Sick fish!!! please help!!!!!

[KimN91]

I am having a consistent issue with my tropical fresh water aquarium. My 54 gal aquarium currently has 4 platies, 3 tiger barbs, 3 Groumis, 3 small bala sharks and a long fin black skirt tetra and had been an established aquarium for a while now.

But my fish are dieing off one at a time. They start out gasping and acting sluggish, then they get worse and then die about 2 weeks after they first show signs. But ONLY ONE FISH GETS SICK AT A TIME! Of all the fish I mentioned only one tigar barb is affected. The fish before him was a black skirt tetra and the one before that was a neon tetra.

Oh and I have an at home water quality test kit and everything comes out fine. Please see attached video.

 

[the loach]

Separate the tiger barb. I don't see a video, try again?
Also post a video of the tiger barb and the other fish if possible.

 

[KimN91]

Separate the tiger barb. I don't see a video, try again?
Also post a video of the tiger barb and the other fish if possible.

The viedo isnt uploading for some reason. I can’t put him in a separate tank with separate water, but i do have a breeading box with slots in the bottom will that work?

 

[OrionGirl]

Not really, since if there's a parasite, it will be expelled and still get into the other fish. It doesn't need to be a tank, a bucket that hasn't been used for cleaning products and an air pump will be fine short term.

By fine, what are the exact numbers? What's your long term plan for the bala sharks?

 

[KimN91]

Not really, since if there's a parasite, it will be expelled and still get into the other fish. It doesn't need to be a tank, a bucket that hasn't been used for cleaning products and an air pump will be fine short term.

By fine, what are the exact numbers? What's your long term plan for the bala sharks?

I lost the barb last night. And i bought the bala sharks for my tank. I had just planned to leave them in there why?

 

[Rbishop]

What are the results of the test kit readings, exactly? Strips or liquid?

Balas are known as tank busters...

 

[KimN91]

I use an API liquid drop test kit and the test showed perfect on amonia, nitirte, nitrate, the PH was a tic low but i put the proper dose of proper ph( 7.0) in it. Also if it was a water quality issue then more then 1 of the 16 fish in the aquarium should show some signs of stress or illness, but everyone else is fine.

I bought the bala sharks from petsmart and they assured me they were the “small” ones that wouldnt get huge. And only advised a 40 gallon aquarium.

 

[OrionGirl]

There isn't a bala shark that stays small enough for a 40. You were lied to. They will get big, or they will die stunted.