new fish keep dying (long sorry)

:sad:

So this is the situation:
I have a 38g long planted tank with a Marine Land 240(?) <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=bio%20wheel" onmouseover="window.status='bio wheel'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">bio wheel</a>. Our temp is at 79. We have the following fish: 1 male pearl gourami, 2 female pearl gourami, 1 female colbalt gourami, 2 male fancy guppies, three otos, 1 female BN pleco.

The problem:
The first set of clown loaches we had got a severe case of ick and died. Our second female colbalt died from ick the same time as well. The rest of the fish stated above all survived. I had a Leopard Frog pleco - died after three days (he wasn't eating, his stomache was sunken in) but he would not move from his spot, we had four marbled hatchet fish - one died the next day - returned it- woke up the next morning and all four were dead - we still have not found one. Moved in a flying fox (think he was sick from the beginning but wasn't sure) had to euthanize him - we bought a baby (about 1" big) albino pleco we are pretty sure he died - can't find him anywhere- we bought another set of clown loaches got ick from the flying fox - all died within two weeks of going into the tank (they were very inactive in our q tank as well) - had a wonderfull red cambodian betta, very aggressive, ate a bit (not as much as one I had a long time ago) just found him at the bottom of the tank.

-We feed freeze dried bloodworms, <a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=22&k=brine%20shrimp" onmouseover="window.status='brine shrimp'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">brine shrimp</a>, regular flakes, veggies, algae wafers
-what is really odd is that most of the fish that have died all go to a specific corner of the tank that I now dub death corner. They hide in this one corner which is pretty secluded and end up dying.

What is going on? I don't think it is the water prams because the original fish we have are all eating and very healthy (I think) our male pearl is always trying to mate, our BN is growing right before our eyes - there is nothing that would leave us to believe that something visibly is wrong.

We ended up buying three more clown loaches and have turned our Q tank into a permanent tank just for them - so far no problems what so ever. It seems as though as soon as they go into the main tank they die soon there after.

Thanks for the pitty me vent

no, the clowns will not be going in the same tank. We will be getting a much larger tank later on just for them. Will do water testing and post back. I know the corner has no significance - just odd - they weren't there after they died- they stayed there while they were dying. I can tell you right now that our PH is 7.8

Here is the results - it hurts to put these up :thud:

Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0
Hardness 120ppm
Alkalinity 180
PH 7.6
Ammonia .25

We figure the tank is in trouble because we have treated it for ick several twice with three different meds in the last month (first time first meds were not effective at all, that's why we lost the loaches then)

we did a 20% water change yesterday. We have noticed a lot of algae recently growing with no change to our routine. I read that is a sign of high nitrates. In your opinion - what should we do about the nitrates and ammonia? We would prefer not to treat with chemicals but will if necassary.

I'd say moderatly planted, but we need to remove some of them today because of the hair algae. We had gotten the flying fox to get rid of it (we also liked the fact he kind of looked like a small shard) but he never did anything except sit at the bottom of the tank.