rogue152

HELP! I am puzzled. I have an established tank. 35 gallon, 7 yrs old. Did a 1/3 water change 5 days ago. Tested water everything is ok except the water is a little hard, nothing odd in that for me. Had 5 fish in there that I have had for a while. No problems here.

Ok, so I go to Petsmart and buy 5 fish, 1 Pleco, 1 catfish. I add fish to my tank, bag method.. no issues. Th next day the catfish died, 12 hrs later the Placo dies. All other fish are OK. I retest water... everything is good. I take dead fish back to petsmart, tell the clerk, she says maybe just sick fishes, no real answers, not to concerned try another set. I get a Pleco, and 2 cats. Put them in tank. 1 1/2 days later both cats are dead on bottom, Placo dead floating on top. All other fishes are OK, happy not stressed eating and active. Water is still testing OK!

Anyone have any ideas? Just these fish are dying? Do I have killer alge or something?

When I did the water change I vacuumed the gravel, nothing built up. Plastic plants ... not to much alge, water's clear.. I don't get it!

I'm new here.. looking forward to getting to know everyone and sharing ideas... Thanks!

KittieKat

welcome to fishlore!!

umm are there any other LFS (local fish store) near u? if so i'd try getting them there... seems to be that the one ure going to doesnt have very dependable fish. very odd that those ones keep passing but nothing else...
sorry i cant help too much more than that

happy valentines day!!

Oil_Fan

Find a LFS that isn't a major chain store. Most chain stores don't have a vested interest in earning your long term business. The local ones will have the best knowledge when it comes to stuff like this. They also understand that getting a relationship and earning your trust is a good thing. Also they will understand if there is anything local going that can affect the tank like temperatures.

≈ D ≈

Might be shock that killed them. The LFS you got them from may have different water parameters to what your 35g has.

I assume you got a credit for taking the dead fish back to them too.

If you do try again, use the drip acclimatization method. Let us know if that works or not.

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

That's a definite mystery. Are you testing with a liquid testing kit and getting 0 ammonia & nitrites with 10 or less on nitrates? What is the water temp? What fish did you get that are doing ok? What do you use for water conditioner? How did you acclimate the fish? If you have algae - what color is it?