Sick fish? Bad food? Virus?

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Gregm61881

Registered Member
Dec 27, 2011
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Hello all,

I've been maintaining a planted aquarium for a few years. Over that time ivehad my share up ups and downs but lately I cant keepmy fish Alive. I bought a couple of angel fish from a common retailer that must have been diseased as they killed all of my fish quickly except my2 dwarf African frogs. I maintained the tank for about 1.5 months before adding in new fish. I added (maybe too many,8 in total ) small fish to my 20 gal tank. I took regular readings of the water with a API test kit. All water levelslookedgreat.

after a week I found one dead and one looked sickly but is still alive barely. The others looked healthy. They ate new food as I thought the frozen bloodworms might have contributed to the problem. An hour later one of the healthy ones died.. I'm at a loss for answers.

Is there a virus in the tank that requires a new start or what's wrong? I'm tired of my fish dying for unknown reasons. Please help shed some light. Nothing new added to the tank in a long time.

Thanks for the help!
 

Rbishop

Administrator
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Dec 30, 2005
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Can you further define "All water levelslookedgreat"? Specific readings from a good liquid test kit would help.
 

Jannika

MTS Survivor
Mar 17, 2010
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Can you further define "All water levelslookedgreat"? Specific readings from a good liquid test kit would help.
+1

From the timing, it sounds like maybe the water isn't that great. You didn't mention if the tank had been cycled, but even then adding too many fish too quickly can cause an ammonia spike.
 

Arakkis

AC Members
Apr 7, 2008
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SJ Cali
Check O2, pH, Co2 levels, also probe substrate for methane or hydrogen sulfide gas (tank could have turned), also check these levels befre the lights turn on, halfway through the light cycle and at the end of the light cycle. you gotta know how far the tank swings. in heavy planted aquariums CO2 builds up big time at night causing pH and O2 levels to drop, co2 to rise creating carbamic acid.
 
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