My fish are dying!

[Memphishy]

Sorry to just jump in here without am intro but I need immediate help. I have had a lot of aquariums in the past, & just recently acquired a 29 gallon tank & stand for free from a friend. I finally got it set up about a month ago & I moved my Betta (successfully) from his little bowl to his new home. So he was fish one. With 29 gallons of water, a Coliseum, 2 reefs, plastic plants, 3 real sand dollars, bubbles, heater, filter, the works.. He was great in there for weeks. 4 days ago I added a Dalmatian Molly, Silver Molly, Yellow Molly, Black Molly, & Red Mickey Mouse Platy. All was well. Next day the Silver & Dalmatian Mollies were dead. But I didn't know until I had come home with a small Pleco, 5 Neon Tetras & 3 Cory Cats. I cleaned out the dead fish. Assumed that it happens sometimes with pet store fish... Acclimated my new guys, put them in (I did condition the water) All was well again. Today, one Cory started spiraling around.. another was just hanging out on the bottom "breathing" hard. The other was fine. I knew he was probably going to die because I've kept Cories before & I know it's usually too late for them once they start that. He did die, & I got him out immediately. The other two are missing as of now. Earlier today I noticed my Betta had cotton mouth. Of course, it's Sunday do I couldn't get anything to treat him. He died about an hour ago. I'm really afraid for my surviving fish & I don't have a quarantine tank or a test kit (I know I need one, I'm getting it tomorrow) My Pleco, 5 Neons, 2 Mollies, Platy, & (I think the one female Cory) are okay. My water is clear, plenty of circulation/air, 75°F, I feed them tropical flakes, the Betta had pellets & blood worms, I drop in an algae tab every night. I need to know what to do, what to look for, and how to prevent another death. I thought I knew what I was doing but apparently either I don't or one or more of the fish brought in some bad stuff. I'll update this when I find the other 2 Cories. I suspect the male is dead or dying. The smaller female was fine last I saw.

 

[Memphishy]

Female Cory is fine. Just found her. Still no sign of the other guy.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Ok, you don't add that many fish at a time, those are medium fish, so only three or four at a time
Sounds like you might have a fungus outbreak, these have worked great with me for fungus outbreaks

 

[SKB]

Im sorry you are having trouble. It sounds like you cycled the new tank before putting the fish in there correct? You should invest in a API freshwater master test kit. The test strips are known to be inaccurate. What levels are ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at? Let us know when u get the kit.

Did you clean the decor before putting it in? When you say reef, you mean fake reef decor? Did you clean the sand dollars?

 

[Memphishy]

Would the fungus explain the swim bladder issue as well? Also I should add after I dropped a bit of conditioner after removing the dead Cory, the other male Cory stopped spinning but was laying there still alive. Petsmart suggested I feed them smashed peas, & I did. It was around 5:40 (right before closing) & thanks for the speedy response. I'll not add so many that quickly ever again. I just want to do the right thing for the remaining & future fish... Open to all questions/criticism. I'll pick up the antifungal stuff tomorrow morning.

 

[bigbanker]

Sounds like your fish are exhibiting signs of stress as a result of shock.

Your tank went from a very low biolad to quite a hefty bioload and then some.

The water being clear is like anti freeze being sweet... It is still deadly

Water changes with new and conditioned water are the friend of you and your fish.

Lastly... An algae wafer plus flake food daily is way too much food. Your fish can eat once every three or four days and still be okay.

Edit: just saw your post!

 

[thursyanna]

Personally I would take out the real sand dollars. They probably bleached them (if you bought them) to make them whiter. That's what they usually do to get them clean. If you have a 5 gal bucket or a Rubbermaid tub, I'd move all the fish, the heater, and air stone to that and do a big water change and get an API kit and check your parameters before putting them back in. What kind of filter are you running? If you can, I'd put in some carbon to (hopefully) help take out any toxins in the water. Just my opinion but I'm no expert.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Ok, rule of thumb here, never trust petsmart
The peas is a good idea for the bloat, but I wouldn't really ask there, they almost always give u wrong answers
Add three anti fungal tablets tomorrow, wait three days, and add three more, that should suffice

 

[Wiggles24]

You added a lot of fish very rapidly which overwhelmed your BB, likely causing lethal levels if ammonia n nitrates to spike in your water. Test your levels and do as many water changes as needed. You r likely going through a mini cycle at the moment. It also sounds as though you may of added an infection of sorts. I have no recommendations to treat since we don't know anything for sure. In the future just remember to add only a couple fish at a time and leave time in between addings for your BB to produce enough to take care of the extra bio load.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

I would add the fungus tablets, since your betta had it, and keep ick guard tablets at hand in case they start going wild again in order to prevent an ick outbreak

 

[Memphishy]

Fake reefs, rather small. Everything was cleaned before it went in. I did cycle before introducing new fish. I took a LOT of time acclimating them too. Betta was over 12 hours, 2nd round of fish 6 hours, 3rd round 6 hours. (It was the best I could do) I thought about it being an ammonia problem because of the Mollies. I'm pretty sure the black one was pregnant when she came here too. But I don't see the baby fish yet. She's definitely more slim than yesterday. My filter has the carbon filters in it too though & I thought that mostly took care of the ammonia?

 

[Memphishy]

Found the sand dollars on the beach at South Padre Island TX.

 

[Memphishy]

I was skeptical of Petsmart... But desperate to save my fish too.. So I just went with it. The tank is still relatively new so I thought the algae for my Pleco would be a good idea at least for a little bit. Everyone else in the aquarium seemed to really like them too.

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

What type of pleco is it

 

[thursyanna]

I think if it was ammonia, you'd see your fish with red gills. The ammonia would be burning their gills and they would probably be at the top of the tank. It could be as simple as one or two of your fish being sick when you bought them and spreading an infection to their tankmates. Personally, when I add fish, I add 3 and then wait for 3-4 days before adding anymore. I do that so the bb and other fish can adjust without causing too much stress on them.

 

[thursyanna]

Found the sand dollars on the beach at South Padre Island TX.

That's where most of mine came from. But I didn't put any in my tank, I was worried about introducing an infection. They are living things so (to me) when they die it' just like a fish dying. I wouldn't put a dead fish in my freshwater tank. Just my opinion. And I'm sometimes wrong.

 

[Memphishy]

Filter was gifted with the tank. I know it has three kinds of filters & I think it says "FLUVIAL 50" on top. My Pleco is a small run of the mill black/brown one. I tried to attach a pic. Hopefully it went. I'm using an app for this forum & I'm not familiar with it.

 

[Memphishy]

I feel stupid and bad because I was not aware that they were living things -_- I will get those out tonight. Thanks for letting me know & thanks for the flowers.

 

[thursyanna]

Hey, don't beat yourself up over it! We all have to start somewhere, me included. The only reason I know about sand dollars is that I grew up going to So. Padre Island and I learned all about that stuff from my grandmother. She taught me the difference between saltwater and freshwater "living". I hate that you've lost your fish. I get a little attached to mine and it's hard when one disappears. Personally, I think when they've died, Carl, my pleco, had probably eaten them. Just saying........

 

[Memphishy]

Mmk sand dollars are outta there!