Losing fish

S

s_wall98

AC Members
Sep 9, 2007
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I have a 30 gallon freshwater tank currently housing 1 yellow lab, 1 debauwi catfish, 1 corydoras, 1 convict (that was a mistake) and 1 knight goby. Recently I've been having problems keeping fish. At one time I had 4 corydoras, but over about a 2 weeks I lost 3 of them, 2 died overnight and 1 fought for a couple days, but died on the 4th. They all looked healthy, just appeared lethargic, no going to the surface or anything. After that I lost a debauwi catfish. Everybody else has been fine and seems normal, no crazy behavior and they look healthy. I tried to add an albino rainbow shark twice. The first time the shark was dead probably within 2 hours. After releasing it everyhting seemed fine for about an hour, but after coming back to the tank an hour later I find him dead. After checking the water parameters and watching the fish carefully I tried it again. This time the fish made it through the night, but i found him dead in the morning. After this I checked the water again, with everything looking fine to me. At this time I had 2 convicts and thought maybe they had basically picked the poor guys to death. I traded the one I could catch in for credit at the LFS and had them check my water while I was there....said everything looked great. 2 weeks ago one of my buddies gives me a gold severum. I tested my water and everything seemed good and my other fish seemed healthy so I thought I would try it. Not so good....after about 5 days the fins looked deteriorated and cloudy along with scale damage and lack of color. I got some meds from the guy I got him from and tried to treat him in a qt tank but he died after 2 days in the tank. After that I've given up on adding fish but have kept an eye on my fish and they all seemed healthy....until this morning when I woke up to a dead plecostomus. Don't know what happened to him, but he looked perfectly healthy, so I have no idea. Any help??

Like I said before its a 30 gallon with a Whisper filter (1 size up....45gallon i think)
I just checked the water with the following results:
Nitrate: 0-2.5
Nitrite: 0
Ph: 7-7.2
Ammonia: 0
 
:welcome: to AC!

First of all, your tank is inappropriately stocked. Convicts and labs are not community fish. Knight gobies are brackish water species so they are expected to have health issues if kept in purely freshwater conditions. Severums are not for tanks smaller than 55g. These, despite being slow growers the moment they reach 6 inches, do not appreciate being kept in a small tank. Furthermore, if you have plans to add more fish, then you are mixing the wrong fish as these are able to eat smaller fish and depending on the personality, while most of the time mild-mannered, may harass the other fish.

Second, do not add any more fish until your issues are sorted. Give it a month after you sorted your issues. Adding more fish is a complete waste of time and money without knowing what exactly is causing your problems.

Third, fin deterioration is finrot. Finrot aside from cloudy eyes is caused by either water quality, lack of proper tank maintenance or bacterial infection. What test kit are you using? Bear in mind, if you are using test strips, then you are using the wrong equipment as its reliability is always put in doubt. Use API liquid test kit for accurate results. What is your tank maintenance schedule? How much water is replaced and how often do you do that?

Fourth, what medicines did you use? Again, caution must be taken when using medicines. Not all medicines are safe to particular species. Not all meds are safe to biological filtration which can, if disrupted, cause the demise of all your fish.

Fifth, filtration is not enough. What media are you using in it? I'd add another filter if I were you.

Sixth, plecos are rather sensitive to water conditions and can die without explanations though if my guess is right, you are using the wrong test kit and could have been misled by the results. I recommend doing plenty of water changes in the meantime until you get another test kit. What species is this pleco? Select your fish carefully. Not all fish can fit in your 30g well, not even commmon plecos which are commonly sold to beginners as "algae eaters". They grow to 18 inches which will surpass your tank's capacity to accommodate it.

Lastly, I'd suggest you ask other people first before you attempt to treat your fish. Research first before you get another fish. Not doing so will merely add to your troubles which is not worth it. It will rather frustrate you out of the hobby instead of enjoying the pleasure to observe your fish interact with each other. Just as a warning, do not follow what your local petstore employees tell you. Listen carefully but do not follow anything else yet until you are sure their advice is proper. Most of the time, they advise you for marketing ploy, not to let you enjoy the pleasures of fishkeeping.
 
First off, thanks for the welcome

1-I know the stock is a little off. The convict shouldnt be in there, and I jumped the gun on the severum. The KG I bought from a place that I've always seen with KGs in tanks with smaller assorted malawi or african cichlids. They've had one for about 3 years that I know of. I was told that there supplier raises them in freshwater, that slightly alkaline water would be fine.

2-No plans on adding fish until I figure out something

3-Finrot was what I thought, but the water, according to Petsmart ( i know i know, but they're the closest), the LFS, and my "API Freshwater Master Test Kit" (uses test tubes and drops not strips), my water was fine, just slightly alkaline. Water is changed (roughly 8 gallons so a little more than 25%)every week, with gravel being vacuumed every 2 weeks.

4- I believe I used melafix and an airstone to medicate

5- My filtration is a whisper 30-60gallon with 2 sponges and 2 carbon filters. Filters are replaced every other week, one at a time, so basically once a month. That may be totally wrong but a store owner convinced me that was the best way several years ago and thats what i've tried.

Thanks
 
You seem on the right track except the filtration. What did you replace every other week? Sponges are to be replaced only if they are worn out. Carbons need replacing every four weeks. You don't need carbon at the moment. Ditch them. Add more filter floss, sponges and other filter media to replace the carbon. Add another filter as well.

Keep monitoring your water parameters and do daily water changes by about 20-30%. How do you acclimate your new fish? How often do you feed and what do you feed?
 
When I said replace the filter i meant replace the carbons. The filter has 2 carbons and 2 sponges. I replace 1 carbon then replace the other in 2 weeks, so they are in the filter for one month. I could replace them both at once but was told (actually might have read something here come to think of it) that staggering double filters like that can be helpful. Ill take your advice and ditch them for some other media.

New fish are usually just floated for a couple hours.....im sure im gonna take a lashing on this, but the LFS usually takes good care of them and checks them pretty good. If bought at Petsmart, they're qt'd. Not real sure on the food, not there with it. I use a mix of flakes, cichlid pellets, and wafers, shrimp, etc for bottom feeders, along with some veggies occasionally

What am i doing daily water changes for?....not to be smart...just learning i guess
 
You didn't specify how often you feed them. I must have missed that part. Daily water changes will help cope with the wastes as much as improving water quality. Finrot and cloudy eyes are signs of poor water quality which means your current schedule may not have been adequate at all. Always quarantine every new fish you get for four weeks regardless of where you buy your fish.
 
The first thing you need to do is decide what type of tank this will be - aggressive - semi-agressive or community. If you go with an agressive African cicchlid tank you can't put community fish in with them such as cories and expect them to survive. It needs to be set up properly with lots of caves. Get a bubbler to make sure there are no dead areas in the tank. If you intend to add more they need space. They need their territory and they'll breed. This causes more aggression as they guard the eggs etc...

Many people on this site believe in over filtering. I have 1 filter in each tank except for 1 tank which contains the community fish in my signature. I have 1 goldfish tank (understocked) which my husband has taken over and it runs with 1 filter and fish are healthy. I do agree though that once fully or over stocked you need a very good filter or 2.

If you want a variety of fish you'll be looking at a community tank and will have to bring the cicchlids back. As for the cories. I don't think any cory will survive with cicchlids and some are more delicate than others. Is a rainbow shark a bala? If yes they're shy at first and they don't belong with cicchlids. They're supposed to be in groups in a large tank. I have 1 in a 55 gal non-aggressive community and just lucked out with mine. They're supposed to be a nervous fish but he's calm and he hangs out with the bosmani rainbows. I can see the stress of being put in with cicchlids killing them.

The tank's cycled and that's the hard part. Now you just need to decide who's going to live in the tank. Once that's done you won't be so frustrated. Good luck.
 
a gold severum. I tested my water and everything seemed good and my other fish seemed healthy so I thought I would try it. Not so good....after about 5 days the fins looked deteriorated and cloudy along with scale damage and lack of color. Quote

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Fin nipping can also cause fin rot. This is likely what happened since there was also scale damage and lack of colour (stress). If you're going to keep an African cicchlid tank you need to research what they need. Their tanks are usually large and contain lots of rocks built up along the back to create caves (territory and places to hide).
 
leighasnana said:
If you want a variety of fish you'll be looking at a community tank and will have to bring the cicchlids back. As for the cories. I don't think any cory will survive with cicchlids and some are more delicate than others. Is a rainbow shark a bala? If yes they're shy at first and they don't belong with cicchlids. They're supposed to be in groups in a large tank. I have 1 in a 55 gal non-aggressive community and just lucked out with mine. They're supposed to be a nervous fish but he's calm and he hangs out with the bosmani rainbows. I can see the stress of being put in with cicchlids killing them.
Click to expand...
Leighasnana, I am confused. What does your question in red font mean? Balas and rainbow sharks are obviously different but both still fall under the family, Cyprinidae.
 
IM kinda confused by the rainbow shark comment also....especially coming from someone giving me advice. As for the cories, they stay on the bottom, with the cichlids above, running around the elevated rocks or caves. Until this tank, I've never had a problem with them getting picked on and still haven't seen them get picked on. I see the yellow lab chase the convict and the other way around, but thats it.
 
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