How often do fish die in your tanks?

i seem to have rotten luck finding good stock on cories and every time i bring some home, there are the inevitable losses. but the ones that remain really endure.
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Just a quick plug: Try Redkahuna on here. I got my Corydoras from him- granted I've only had them two weeks- but all 12 are healthy and happy... he tank raises them all- so they're more likely to do well in the aquarium than others you don't know the history of.

I got mine from him because he had so many rave reviews on his sale thread from others... that and it only takes 4 or 5 before shipping is paid for because his prices are so low. Glad I did after hearing that people have trouble keeping store-bought ones alive.
 
Ottos are almost all wild caught. Some may be caught using cyanide to stun them (although apparantly not all are).

They are then sent to your local home town. (no food in transit of course) and put in fish store aquariums which have all the algae and bio-film cleaned off them (no food). Maybe even chemicals in the water to prevent algae growing so tanks look nice for customers.

So by the time you buy them they may have been recently deliberatley poisoned- and starved for goodness knows how long. Being wild-caught they may have parasites or diseases- combined with all their other stresses- will have weakened immune systems... I don't think it is much of a surprise that so many Ottos die.

I really wanted some but decided against it due to how so many are caught.
 
What do you do when you clean your filter? I can't tell with out more info but my fist thught is your having mini cycles. Most of the time mini cycles happen from over cleaning or inproperly cleaning filters. I would also add some live plants and snails, just read up on snails befor adding to your tank.
 
My only die offs have been otos, neons, and a couple of rummynoses. I got a bad batch of neons and they were all floating by the morning. Went to a totally diff store and got more. Everyone of them are doing just well. The otos are notorious for kicking it soon after being introduced into your aquarium. I tend to buy more just because of that fact. My two rummynose deaths were caused by me trying to do a 50+ percent water change. I think my water must be high on total dissolved minerals when coming outta the tap or something. If I do 25 - 30% water changes more often, they are just fine.
 
are you carefull about spraying insect spray or any chemical in the area of your fish tank or windex all these things can be deadly to your fish
 
Are you getting your fish from the same fish store? Is it possible they are sick and you are noticing it? Do you QT new fish before putting them into the big tank?
 
I can go years with no losses and then have a couple close together. Most of my fish die of old age. For the ones that do die early, I usually know why. More often then not, it is because of something I did or failed to do.

Some of my tanks are overstocked but through good maintenance all are alive and thriving. As far as feeding goes, I usually feed twice a day and then occasionally skip a day.

I get my fish from various sources and never buy fish that have just come in. I buy only the ones that have been in the store a bit. The new arrivals are stressed by the shipment and likely to expire early.
 
I've had 5 harlequin rasboras for 3 years and decided to upgrade their tank. I added a pearl gourami and 3 more rasboras from LFS and had 6 panda cories and 1 SAE shipped from online store about 3 months ago. Only loss so far (fingers crossed) has been the SAE, which seemed sickly when I got it. We have ammonia in our tap water here, measuring around 1.0, due to runoff from all the oil refineries, but the plants in the tank suck the ammonia out quickly. (This means when I tried to cycle my tank, it went the opposite way you'd expect.) We also have very hard water. Despite this, the fish seem ok. So I would agree with those who think there is some mystery bug in your tank. Have you considered tearing it down and using bleach to sterilize? So long as the bleach is thoroughly rinsed out, this approach should kill whatever nasties are causing the problem.
 
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