Fish are dieing!! :(

nerdyrcdriver said:
I always heard nitrate should be less than 20. so to me 40-80 sounds high. That would be my first guess. Second thing would be the new fish that were not qt'd. Even though nobody shows signs of sickness, it can still be there. Glofish, I can understand dying. Genetically altered to glow more and die easily even though they are from the zebra danio group. (a zebra danio is still alive in my neighbors tank, overfed, alone, never cleaned the tank once, terrible) . Guppies, heard they arent very hardy so 40-80 nitrates could probably kill them pretty easily. I dont know any of your other fish as i am a noob.

Hope someone can help you out more than I can!
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The nitrate level isn't an issue. It has to be much higher to be an issue in most cases.

I would also look at the new fish as being an issue. Quarantine is a good habit, but without any further definitive evidence, right now, all we have is speculation.
 
There's no absolute level that is going to kill every fish, not within the range we are talking about. There are certainly varying levels of nitrate sensitivity. I have to agree that 40-80 ppm should not be an issue although most people stay on the safe side and usually keep it lower. I wouldn't rule it out BUT I too think it's doubtful.
 
I am so pissed! I just wrote this all out, and then it brought me to a stupid "congrats you won" site. Arggh!! Here I go again

Several bucket changes later, 20 gallons have been removed, and 25 gallons have been put back in, with prime of course! :)

As for the ferts, I only dosed once, when I got them last Wed in the mail. It's Seachem Plant Enhancer Pack NPK and Trace Elements. I used what was for "beginners" dosing a little less rather then more.

As for feeding, I fed 3x a day for only 2 days, then it went to 2x a day, and sometimes is only one. Like flakes for breakfast, bloodworms/shrimp with fresh veg (every 2-3 nights, removed the next night) for night time dinner. It isn't good, but usually the feeding schedule is dependent on my work/school schedule/ when I wake up. I only feed when I can watch them eat, so I won't feed breakfast if I woke up late with only 5 min to get to class, but will feed them dinner or a late lunch instead, I'm trying to be more consistent now though.

As for bullying, here are the interactions I've noticed
-Male guppy chases the glofish, the other guppy that died, and will try to bite my hand. (he was in the 10 gal from CL for 3 years they told me with the other guppy and the shark with no problems)
-Rainbow shark chases blue gouramis out of his cave (the cories, kuhlis, synos, frog, gold gouramis, and tetras/harlies all are allowed in there and will crawl over him and he doesn't care)
-Blue female gouramis chase each other, leave everyone else alone

As for the gouramis, I have 2 gold females, 2 blue females, and 1 blue male. The 2 blue females chase each other more then the male ever chases them. Lol

There is no fin nipping though, just a little chasing 1/3 through the tank for a second, then swims away

As for the frog, I believe he is an ADF, just very fat. He has tiny black claws on his back feet, only 2-3 claws per foot. He looks like the top frog on this, cept a little fatter (I got him like that from the other 10 gallon with the harlies, cories, kuhlis, and frog)

I thinks that's all the questions, any others, feel free to ask.

I'll test the water after I make/eat dinner and can sit down for a bit, bucket hauling is tiring! Lol
 
it's times like these that buckets are even more of a back breaking ordeal. i suggest some kind of water change system. pythons/aqueons are nice, but this is less expensive and more efficient... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...y-grandma!!!&p=2703966&viewfull=1#post2703966

plus... with less effort, it's easier to justify bigger/more w/c's. might help to prevent future issues.

your ferts are not your issue... especially if you followed the "beginners" directions.

just an FYI - your rainbow shark isn't in your signature.

who died first, where'd you get him and how long has he been in the tank/your possession?
 
dundadundun said:
it's times like these that buckets are even more of a back breaking ordeal. i suggest some kind of water change system. pythons/aqueons are nice, but this is less expensive and more efficient... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...y-grandma!!!&p=2703966&viewfull=1#post2703966

plus... with less effort, it's easier to justify bigger/more w/c's. might help to prevent future issues.

your ferts are not your issue... especially if you followed the "beginners" directions.

just an FYI - your rainbow shark isn't in your signature.

who died first, where'd you get him and how long has he been in the tank/your possession?
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I am def looking into making/getting something like that, I think that's what I'll ask my mom for my bday lol :)
And I never even noticed that! Sorry he is about 3-3.5" long, and an albino.

I got these 2 tank with these fish on cragslist about 1 month ago, the lady had the fish in there for at least 3 years she said, both 10 gallons.
Tank 1) -Rainbow shark
-2 male guppies
-1 glofish
-1 fat ADF

Tank 2)
-4 harlequins
-2 cories
-1 kuhli loach

I was gonna put the harlies and cories in my 29 gallon, but after being moved back to his 29 gallon after being in the 55 gallon, he decided he didn't want fish in there. So I put them in the 55 gallon. So the above fish have been there for about a month

Couple weeks ago
Monday-
Tuesday- got 6 glofish, 4 cories (from petco)
Wed-
Thurs
Fri
Sat- 1 glofish died
Sun- 1 young peppered cory died
Mon- 2 young albino cory died
Tues-
Wed-
Thurs
Fri-
Sat
Sun-
Mon- 1 guppy died and 1 baby syno found dead

From the 4 cories and 6 glofish originally bought, I have 5 glofish and 1 cory left. (The two that were in the 10 gallon from CL still alive)

The shark is being moved the the 55 gallon getting set up tonight in a couple weeks or so with my blood parrot, along with 2 female gouramis. And the synos as well. :)

Do you really think the shark is the culprit? If so, I will just move him sooner, Anya (my blood parrot, bought last Fri from Petco) still is showing no signs of anything at all! :D

Today everyone seems to be alive and well.
 
Just watching Hunter now (the sharky) he is only about 3" long. He seems peaceful imo, he spends all the time during the day out and about swimming up and down the val, eating algae. I see him clean the plants more then my pleco! :P
 
so none of your CL purchases died?
 
Nope, except for the fancy blue male guppy, he was with the other gup in the 10 gal.

The glofish is happier to have friends. Only the 4 from petco (the 3 cories, only about 1.5" long, and 1 of the smaller glofish) and then 1 of my synos, also the youngest/smallest (was only 3/4" the other ones are at least 1")
 
too many variables to pin one thing down IMO. i would just give it a break on adding new stock for a while and keep up with w/c's and see how things go. maybe a once a day ammo/trite test just to keep an eye on params.

i'm no guru on stock, so any incompatibilities would have to be pointed out by someone else at this point. if i'm getting things right, your synos and shark are still young and you don't have multiple male gouramis to worry about scuffling, so i'm not sure there would be any issues there as of yet. may be in the future.... but i'm not the guy to ask on any of the sp. in question. i do believe we've got enough answers at this point to realize there's no way to say it's one thing or another, though.
 
I agree it's not your nitrates. High nitrates cause chronic problems, not sudden acute ones - like death. Dirty filter media, mulm on the substrate, and overfeeding (and overstocking, of course) can all be the cause...it doesn't sound like slack water changes are really your problem.

Cutting back the feeding to just once a day, period, would probably be the easiest way to lower your nitrates, or you could break it up into two very small feedings. Fish don't need to eat much at all, they just like to, the same way we do :) They don't spend any calories keeping themselves warm, like mammals. They are evolved to go after food whenever it's available, since in the wild food is scarce...so they will eat all they can whenever you give it to them. Best to just keep it to once a day, or twice with very tiny feedings. Frozen food is great to feed, but if you don't sift the "juices" out of frozen bloodworms or frozen brine shrimp, that adds a lot of pollution. I feed whole cubes myself, but I don't feed it often...just about once a week.

If fish are just disappearing, it's very hard to say what they're dying from. I would just keep doing more water changes than usual and not add anything to the water besides Prime, at this point. Until there are symptoms to treat, medication isn't very helpful.
 
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