fish keep dying?!?!

[Tasha]

Hi everyone.

20 gallong tank. 78-80 degrees.
ph 8.3 (noramlly always 8.2, comes out of the tap that way)
amonia and nitrite are both zero
nitrate 10-20 (hard to tell with the api freshwater master kit)
I do weekely waterchanges, adding stress zyme and stresscoat. I keep the temperature the same gonig in as it was when it came out (using a thermometer) I do vaccuming as needed.

tanks been running for at least 6 months.... NOTHING new been added or changed.

Tanks houses corydoras, and mollies.
Every couple days theres another death. There are fry about a month old and up, all the way to adult fish. Some babies have died and some adults have died. Its hard to tell on the babies but on the older fish, some look completely normal, maybe clamped fins, the others dont look well at all. Clamped fins, the last half of the fish is hanging low.

ICK, there was some flashing going on about a month or two ago, so we tried the heat method. a couple weeks after no more signs we slowly turned the heat back down. About a week ago noticed flashing starting back up maybe the odd ick spot ( but most of the mollies are a marbled color so its really hard to tell) so I started adding ick fizz tabs, at 1/2 strength because of the corys and baby fry. Then with the deaths, I felt I had to do somethign else so ive been treating with some sulfathiazole that I baught awhile back for some worms my other tank had, but never used.... after first dose the fish actually looked a little better, we thaught, but now, there back to looking not too great.

This is my daughters tank, there were a few too many fish in to begin with, but now therers hardly anything left... please help what should I do now, what could it be???

We baught some driftwook a couple months ago that now has some fuzzy/hair like brownish algae growing off of it... I dont think its anything to be concerned about, the same type driftwood and fuzz/agae are in the other two tanks in the house and fish are doing fine...

Thanks for your help.

 

[Tasha]

no-one has any ideas?? I cant really dont know what I can do, I dont want to loose anymore, 2 of the bigger ones look really not great this morning.... yet a couple babies look as lively and as happy as can be.... for now..... a few days ago these to bigger fish looked fine....

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Do you use water conditioner to remove the poisons in tap water? No mention of that. The stress products aren't needed, but water conditioner is.

 

[Tasha]

Do you use water conditioner to remove the poisons in tap water? No mention of that. The stress products aren't needed, but water conditioner is.

Tim,

The stress coat says it provides a slime coat, as well as its a water conditioner that removes chlorine and chromines from the water... ??

I just googled the product I use and this is what it says...

Improves water quality: Tap water usually contains chlorine and heavy metals harmful to fish, and its chemistry will likely vary day to day. Regular use of Stress Coat multipurpose conditioner instantly removes these elements. Add 2 tsp per 10 gallons directly to aquarium after water changes.

 

[Hubert90]

O wow this is a real hardy case. Hmm all I could think off is maybe ur ich treatment didn't do them so well. Normally ich can be treated with aquarium salt and heat.

 

[Tasha]

O wow this is a real hardy case. Hmm all I could think off is maybe ur ich treatment didn't do them so well. Normally ich can be treated with aquarium salt and heat.

Thanks for your comment. I was thinking that could be a possiblitiy as well, but wow, ick that bad to start wiping out our tank.... Like I said in the post I did treat with the heat method, a little salt but not too much because of the corydoras, which btw are all fine!, and it looked to do them well, even waiting the full time before turning the heat back down... I guess it couldnt hurt to crank the heat back up slowly incase thats it....

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Tim,

The stress coat says it provides a slime coat, as well as its a water conditioner that removes chlorine and chromines from the water... ??

I just googled the product I use and this is what it says...

Improves water quality: Tap water usually contains chlorine and heavy metals harmful to fish, and its chemistry will likely vary day to day. Regular use of Stress Coat multipurpose conditioner instantly removes these elements. Add 2 tsp per 10 gallons directly to aquarium after water changes.

IMHO I don't think it's supposed to be for that. It's supposed to be for new tank setup. I would use an actual properly labelled water conditioner.

 

[Hubert90]

IMHO I don't think it's supposed to be for that. It's supposed to be for new tank setup. I would use an actual properly labelled water conditioner.

I think stress coat is a water conditioner. They call it stress coat primarily because it contains aloe Vera which are meant to help reduce stress. But then again I maybe wrong

 

[Attiland]

I don’t think it is anything to do with the water changes though I would use some antichlor product on the top when I do the water changes.
You said it was overstocked to the start with. What kind and how many fish are left? Fry might have been eaten by the adults. That happens quite often in a community tank, so wouldn’t be worried about that too much.
You also mentioned medicines. I have quite bad experience with them, often do more harm then help.
What kind of filter media you use? Do you have any carbon filter? That can release some of its load in one go. If so I would remove that and wouldn’t replace it..

You have to understand some fish just simply won’t work at your setup, and although you seems to do everything right, they will slowly die out from the tank. A half year old tank still a new tank.

 

[HUKIT]

IMHO I don't think it's supposed to be for that. It's supposed to be for new tank setup. I would use an actual properly labelled water conditioner.

No Stress Coat is a water conditioner with Aloe that like all contioners instantly removes chloramines and chlorine, Tim maybe your thinking about Stess Zyme?

 

[Hubert90]

No Stress Coat is a water conditioner with Aloe that like all contioners instantly removes chloramines and chlorine, Tim maybe your thinking about Stess Zyme?

Argh stess zyme is useless as ****. I regret buying it, it's so expensive too.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

No Stress Coat is a water conditioner with Aloe that like all contioners instantly removes chloramines and chlorine, Tim maybe your thinking about Stess Zyme?

Ooooops! Yes I am... Sorry

 

[Tasha]

I don’t think it is anything to do with the water changes though I would use some antichlor product on the top when I do the water changes.
You said it was overstocked to the start with. What kind and how many fish are left? Fry might have been eaten by the adults. That happens quite often in a community tank, so wouldn’t be worried about that too much.
You also mentioned medicines. I have quite bad experience with them, often do more harm then help.
What kind of filter media you use? Do you have any carbon filter? That can release some of its load in one go. If so I would remove that and wouldn’t replace it..

You have to understand some fish just simply won’t work at your setup, and although you seems to do everything right, they will slowly die out from the tank. A half year old tank still a new tank.

Fry arent being eaten, there im finding their bodies.... There is mollies, and corycats. I dont use the carbon only add when/if needed to remove medications etc...

I know there is huge difference of opinons over medicines, but like I said in my post, i added them after the fish started dying off, I cant just sit and do nothing....

Why do you say some fish just simply wont work at my setup??? there is no reason why a 20 gallon tank thats maintained immaculately, cannot keep mollies alive!!! IMO.

No Stress Coat is a water conditioner with Aloe that like all contioners instantly removes chloramines and chlorine, Tim maybe your thinking about Stess Zyme?

thanks, thats what I thaught, and no problem |Tim we cant all be perfect j/k

 

[Attiland]

Fry arent being eaten, there im finding their bodies.... There is mollies, and corycats. I dont use the carbon only add when/if needed to remove medications etc...

I know there is huge difference of opinons over medicines, but like I said in my post, i added them after the fish started dying off, I cant just sit and do nothing....

Why do you say some fish just simply wont work at my setup??? there is no reason why a 20 gallon tank thats maintained immaculately, cannot keep mollies alive!!! IMO.

Sorry if you feel offended by my comment. The reason I am saying this is just because that is my experience. Mollies for instance are hybrid fish and very sensitive for stress, easily attract with diseases, and very often poor quality inbreeds therefore they have short life span. Ideal water conditions would be to keep mollies of all species are in brackish water, around pH 7.5 to 8.0, 15-30˚dH and 25-28˚C (77-82˚F). An aquarium in which you keep mollies should be at least 20 gallon (90L) and decorated to reduced stress. You seem to have almost all of these in your tank apart from the pH and the brackish water. For your cats it wouldn’t matter if you put salt in your water, so that is what I would try. If I were you I wouldn’t use those medicines again as you said it didn’t help and your fish still die out from your tank.
If you haven’t done it already I would add loads of plants to my tank so fish can hide. For brackish water plants with tough, waxy leaves such as Java fern, vallis and sagitaria do best. Males can stress females by pursuing them too aggressively as they try to mate with them and it is therefore important that the females can hide from the males.

 

[Tasha]

For your cats it wouldn’t matter if you put salt in your water, so that is what I would try. If I were you I wouldn’t use those medicines again as you said it didn’t help and your fish still die out from your tank.
If you haven’t done it already I would add loads of plants to my tank so fish can hide. For brackish water plants with tough, waxy leaves such as Java fern, vallis and sagitaria do best. Males can stress females by pursuing them too aggressively as they try to mate with them and it is therefore important that the females can hide from the males.

I have corydoras, im assuming their the same as cory cats, if not, oops my bad.... however salt is NOT good for them.

I haevnt taken offense to your reply, I just dont agree with you on that mollies are a tough fish to own. There is no "natural" reason they should be dying off so easily. Everythign I have researched contradicts your opinon. Mollies are highly adaptable, and most of them are kept in regular freshwater and not brackish..... althugh I do agree those are their "ideal" living conditions... I do have tons of plants, (however not real plants) and I do know the males chase the females, thats I ratio them correctly.... thanks for you reply.

 

[BeavisMom62]

You say that you used the heat method, then ich fizz tabs, then meds. Did you finish one method before starting the next? If not, you are only killing off the weakest of the ich, or whatever it is that you have, and leaving the strongest behind to create more problems.

 

[Tasha]

You say that you used the heat method, then ich fizz tabs, then meds. Did you finish one method before starting the next? If not, you are only killing off the weakest of the ich, or whatever it is that you have, and leaving the strongest behind to create more problems.

I cant be positive it was ick, but treated as if it was.... I used the heat method as per instructions, and waited 2-3 wks after all symptoms to turn heat back down.... I treated with fizz tabs as per instructions..... (after the heat method), and then I tried out of desperation the medication (after the fizz treatment) and it didnt really say how many doses I coudl do, So I did a coupel and then stopped as it didnt seem to help.?!?!


The fish as still dying off, I feel completely helpless.... Recently I have started jungles parasite clear, just did the second dose last night.... no change....