Fishes dying

Scar44

Registered Member
Feb 3, 2016
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I have an aquarium (around 30 gallons) it's heavily planted. It Has 65% water changes weekly.

I've kept 3 bumblee gobys in there for a few months with no issues. I also had 2 figure 8's which id kept with them for a few months with no issues. I purchased a third puffer. 2 weeks later the 3 puffers had all become quite ill. I don't know why though. The water conditions were fine (no ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates were low). They all lay on the bottom off the floor and became lethargic, however they were still eating.

After they died I waited a week to make sure the tank was fine and then purchased 3 new figure 8's from the same supplier. Within 2 weeks, 2 of them have died the same, they were laying on the bottom but did come up to eat. The tank parameters are fine.

Im now worried about the 3rd remaining one. She's active and eating unlike the others were but im worried she may too become ill.
The gobys are completely fine though.

Does anyone have any idea was the problem is? I've kept pufferfish for years and have no clue what this could be. They were kept in FW at the shop. I thought maybe it was a bad batch of puffers? Not sure if that's a thing though

Btw, my tank is currently freshwater (due to some issues with salt location) but im aware it needs to be brakish and I planning to begin converting the tank this week
 
I would only keep that one puffer for a while and see what happens. If all goes well for a week or two, then it was probably a bad batch.
 
I agree with Jessica however I would probably wait about 4 weeks. It is possible the new fish brought some form of illness to the tank.
 
Sorry for your loss.
I am wondering why you are doing 65% water changes on your tank?
It seems excessive to me with a low stock (unless there's more in there than in the OP).
That's ~20 gallons a week of new water which could cause a mini cycle or ammonia spike in the water which could be causing the issue.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I tend to do 50-65% water changes because puffers are quite messy haha. Generally I prefer to do larger water changes and I don't feel like they're causing mini cycles. I've heard people do a lot larger than that and their tanks are fine. I suppose I just feel like 3 puffers and 3 gobys in a 30 gallon is quite messy and requires a lot of cleaning (considering the mess they make at meal time XD)
Maybe that is the problem but I've never seen any issues with water quality after changing. Would you recommend I remove less amount of water when I preform water changes ? I'll try anything that will help my fishys (:
 
Are you testing your water?
What are the results for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite?

I'd be curious to know what these levels are in your tank before and after a water change.

It's good to keep things clean especially with messy fish, but there is a point where it becomes "too clean".

Any time someone describes lethargy or laying at the bottom, I find that it is usually some kind of water quality issue.
 
Yep, like said above, to properly troubleshoot, you need to know your water parameters, especially as compared to your tap water. A 99% water change should not harm your fish, provided it's dechlorinated, of similar temperature and the same pH.
 
I cleaned my tank out yesterday (did 30%) and tested the tank today. The parameters are
Ammonia- 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 3 (wasnt 100% sure)

And my tap water readings are
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0

Is this normal?
 
for your stocking, large water changes and what you say is heavily planted, I'm surprised you show nitrates at all.....
 
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