Lost 5 fish in last 18hrs. PLZ HELP!

[fstop14]

I have a 20g freshwater setup with live plants that I bought from a local pet store (private owned, not PetSmart or the like). Until last night, my tank was stocked with 3 "peppermint" tetras, 3 silvertip tetras, 2 "balloon belly" ram cichlids (dwarf), and one leopard cory cat.

Yesterday one silvertip died. I did a 50% water change since it was time to do one. When I got up this morning, one more silvertip had died and BOTH of my Rams. Checked the bio levels and they were: Nitrate-15ppm, Nitrite-0.2ppm, Chlorine-0ppm, Alkalinity-170ppm, Ammonia-0.5ppm, and pH-7.6. When I got home from work, the last silvertip died. The peppermints and cory are fine. I did another 50% water change and added AquaSafe Plus like always. I'm really lost as to what happened. Levels are all good. Water temp is right at 80.

Any help would be great! Haven't had any fish die since I set up the tank last July.

 

[fstop14]

 

[jwh0818]

Chances are they died from ammonia and nitrite poisoning. Your tank is still cycling. How long has it been running?

 

[fstop14]

Here is a photo of one of the rams (postmortem) and my setup. Note the red underbelly of the ram and near his tail. Hope these help a little

 

[jwh0818]

I would do water changes until you see 0 nitrites

 

[fstop14]

The tank has been running since my last full cleaning which was about a month ago. Full cleaning being substrate and everything removed for a cleaning.

 

[fstop14]

The Nitrates were only at 15 ppm which is almost none existent. Do you really think that would have caused them to die?

 

[jwh0818]

No I said nitrites

 

[Brookster123]

Do you break your tank down to clean it?

 

[fstop14]

Nitrites were still at low, safe levels. Would that have caused them that much stress?

Yes I do Brookster. The tank is pretty good at being self-sustaining but every couple months I completely break it down and clean out everything, substrate, the driftwood piece, the filter pieces (which I'll clean if they start to get dirty anyway) and everything else.

 

[jwh0818]

I think he does. That will cause it to recycle

 

[fstop14]

So you'd suggest very frequent water changes after a new break down? Also, is it right to add AquaSafe at every partial water change? I don't want to overuse it if I change the water every day.

 

[Brookster123]

Nitrites were still at low, safe levels. Would that have caused them that much stress? Yes I do Brookster. The tank is pretty good at being self-sustaining but every couple months I completely break it down and clean out everything, substrate, the driftwood piece, the filter pieces (which I'll clean if they start to get dirty anyway) and everything else.

welp there's your problem right there! You are essentially wiping out all the cycle work you have into this tank, clean any one area a week perhaps?? Filter one week, gravel next week, deco's next week, you are totally messing up the balance if the tank by performing all theses tasks at once..

 

[fstop14]

That makes sense. Like I said I've done it a few times before and never had any fish die or act funny so I never really attributed it to that. The fish have always responded very well to any break downs.

 

[Brookster123]

You've been fortunate, tabs are a bit more delicate than your average fish, they'll be the first to let you know something is amiss!

 

[fstop14]

Yeah, that's why I've pretty much catered everything to them. The Tetras are pretty resilient and so is the cory. Thank you so much for your response. Hopefully I can get the levels back under control and get some more fish in there.

 

[dylan07]

Hi I think I know what happened to your fish,Ram cichlids Will generally work in peaceful community tanks with fast-moving fish or with other semi-aggressive South American Cichlids such as Angelfish, however, they should be observed carefully as some individuals can be more feisty than others and have been known to turn against tank mates possibly with fatal consequences. I feel like while you were gone the cichlids had a bit of a battle with the tetras. Your nitrates mean that you are getting close to the end of your cycle so I don't believe it was poisoning.

 

[jwh0818]

No. A tetra isn't gonna kill a ram

 

[Brookster123]

Hi I think I know what happened to your fish,Ram cichlids Will generally work in peaceful community tanks with fast-moving fish or with other semi-aggressive South American Cichlids such as Angelfish, however, they should be observed carefully as some individuals can be more feisty than others and have been known to turn against tank mates possibly with fatal consequences. I feel like while you were gone the cichlids had a bit of a battle with the tetras. Your nitrates mean that you are getting close to the end of your cycle so I don't believe it was poisoning.

probably not.. Did you read the thread?

 

[dylan07]

Sorry I miss read the top, it's still a good thing to keep in mind when buying cichlids tho, sorry for the misconfusion