Mandy

I got a new 26 gallon tank in the beginning/middle of summer. I cycled the tank, learned I can't keep real plants alive , and have lost several fish now. I check my water regularly (3 x's a week in the beginning and now once a week) with all parameters being good. ammonia has been zero, Nitrites zero and nitrates registering very very low on the index card I check it against (maybe between the first two color options like a 5ish). The temperature is about 76 degrees. I started with 3 cherry barbs who relentlessy chased at one another. I added 3 more cherry barbs hoping they would settle down in a bigger group. Parameters all remained very good - no ammonia or nitrite and nitrate stayed low. I eventually lost 3 of the cherry barbs within 2 weeks. No diseases that I could see. I added 4 albino corydoras (all who are still doing well - phew) and then after I waited 2 weeks I added 3 more cherry barbs. Again, the barbs chased/attacked one another relentlessly and I lost 3 more. Next, I tried adding 4 rummynose tetras. They pratically didn't make it home from the store. One was stuck to the back and and three were belly-up before the next morning. I chalked that up to a bad batch from a new little pet store I tried. I waited and waited with my 4 corydoras and the 3 barbs I had left for a while. Then I tried adding a blue dwarf gourami. He was awesome. Very active and pretty to watch. Within the same week I also adopted a black molly from someone who was breaking down their tank. I watched them all closely and aside from the molly being very shy and hanging in the back by the bubble wall all the time, things seemed ok. Parameters remained great - no spikes ect. After about 3 weeks I added 5 little zebra danios. I've heard they're very hardy and I was really wanting something that wouldn't die since the tank seemed ok. Well, that was about a week and a half ago that I added the danios and now the newest victim to my tank is the DG. The dg lasted about a month give or take and then I came home yesterday and noticed his belly extremely swollen out of nowhere. Sadly, he died last night. I'm at such a loss - I don't know what I could be doing wrong. Between not being able to keep the barbs alive, losing the batch of tetras, the dg dying out of nowhere - it's getting really overwhelming. I feel terrible because as much as I check my water and do weekly 30% water changes, there is obviously something I'm doing wrong. At first I thought I was just getting bum fish from the pet store, but now I'm thinking I'm overlooking something. I waited 2 weeks before adding new fish with every new introduction (except the black molly) and I've never had a mini cycle as of yet, so no spikes. Currently, I have the 4 albino corydoras, the adopted black molly, 3 cherry barbs (all small and they look like males), and the 5 newer zebra danios. Is there something obvious I'm overlooking here? Any ideas as to why my cherry barbs kept dying off or the dwarf gourami? I still think the tetras were a weak batch, but who knows. Is my tank fully stocked at this point or should I still try to work on the barbs so they can have a school of 5? I'm at a loss...

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore mandy!!! Wish it was for other circumstances tho im sorry for your losses sometimes this part of fish keeping can be so heartbreaking and frustrating....

seeing how your water parimeters are checking out right, do you know the lot # on your test kit bottles? want to make sure they arent expired..

id turn up your temps to 78-80 for your type of fish...do you know the pH in your tank ? and then ph in your tap? compare t he 2 to see if it could be a ph shock from changing the water....

what do you feed your fishies? the dg could have been constipated from freeze dried foods or just a flake diet

im not assuming anything is wrong just trying to help you figure it out

mommybaby295

sorry about your fish! what rotten luck, especially since it sounds like you are doing everything right.

Mandy

Hi Shawnie - and thank you for the "welcome" post. I checked the lot numbers and all bottles end with an "09". I guess they are all okay for the next 2 or three years. I was feeding a mix between tropical flakes with a treat of freeze dried blood worms or frozen brine shrimp twice a week. He could have been constipated, but he died so quickly from it... one day. That just seemed odd to me that his belly would swell up and then death so quickly from it. I will turn the heat up a bit today. Thanks for the advice. Also, I don't know the pH. I never bothered with that test, but I guess I will today.
Mandy

Thanks, Mommybaby...
Also, just a side note - after Shawnie told me to check the lot #'s, I googled how to do that and came across an article about false Nitrate readings... sure enough, I banged my #2 bottle on the table of few times and just tested it again. My readings are now as follows: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, and Nitrate somewhere between 10 and 20. I'm pretty sure that is still an okay reading, though. Who knows - I'm going to check the pH now.
Thanks for help
Mandy

Shawnie

Hi mandy..I merged your posts and you can use the icon with the " (quotation marks) and quote multiple posts in one thread..

sounds like a nice varied diet so thats not it...hmmm we can wait and see the ph results ..the nitrates are fine and so is your test kit

Mandy

pH is between a 7.2 and 7.4. I don't really know the first thing about pH so I have no idea is this is an acceptable reading or not.

Shawnie

the ph doesnt normally matter as long as its a stable one ..did you test your tap? im thinking maybe when you do water changes, they are having a ph kinda shock where its so much different in the tap than in the tank...im assuming the readings your gave were from your tank right?

Mandy

Thanks Shawnie -
Those readings were from the tank. I just tested the tap and it's 7.4. Just a little darker than the tank test tube. I don't know...

grimtongue

I know this probably goes without saying, but I noticed that you didn't mention weather or not you are treating the tap water with a dechlorinator before adding to your tank. This is about the only thing I can think of as it seems you are doing everything right. Hang in there, hopefully we can get to the bottom of this.

Mandy

Hey Grim -
I am treating the tap water... I don't know if I'm doing it correctly, but I put the API Stress Coat+ in the buckets, swish it around a little and then let it sit for a while before doing the water changes. I don't let it sit overnight or anything, just maybe 20 minutes or so, but I try to make sure the temperature is the same in the new water as in the tank. It's always pretty close and since I only do about a 30% change, I figured the minimal difference in temp probably isn't the cause.

Shawnie

im baffled...wish I could be more help...maybe some other members have some more to offer and I hope they do! good luck!

TFA101

My zebra danios have been dying off for no apparent reason. I have only 2 remaining healthy stragglers, who might have to be rehomed.

Could it be the source from where you got your fish? Maybe you're just getting specimens in poor health to start with

aquarist48

Hello Mandy and Welcome to Fish Lore. I too wish it could have been under better circumstances. So sorry to hear about your fish woes and losses.

How are you acclimating you new fish into the tank? Here is a link on Acclimation:
http://www.fishlore.com/acclimating-tropicalfish.htm

Too, I would suggest that before you add the new fish, check the pH level in the bag they came in. If the pH in the bag is higher than what is in your tank and you aren't acclimating the fish properly then this could be a major issue.
You can take a fish from a low pH to a high pH without too much concern as long as the difference isn't too drastic. However, if you take a fish from a high pH to a low pH it can result in fish loss.
Here is a link concerning pH you may find helpful:
Properly Maintaining the pH in a Freshwater Aquarium - Rate My Fish Tank
Best wishes. Hopefully we can get this figured out before you lose any more fish.
Ken

jdhef

You are doing more work that you need to with the Stress Coat+. All you need to do is put it in the water than you can put the water in the tank right away. Of course there is nothing wrong with letting it sit for a while except the possibility that the water gets colder than the tank water from sitting out, and the fish are getting a temperature shock.

But I would be more inclined to think that you are just having a run of bad luck.

Mandy

Thanks for all the responses... I really appreciate everyone's help with this problem solving.
To answer Ken's acclimation question, here's what I do (I don't quarantine new fish - I know I know, but I don't have an extra tank);
float the bag about 15 minutes, fill my little water change bucket about 1 part tank water to 1 part bagged water, let them sit in that another 10 to 15 minutes, then net the fish out into my tank. I've never checked the pH in the bagged water before, but I can give that a try next time around... if I venture to buy another
However, if it's like you say about not being too much of a problem going to a higher pH, I don't know if that's the problem because according to my little index card, my pH is the second to highest color. Hmmm

P.S.
My 3 cherry barbs are starting to get a little pale now... I have a bad feeling. I don't know if it's because they've chased all the females to death and they're not as bright without them like I've been reading OR if it's because they're about to become my tank's next victims :*(

jarrod

is it possible that something in the tank or the bucket, has some kind of substance on it, like a chemical, coating or something that is realeasin intothe water??

got me..

jprime84

Yeah, it sounds to me like there must be some kind of disease or trace chemical that is poisoning fish. I am sure things like that would not show up on the water testing readings. Was the tank new when you got it? What about the bucket?

You could always buy some kind of treatment for the tank, but I dont know which way to steer you on that.

Mandy

Yep - the tank and all the ornaments were new, as were the 5 gallon Homer buckets from Home Depot. I haven't used any of this stuff for anything other than the tank, but it's always possible. Maybe it is a disease and I just can't detect it. I probably wouldn't recognize anything if it isn't a super obvious looking disease. The DG was the only one that actually looked abnormal when he died... he had the huge swollen belly. All of the others looked pretty normal to me. How would I figure out what to treat the tank for Any ideas?