fish dying dont know why

[vgeorge]

For some reason, my fish keep dying randomly. They look healthy and act fine, but I keep finding them dead. I have had all of them less than a year. Recently, I treated the tank for ich, and did partial water changes every day. The water is crystal clear and I have been using aquasafe. I can;t figure out what;s wrong!! My boyfriend thinks that I change the water/vaccum the gravel too much. Could this even possibly be the cause?? I am going to get the water tested by my LFS today. Here is what I have in the 55 gallon tank:

8 zebra danios
7 baby swordtals 6-8 months old
one full grown swordtail
3 harlequin rasboras
one dwarf gourami
one pleco


I would appreciate any suggestions!

 

[budrecki]

What are your water parameters

Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate

 

[LunchBox]

let us know what test numbers they give you for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and that should give us someplace to start. It's hard to say what might be wrong without seeing what your water params are.

one thing is for sure: water changes shouldn't hurt your fish. while cycling my tank I was often changing water every day. the only thing changing the water will do is reduce your pollution in the water making it better for your fish.

 

[mooman]

Agreed, can't do too many WCs.......unless you are also washing in tap water/replacing your filter media frequently. Test results should tell us if you bio-filter is running up to snuff (bio-filter = all the beneficial bacteria in your tank working together)

 

[vgeorge]

Just had the water tested and it turns out that my ph was way high. practically a 9. how awful . and my water is really hard, apparently. I use regular tap water with conditioner. Have never had a problem before until about the past month. Maybe my landlord changed something about the water. I dunno. I bought some stuff to soften the water and hopefully bring the ph down. The guy at the LFS said that i should probably use bottled water for my water changes :sad: Any suggestions??

 

[LunchBox]

the hardness shouldn't be causing your fish to die (unless someone knows something about it that i don't ). and the ph, while a bit on the high side shouldn't be killing your fish (again, unless...blah blah)

what the big question is is what numbers did they give you for ammonia nitrite and nitrate. those are the toxic parameters that would most likely affect your fish, and will help in figuring out what your problem is.

also, have you been using dechlorinator on the water you put in? I know you said you use conditioner but I just wanted to make sure the chlorine or chloramine was getting taken care of.

 

[Lauren]

If the PH changes that much that suddenly, then it will kill fish. PH shock, it does happen. I'd start mixing with RO to get it back to normal. you should get it down into the 7 range. Water stores, and many fish stores sell RO water for less than a dollar a gallon. Get a home test kit and figure out how much RO water you need to get the PH to a range that is better for your fish.

 

[LunchBox]

I guess the question then would be what is the ph of water from the tap. perhaps put some tapwater in a bowl and let it sit overnight and test that and see what it is. also test water straight out of the tap and see what that is. if it's going from 7 to 9 then maybe the shift is responsible, but if it's coming out of the tap at like 8 or so, then sitting overnight shifts to 9, then I don't think that would be responsible. My tap water at home goes from 7-8 overnight (and it stays at 8) and it hasn't caused any problems.

she doesn't really say what the ph normally is so we can't really assume it's shifting to 9 without more info.