Pleas help me I don't know what's wrong...

[dianaeisenbart]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium , I have 7 platies (had 8), 4 black skirt tetras ( had 5), 1 gourami , 1 plecos, 2 snails, 3 shrimp. I'm very worried because I lost 1platie and 1 tetra over night, 1 more platie is very lethargic was hidding in the dark but I put her in the same tank in a nurserie just to separate it from her friends that where bothering her, she use to have big belly I even thought she was pregnant but now she looks pale and the tommy is gone, she still eating. The others look good. I had the tank for a long time like 4 years with a turtle and the plecos but when the turtle died I started to do research to have more fish and I got this ones since December . They had ick on January but I treated it immediately and after 6 days of treatment it was gone with no losses. I do 25% water change every 2 weeks, I add easy balance when I don't do water change, and aqua safe when I change the water. I change the water last night , temp is 74*. I try to keep it between 74 and 76. I'm panicking now I don't want to loose them poor guys. I hope someone can guide me on what to do next. Does anyone have any idea what can be wrong? Please help me.

 

[jlk]

Welcome to AA!! Do you have a liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph? What do these numbers read? I would start with addressing any water quality issues. A 25% wc two times a month simply is not sufficient to keep a tank healthy. Adding chemicals rather than doing wcs is not the answer no matter what the easybalance 'claims' to do. Once these issues are addressed, then other possibilities can be considered as these are fish are relatively new additions.

 

[dianaeisenbart]

Thanks for responding, I have the easy strips (tetra) 6-in-1 and the one for ammonia too. Nitrate 20, nitrite 0, ph 6.8 , ammonia 0. I don't mind doing the wc every week if that would help I'm new at this and I've been following instructions from tetracare that they send me remainders and doing research reading different sites. I thought I was doing a good job everybody seem to be happy, is very frustrating to see that I'm not doing enough and I don't know what is killing my fish. I have another 10 gallon tank that I can set up like a hospital do you think is a good idea to move everybody to that one and change all the water and sterilize the furniture? Should I buy a uv sanitizer ? I changed the water Friday should I change it again today or wait until next week? Thanks for your help, I really appreciate that you are taking the time to help me.

 

[jlk]

Thanks, Diane! It sounds like your doing a good job but I would simply increase your water changes to weekly and stop using the easy balance. The only chemical you need is a good water conditioner. Your strip readings sound fine but the accuracy of these is quite questionable. I would invest in an API fw master test kit when you are able to and let us know your numbers look with this. Amazon sells them inexpensively compared to most lfs. No need to move everyone or sterilize anything- sterilization is really only for extreme situations (example, your entire stock died from unknown disease and you want to restart the tank).

Is it only the one fish that seems to be having issues or is there more than one? Has his behavior/symptoms changed at all in the past 24hrs? Let us know how things are going!

 

[dianaeisenbart]

It's not the only one I lost 2 on Friday that's why I'm so worried this one is still hanging there she is eating ,not a lot of energy, I still have her in the nursery how I'm afraid tha if I let her out the others are going to bother her they where trying to make her get out of the dark, since I got them the males wouldn't live her alone chasing her but she was very strong and didn't seem to affect her , I'm going to take your advice a get that kit that you're recommending and to the wc every week. I hope I don't loose her and I hope no one else gets sick.