Dieing danios?!

[Wild]

Please help! Two of my danios just started swimming belly up and couldn't stay right side up. I took them out of the tank and at first they struggled to swim but now they arn't swimming at all =(
I think they have died now..
One of them spit up bits of flakes before he died. They also started to twitch their fins before they went down
All three others look fine. Plus my cories.

Anything I can do??

I'm thinking it's swim bladder?

 

[Wild]

Well the two have for sure passed. All other fish (4cories 3danios) are still okay.

Some more info:
His happened right when I was just finishing a 50% water change.
They were dead in less than 5 minutes...
I had added the cories yesterday.(doubting it's their fault, this is an amazing mom and pop store)
And my tank was filled dec26, and my danios have been in there for 2 weeks.
I put more food in the tank than usual yesterday to make sure the cories were able to get some(I'm feeding flakes so my danios would eat most before it got to the bottom)


Yes, I am doing fish in cycling. I have been doing a 50% percent water change every other day with very minimal feeding.

 

[blert]

With a 'fish in' cycle your 50% water change every other day is not enough. You need to do like 50% daily or more depending on the toxin levels. Do you have a test kit? Ammonia and nitrites need to be kept below 0.25ppm or your fish will start dropping like flies.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I agree with blert.
Can you test your water? I wouldn't be adding anymore fish until the cycle is complete. You don't want to expose anymore fish than you already have.
What size tank?
Did you remember dechlorinator? Was the water temperature matched?

 

[Wild]

36 Gallon.
And yes i am using dechlorinator as well as gravel vacing every time i change the water.

My test kit gave me
Amm: 0
ite:0
ate:0

i'm starting to think it has expired though, i have yet to find a date on it.

 

[blert]

36 Gallon.
And yes i am using dechlorinator as well as gravel vacing every time i change the water.

My test kit gave me
Amm: 0
ite:0
ate:0

i'm starting to think it has expired though, i have yet to find a date on it.

Hmmm.... Been set up that long and you are showing zeros across the board? Have you done a PWC recently? Is your tank planted? Remember to shake the stuffing out of that #2 bottle of nitrate test juice and give it a couple good whacks on the counter for good measure, that bottle tends to settle and can clump up.

If you are using test strips, they are highly inaccurate. Assume it's at least one notch, or more, above what the strip says.

 

[Wild]

Well i did a 50% change, my fish died, then i tested the water.
though since day one i have got nothing but zeros...
And i only have a little bit of wisteria, not even to even touch changing the water chemistry.

And as i said my test kit is old, it's made by aquarium pharmaceuticals, which was what API was before they changed their name. Thats why i kinda think it's expired? but i don't see an expiration date on it.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If the kit is more than 3 years old I would buy a new one. Then you know it's in date.

 

[Wild]

Well it's definitely that old so I'll have to got get a new one sometime soon then.

Till then should 75% water changes daily keep everything okay? These large changes arn't a problem for cycling are they?

 

[absolutangel04]

I agree that something might be wrong with your kit. If you have had fish in there, you really shouldn't have no nitrates unless the tank is crazily planted.
The water changes do not affect cycling. The bb you are growing during a cycle is fixed to things like your filter cartridge and substrate, not just floating around in the water.
If everything is fine right now, I would just do 50% pwc daily or every other day until you can get another kit. Thats probably more pwc than you even need to do, but better safe than sorry.
Remember to get a liquid test kit since the strips are not accurate.