Fish Dying - Stumped

[Lt.]

I'm having an issue with a fish die off. I've got a 20G long that's been set up for 2 years now, sand bottom with some Christmas Moss on a driftwood and some plant (anubias?) That I was given at Petco (only place besides Walmart with fishies in my town).

Backstory:

Anyways, I can't decide if I'm losing fish due to bad stock from Petco, or if it's somehow my doing. Last week I revamped the tank, been working out of town for a few months and my folks were taking care of it for me. It had a handful of cories, 5 black neons, and artificial plants. It got... Messy. During my time away, 3 or so months. Limited water changes, no cleaning.

Uneaten food and fish waste all over, so I vacced that up well, changed half the water, replaced the charcoal and debris catch in my filter (leaving the bio-sponge alone to save bacteria), and swapped out my cories for a dozen RC Shrimp, 6 neons, and a single new black neon to give them "symmetry" in numbers. If you follow me, haha.

The problems set in now...
Well, next day I wake up to 5 dead neons, a dead back neon (the new one, I can tell by size as the others are well over a year old and grown), 2 dead shrimp, and the survivors hiding in the brush all pale colored). I fish out all but one carcass (have a treat my shrimpy friends), replace 60% of the water, and fetch free replacements from Petco. They do well that day, everyone is active, colorful and happy, and the next day as well...

But two days after the first die off, water change, and new fish replacement... I wake up to 6 carcasses and pale hiding fish again, all the fish are alive though. I retrieve the remains and perform a 21 flush salute to them, do a 70% water change, no new fish today. By early afternoon they're all alive and swimming again.

Then... A die off the next day of two more fish with the rest hiding. I'm down to 4 black neon and my shrimp. I pull the bodies, water change, happy fish again... Get replacements. Another die off the next day and I'm down to 5 neons and 4 black neons (all shrimp still alive... Thankfully).

Now 4 days later I'm doing 50% water changes daily, and the fish are all still alive, no more die offs.

Levels read:

PH 8.0

.25ppm ammonia

0 nitrites

5ppm nitrates.

 

[King Fisher]

I'd say your ammonia was probably high if you are still at .25 ppm after all those water changes. I'd keep the ammonia at 0 if the tank is in fact cycled. Don't get anymore fish for a couple months and let things balance out. Test again before you add fish to double check.

 

[Fishlover99]

I'd say your ammonia was probably high if you are still at .25 ppm after all those water changes. I'd keep the ammonia at 0 if the tank is in fact cycled. Don't get anymore fish for a couple months and let things balance out. Test again before you add fish to double check.

And yes it partly cuz of your stock you are forced to buy. Big box stores, buy in massive amounts of fish. They are all power grown, they have a hard *** travel, in this travel they become extremely stressed. In this travel window these fish are not feed for weeks, most are still just fry. Those fish take a big hit before you get them home. I have had Molly's, Platy's, and guppy's all die on me before I even opened the bag to acclimate my fish. With them dying off like that. I would take a break and let your tank catch up. A tank isn't really cycled till it's about 2 months up and running, even then it's still a baby tank. Out of my 17 tanks I only have 6 that are considered aged, they have been running since March of last year. Those 6 tanks helped cycle process on all my other tanks. I love sponge filters.

 

[Fishlover99]

As far as ammonia, not all ammonia is harmful to your fish. All test kits will pick up any ammonia. If you dose your tank with prime that will help neutralize your bad Ammonia, but after dosing your tank with it you have a 24 window to remove the Ammonia, and takes stress off your fish. Another good water conditioner is called ultimate put out by Hikari. You can find it on Amazon cheaper than a box store.