Tough Fish

[mellow fellow]

Hi all i have had a 90 litre tank running for a year now however i still do not have it stocked to my satisfaction. Nearly all of the fish i have bought have died through either fungal infections, ich or without any apparent reaason. At the moment i have four platys four long finned zebra danios three glo lite tetras and 1 neon tetras. The danios and the platys seem to be the only fish that do well in my tank and much as i love them i was hoping for a bit more variety as i have a deep 86 cm octagonal tank that holds roughly 92 litres. the ph is usually around 7 or 7.5 i have a good canister filter and lights etc. Some particular fish i would like are dwarf gouramies, red tailed black sharks as well as the brighter tetras and harlequins however i am open to any suggestions for any brightly coloured fish that will get along with the rest and are hardy. This may sound a little paranoid but last weekend i had five glo lites and lost two over night and another the following day. I do not want to turn into a fishkiller but i do not know why some fish randomly die. Please help me. i would also appreciate any clues as to why platys and danios seem to be the only fish to do well in my tank. Cheers

[graymare]

Hey there MellowFellow,
I also am pretty new at this, but I've made a few DEADLY mistakes in the past myself and had to learn the hard way at the expense of my fishes lives

You don't mention the other parameters of your tank,
Ammonia
Nitrates
Nitrites
??

Sometimes these make a vast difference as to the health of certain species.
Do you test for all of these?

[bosk1]

Yes, I think the place to start is your water parameters.

[malkore]

In addition to parameters, it sounds like you may not be getting the healthiest fish from your LFS.
I haven't lost a fish due to obvious parasites or illness in ages. Its always fine one day, dead the next, and due to the aggressive nature of the fish I keep, its likely starvation or simply bullying.

You may need to get int he practice of quarantining new fish for 6 weeks to ensure they aren't sick when you buy em.

[graymare]

I agree, quarantining is extremely important, the one and only time I got to anxious and introduced a school of barbs, everybody in the tank got the ich.

What a headache

[fastfly48]

Hello David.

Seems kind of pointless posting here when I could just ring you....anyways...
If I were you I'd first get some test kits. Until you get some it's going to be super hard to know what's going on with your fish, and your whole tank.
Good luck.

Ryland.

ps. I'll get that JB ticket tday.

[mellow fellow]

i dont have any test kits right know so get it all tested at my local lfs but am hoping to buy some soon so i can check it more regularly. I have had problems in the past with huge ammonia spikes and high nitrates but lately its been pretty good. i did have .1 ammonia two weeks ago and i think that may be what killed the glo lites. Thanks anyway for your help and hopefully after i get some test gets you guys can help me brainstorm some good tankmates.

[fastfly48]

Hi David.

I still don't think that you really actually had thoses huge ammonia spikes....I'm quite sure that it was just bad testing from the store.
I mean, their tests said that I had ammonia at over 8.0ppm the same day I tested my water with 0ppm ammonia...
I just can't see how it was possible with your mature (one yr old anyway...) tank and without you over feeding...anyways....
So you want to go to the store tmoro after bball? I'm keen.

Ry.
ps. I got my JB ticket...