Machete
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I have a fairly new setup 37 gallon tank. Looks like everything has cycled well, at least all the test strips have looked good. Started off with 5 tiger barbs, 2 a little smaller than the others. The 2 smaller ones died off in a week or so, figured they were bullied by the larger ones. One of the larger ones died off a week or so later after acting weird, doing barrel rolls, swimming face down.
So of course with fish dying off we decided it would be a good idea to add more.
We added 4 each sliver dollars, green barbs, and phantom barbs. Everyone seemed really happy for a couple weeks. Then the 2 tigers went into hiding, and then died off. Figured they were too stressed from the others.
Today (a couple days later) 2 of the green barbs were found dead at the bottom. I observed them in hiding as well the night before. Anyway, these guys are falling like dominoes. Water conditions are still stable, and I'd imagine if the water was an issue they'd be dying off much closer together time wise.
Are they just stressed out? Should they be in larger groups? Do they need more hiding places? They all appear to be non-aggressive towards the others. Haven't observed any weird fungus or anything on the dead ones. Any advice is appreciated. At this rate in another month will have an empty tank. Thanks!
Edit: Did a 25% water change last night, vacuumed out the substrate, slowly siphoned in new de-cholrinated water that was within .5 degrees of the existing. Roughly 79.5F.
So of course with fish dying off we decided it would be a good idea to add more.
We added 4 each sliver dollars, green barbs, and phantom barbs. Everyone seemed really happy for a couple weeks. Then the 2 tigers went into hiding, and then died off. Figured they were too stressed from the others.
Today (a couple days later) 2 of the green barbs were found dead at the bottom. I observed them in hiding as well the night before. Anyway, these guys are falling like dominoes. Water conditions are still stable, and I'd imagine if the water was an issue they'd be dying off much closer together time wise.
Are they just stressed out? Should they be in larger groups? Do they need more hiding places? They all appear to be non-aggressive towards the others. Haven't observed any weird fungus or anything on the dead ones. Any advice is appreciated. At this rate in another month will have an empty tank. Thanks!
Edit: Did a 25% water change last night, vacuumed out the substrate, slowly siphoned in new de-cholrinated water that was within .5 degrees of the existing. Roughly 79.5F.