sue

Hi all

I hope someone can help my red tail black shark looks like he is dying he was fine yesterday but when i came in from work tonight he is floating about on his back and most of his red tail has gone now he's started changing colour from black to grey starting from his tail and making its way to his head. we bought 2 gourami's last weekend they are the only new fish in the tank and they all look to be getting along fine with each other ive put the shark in a breeders net but he's still floating on his back belly up. he doesn't look well at all is there anything i can do for him... thanks in advance sue.

Gunnie

I'm sorry to hear about your fish. It's a little hard to tell what's wrong without more information. How big is the tank? What are all the fish in the tank? Is it cycled? What are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels?

COBettaCouple

It could be a fungus or something like that With the info Gunnie asked for, would you be able to post a pic? When was their last water change?

Also check out:
http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/3-fres...dations.0.html and
http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/3-fres...e-chart.0.html
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Shark,%20Black.htm

sue

Hi Gunnie

My tank is a 60litre tank. its been up and running now for 8 weeks. i take my water to a aquarium shop and they test it for me and all is fine nothing wrong with the levels they are all spot on apparently. In my tank there is

9 tiger barbs
3 head and tail light tetra's. was 5 but another h&t light killed the other 2
1 pleco
2 orange mollys
2 gourami's
4 neon's was 5 but 1 has dissapeared.
was 1 red tail black shark but he didn't make it.
also i did have 10 tigerbarbs but 1 died last night when the red tail black shark died. The three fish that has died were all fine they have been in the longest the 2 gourami's were put in last weekend. hope this helps although the red tail black shark has died we would still like to know what happened if poss. my children are really upset coz the loved the shark and they asking me to get another one but not sure if i should. thanks for your help sue

COBettaCouple

I'd recommend asking them for the ammonia, nitrite & nitrate #s next test? It's possible that your nitrogen cycle has broken down suddenly so those would be important to determining that, as a sudden spike could be responsible. I'd write them down each time and keep track of your water chemistry. How often do you change water & when did you last change it? Do you use treated tap water or distilled water? Have you noticed any changes in the water lately?

3 fish going so close together would be quite a coincidence especially as the shark sounded like he might have had a fungus. I think the focus might be best directed at finding what could be affecting the whole tank.. either water chemistry or something infectious could be going on in there that would need treatment to get rid of. Did any of those links in my last post describe a disease that would match what happened with the shark?

Also, have you added anything to the tank recently?