Fish dying one after the other! Help

B

BillyHal

AC Members
Dec 5, 2002
21
0
0
Visit site
I am going crazy. During the last few days my cories and my platies (but only these) are dying one after the other. What makes me desperate though is that I can’t find any obvious reason: The cories swim happily around, eat regularly, show no sign of illness and then the morning I find one of them dead: If I could talk about a sign of sickness I would say their gills look a bit inflated (but it is so slight it could be just my idea). One of my platies looked as if its upper lip had been “eaten”. It was completely absent! (I discovered this after a one-week trip abroad). It was behaving regularly for a couple of days and then the morning it was just dead. The other platy has completely lost its orientation and swims in circles.
I tested the water and the only suspicious thing I found was a bit high nitrates. I did two partial water changes but things don’t seem to get better. I can’t imagine what is happening. Help!
Could it be overfeeding? During my one-week trip someone else was feeding the fish daily. Any suggestions? I am at a loss

PS: My angelfish, neons and bristlenose look just fine all these days. My tank is not overcrowded. I would say the opposite.
 
i got 3 cories 2 months back...... 2 were dead within a week, with absoluteley no sypmtoms.....

i agree with gf, maybe just they were too stressed....
 
BillyHal: if these fish were all recent additions to your tank, then I suppose gf and ft could be correct in saying that the problem is not in your tank, but rather in where they came from. However, the way you wrote your original post that did not sound as if it were the case, and in fact using that as a first reason can lead to a lot of problems. So let me tell you what I'd really like to know before I would attempt a diagnosis of your problem:

How long you have had all of the fish in this tank. Were there in fact any recent additions? What is the fish population overall?

Seconding NJ Devils Fan's questions, how big is this tank and what kind of filtration are you using? Also, how often and how much water do you change, and how much of the gravel do you vacuum when you do so?

What are the pH, GH, KH and nitrAte readings that are normal for this tank, and what were they when you just tested it?

Is the tank planted? If so, how much light does it get?

How long has the tank been set up?

Have any foreign objects been recently introduced to the tank (decorations, etc.). Either by you or (perhaps accidentally) by the person who was feeding your fish while you were out of town? Does that person smoke, use lots of soap or perfume, or have a small child that might have gotten near the tank?

Hope that's not too much to ask. But the answers to any or all of those questions might help track down your problem.

By the way, starting with a couple of water changes was a good idea.
 
Harry Tolen,
sorry it took so long to reply but I had problems with my connection.

My tank is 45G and it has been setup for about 5 months now. It is my second tank.

I have two angelfish, 5 neon tetras, 1 bristlenose and (now) 3 cories. So far I have lost I dwarf gourami, 3 cories and 3 platies for no obvious reason.

All these were my companions for about 1 1/2 year (from my 1st setup) except for 4 cories which were bought about 35 days ago.

My tank has a UGF and an internal filter (HYDRO) which is more than adequate for my tank (it is suitable up to 120G). Air is provided by an air pump as well.

I change 20 % of the water every about 10 days. Some times I neglect it, since I have been a father for 3 months now:D :rolleyes: During the water change I vacuum the gravel thoroughly.

I don't remember the exact readings of my tests, but I remember they were generally OK, except for nitrates (50 ppm).

Nobody smokes inside the house. Many outside:)

My tank is not planted. During the last weeks I had green algae spots on the glass and somewhat black algae on my plastic plants.

I hope this is enough. Thanks for any feedback!
 
Oh... I forgot... One of my angelfish looks "inflated" since yesterday, especially on the belly :( . It is like a balloon... 2 times wider than the other one... Is it about to meet its ancestors too? I care a lot for my angels. The other losses have not shocked me so far, but now...
 
Oh, BillyHal, I sympathize--I had a tank die-off happen once, and it unhinged me pretty badly for awhile. I was really attached to my fish, and especially the angels.

I've just tried to look up one particular symptom--swimming in circles--because that would have been specific enough, you'd think, to decisively identify the problem. But I couldn't find it! Irritating.

I did find that high nitrates are a sign of overfeeding, though, and your numbers are pretty bad. The person doing the feeding for you was probably trying to do a really good job, and fed too much. From the sources I looked at, 10ppm nitrates is okay, but anything over 30 is not good, and yours are 50. The source said it stresses fish a lot when it gets that high.

Wish I could help with specific disease/disorder info, but I couldn't find anything that matches what you describe. I hope some of the more knowledgeable folks here will chime in soon.

-- Pat
 
Thanks for the sympathy Pat, but that's o.k. After all, the pal swimming in circles is not swimming at all anymore... The swimming in circles, just to inform you though, could be a sign of swim bladder disorder, but this is exactly what drives me nuts: none of the fish seems to suffer from the same thing as the other. they have different symptoms:confused: or no symptoms at all:mad: . And it's just difficult to blame high nitrates for such a great number of deaths - especially after two water changes. Thanx anyway. Any other suggestions?

PS: My "inflated" angelfish put me into thoughts about a possible internal bacteria disease. Any expert opinion?
 
This happend to me with guppies. I found out one of my fish got rrreally hungrey and ate all the fish :sad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom