My fish are dying and I don't know why.

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wabyrd

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 14, 2003
Messages
317
Location
Houston, TX
I've lost a total of 8 fish in the last week. Two today! I don't know what could be causing it. Everything is normal in my water and I don't see anything abnormal with the fish. One of them can be attributed to old age because we have had her for almost 2 years. But the others appear young and some are only 6 mos. old that we've raised since fry.
They're mollies and platies that have died. None of the guppies have died.
0 ammonia
0 nitrites
20 ppm nitrAtes
7.1 pH

It's planted and I aerate at night to compensate for the plant's respiration.

I'm drawing a complete blank as to what could be doing it. Any ideas? I've recently started fertilizing, could it be the introduction of fertilizer? The increase in the Iron levels?
 
sorry to hear about your loss :(

20 ppm Ates is pretty close to boardline toxic... maybe try doing smaller, more frequent water changes?

Maybe some parasite or baceterial infection is effecting your live bearers, or perhaps you have a bad mix of males and females.

Do you keep salt in the tank?

What temperature is the water on average?

How many males do you have, and females?

I've got a ton of mollies, and several platies ... that I can remember, I only lost a single red platy about 8 months ago ... she went on a hunger strike and slowly wasted away ... it was the darndest thing
 
IMHO I dunno if its the nitrAtes. usually 40 ppm is considered high, and if the fish have been acclimated, even higher levels can be tolerated (NOT that I'm suggesting that!).

It might be the fertilizer...I read a post on a diff forum about probs someone started having when they added fertilizer; I'll see if I can dig it up. I also wonder if its the water supply; maybe they've added something?
 
20 ppm Ates is pretty close to boardline toxic
Halfway there. It's ok to let it get to 40 before it becomes toxic.

Do you keep salt in the tank?
What temperature is the water on average?
How many males do you have, and females?
Way more females than males. Roughly 2:1 ratio. Temp stays fairly constant at 82 degrees without a heater. As for salt...I had salt, but since I decided to go planted, I've not been replacing the salt when I do water changes. I've read that salt is bad for the plants and that it is not absolutely necessary for the fishes.

Alli, thanks for the link to the other thread. I think I'm going to hold off on fertilizing for a while. I've actually lost more than the 8 total, it's just that this week alone I've lost 8. It's a little disturbing to lose 3 fish in one day! Thinking back, the losses started about the time I began fertilizing approximately 5 weeks ago. I also started cutting back on the salt at that time. No immediate losses with the first dose of fertilizer or the first reduction in salt though.
 
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