Help, fish dropping like flies

[plthomp24]

I need some help and quickly. I have a 55 Gal. long tank that has be sat up for approximately 2 months. I had one bout with ick and lost a few fish about 4 weeks ago, but I got it cleared up and things seemed fine. In the past 8 days I have had 5 fish die. 1) rubber lip pleco, 1) Blue Gourami, 1) fancy gold fish, 1) mollie, 1) platie. The mollie and gold fish were original fish that we got with in the first two weeks after setting up the tank, the other fish were added from week to week. I do weekly water checks with a master test kit with weekly water changes with gravel vacuuming.

Water specs are:
Nitrates 5
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
PH 7.6
High PH 7.4
Water Temp 78 -80 Deg. F.

One thing that has changed over the last month was I put in 1 10000k lamp and 1 4100k lamp in my 4 foot light fixture.

I do have 1 electric yellow, and 1 electric blue in the same tank. I have noticed the blue has started running all the other fish around the tank. But he has been in the tank for over a month now.

Any suggestions, I feel like I must be doing something wrong, and my wife an kids are starting to look at me like the grim reaper. It is very frustrating, love to watch the fish, and really would like to get deeper into the hobby, but at this rate, I might as well buy a fish store.

 

[Onikun]

uh first of all you shouldn't be keeping a gold fish with any of those fish because the other fish are tropical and the gold fish isn't. You won't beable to get a good temperature for both of them. Also you have some african cichlids in with very mellow wimpy fish like platies and mollies. I suspect the electric blue is the grim reaper and not you.

 

[flyfly]

i agree with onikun. welcome to the hobby and im sure your starting to think this but your stocking needs some serious meditation. If you have any more questions i would make a quik post. A little pre-planning can save time, money, and frustration

 

[liv2padl]

fish are supposed to be 'relaxing', stress free ... and they can be IF you have a tank of compatible fish. this means that the interraction of a mixed community tank and/or the behaviour of a single species is the single most important factor to consider. you want the fish you're keeping to have the ability to exhibit "normal" and functional behaviour. abnormal behaviour results in stress. stress leads to disease. disease can lead to death. for example:

1. if species (A) does not get along with species (B), then these fish don't belong in the same tank no matter how few fish you have or how large the tank. "getting along" is based on the visual and behavioural Q's that each fish species is genetically programmed with. this is why African cichlids don't belong in the same tank with Central American cichlids for example. Africans don't "understand" Central American fish speak and this leads to behavioural problems and stress.

2. if species (A) has specific food, temperature or water chemistry requirements which are completely different from species (B), then these fish don't belong in the same tank no matter how large it is.

3. if species (A) is aggressive and defends a territory of 2 square feet, then you cannot expect to successfully keep more than one of these fish in a tank which is only 2 square feet. convict cichlids are an excellent example of this ... this little fish aggressively defends territories of about two square feet give or take. if you have a tank which allows only that much room and no more, the convict will defend the entire tank to the detriment of any other fish (no matter how large it is) in that tank.

in your specific case, you've got a goldfish and tropical fish in the same tank. these fish have different water temperature requirements and don't belong together.

African cichlids are both territorially and spawning aggressive. you've got 2 of these in a tank of peaceful 'community' fish. it simply won't work and you're seeing why.

 

[plthomp24]

I would greatly appreciate any advise on stocking. Like the blue and yellow, and would really like to have just a few big fish in the tank. I was thinking about some frontosa cichlids or another type of cichlid that has the lump on its head, but I don’t know the names. Or, how about ocsars? Would they work with the yellows or blue? And what type of sucker fish would you recommend?

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Onikun]

Oscars should be kept either by themselves or as a pair who have paired off after buying a bunch of oscars and waiting for them to pair. They should be kept in ideally a 75 gallon tank for one oscar. If you put an oscar in your tank right now when it gets big enough it'll eat all the other fish who are smaller than it.

 

[TetraBotia]

Based on what I am seeing, I would have to say the real culprit is your inexperience. You need to do some reading on fish compatibility, temperature range (and what it does to oxygen levels), among other things, like some of those fish prefer more alkaline water and brackish conditions, while others prefer softer pH and NO salt in the water. Some of your fish are pissy territorial types, and others are more peaceful.
You need to get a book and do some reading on this all so you can determine which are which.

For now-
I would stay away from buying much of anything for the short term. Personally, I would bet that your tank has not completely cycled and balanced yet- the age of your tank and the amonnia/nitrite/nitrate levels tell me, along with your post (weekly water changes vaccuming the substrate) that you are probably "chasing the cycle"- that is to say, it gets started, and you go and kill it with too much cleaning. It IS possible to have zero ammonia and nitrites in a well balanced and cycled tank that is not overpopulated- BUT, your nitrate level says to me that you are probably changing a lot of water. Probably TOO much water.

So- I would recommend you do the following-
1. Drop your temp to 74, maybe 75/76 max.
2. Stop changing your water so often, or changing so much of it at once. Use your test kits, and change the water (say, 25% at most) when ammonia or nitrite reaches dangerous levels- not before. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but you have to let those levels rise, and change only when necessary. Then test again. The goal here is NOT to remove all of the ammonia, or nitrites, but rather reduce them to levels the fish will most likely survive under. That is why people cycle with inexpensive hardy fish, and not neons.
3. Remember that ammonia and nitrites are very toxic to fish- I am sure you know that already- what you probably did not know is, ammonia settles to the bottom. Therefore, don't buy fish like Plecos, Kuhli Loahces, Corydoras for a while (until your tank is fully settled).
4. Determine the water quality of your tap water, if that is what you are using. There should be considerations made for treating or removing chlorine (either time, or chemical bonding), or you should know if your water has chloramines in it. These cannot be removed with "normal" means.
5. Another thing that will help any freshwater tank is live plants. Live plants consume ammonia as well. However, live plants and the kind of fish you are seeming to be gravitating towards are not very compatible. Still, it would be worth it to get some Jave Fern from someone (anyone who has it in their tank will readily tell you they have extra every month or so) an sinking it to the bottom of the tank. Java Fern will probably survive those fish you have, as it is pretty hardy/leathery.

Your lighting probably has zero effect on this. You may hav eraised your temp to the levels it is at to treat Ich, as that is one of the methods to speed up the cycle while the meds are working- you still need to take that temp back down though. I only mention this as it is good to point out that Ich can be combatted with higher temps and meds, but the higher temps also sometimes kills fish )as well as lowering O2 capacity of the water).

Some questions, if you want more help:
How many fish, of what type, are in the tank?

What is in the tnk, for either decoration, or for "cover" for the cichlids?

Is the harrassment fairly constant? This stress will kill fish, over time. As a suggestion, if you DO have good cover and "hiding places" for the fish, you might rearrange all of that- this sometimes puts everyone in the tank on a newer, more level playing field, and can calm an agressor as he looks for new "territory".

There are a few books I would recommend, but some of them are spendy... you can find them second hand too, though. If you are interested in those books, let me know.

Keep in mind, a well informed aquarist can start tank after tank after tank from scratch and never lose a fish... Patience and knowledge are the two most important factors. But if you think someone like me has made no mistakes, sometime I will tell you about how, after keeping beautiful planted freshwater tanks for years, I almost killed 80 or so fish in under 20 minutes with a faulty CO2 diffuser... thank God I had experience to know what to do... in the end, I lost 5 fish... but I was a water changin fool with about 5 airstones rammin bubbles into the tank, and my hand rapidly stirring the water...

Good luck, and happy to answer questions you may have.