jeannejean81

So we set up our 40 gallon and added biospira with some fish. All those fish are great, but the last three fish we got seem be dying off in the last week. Tested the water today, ph 7.8, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, temp 80. The two fish that have died (one rainbow and one male guppy) and this last fish (another rainbow) is showing the exact same signs as the first two. He seems to be mainly hanging out at the surface, opening and closing mouth fast, swims lethargically, his gills and lower jaw seem more puffed out compared to the others, their color fades and as it progresses they seem to lose their sense of direction.

Ahhhhhhhh! We took the first fish that was sick into the pet store, the fish guy said he couldn't see anything wrong with the gills, fins and there was no sort of rot/fungus and the fish actually died in the store while we were there.

David C

What kind of test kit are you using and if it's the API master test kit, did you vigorously shake the reagents?

jeannejean81

Yes, I have an API Master Test Kit. I did shake them a few times. Vigorously? I did take a sample in when I got the fish and the pet store came up with the same results.

Lucy

Did you add all the fish at once or add new ones after the original ones?
It's quite possible you added a sick fish and passed whatever it is on to the others.
Always remember to quaratine new inhabitants to a tank before introducing them.

How old is your tank?
What kind of fish and how many of each?
What's your water change routine?
Have you changed out anything like the filter media?

Sorry for all the questions, the answers will help the members here help you.

Good luck.

jdhef

Many times fish at the surface breathing heavy is a sign of lack of oxygen. Do you have an air pump and airstone. It is really surface agitation that aerates the water, and the bubble cause the agitation. Also with a higher water temp, the water does not hold as much oxygen.

Also, you don't list what you have as far as stock, but are you overstocked, leading to all the oxygen being used up?

I had bought 3 Boseman's Rainbows when first stocking my tank. Two did fine, but one died after one week. So I immediately replaced him with a new one, and the new one died after one week. I immediately bought another, and he has been fine. (It's been about 5 or six weeks now for him). So it is possible that you just got some bad fish.

jeannejean81

So we added a male&female guppy, a platy and molly originally with the biospira. Then about a week and a half later we added another male&female guppy and the two rainbows. The second male guppy and a rainbow died, the other male rainbow looks sick and so far the 2nd girl guppy looks normal.

The tank is about 3-4 weeks old. I have never gotten an ammonia reading since the biospira. I have changed out 5 gallons a week. Our filter has three spots, one for zeolite, one for carbon and the sponge. We had only the carbon and sponge in. Someone at the pet store recommended the zeolite, and we had a cloudy tank after adding it, so we took it out.

jeannejean81

No we don't have any air stones, we had heard they were more for looks. We do have a really strong filter (up to 100 gallons) that seems to create a pretty good current on one side.

jdhef

What type of filter do you have? Also I think I would try adding an air pump airstone. It's a pretty cheap way to find out if that is the problem. Also, I think an airstone would do a much better job of surface agitation then the filter.

You may want to change out at least 10 gallons a week. It is generally recommended to do a 25-30 percent weekly water change. Apparently the new water contains more oxygen.

jeannejean81

We have an Aqua Clear 70. With each water change do you agitate the rocks on the bottom or do you just empty out some water? We have been doing the first.

clinton1621

You want to suck up some of the waste (poo and uneaten food) from the bottom when you change the water so definitely dont just change the upper water or youre not really accomplishing much

jeannejean81

I also did notice that the sick looking rainbow has a somewhat translucent waste hanging on to him.

clinton1621

Thats pretty common when they are sick or stressed out, they still have to excrete waste even if they arent eating so it ends up looking clear because its mostly just "slime" and not actual food waste

Lucy

Is his waste white and stringy looking? If so it's probably a parasite.
You can try parasite clear. If he's the only one showing symptoms now, put him in a quarantine tank. If the others have symtoms, treat the tank.

Shawnie

sorry your fishies are passing away

im wondering how old the test kit is? look at the lot # on the individual bottles and look at the last 4 numbers to see when it expires.. because to not have nitrates in an established tank isnt normal...hmm I hope things get better..and whenever theres a fish sickness or some issues, water changes with some prime conditioner is always good...id change at least 40-50% and see if that makes some differences

ShaynaB

Welcome to Fishlore!

Hmm... Nitrates at 0 would mean your tank isn't cycled...

Make sure you bang the heck outta the number 2 bottle of the Nitrate test. It has free floating particles that will clump together and can create a false 0 reading. I bang my bottle on the edge of a table...

Did you wait a week before changing the water after you added the bio spira? Maybe it's a bad batch. If it's left too warm for too long the bacteria dies. There's a new shelf stable product that has bio spira in it called Safe Start by Tetra. I haven't found anything locally yet (we're almost neighbors!) so if you can't find it either you'd probably have to order it online.

As to changing the water, the easiest way is to get a gravel siphon. That way you just create the siphon, stick it in the gravel and it sucks out water and dirt!

Airstones can be for aesthetics but they also add a bit more oxygen to the water. I figure any little bit helps, so I have them running on my tanks. I think it's a personal preference.

Good luck! I hope you can get your tank issues straightened out! You've come to the right place.

jeannejean81

So, our little rainbow didn't make it. I tested the water again and after banging and banging the test bottles, I got a reading of ph 7.8, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 10. I am so relieved to have gotten a nitrate reading because I was afraid we had doomed our fish to experiencing a nitrogen cycle. Earlier today I had also taken the guppy that had passed away back to the store and noticed there were a few fish in some of the tanks that looked the same way our three dead fish (that we bought at the same time) looked. It's such a distinct almost lack of awareness look. We're sad about the fish, but hopeful that at least the tank is set up correctly and hopefully we won't have any other loss. I think we are going to try the air stones idea and we do have 4 live plants in the tank to hopefully help with oxygen. Thanks everyone for all the help.

jeannejean81

Hey ShaynaB, I was looking at the bottle today and guess I didn't use Biospira. The guys at Aquarium Connection in Thousand Oaks said one of the original scientist for Biospira recreated this product called Dr. Tim's Aquatics - One and Only - Nitrifying Bacteria. It does have to be kept refrigerated like Biospira. I noticed on my receipt it was only $14, so depending on where in LA you live, you might want to check them out. It is not the store I bought my dead fish at. They have some beautiful salt water tanks too, one even has a shark (that's my daughters favorite tank).

I do have a gravel siphon. Before we got our tank I watched a few videos on YouTube on how to start and work a siphon. I think it is pretty amazing how it works. Thanks again for your help.

ShaynaB

Hum... Could be an interesting thing to check out. I live in Chatsworth but I babysit for a couple families in the Agoura/TO area. I could probably stop before or after a sitting job. I mean, I drive to Sherman Oaks to get my fish anyways (the stores in my end of the Valley are all selling dyed fish...), so it's probably the same distance north on the 101 anyways. I'll have to read up on it!

I'm glad you got a nitrate reading. It's very likely that the store was selling bad fish. I just recently stopped going to a store because every fish I got there lasted a month or two then would die, while my older fish were fine. I hope your fish stay healthy!