Hi,
I have a 130 L tank that has up since end of December. It took a week to cycle as I used media and I tested the water and everything was perfect.
My current stock list is:
1 dwarf gourami
3 upside down cats
7 glass cats
4 bristlenose pelcos
3 Otto’s
1 ghost knife fish
(Yes this tank is highly stocked, but all fish are still baby’s and as they out grow the tank I will be upgrading)
Filter: aqua one nautilus 1100
Weekly water changes: 30%
I do not use a water conditioner as I use filtered tap water
I feed the dymax bottom feeder and flakes both pre soaked.
My current tank parameters:
Ph: 7.4 (high, but usual for Australian tap water)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 0-5
My problem is every time I add an angel fish or blue ram, they die within two weeks. It first started with an angel fish. I acclimated him for 15 mins adding around a cup of water every so often and then let him in the tank. For the first few days he was fine, eating and swimming around. Then suddenly he stopped eating and stayed in a corner. I immediately isolated him and did a dewormer (flubendazole) on him in a quarantine tank and the main tank. It did not work and he started doing flips (I’m guessing a swim bladder problem) and died a few hours later.
The next week I bought another angel fish thinking the first one died because of a genetic issue, who looked bigger and healthier. He lasted about a week before going through the same issue again and then died a week after, flipping for a few hours and then dying. That time I treated with both the wormer again and melafix which didn’t work. At the same time I had a blue ram die of pop eye who I had for about two months. I didn’t think anything of it as he was injured the week before, close to his eye and I tried to fix with the melafix which didn’t work.
I decided to try one more time with the angel fish and I also bought a replacement blue ram. The angel fish fine again for a week and then started showing the behaviours again, so the fish shop where I bought him asked me to bring him in. At first he wouldn’t eat there in their quarantine tank but eventually he went back to normal and they are still holding him there for me. The blue ram was fine for the first few days, then one day I didn’t notice her at feeding time but didn’t think anything of it as she was small and hard to find, but the next day she was dead floating in the tank.
I thought that maybe the fish store I was getting them from was getting bad fish so I decided to go to a different fish store where I got a balloon blue ram. She lived a week and then stopped eating and was dead the next day. What I noticed though was that her fins were clamped and she was dulling in colour, so I tried to treat her with an antibiotic (TETRACYCLINE HYDROCHLORIDE) which again she started flipping and didn’t work.
In the few months that this has happened I have also gotten three glass catfish (one died). 3 ottos (no casualties). One ghost knife fish(no casualties)
What happened with the glass catfish was that I noticed her lower half was smaller than the rest so I just tired to make sure she ate which was fine for a few days, then suddenly she had scoliosis, lost her feelers and her fins were incredibly damaged and slowly lost her ability to swim so I put her down. Since then I have noticed that some of my older glass catfish are losing their feelers slowly.
No other fish are showing any symptoms only new fish. I feed my fish a varied diet of pellets, flake, frozen blood worms and live black worms. I have found when a fish is sick they will refuse all of them. None of the fish were bloated and poop seemed either a little stringy or normal.
It seems that the fish starve themselves to death, but I don’t know what’s causing them to not eat. I find it weird how they die in my quarantine tank but was fine in my the fish shops one. Please help I can’t kill anymore dead fish and thank you for reading.
I have a 130 L tank that has up since end of December. It took a week to cycle as I used media and I tested the water and everything was perfect.
My current stock list is:
1 dwarf gourami
3 upside down cats
7 glass cats
4 bristlenose pelcos
3 Otto’s
1 ghost knife fish
(Yes this tank is highly stocked, but all fish are still baby’s and as they out grow the tank I will be upgrading)
Filter: aqua one nautilus 1100
Weekly water changes: 30%
I do not use a water conditioner as I use filtered tap water
I feed the dymax bottom feeder and flakes both pre soaked.
My current tank parameters:
Ph: 7.4 (high, but usual for Australian tap water)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 0-5
My problem is every time I add an angel fish or blue ram, they die within two weeks. It first started with an angel fish. I acclimated him for 15 mins adding around a cup of water every so often and then let him in the tank. For the first few days he was fine, eating and swimming around. Then suddenly he stopped eating and stayed in a corner. I immediately isolated him and did a dewormer (flubendazole) on him in a quarantine tank and the main tank. It did not work and he started doing flips (I’m guessing a swim bladder problem) and died a few hours later.
The next week I bought another angel fish thinking the first one died because of a genetic issue, who looked bigger and healthier. He lasted about a week before going through the same issue again and then died a week after, flipping for a few hours and then dying. That time I treated with both the wormer again and melafix which didn’t work. At the same time I had a blue ram die of pop eye who I had for about two months. I didn’t think anything of it as he was injured the week before, close to his eye and I tried to fix with the melafix which didn’t work.
I decided to try one more time with the angel fish and I also bought a replacement blue ram. The angel fish fine again for a week and then started showing the behaviours again, so the fish shop where I bought him asked me to bring him in. At first he wouldn’t eat there in their quarantine tank but eventually he went back to normal and they are still holding him there for me. The blue ram was fine for the first few days, then one day I didn’t notice her at feeding time but didn’t think anything of it as she was small and hard to find, but the next day she was dead floating in the tank.
I thought that maybe the fish store I was getting them from was getting bad fish so I decided to go to a different fish store where I got a balloon blue ram. She lived a week and then stopped eating and was dead the next day. What I noticed though was that her fins were clamped and she was dulling in colour, so I tried to treat her with an antibiotic (TETRACYCLINE HYDROCHLORIDE) which again she started flipping and didn’t work.
In the few months that this has happened I have also gotten three glass catfish (one died). 3 ottos (no casualties). One ghost knife fish(no casualties)
What happened with the glass catfish was that I noticed her lower half was smaller than the rest so I just tired to make sure she ate which was fine for a few days, then suddenly she had scoliosis, lost her feelers and her fins were incredibly damaged and slowly lost her ability to swim so I put her down. Since then I have noticed that some of my older glass catfish are losing their feelers slowly.
No other fish are showing any symptoms only new fish. I feed my fish a varied diet of pellets, flake, frozen blood worms and live black worms. I have found when a fish is sick they will refuse all of them. None of the fish were bloated and poop seemed either a little stringy or normal.
It seems that the fish starve themselves to death, but I don’t know what’s causing them to not eat. I find it weird how they die in my quarantine tank but was fine in my the fish shops one. Please help I can’t kill anymore dead fish and thank you for reading.