Tigger Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 We have been having a few problems with our tank, we bought it before Christmas and took our time setting it up and stocking it (although after reading stuff since I acknowledge that we probably still did it too quickly). everything was going well but lately our fish seem to be falling ill and dying. First we lost a zebra danio, then one of our gourami fell ill (he is now looking a lot better in the hospital tank), this weekend we have lost two of our panda cory. We lost a couple of other fish to nipping (we think by the other gourami) but these four illnesses and deaths are unexplained. I think the gourami illnss is unrelated as I think he might have had a swimbladder infection (lost bouyancy control) but I am getting concerned about the other fish dying and was wondering if you guys might be able to offer any suggestions. We noticed the two panda's kind of flicking about as they swam round the tank, I suppose a little like they were having a fit. The one we have just taken out also looked kind of yellow inside but I don't know if that's just decomposition setting in or whether it means anything. Our Nitrates have been at 0 for the last month, our pH has been steady at 7. We don't have an amonia test as the aquarium shop said that if we have nitrites we would also have amonia so we wouldn't need it. We are now wondering whether we should invest. We have been religously changing 25% of our water weekly, two weeks ago we "washed" one of our filter sponges (in aquarium water we had just taken from the tank during a change) and on Saturday we changed the carbon pad in the filter. Sorry I have waffled on a bit but any help/suggestions would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollergirl Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Is there any redness around the gills of the fish? This can indicate ammonia in the tank...Might be best to have the water tested just in case (hopefully your pet shop should do this for you and save you having to buy the kit if the results show no ammonia or nitrite- this would indicate that the tank is cycled). Keep up with water changes in the meantime, and maybe lay off washing the filter sponge (even if it is in aquarium water) until things have settled, I think in my tanks I wash the filter out maybe once every 2 or 3 months (when the flow decreases basically). What size is the tank btw? And what are you feeding the fish? Could be diet related... Hope this post hasn't confused you, good luck with your fish I'm sure you will find a whole lot of helpful advice on this forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigger Posted January 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 the tank is a 60L so I know we are slightly on the high side stocking wise (another reason for staying on top of the water changes). We feed the fish a good mixture of food, flake, pellets, blood worm. We did try them on some cooked pea the other day (skinned) as the gourami in the treatment tank was a bit bunged up and we were told this would help so we thought we would try it on the main tank as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 It would be better to have a full water test to see what is actually going on in there. If the filters are cycled then you should be starting to see some NitrAte in the water. If you have any ammonia or nitrIte in the water, due to the filters still being new, that can explain the fish deaths. I would increase the number of 25% water changes temporarily, that will do no harm to the fish, and if you do have ammonia/nitrite problems it will reduce the levels. You can do water changes every day if you have to. Cheers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naz_Nomad Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 And take the carbon out of your filter and replace it with some nice white sponge. It won't help your problem, but in the long run carbon in filters can cause more problems than it helps. If you need to add meds to your tank, the carbon will also filter them out a lot quicker. In fact thats the only use it has - removing chemicals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayci Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Alot of fish in Hamilton fish stores are of a poor quality. I have given up buying fish from LFS. I like to buy fish from local people better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.