Ok, I have been reading your forums and info for a while now so thank you to everyone who contributes it does help make sure people are safer in their aquatic behavior (ok me!)
I am a beginning aquarist who has had a small 10 gallon tank for 3 years prior to trying a more adventurous step
I do have an issue/problem which I can't seem to figure out a solution to which basically relates to fish dying. I have had my larger tank for ~8 months.
I had started moving from a 10 gallon tank to my 45 gallon when I decided to expand my fish base. I started with moving the 5 guppies (kids loved them and they can be pretty; one female and 4 males) and a chinese algae eater in addition to adding some plants (which came with snails). I waited a week and then added a pleco and ghost shrimp. Aside from one algae bloom things continued to do well. So in a month I added 6 Danios (3 zebra and 3 leopard). Things were good for a long time. The occassional guppy baby would suddenly appear and last for a week or two and of course I cant seem to keep a ghost shrimp alive longer than 3 months... then the trouble
One day the female guppy was dead, She had seemed fine prior and then gone. I removed her and continued my routine treatment of a 10-15% water change every 1-2 weeks (where I add cycle, nutrafin aquaplus and waste control with a s/a salt). The water tests had 0 ammonium and ph was 7.4. I then lost 3 more guppies over the next few weeks which may have been related to the danios chasing them more I'm not sure. I then went and decided to get more fish and something which would utilize the middle of my tank.
I therefore purchased 9 Barbs (4 Tiger, 3 Albino and 2 Moss) as well as ghost shrimp. Then more trouble began, within a week I had lost the last guppy, 2 Moss and one Tiger barb. I took the Barbs back with a water sample (my check was PH 7.5 and ammonium was between 0 and the next value on the chart which I thought was reasonable). They felt the water was ok also. So I got replacements and placed them in the tank. Within a week one of the Moss died again and this time my Danios began dying. Within the last 2 weeks 5 have died. I have continued my same changes, the water values appear fine and the ghost shrimp are still alive...
I'm just not sure what I should do or check. I have never seen any concerning behavior except for 2 of the barbs did point down a bit prior to being found dead the next day. I see no obvious diseases mentioned in the fish disease section and my water testing cannot find a significant problem. I'm at a loss...
ps sorry for wall of text!
I am a beginning aquarist who has had a small 10 gallon tank for 3 years prior to trying a more adventurous step
I do have an issue/problem which I can't seem to figure out a solution to which basically relates to fish dying. I have had my larger tank for ~8 months.
I had started moving from a 10 gallon tank to my 45 gallon when I decided to expand my fish base. I started with moving the 5 guppies (kids loved them and they can be pretty; one female and 4 males) and a chinese algae eater in addition to adding some plants (which came with snails). I waited a week and then added a pleco and ghost shrimp. Aside from one algae bloom things continued to do well. So in a month I added 6 Danios (3 zebra and 3 leopard). Things were good for a long time. The occassional guppy baby would suddenly appear and last for a week or two and of course I cant seem to keep a ghost shrimp alive longer than 3 months... then the trouble
One day the female guppy was dead, She had seemed fine prior and then gone. I removed her and continued my routine treatment of a 10-15% water change every 1-2 weeks (where I add cycle, nutrafin aquaplus and waste control with a s/a salt). The water tests had 0 ammonium and ph was 7.4. I then lost 3 more guppies over the next few weeks which may have been related to the danios chasing them more I'm not sure. I then went and decided to get more fish and something which would utilize the middle of my tank.
I therefore purchased 9 Barbs (4 Tiger, 3 Albino and 2 Moss) as well as ghost shrimp. Then more trouble began, within a week I had lost the last guppy, 2 Moss and one Tiger barb. I took the Barbs back with a water sample (my check was PH 7.5 and ammonium was between 0 and the next value on the chart which I thought was reasonable). They felt the water was ok also. So I got replacements and placed them in the tank. Within a week one of the Moss died again and this time my Danios began dying. Within the last 2 weeks 5 have died. I have continued my same changes, the water values appear fine and the ghost shrimp are still alive...
I'm just not sure what I should do or check. I have never seen any concerning behavior except for 2 of the barbs did point down a bit prior to being found dead the next day. I see no obvious diseases mentioned in the fish disease section and my water testing cannot find a significant problem. I'm at a loss...
ps sorry for wall of text!
What kind of test kit are you using? What are the nitrIte and nitrAte readings? Notice any signs of disease like ich (white specks on the fish)? Are the gills swolen or red? Are they breathing rapidly? Do you have plenty of surface agitation or a bubble wand?
