hiddencat

I just looked at my fish tank, and my rainbow shark and tiger barb are dead! They looked fine last night when I went to bed. They had this filmy white coat over them and both of their eyes are whited out. The shark's tail fins are also a little crumbly like wet tissue paper.

What could it be? My 2 scissor fins look fine, my pleco is more lethargic than usual but still alive.

They're in a 20 (15?) gallon and we're in the process of doing a fishless cycle on a 30 gallon to give them more space.

I did an 80% water change 3 days ago, but made sure to dechlorinate the water first and kept filter media intact.

Shawnie

Im sorry for the loss of your fish its so shocking when we dont know why...most are going to ask for your water parimeters? and the white is probably from decay unless your other fish have some signs of it? goodluck I hope you find out why !

hiddencat

I was just checking the water when I saw I bumped in to the shark when I was filling my test tube. Will update with #s.

hiddencat

Ammonia is 2 ppm and nitrite is .25 ppm. I can't find my color chart for nitrate. Temp is 77.9 F.

Shawnie

ok, it was likely ammonia poisioning so do IMMEDIATE daily water changes of at least 50% until you have 0 ammonia & nitrites...make sure you treat the tap water with prime or some other conditioner...do you know about the nitrogen cycle? if not, heres a link...
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
how old is the tank? are you still cycleling or did something happen?

hiddencat

I do know about the nitrogen cycle- the fish have been in the tank for a couple of months and we do frequent water changes but there's still always a little ammonia in there.

Alessa

thats because it hasnt finished cycling... all you can do i grab some prime to condition the water and keep up the 50% changes everyday...

COBettaCouple

I'd recommend using Prime for the water conditioner and daily water changes of 25-50% until the tank is fully cycled.

Shawnie

have you ever had a nitrate reading ? if not, you never finished the cycle..and if you did, and your ammonia and nitrites were 0, then you started a mini cycle for whatever reason..

BUT..there shouldnt EVER be any ammonia or nitrites...they are both deadly to fish...so just if you see a low reading, doesnt mean its ok...as many have said, DAILY water changes until you finish this cycle so that your remaining fish may survive...goodluck

pepetj

You could try adding floating plants like Anacharis or Hornwort to help you bring down ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. They strive in low light, and little care (except from regular trimming). You probably got a sudden ammonia/nitrite spike that was too much for them, not your fault, low volume aquariums can get quite unstable very quickly (I have two small -10gal, 5.5gal- with fish, both planted, and this could happen to me too).
Pepe
Santo Domingo

hiddencat

We have gotten nitrate readings before I lost that card with the color key. We put a fresh filter in with the 90% change- did we wipe out too much bacteria?

Also, my pleco has been a lot more active than usual, swimming around and wiggling up against the walls of the tank, and then just hanging out at the bottom of the tank reeeally still. Is this normal behavior for plecos?

Shawnie

Yes you took out the most bacteria by changing filters...next time, leave the spongy part in the new filter for a few weeks so the bacteria can blossom onto the new one from there...so now just treat it as you are cycleing again with daily changes like you did before..it stinks but you can fix it...goodluck!

and all pleco's are different..mine does that periodically but is that something yours always did?

COBettaCouple

I think you can find pictures of the card online, at API's site & other places.

hiddencat

No, my pleco usually didn't move around that much. I'm hoping that maybe she's just enjoying having more tank space to herself?

And I'll check out the API website for the nitrate code- I did a google to try to find the color chart and was unsuccessful, but I probably should have just tried their site.

And when you say spongy part- you mean the actual sponge? Because we only put in a new activated carbon filter part.

Shawnie

is your carbon and filter an all in one cartridge?

deutinger

My dalmation molly fish died today. He seemed fine yesterday. A couple of days ago he hung out by the heater. Then today didn't swim much ang hung out on one side of the tank at the top. The black Molly is still alive. I found the dalmation at the bottom of the tank dead. What could have happened? What do I do? Will the black Molly die?

HatchetHaven

Because you did not cycle your tank. To learn more about cycling your tank, well, this thread has a bit on it, check out the forum 'the aquarium nitrogen cycle' and this link: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm.

You'll need a test kit for Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite (Get the API master test kit - it's the most accurate), and 6you will need to do daily 50% water changes until both Ammonia nd Nitrite are 0, and Nitrate is 5-20!