4 fish dead in the last 3 days - please help :(

Beeeee · Apr 5, 2010

We had 4 black neon tetras, 1 blue betta, 2 orange platys with black fins and 2 ottos.

We added on Thurs 1st April: 2 dalmation mollies, 1 black lyretail ballon molly, 2 denison barbs and 3 yellow platys with rosy red cheeks.

We did not quarantine any of our new fish.

On Friday 2nd April - day 2 of the new fish - i noticed one of the new dalmation mollies and the black lyretail balloon molly were both keeping very close to the substrate and moving very slowly. On Saturday 3rd April they were both dead, the black balloon molly seemed to have white around his black fins.

On Sunday 4th April the Beta was moving very slowly, appearung to be dead but then would move his little fins, he then died later in the day.

Today Monday 5th April I checked the tank and all fish seemed to be swimming "normally". However I had noticed the last remaining dalmation molly was swimming erratically and had been since his 2 fellow mollies passed away on Saturday. i am unsure if this is due to him losing his companions or not he also has a bloated tummy. Later on this afternoon I was admiring the remaining fish (feeling sad for our losses) and noticed that one of our black neon tetras had now passed also.

My tank is 50gallons
I use the API liquid master kit and the ph was 7, the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite were all zero.
This is a fresh water tank.

The tank has been up and running just under 12 months now.
The tank has been a steady 25 degrees celsius

We have always used live plants in our aquarium. On the Sunday prior to getting the new fish we added new plants, the original fish appeared to be unaffected by these. There has been no bugs (that can be seen by the eye like the dragon nymph).

We are using a U3 or 4 Fluval filter.
We only have a filter and heater - we are planning on adding a water pump.
Our tank is situated where there is no natural sunlight. We have the tank lights on between 10 and 12 hours a day.

Last water change was Sunday prior to new fish being added - Sunday 28th March, i did a 30% water change. The substrate was vacuumed.
I alternate daily between flake food and blood worms. I feed the tank once a day.

Please help - are more of my fish going to die - what have i done - I want to do what i can now!
XX

cellodaisy · Apr 5, 2010

Wow, that's rough. I'm really a novice *********** myself, but I'll throw in my two cents.

So let me see if I have this right...

original stock:
4 black neon tetras
1 betta
2 platys
2 ottos

3/28 - water change & new plants

4/1 - added stock, bringing total to:

4 black neon tetras
1 betta
5 platys
2 ottos
3 mollies
2 denison barbs

4/2 - two mollies sick

4/3 - two mollies dead

4/4 - beta dead

4/5 - one molly sick, one black neon tetra dead

current stock:
3 black neon tetras
5 platys
2 ottos
1 molly (sick)
2 denison barbs

So your last water change was over a week ago? You listed water test results, but when did you conduct the test? Even if it was today, with all the sickness and death that's been going on in that tank I'd be doing some major water changes.

You mentioned white on one of the mollies' fins. Have you seen that on any of the others? Have you noticed any other symptoms?

I hope one of the more knowledgeable AC members will chime in. Good luck!

cellodaisy · Apr 5, 2010

Wow, not sure why that got blanked out. All I said was a word that means "someone who keeps fish."

LeahK · Apr 5, 2010

Wow, that all sounds horrible--I'm sorry for your losses.

I can think of two possibilities off the top of my head:

1) ammonia spike
2) contagious illness brought in by new fish

The symptoms--moving very slowly, erratic swimming, discoloration--all sound like ammonia poisoning. You added a lot of fish at once, which could have caused an ammonia spike.
Is there any possibility that your API test is past its expiration date? This could cause a mistaken reading.

As for the second possibility, I'm not sure what it would be, but it would be a pretty nasty disease. My guess would be a bacterial infection.

I don't know if that helped--I hope you figure out what's going on. Keep us posted!

joel.uejio · Apr 5, 2010

Bummer. I agree that it could be the new fish who brought in some illness. If you don't see any obvious signs now though (fungus, sores, etc.) then maybe just step up you water changes.

You mention that your nitrate reading is 0, which I thought was nearly impossible without having a heavily planted tank. Are you doing all the proper shakings and waitings for the tests?

Hope things get better!

sorberj · Apr 5, 2010

That second nitrate bottle requires quite a vigorous shaking to get an accurate test. Try shaking it like you're mad at it and test again. It is most likely that your new fish brought in some new strain of a particular bacteria, but you really do want to rule out a water quality issue. Even if there was a bit of an ammonia spike, most likely your biofilter would have converted it through relatively quickly. My guess though is that your nitrates are probably a bit high, which won't help as both the new and old fish adjust to the new bacteria in your tank.

Scuppers · Apr 5, 2010

sorberj said:
That second nitrate bottle requires quite a vigorous shaking to get an accurate test. Try shaking it like you're mad at it and test again. It is most likely that your new fish brought in some new strain of a particular bacteria, but you really do want to rule out a water quality issue. Even if there was a bit of an ammonia spike, most likely your biofilter would have converted it through relatively quickly. My guess though is that your nitrates are probably a bit high, which won't help as both the new and old fish adjust to the new bacteria in your tank.

Also, when you have the nitrate test in the test tube shake that for a full minute too. Makes quite a difference.

Beeeee · Apr 7, 2010

Thanks for all the input and advice. Sadly we have lost 2 more another tetra today and a yellow platy yesterday.

Doing daily water changes as of yesterday. The reading before the change today (testing based on your advice re: shaking) pH: 7 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 10

Is there anything else I can do now? From Mon night none of the fish seemed peaky, so the loss was a shock. I feel so sad.

So currently our stock is: 2 black neon tetras, 4 platys, 2 ottos, 1 molly (who no longer seems bloated) and 2 denison barbs.

sorberj · Apr 7, 2010

It's good that the molly doesn't seem bloated anymore. While nitrates at 10 is a good level, if that's where you're at after a water change the day before, that sounds to me like you may have had a pretty significant increase earlier on. I'll admit though, with a 50 gallon, you aren't anywhere near overstocking so I'm a bit leery about putting all my eggs in the "ammonia spike" basket. Did you notice any unusual redness around the gills of the fish that passed? That would be a telltale sign for water-quality toxicity. Also, did you purchase the tank used or new? If you bought it used, it might not actually be 50 gallons, it may be smaller, which could impact how likely a mini-cycle is to occur. If you bought it used, it is probably worth it to measure the tank and then use AqAdvisor.com to calculate the volume.

It's good news that the molly has stopped bloating.

I do have one more question. Are you feeding frozen bloodworms or the freeze-dried kind? There have been reports of bloating occurring when fish eat the freeze-dried bloodworms too quickly and they swell up inside the fish's stomach. With the introduction of new stock, it could have changed some of the feeding behavior of the existing stock as well, causing them to eat more quickly and bloat up. Again, without any visual signs of disease (other than the bloating), it's hard to tell.

Ultimately, this may be a situation where a lot of small things added up to cause a major problem. I had to learn some of these things the hard way as well, and I didn't have the folks here to help me out then

The best bet for the future is to quarantine any new stock. I suggest using a 5 gallon aquarium for this, or even a small clear plastic container with a heater and a sponge filter, and do daily 50% water changes. Then introduce the new arrivals slowly into your main tank (a couple of fish per day). This will give you the chance to watch for any infections that were not obvious at the store when you purchased the fish, it will give the fish time to clear their systems in a clean environment, and give your aquarium's biological filter the chance to ramp up and keep that Ammonia and Nitrite down at 0.

I wish I could tell you for sure what was causing the loss of fish.


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4 fish dead in the last 3 days - please help :(

Beeeee

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cellodaisy

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cellodaisy

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LeahK

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joel.uejio

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sorberj

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Scuppers

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Beeeee

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sorberj

wannabe fish whisperer