oXo

Hi,

Firs tank info:

had 4 (now 2) glofish
5 glo tetras

Water: 55 gal (using master test kit)
ammonia : 0
Nitrites : 0
nitrate : +/- 5
pH : 7.2
2 live plants

The tank took 6-7 weeks to cycle and after that I added the fishes and they have been in there for about 4 weeks.

Last night I saw the tank water looked a bit cloudy (white) - which was a bit strange. I've been treating the tank with Algea-Fix for about a week (lots of green / red algea). So I decided to give it a good brush down and do a 20% water change. Not to say that while I was cleaning the tank there was a lot of dead algea etc. floating aroung. I did the water change and everythign seemed fine (I used Stress Coat to tread the water) The water was all within 1-2 degrees of the tank temperature.

Everything seemed fine.

This evening I got home and 2 of the glo-fish (zebra danios) were dead on the bottom. No apparent reason .. I took them out and looked at them and there was no apperent damage or sores or anything that I could tell.

The only funny thing I noticed yesterday ... well . they glo fish were very active even before .. was that they one at least seemd to sometimes swim very fast in a zig-zag and I saw what looked like him bump into the side of the tank ... but nothing that looked really weird.

My quarantine tank is still cycling (3 weeks and I tried to seed it with bacteria from my filter from the cycled tank) so I cannot go buy any new fish and now I am afraid the 2 remaining glo-fish will not do well being only 2.

Thus far the glolight tetras seem fine ... from what I can tell, but after what happened to the glo-fish I have no clue.

Did I overstress them when I cleaned the tank ? Or were they already stressed because they were only 4 ?

Any ideas

Thanks
oXo

Alessa

wow, really sorry about your glofish. what test kit are you using? because the milky white water usually means a bavterial bloom...

Lucy

I love how you anticipated all the questions the members would ask. lol

I'm really sorry you lost your glo fish.
I don't think the stress of a regular tank cleaning would kill them unless they were already very weak from something else.

I'm sorry I can't add more, but I'm sure someone will be able to help you further.

1 other thing, Congrats on setting up a QT. I know you didn't ask, but I wanted to make sure you were feeding it since you seeded it.

Good luck, I hope your remaining fish are ok.

oXo

Hi all

Thanks for the good wishes

Thanks for the replies ... I thought I'd put as much info in there before I got asked

I started the QT with 4ppm ammonia (same I cyceled the 56 Gal with) and it is still stuck at 4ppm ... it is a 14 G ala walmart .. didn't put much into it as it is supposed to be a QT tank only .. now I'm starting to wonder if the filter is really any good to get any bacteria growing. I'll give it another week or so and if nothing happens I might just go and get a better filter than the "Whisper" brand that came with the tank ?

The test kit I uses is the API Master test kit.

Should I rather wait for the QT to cycle before I get more fish ... or risk getting more glofish / tetras to keep the others company ... maybe I should wait and see ... I don't know ...

oXo

Lucy

smart. lol

It's always a good idea to quarantine new fish before adding them to the tank especially since you've had a fish pass without really know why. I know you don't want to introduce a possible illness to your existing fish or pass anything on to new fish.

About the QT, are you still adding ammonia or waiting for the reading to drop? How long has it been at 4?

oXo

Hi,

On the big tank I tried the add every day option ... this time round I thought I'd use the "add and wait to drop" option ... but it has been at the 4ppm mark for mmhhmm just about 3 weeks now I think ... or maybe I'm just so tired that I lost track of time :lol:

oXo

Lucy

lol, I'd continue to wait, cycling takes a while.

Once you figure out what's going on with your glo-fish, you can seed the QT with used filter media from that. I wouldn't do it now, in case they have something that can be passed on to other fish.

Fishies-for-me

I wonder if you had a ammonia spike from the dead/dying algae in the tank ? Then a bacteria bloom cuz of the ammonia? Just another direction to explor...have you tested the water since the deaths??...good luck.

oXo

I tested the water right when I noticed the deaths before doing anything and it was the results mentioned above,

Amonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates +/- 5

This morning the two remaining glo-fish were still alive and the tetras too ... I'm keeping an eye on them.

The tank is in our living room and although I turn the tank light off at 8pm and on at 8am ... we sometimes stay up to midnight and then we get up round 6am ... I don't suppose it could be from not resting / sleeping enough ?? Grasping at straws

oXo

Lucy

It doesn't hurt to look at everything when your fish are ill or dying.
That's about the same time frame I turn on and off my light.

Do you use carbon in your filter? I ask because it expires and can release toxins back into your tank, like I said, it helps to look at everything.

With the zig-zagging, maybe you should consider parasites as a possibility, is their poo white and stringy?

oXo

Hi,

I replaced the carbon in the filter about a week ago .. maybe it was bad ... wondering ... before I replaced the carbon the water seemed a lot clearer ... I also replaced the "water polisher" at the top (It's a Rena Filstar 3 I think).

I'll take a look at the poop to see if anything is going on there ...

oXo

oXo

Hi,

I think I found the reason the glo fish died. After the first 2 died with no apparent reason, everything was going fine for over a week, then I decided to give the weekly dose of Algaefix (to control some algae) and I measured it per 10g. The tank is 56g but I added only enough for 50g ... playing it save and anyways .. the bottle says it will not harm fish or plants. Well .. the next morning one of the glo-fish was hiding in the upper corner and almost not moving .. fins clasped together. At that stage I just though maybe he got what the others had. The evening I got home and though what has changed ... thinking about the Algaefix I did some googling and found several people who had dead fish after adding Algaefix. I did a 50% water change ... but the next morning he was dead. The only surviving glo-fish left seems to be doing fine (for a week now) and the Tetras all seem fine ... unaffected by anything.

As this happened right after I added the Algeafix and the first two also died within a day of adding Algeafix, I either added too much (but I would expect the Tetra's to have suffered even more, they are smaller and less hardy) or maybe glo-fish are very sensitive to Algaefix.

Anyways ... I'm keeping an eye on the last one .. he still seems ok so far (actually schooling with the Tetras) while my QT is cycling (it has finally started). Then I'll get somemore glo-fish to keep him company.

No more Algaefix for me ... scrape scrape !! If only I had searched ... *sigh*

oXo

Lucy

I think I mentioned this is another thread. I had read about problems with glo-fish and Algeafix.

oXo

Hi Lucy

Yes you did you aren't reading double .. I posted a similar post in another thread. Didn't bargain on you being everywhere ...

oXo

Lucy

That's what my kids say.

oXo

Yes MOM !!!