What's killing my fish?

Glad you used aquarium water..right thing to do. Some folks rinse under hot tap water..not a good thing.

ammonia, nitrites, nitrates on your tap water?

How many of fish were added over what period of time? How many in there now? How many and what kind died?

Barbs are notorious nippers and territorial.
 
There is no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates showing up on my tap water.

I probably did add too many fish too fast, but I was testing the ammonia all along and whenever I saw a bit of it, I did a water change (40-50%). I love my barbs, they seem to just chase each other and the gouramis seem peaceful. I thought these fish were compatible with one another? It seems tiger barbs get a bad rap all the time, but presumbaly in the right tank they're fine (i wouldn't keep them with angels, for example). I tested my water again just now and I'm still getting 0 on the ammonia and nitrites. :(
 
if it was only the new ones that died, maybe you simply got crappy fish. how did you acclimate them to the tank when you added them? is the lfs you got the fish from on a similar water source or something very different?
 
All good advice so far.

I might add that well water sometimes has hidden little nasties in it. Sometimes it's safe to drink, but not safe for fish. Though this is very rare.
 
wataugachicken said:
if it was only the new ones that died, maybe you simply got crappy fish.
Tell me about it. I don't buy fish from Petco anymore because all the fish sold at my local store are sick!
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I had some dying tetras recently (new fish), and in my case it was a combination of stress and parasites that did them in. The parasites came from the LFS, the stress came from constant chasing in the tank, and the final stage included fin rot. A parasite treatment ended the dying.
 
since you have well water which I assume is not treated with chlorine, ect, it should be ok to rinse your filters, gravel ect with it and do your cleaning.
That is unless it has high traces of 'other' stuff.
Even for yourself, not to mention the fish, it might be a good idea to have your water checked every few years to make sure you are not getting copper, lead, iron ect in your water. Your water may look and taste fine, but that is besides the point.

just a thought :idea:
 
Actually, it doesn't taste fine. ;-) We don't drink it, we only drink bottled water. So yeah, it needs to be checked. We plan to move in the next few months tho', so I'm looking forward to city water again.

I tested the GH of the water tonight and I got 80. Is this bad for a community tank? I can't seem to find what the ideal numbers are for a community tank such as this. My test kit shows 80 as "slightly hard."
 
i would agree on getting the water checked, you never know what's getting in there.
 
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