Fish are disappearing, please help!

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Frostbite1084

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Aug 27, 2014
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Hi, first time posting here. I guess I'll jump right in!
I have a 50g tank with
3- dwarf red gourami
20- wild guppies
3- fancy guppies
2- long tail guppies I think that's what they're called :huh:
1- guppy not sure what kind
6- neon tetras
4- ghost shrimp

all of these fish were healthy before they started disappearing, I raised the wild guppies from fry.
So I bought a plant from petsmart(probably my first mistake) and about a week later I noticed a bunch of small black snails. After googling it people said they are a pest snail that come from over seas on plants and other stuff bought from pet stores. About 2 weeks later I noticed I only had 2 gourami's... No dead body, no signs of anything. Then a day or two later another dwarf was floating at the bottom of the tank looking sickly(probably should have quarantine him, my second mistake) after about 2 days of that he disappeared. No body or skeleton....

About 3 days later I look In my tank and see a tetra floating with out a head.... It looks like it was cut clean off... Ever since then I've been losing a guppy or two a day. No signs of them dying.. I am completely stumped. Only about 5 wild guppies left, 2 fancy guppies and 5 neon tetra plus all the ghost shrimp. They all look healthy

Tested my water everything is normal except nitrite is up a little and so is nitrates
Ph is about 6.5
nitrite is 0.5
nitrate is 10

thanks for taking the time to read all that!
 

Gello

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Aug 25, 2014
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WOW! I was first thinking maybe the Gourami ate the other fish? But since there are none left I guess that's not it. Do the shrimp eat fish? Do you have a cat? LOL kidding but not. Do you have kids. Again only kind of kidding. I caught my 3yr old with a hand in the tank last night and had to remind her fish are for looking at not touching.
Maybe they jumped out?
Did you look in the filter.

No joke I had 2 goldfish in a 10gallon years ago. One day 1 goldfish was missing. Ironically the biggest one. I swear I looked everywhere for it. Then about a month later it reappeared. Weird right! No clue what the explanation was!
 

sumthin fishy

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Aug 22, 2005
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I would look into something being wrong with the fish, some sort of disease. Is there any indication of that? White spots, puffy or sucked in bellys, cloudy eyes, bulging eyes, anything out of the norm? It's possible the fish are dieing from a disease, and their bodies being consumed by the snails (pretty sure the shrimp would help with this too). The only fish I would be concerned about being able to kill the others is the last remaining gourami, is it showing any agression?
 

evil wizard

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Aug 17, 2014
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invest in a monitor or something like that i cant think of the name but record your tank.
 

Frostbite1084

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Aug 27, 2014
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Thanks for all the feed back! The last dwarf doesn't seem to show any agression at all. I have been noticing that a lot of the fish including the dwarf stomachs looks really bloated, is that a sign of disease? I'm thinking about tearing the tank down, cleaning EVERYTHING and starting over. In a few weeks when the tanks ready I'll add new fish back in.
Also, do you think those small black snails from over seas could bring disease?
 

petluvr

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Jun 5, 2008
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The snails are more than likely pond snails or ramshorn, I wouldn't think they are the source of your problems as most people with planted tanks, including myself, have them in their tanks. Gouramis, the dwarves, are very overbred and not the healthiest. The bloating sounds almost like dropsy, if you look at them from above do they resemble a pinecone? Dropsy is not however a disease in and of itself instead a result of other illness. What is your maintenance routine?
 

sumthin fishy

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Aug 22, 2005
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Sounds like it could be bloat/dropsey, a bacterial infection. Other symptoms besides bloated tummy are white stringy poops, scales poking out, redness arround the anus and clamped fins. I wouldn't start over from scratch. I've never had to deal with it so I'm not sure how to best treat it. I've seen some say salt can be used, others that medications are needed. Hopefully someone else can chime in. From what little i've read, it's a bacteria common to fishtanks that usually isn't a problem unless the fish have comprimised immune systems. The nitrite levels not being 0 says there is a problem in your tanks cycle and could be a factor in the stress. I don't think the snails would cause it unless my diagnosis is wrong.

1. I would start doing smallish water changes frequently.
2. can you post some pics so someone smarter than me can confirm if it is in fact dropsey?
 

SnakeIce

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I'm worried by that nitrite reading. That is not healthy for the fish. Now the decaying fish could be the source, but it isn't making it easier on the living fish. Water changes are in order, and then some more water changes. I don't think this is a bad thing, but ghost shrimp will help by eating on dead fish.

Anything moving from one tank to another wet could be a vector for disease. So that is why quarantine is so important. I would try to save what you can before doing the complete tank break down. Water changes are key in that attempt. One other tool you can use is to cull the sickest fish to stop the spread of the disease. You may save what is left if you get enough of the diseased fish out of the tank.

I remember dealing with neon tetra disease. I learned that the sick fish don't get better and the disease is spread by the healthy fish picking at the dead or near dead sick fish. So the only way to save the rest of the school is to remove and kill any fish with signs of sickness. Now not all diseases are that dire, or can be eliminated this way. So do what you can with the fish you have left and learn from this before you just throw up your hands and start over.
 

Frostbite1084

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Aug 27, 2014
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Ok so I tested my tap water and found out the nitrates and nitrite is actually is pretty high. Nitrites are 0.5 - 1
nitrates were around 10-20 ish.. It's hard to color match the strips.
also when I set the tank up I put a log from my brothers tank in it, I thought he cleaned it but apparently he just took it out of his tank and straight into my tank, but his fish were healthy so I'm not sure if that's whats affecting my fish.

My maintenance is pretty simple. Water changes once a month and I clean out my sponges in my filter. Every 6-12 months I wash out my bio rings. That's about it
 
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