my fish are dieing

[Boomer2244]

Hello I'm hoping that someone can help me I'm losing like 2-3 fish a week. It's a 55g tank with a marineland penguin 400 and aquaclear 50 for filtration and all my levels are norm except for my ph which is a little low it reads a 6.4. My tank has been set up fir 5 months and it was fully fishless cycled.
It's a community tank
Stocking:
2 swordtails
2 platys
3 buenos aires tetras( apx 4.5")(lost 2)
6 prestella tetras
5 golden wonder killis
4 rainbows
1 small jewel cichlid(peaceful temperment, actually swims with the prestella school and rainbows and was in my other community tank before adding to my main tank)
4 corys

Lost 2 buenos aires tetras, 2 betas and a pearl gourami

Any ideas other than" the jewel is killing them" would be appreciated.

 

[TraceyB4602]

Are any of them new? If so it could be carrying a disease. I had an epidemic where i lost a bunch of my fish and all my levels were normal and it happened right after I bought new fish.

 

[aqua_chem]

Examine all you fish for diseases (spots, sores, etc). Let us know what you find.

Mark sure everything is working, especially the heater. Heaters will sometimes fail and cook/freeze your fish without warning, or they can go slowly.

 

[librarygirl]

Have you tested the water recently for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH? If not, I'd start there just to eliminate any problems with the water itself. How often do you do water changes and how large? Clean water can really help a lot, so as I said if you can post those test results here it'll help us either pinpoint the problem or eliminate the water as an issue.

 

[Boomer2244]

Just tested using API
Ph 6.4
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm

There are no visiable markings on the fish, The only fish that has some kind of marking is my pregnant solar flare swordtail who's belly just turned black

And I do a 20% water change and gravel syphin twice a week

The fish I have I started either this tank with or they came from my basement tank(which has the same readings) no new fish. I wanted to figure this out b4 adding anything

 

[bruinsbro1997]

It's possible your two bettas were nipped to death and stressed out by all those fast moving fish as well as your pearl gourami. It's also possible that those two tetras were bullied by your school if you had one or if you didn't have one then they could've been stressed out and die regardless of water quality, which seems fine to me.

 

[Coursair]

B.A. Tetras can be very nippy ! Esp in such a small group. Less than 5 or 6 you may have them kill each other as well as other fish. I used to see this with Tiger Barbs. Many shoaling/schooling fish act out or get depressed in smaller numbers.

You have fast aggressive feeders mixed with more passive fish, that can be an issue also.

What is your tank temp ?

Speculation, no facts as to why your fish died. Sorry

 

[Boomer2244]

Tank temp is a steady 76-78 and the b.a. Tetras would start nipping and stressing out their own kind?

And how come they haven't bothered the jewel or even the smaller tetras?

 

[Coursair]

Tank temp is a steady 76-78 and the b.a. Tetras would start nipping and stressing out their own kind?

And how come they haven't bothered the jewel or even the smaller tetras?

Like I said, just trying to guess what might be going on. Schooling fish that are kept in too small a group may turn aggressive. It's a misdirected energy. You can read about this. There was a good write up on this in an aquarium mag as well as plenty of websites.

Your Jewel may turn very aggressive when it hits breeding size, fair warning.

GL with the rest of your fish, I hope the rest thrive for you.

I'm just waiting to finish cycling my new 10g rimless


View attachment 51392

 

[Boomer2244]

Thanks and I hope u have better luck then me after your cycled