Why are my fish dying?

[BrittanySmith02]

I am very new to keeping an aquarium. I had a 20 gallon stocked with 5 Black Skirt Tetras, 3 Dalmation Mollies, 2 Mickey Mouse Platys, 2 Sunburst Platy, and 1 Rubberlipped Pleco. Unfortunately, in the last few days I have lost one of the Mickey Mouse Platys, one Dalmation Molly, and my Pleco. Now all five of my Tetras (who were my first five to buy for this tank over 3 months ago) are looking incredibly ragged, with a milky white color on their tails, which appear to have been nipped away. They are refusing to eat. In fact, all of the fish appear to have white spots on them, so I began treating with an all in one treatment that I was suggested by a major chain pet store (can we use store names here?).
ALSO

I woke up this morning to find 9 living fry laying low very close to the substrate. I went out and got a breeding box and it's currently housing the remaining fry with a synthetic plant to provide some protection, but in the tank. I was told to grind up regular flake fish food as tiny as possible and feed them that. However, they're continuing to die as well.

What do I need to be looking for? When my Pleco died (this morning) it was very unexpected and he looked completely normal. His color was normal, his eyes were clear..
I'm really enjoying my fish, but I'm beginning to think I got myself in far deeper than I was ready for.

 

[tanker]

My guess, a non-cycled tank== Too much ammonia.

What is the temp of the tank?? Do you have any water-test Kits?? What are their readings?? How are you treating water (during WC).

 

[Star_Rider]

I think you need to test your water. you've had some of the fish 3 months?
are any new additions?
what is the history of your tank? maint schedule ?? include water changes.

 

[biondoa]

That's a very sad tale. I think the first thing is a partial water change and getting your water tested. If there is ammonia or nitrite building up in the water, more frequent water changes are in order, and don't add any more fish until you figure this out. If you don't have a test kit, your local fish store will test the water for you. If the water tests out fine, then you may have a disease which you will need to have identified before treating.

 

[BrittanySmith02]

I tested the water with the API master test kit today, and the readings are as follows:

pH- 8.0
Ammonia - .50ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm

Tank is kept between 74-78 degrees.

I was told by an associate at the petstore that I could use tap water as long as I treated it with a water conditioner, for which I use Marineland Aquarium Conditioner.

I do a partial water change every week with a gravel vacuum. I started out with five black skirt tetras. Once they seemed to do well after three months, I went ahead and got a few more fish. 2 Mickey Mouse platys, 3 Dalmation Mollies, and one Sunburst Platy. I also got my pleco that day. This was about two to three weeks ago. I guess they're being overfed? Too much ammonia? The pH is too high?

 

[Slappy*McFish]

Sounds like Ich to me. Ammonia should be 0, so that isn't helping at all. This could be from dying fish but some water changes are in order. Continue treating the tank as per the instructions included with your medication. There are many alternate treatment options that can be found throughout this forum, as well. Just curious, what medication are you using?

 

[BrittanySmith02]

Marineland All in One remedy

 

[biondoa]

Make sure you get dead fish out asap. Decaying fish can cause spike in ammonia.

 

[BrittanySmith02]

Thank you. I got them out as quickly as I could. I had one disappear, but found it that afternoon when I did the water change.

 

[JackLantern]

if you are new to the hobby, do you yourself a favor and buy a couple books.
keeping fish is more complicated than one may think, but very doable if you arm yourself with some basic information.

the web is great, but you will find more conflicting advice/information than you may want to filter through.

i suggest these two books:
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Guide-...d_sim_b_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=151WBA1V7ZFEKPGSJW5P
and
http://www.amazon.com/Setting-Tropi...d_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NPPV6S7SR91SH0RWC59