Fish dying one after another...

vigesimal

vigesimal

Still trying to get the hang of it.
Aug 22, 2005
25
0
0
46
Whitehall, PA
home.earthlink.net
I haven't been in here in a looonng time, forgive me!

I have a 37gal freshwater tank with the following survivors:

1 female opaline gourami, the scourge and bully of the tank
1 cory
1 rasbora
3 zebra danios
1 male & 1 female guppy

I am incredibly discouraged. I feel like I've done everything right with this tank over the last 9 months, from cycling and water changes, monitoring the chemicals, etc. So many beautiful fish have been lost in that time, all for reasons that cannot be explained. In all, I have come to the realization that it can only be that it is a combination of several factors, all resulting in a deadly pool:

- pH of my city water is 8.0 to 8.2, very hard, very alkaline
- this summer has been unbearably hot, I'm on the 3rd floor of an apartment, resulting in tank temperatures close to 85 degrees F.
- a great fish store 30 min away has completely different water and a 48 hour guarantee on stock - needless to say, they last just a little longer than 48 hours, but not by much
- a Petco and Petsmart are 3 min away, and we share the same water, but the fish have been dying on me (after a month or so), so maybe it's the stock
- I have on occasion changed the water after 3 weeks, not every week, and I wonder if the shock killed some fish.​

So... it breaks my heart to see all this hard work fail, but I can't keep buying more fish, it just doesn't feel right. My wife and I plan to buy a house in the next year or so, maybe we'll have better luck wherever we end up. Until then, the only thing I'm doing is feeding the survivors, cleaning weekly, and waiting for what seems to be the inevitable.

Sad...
 
I too have PH 8.0 and my temps have been in the 85-86* range bc of heat with no deaths. So that *could* be the problem, but I doubt it. Do you have any temp swings? Is your tank alot cooler at night than in the day? That could make a difference. Is it a possiblility that your Gourami is killing the other fish? I hate to have problems where there is no clear answer. I have had similar things happen but only for short periods of time. If you have been having the problem for awhile, that really makes me wonder. Sounds like you are keeping up on water changes and doing regular water testing. Have you had any spikes in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? Is your PH constant?
 
jodimartin2003 said:
Have you had any spikes in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? Is your PH constant?
Click to expand...
Nope. Constant 0, 0, 20 (nitrate 20 after water change; prior it's 40)


mduros said:
What is your acclimation routine? How long do you acclimate new fish? Bag open? Bag closed?
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I pour a half cup of tank water in the open bag every 7 min, and after an hour I net the fish into the tank.
 
Try to keep your nitrates below 20. I say try, I know in some tanks it's difficult. But 40 is a little high for some fish and if they are stressed for other reasons, 40 may just be enough for them to get sick and die. How often do you perform w/cs? If weekly, I would step them up to twice a week for awhile and see if that helps.

Your water temp is high. I have the same problem, live on the third floor (top floor) of a walk up that doesn't have central air, and we usually can't run the air conditioners in the summer due to the electric in the apartment, anyway. I have placed fans on top of screen tops and in back of the canopies on my tanks, really helps keep the tanks cooler. The high temps by the way decrease the dissolved oxygen in the water, so it's a good idea to run bubblers for increased surface agitation and this will increase the dissolved oxygen in the water. This could be added stress enough to be killing your fish along with the higher nitrates. Keeping the aquarium lights off during the day helps a little, too.

Your acclimation process is good.

Pictures of my summer set ups.
Newt tank. Since adding the fans above the screen top temps in tank stay at about 74F no matter how hot the apartment is.
20Lnewt.jpg


55 gallon. Stays at 80 - 82F with fan. I keep bubblers on pretty constantly during the summer. Picture of fan blowing air outward from back of canopy to help keep tank cooler.
55fan.jpg

Good luck,
Mary.
 
opaline? I'm not familar with that one. Is it a larger gourami? I had a couple of three spots that I eventually gave away to a friend. They wouldn't tolerate anything in the tank with them. I don't of course know that a gourami is your problem, but it would be something I would watch.

mduros has an excellent plan for reducing heat. I used to have to use fans when I was running grow lights for plants, and it sounds like your ac routine is a good one.
 
vigesimal said:
- I have on occasion changed the water after 3 weeks, not every week, and I wonder if the shock killed some fish.[/INDENT]



Sad...
Click to expand...

How much water are you changing? Also every 3 weeks isn't often enough. Most of us change out 50% weekly. That will help keep your nitrates down also.

Another good idea is to freeze 2 small bottles of water and stick one in the tank. This will help cool the tank down, then while you're freezing the other bottle you have one to replace it with.
 
You failed to describe and symptoms, behavioral changes etc which might give any clues to the cause. Based on the information you have provided my best guess is that one or more of the fish you have purchased was sick at the time you put it into your tank and the disease has been there ever since.
 
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