two bala sharks just died

K

kisho

AC Members
Sep 4, 2005
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today, in morning they were doing fine, but when i came bakk from skool they were swimming upside down and the next minute they were dead, im guessing the problem was swimbladder disease. is sumthing wrong with my tank?

my test results

pH-7.6
Ammonia-0 ppm
Nitrate-5 ppm
Nitrite-5 ppm

my tank was up and running from the second week of august 2005,
i had deaths that caused by ick and overfeeding in the past.

death list:
8 goldfishes
2 plecos
3 neon tetras
2 bala sharks

occupant(s):
1 columbian shark
 
Well you tank is still cycling. The super high nitrite levels are almost definatley what killed your fish. Also other than the neon tetras, those are very bad fish choices for a tank that small. The columbian shark can grow to over a foot in length and is actually a brackish fish, not fresh water.
 
dear god, 8 goldfish in a 30 gallon, with all those others. . .

even one goldfish can grow to 10 inches. a 50 would be minimum to meet the needs of only a couple. common plecos will reach 20 inches easily, and also need big, wide tanks. i believe the balas also get big, someone else may be able to tell you.
either you need to do plenty of water changes and bring your nitrite levels down below .25ppm (daily), or maybe you should return the fish that you have before there are any more deaths.
you could try and do a fishless cycle (described in the thread "cycling" in the newbie forum), which should go pretty quickly since you already have a lot of your bacteria in there. while you're waiting for it to cycle, you can do some research about fish you like and those that are compatible with the tank size and with each other.
 
so, what are my choices of fish right now?

any suggestions?
 
If you put any fish in with a nitrite reading of 5 it will not last long, I am suprised that the last fish is alive!! You will need to do some massive water changes to get that down, as close to 0 as possible. In terms of fish, I would return the last fish you have to an LFS that will take him and finish cycling the tank FISHLESS. This way you will not waste all that money on fish again!! Fishy cycles are possible, but a HUGE p.i.t.a....., up to you. Doing a fishless cycle will give you some time to research appropriate fish for your tank. The mix you had would not have lasted long anyway. Check out the species profiles and the cycling stickys and go from there
 
kisho said:
Nitrite-5 ppm
Click to expand...
That's not a typo right?
That would kill almost anything you put in the tank... :(
 
30 gallon tanks have lots of great choices but sticking with smaller fish will be best. Once you get that nitirte down then we can start talking about stocking the tank properly. If you like the look of goldfish then I might suggest something like platies or swordtails, especially the orange ones. They stay fairly small but are active. Barbs are also neat, active fish, just slightly aggressive.
 
ok the nitrite is down and i jus bought 4 red eyed tetras, jus to see if they adapt to the waters and if they do, u guys have to tell me what to buy,
i prefer like schooling fishes. ok
 
My 29 gallon has six White Clouds, six Gold Barbs, and eight Harlequin Rasboras. Those are all schooling fish, but I don't know about their compatibility with the Tetras you already have. They are also all pretty hearty fish which better stand beginner's mistakes.
 
I wouldn't buy anything for at least a couple of weeks. Wait until your ammonia and nitrite are consistently 0 for a while, and try to figure out what caused the spike to begin with (overfeeding, re-cycle,?)
 
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