the water is fine.
2) How long has this tank been set up?
3) Any recent changes to this tank in the last month? Have you been out of town? Has someone else been cleaning/painting etc near your tank?

 

[JoeDaniels]

Yeah I agree. If we had actual test results them we may be able to give an opinion make sure your test kit is a good one preferably Api master kit (as this is very accurate) as even 0.25 ammonia and small amounts of nitrites may have caused this from what I have heard/seen

 

[TheBruce1314]

Sorry peeps, couldn't get connected to the Internet yesterday. Thank you so much for replying.
My water quality is:
Nitrate. - 0
Nitrite - 0
Chlorine - 0
pH. - 7
KH - 3
GH - 4

I also lost my male swordtail yesterday. I am at a total loss. One of my baby swords is in a bad way too his fins are clamped so tight his little tail fin is like an arrow! :-(
Yesterday I went to my pet store and asked in there, I also took a water sample and the guy said my water was perfect which is a good thing in one hand but doesn't help in identifying the problem. I left with a bottle of tetra general tonic and the guy scratching his head also!
There has been no changes to my tank at all (except babies) no aerosols sprayed near it, it only gets cleaned on the outside with a damp cloth, no painting in the house or anything else!
What is happening???
Thanks again for replying and sorry for the delay in getting back to you folks!!

 

[TheBruce1314]

Sorry peeps, couldn't get connected to the Internet yesterday. Thank you so much for replying.
My water quality is:
Nitrate. - 0
Nitrite - 0
Chlorine - 0
pH. - 7
KH - 3
GH - 4

I also lost my male swordtail yesterday. I am at a total loss. One of my baby swords is in a bad way too his fins are clamped so tight his little tail fin is like an arrow! :-(
Yesterday I went to my pet store and asked in there, I also took a water sample and the guy said my water was perfect which is a good thing in one hand but doesn't help in identifying the problem. I left with a bottle of tetra general tonic and the guy scratching his head also!
There has been no changes to my tank at all (except babies) no aerosols sprayed near it, it only gets cleaned on the outside with a damp cloth, no painting in the house or anything else!
What is happening???
Thanks again for replying and sorry for the delay in getting back to you folks!!
Ps. my own test kit isn't top quality I shall invest in one tho but the stores was top drawer and I have not been away before this all started

 

[JoeDaniels]

Sorry peeps, couldn't get connected to the Internet yesterday. Thank you so much for replying.
My water quality is:
Nitrate. - 0
Nitrite - 0
Chlorine - 0
pH. - 7
KH - 3
GH - 4

I also lost my male swordtail yesterday. I am at a total loss. One of my baby swords is in a bad way too his fins are clamped so tight his little tail fin is like an arrow! :-(
Yesterday I went to my pet store and asked in there, I also took a water sample and the guy said my water was perfect which is a good thing in one hand but doesn't help in identifying the problem. I left with a bottle of tetra general tonic and the guy scratching his head also!
There has been no changes to my tank at all (except babies) no aerosols sprayed near it, it only gets cleaned on the outside with a damp cloth, no painting in the house or anything else!
What is happening???
Thanks again for replying and sorry for the delay in getting back to you folks!!

It sounds to me like your tank is not properly cycled, I have noticed that on your testing there is no ammonia results and as we all know ammonia is deadly to fish and may be causing this so my advice to you would be get some ammonia test results and come back to me and we can take it from there

 

[TheBruce1314]

Ammonia is fine too! I don't have an ammonia test so i forgot to put it in but it was tested for yesterday at the store and it was good! The guy there said it would probably be ammonia too but that's why he was left stumped after testing because that was his last hope. I have had this tank for about 6 months it was left to cycle for over two weeks before I put my fish into it. I put some gravel from my old tank into this one to help the bacteria grow. My fish have been very happy up until a couple of weeks ago and bang!

 

[dskidmore]

What are you doing to make nitrate be 0? Unless you've been doing a ton of large water changes, I'd expect your nitrate to be higher in a healthy tank. If you've not done anything special, your test kit is probably bad.

What is your normal maintenance routine? This happened soon after the babies were born? What are you feeding the babies?

Generally if the fish breed you have decent conditions, so something must have changed. Was there any fighting surrounding the breeding rituals? Perhaps one fish died of wounds, wasn't found right away, and his corpse created an ammonia spike? Perhaps there is something about the food you're feeding the babies? No other routine changes for the sake of the babies?

 

[TheBruce1314]

I have not changed any routines at all. I didn't put the mothers into a breeding tank jst let nature take it's course. I never noticed any fighting whilst the babies were being born. That's not to say there wasn't though. I feed the tank with flakes and just crush some of the flakes a little more for the little guys and that's what I have always fed them, nothing new.
My normal cleaning routine is 20/30% water change every week. My test kit is a basic one nothing special so I expect the nitrate isn't absolute zero but I know it's low enough to be safe. I must say the guy that tested my water was very surprised at my water quality but that's what it is. I never use any chemicals for the tank just tap safe and nothing else.

 

[TheBruce1314]

This did however happen quite soon after the babies where born and on cleaning one time I did find 2 quite well decayed guppies (about 3 weeks ago) so maybe there was an ammonia spike but that would have only been for a few days so do you think that could still be affecting them even now?

 

[JoeDaniels]

To me this doesn't make a lot of sense if it has been tested for everything and it has been cycled efficiently and there has been breeding then the water would have had to been good like previously said, ammonia spike does sound plausible but then I imagine after the spike the levels would have stabilised again :/ there are also some diseases that are in a lot of cases undetectable and if it's tetra could be tetra disease but other than that this doesn't quite add up :/ have you tried a large water change ? Like 60 to 75% change other than these I cannot think of anything that could help :/

 

[dskidmore]

There is unfortunately sometimes a chain effect. One fish dies of random natural causes, and his corpse causes an ammonia spike, which causes damage to another fish that eventually dies from the accute poisoning, and his corpse causes an ammonia spike...

Clamped fins is a sign of stress, often of ammonia stress. Unless you can find some other symptoms to go after, I'd diagnose it as a chain effect of stressful situations in a tank with a full bioload.

Wait for things to stabilize, and then consider upgrading your biological filtration before bringing the tank back up to full capcity. Deeper gravel, additional filter, more media in existing filter, addition of live plants, whichever works for you. You had a pretty reasonable bioload before the babies were born, but if you're going to continue to breed you need a bit of a reserve for them.

You might also consider getting some plain old pond snails. My snails not only pick up waste bits of food and clean my glass, but they cluster densely around corpses and make them easier to find quickly.

If you notice any other symptoms, either physical or behavioral, be sure to let us know so we can look at any other possible causes with you.

Make sure to QT all new fish before adding them to your main tank with the survivors.

The Freshwater Quarantine Tank