Help! My "old" fish are dying!!!

G

graciela

AC Members
Mar 8, 2005
8
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ON- Canada
Hi, I'm new to this forum business. My daughter signed me up, after seeing my frustration with the 30g tank she gave me for my birthday last April . After several months of trial and error I finally got it going with 12 happy fish. Someone convinced me to change the plastic plants for real ones. Did that with the advise of the local aquarium last friday and now I have half the fish and all the otheres are not eating at all. Last night my clown loach died and it made me really sad. It was the oldest fish I had (8 months!). The only advise I've heard so far is "let them be. They'll come arround". I'm just watching them die!
:( :sad
 
I'm sorry to hear about that, hopefully we can help you fix things.
If you have test kits, test your water for ammonia (NH3), nitrite (NO2), nitrate (NO3), and check the pH. Also let us know if the fish are showing specific symptoms (unusual behaviour, ragged fins, tiny white or yellow spots, bloating, listlessness, colour changes, etc.)
The more information the better - water change schedule, tank specs, types of fish etc. will help too. Once we get a detailed picture, it's easier to pinpoint what's going on. Meanwhile, it's probably a good idea to do a water change - unless it's been a long time since the last change, a large water change can't hurt and will probably help.
 
WATER TEST! :) Test your water ASAP, if you dont have atest kit go get one, im sorry to hear bout oyur loachy :(

EDIT: **** blinky to quick for me :p
 
Have you tested the water? Often, adding plants disturbs wastes that have been trapped in the substrate, causing ammonia spikes that hurt the fish. How often do you change water, and how much? If your source water is similar to the tank conditions, I'd start doing water changes--20-40%, at least.
 
Don't have a test kit, but took samples of water on Saturday and Monday to the aquarium. On Saturday they told me that the nitrates were slightly high and that may be the new gravel they sold to me had some toxins (!). And to do a WC of 40%. I did. On Monday water quality was good. I changed 10% yesterday again, just to remove the food lying on the bottom of the tank.

I have left: 1 denison barb, swimming arround but not eating. Two gouramies, one very letargic, the other one sort of eating. One pleco, who will die on me anytime because, he is in a total hungry and swim strike. And two little marigolds (I think that is the right name). Only one of this little marigolds, have a couple of white spots on the top part of the body. Look like fungus. But the other fish are only letargic. I also have 4 ghost shrimp that we bought with the plants, last friday.

The clown loach was only a little whitish, other than that he looked fine.

The water is sort of cloudy, but it's been like that for a few months, and no water change or scrubbing can get the cloudiness out.

Because the first casualties were immediatelly after the changes (8-10 hs after) I think it has something to do with the gravel. I washed it for 10-15 minutes under running water before adding it on top of the old gravel.

I thought of changing it all again. I know that more changes would probably cause more stress, but it looks like they will all die anyway.

I hope you guys understan how sad I feel. My family thinks: "It's only fish!!" :sad

Thank you!
 
Old fish? 2 many!

12 fish is too many for a 30 gallon tank. Live plants are just adding more pressure to the "ecosystem". The more fish you have, the more water changes you must be willing to do. There's a reason this is called a hobby. It requires a great deal of dedication. I recommend no more than 2-6 fish for that size tank with a 20-50% water change every 12-18 days, bottled water only. I've had great success with this formula, with my fish lasting many YEARS.

Steve :dance
 
jethangar said:
12 fish is too many for a 30 gallon tank. Live plants are just adding more pressure to the "ecosystem". The more fish you have, the more water changes you must be willing to do. There's a reason this is called a hobby. It requires a great deal of dedication. I recommend no more than 2-6 fish for that size tank with a 20-50% water change every 12-18 days, bottled water only. I've had great success with this formula, with my fish lasting many YEARS.

Steve :dance
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say 12 fish is too many for a 30 gallon - it totally depends on the fish. In this case, the loach and probably the pleco would outgrow the tank, so it would be considered overstocked. I'm not sure what "marigolds" are, but I'm guessing maybe platies or swordtails.

I'm not sure what you mean by " live plants are adding more pressure to the ecosystem". Live plants will only improve water quality if they are growing properly.

graciela - Keep up with the water changes. I'd recommend buying a test kit as well - every aquarist should own one. Also, it sounds like you have either ich or fungus. Have a look at this link and see if you can identify it:

http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html
 
Don't worry! now I only have 7. And by the looks of this I may only have shrimp left in a few days. :-(

Just bought the test kit.. here are the results:
NO3 40 ppm
N)2 0
Hardness 120
Alkalinity 80
pH 7.2
NH3 .25
Water temp is 80F

I was doing 15-20% WCs every week. Since last friday I've changed 40% on Sat., 10% yesterday and 20% today. I always use conditioner for the chlorine and mix it very well with the water before ading to the tank. How often should I change the water now?

It's also frustrating that even after all the w. changes the water is still cloudy.

Thank you for the disease web page, Aqualung. Its very useful! I think my little one has either fungus or bacterial infection, but I cannot tell them appart. The spots are white but not sure if they are fuzzy or not. For sure not as fuzzy as the pictures in that page! I know it is not ick.
 
Anyone know off hand if ON- Canada treats public water with Chloramines? Also, graciela, you mentioned you put new gravel atop your old gravel. What type of filtration does this tank have, graciela?
 
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