Problem with my freshwater aquarium

[Matt_]

Hi, I have had my tank running for more than 4 months now, but have had the fish in for about 1 1/2 months. The problem is there has been a few unusual casualties recently which i cant lead to what the problem is.
The fish were 6 Neon tetras & 2 Trilineatus corys

The aquarium is 90L planted aquarium with low fert dosing, I do 40 - 30% water changes every week, plus I test the water parameters before each change and every week they are not showing any signs of why the fish would be dying.
The test would usually consist of

0 - Ammonia
0 - Nitrite
10-15 - Nitrate
7 - PH

Hope anyone can help! Thank you

 

[brennae]

Neon tetras are fragile. Could have been bad stock?

 

[Delapool]

Some more details would help if they had any abnormal marks and if the fish died after any change in the tank. It might be after a water change, new food, temp or filter change but there should be something. We need a bit more to help best.

 

[Matt_]

Neon tetras are fragile. Could have been bad stock?

Yeah I have heard that they are fragile, but they seemed to be doing fine for the first 3 weeks, I don't want to add more fish until I have found the problem

Some more details would help if they had any abnormal marks and if the fish died after any change in the tank. It might be after a water change, new food, temp or filter change but there should be something. We need a bit more to help best.

The only fish that really had something abnormal was one of the Cory's, he had a white fungus on one of his lower fins. The neon tetras had no markings, they might have been a little swollen, but they have no markings what so ever.

I haven't added no new food into their diet, I use crushed flakes for neons some days or floating micro pellets and sinking wafers for the Cory's split in half. The temp is a consistent 75 degree's, the only time when this drops is when doing the water change. The filter hasn't been changed only partially cleaned from time to time.

Hope this helps a little more thanks for helping!

 

[Aliray]

When doing a water change I make sure the temp of the new water is the same or one degree above or below, using the same thermometer that is in each tank. I also dechlorinate each gal of water before adding to the tank. You said your temp was the same except at water changes. Maybe the temp difference is too much? Alison

 

[Matt_]

When doing a water change I make sure the temp of the new water is the same or one degree above or below, using the same thermometer that is in each tank. I also dechlorinate each gal of water before adding to the tank. You said your temp was the same except at water changes. Maybe the temp difference is too much? Alison

How do you manage to heat up the water to ensure it matches the aquarium temps? The drop can be 5 degrees when adding the water to the aquarium when doing a water change. I need to do a water change today so I will put a thermometer in the bucket. I Aldo dechlorinate the water before adding, I use tetra aquasafe. Thanks for the help

 

[Coursair]

What other fish are in the tank ?


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[Matt_]

What other fish are in the tank ?


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At the moment it's just the Cory's and the neon tetras, I don't want to add anymore until the problem is found and fixed really

 

[gilpi]

How do you manage to heat up the water to ensure it matches the aquarium temps? The drop can be 5 degrees when adding the water to the aquarium when doing a water change. I need to do a water change today so I will put a thermometer in the bucket. I Aldo dechlorinate the water before adding, I use tetra aquasafe. Thanks for the help

It's not hard to match the new water with the tanks water, you can go by feel and be very close or get a thermometer to check the water in the bucket. A 5 degree drop could be a shock but not so much if you're only partially changing the water, I would still try matching the temp as close as possible.
As far as your casualties, as someone mentioned, could be a bad stock, sometimes we tend to blame ourselves for fish loss not knowing where they came from and how they were treated before they got to your tank.


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[Fresh2o]

At the moment it's just the Cory's and the neon tetras, I don't want to add anymore until the problem is found and fixed really

I applaud you on your patience with this.
It might be how the fish were introduced. Perhaps it caused stress that did not show up until later in SOME of the fish. Did you do the float-and-add-water method or drip acclimation?
Please go over how many were added and how many had died?



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[Delapool]

Also which species and how they died. Was it sudden or lingering, etc. did they go off their food and stop schooling or just drop off the perch so to speak.

 

[Matt_]

It's not hard to match the new water with the tanks water, you can go by feel and be very close or get a thermometer to check the water in the bucket. A 5 degree drop could be a shock but not so much if you're only partially changing the water, I would still try matching the temp as close as possible.
As far as your casualties, as someone mentioned, could be a bad stock, sometimes we tend to blame ourselves for fish loss not knowing where they came from and how they were treated before they got to your tank.


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I just finished a water change, I used a spare thermometer and got it matching the aquarium temps. And yes it could be the retailer, but I couldn't see any bad signs in their tanks.

I applaud you on your patience with this.
It might be how the fish were introduced. Perhaps it caused stress that did not show up until later in SOME of the fish. Did you do the float-and-add-water method or drip acclimation?
Please go over how many were added and how many had died?



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I drip acclimated them in a bucket for both the neons and the Cory's (neons was purchased about 2 weeks or so before the Cory's)

At the start 6 neons were added with drip acclimation, 4 Cory's then added with drip acclimation. And then about 3 weeks to a month later there were casualties

I now have 3 neons with no signs on them and 2 Cory's with also no signs of illness.

Thank you both for your help!

 

[Matt_]

Also which species and how they died. Was it sudden or lingering, etc. did they go off their food and stop schooling or just drop off the perch so to speak.

All of the fish were eating, the first neon tetra that died tended to stick near the outlet of the aquarium, and didn't really love much for food. The rest all seemed fine and ate fine, I would then find one had died in the morning

 

[Brookster123]

I've found neons to be hit or miss due to poor stock. Corys as well.. just the way it goes... buying from a reputable breeder helps. The wc swing wouldn't help, they may be hanging on the brink form the first month and the slightest stressor could send them over the edge..

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[Matt_]

I've found neons to be hit or miss due to poor stock. Corys as well.. just the way it goes... buying from a reputable breeder helps. The wc swing wouldn't help, they may be hanging on the brink form the first month and the slightest stressor could send them over the edge..

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I have been reading about that they are a bit weak (neons) I didn't know Cory's were like that also, I actually thought they were a little tougher. Yeah I am going to be keeping an eye on temps when doing water changes now, so hopefully that will help. I think the next set of fish I get will be from a bigger known retailer by me, but still want to see how these do. I'll probably wait till after Christmas until getting more fish

Would me adding micro's and macros hurt? I add way under what I am supposed to (I add 5ml per day) and skip saturdays.

Thanks

 

[brennae]

You might look into Prime from Seachem. In my opinion it's a great dechlorinator. I like it better than aquasafe. But again just my opinion. Good luck!!

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[Matt_]

You might look into Prime from Seachem. In my opinion it's a great dechlorinator. I like it better than aquasafe. But again just my opinion. Good luck!!

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I used to use aquasafe in my previous aquarium with no issues, but thanks for the suggestion I'll have alook at Prime though

 

[Delapool]

I shifted my cardinal tetras to a 5 gal and they seem to be doing better in a low flow tank. Lighting may be a little less intense as well.

Ferts wise I've only really noticed the fins on angels looking a little ripped with nitrates around 80ppm (overdosed ferts for a few weeks).

However as above I've noticed tetras are hard to get established here. I like them but I don't think they are suited to my tank.

 

[Matt_]

I shifted my cardinal tetras to a 5 gal and they seem to be doing better in a low flow tank. Lighting may be a little less intense as well.

Ferts wise I've only really noticed the fins on angels looking a little ripped with nitrates around 80ppm (overdosed ferts for a few weeks).

However as above I've noticed tetras are hard to get established here. I like them but I don't think they are suited to my tank.

Yeah neons are nice little fish, but maybe I will have to try cardinals next time. I have heard they are a little tougher. Maybe they are not suited for my tank either though.

And 2 weeks overdosed I under dose just be safe and nitrates are never over 20 when testing at the end of the week.