colleenross

Hi,

I had a healthy tank up until a week ago. I added 2 new neon tetras to the school, an algae eater and an angel fish, Now all the tetras are dead, including the larger, previous tetras and neons, the algae eater is dead and I'm afraid the rest will die,
There seems to be no symtoms. They are swimming, eating, no discoloration, no ich, then suddenly they are dead (within a few hours of me checking them). I think I have a healthy tank, the guppies even had babies recently ( actually the day I added the new fish) all the babies seem to be doing well. Is this just a tetra disease and if yes what to do? If no how do I keep the rest of the tank alive?

cognizant

The first thing everyone is going to ask are the parameters of the tank. Check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and temperature of the tank.

colleenross

The size is 18 gallons, the temp is 78, as for the rest, this is a small town and not easy to come by the test kits, but I'll try tomorrow. Any suggestions until then? c

Steen16

partial water changes!!

no symptoms seems odd coz even amonia poisoning has symptoms

were they breathing heavily? inflamed gills?

any thing happen that could have stressed them out?

how old is your tank?

is it cycled? there is never-->

colleenross

The only symptom I see is the neons were swimming strangly. Head up, tails down and seemed to be somewhat struggling then boom they were dead. I saw no symptoms in the other tetras or the algae eater. They were both swimming, eating and active.

Lucy

Hi colleenross, welcome to Fish Lore.

I'm sorry for the loss of your fish.

cognizant's right, it would help to know what your readings are for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
When you get your test kit, invest in the API mater kit. It's very accurate. Don't waste your money on the strips, they're not reliable.

How many of each kind of fish did you have before adding the others?
Your tank is overstocked. The angel alone needs 20g and if your pleco was a common one, they get huge.

How often are you changing the water? Without knowing the water readings, I would guess you have ammonia from fish waste and left over food.
I would go ahead and do a 50% water change today, get your kit and test the water tomorrow. You may need to do that daily until your tank is cycled.
Please read this link about the nitrogen cycle. It'll help you understand what's going on in your tank:
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

It's also possible the new fish introduced a disease to the tank. It's always a good idea to quaratine new inhabitants for at least two weeks before introducing them to your tank.

Again, I'm sorry you lost fish, good luck.

Edit: While you're out pick up some Prime. It's a water conditioner, but it'll also detoxify the ammonia for 24hrs between water changes.

colleenross

OOPS sorry, the tank is about 3 months old. Other then introducing the new fish (which I baged and slowly added tank water too for about an hour before adding), I can't think of anything that would stress them. I always heard the Angels were hard to keep and finiky(sp), but it seems to be doing well and so are the baby guppies, I would have thought these delicate fish would succum to stress and disease first.

Thanks for the info Lucy, I'll do a 50% tank change immediately. Could I be feeding too much? There doesn't seem to be a lot of excess food floating around. Just remembered too there is a brown? algae on the plastic plants!!!!

Steen16

its to hard to tell what has happened untill you have tested your tank..
judgeing by how long you have had the tank i would say it is cycled but i may be wrong..

let us know how the test goes.

Lucy

Your welcome.

Excess food will create ammonia in your tank too. Ammonia is toxic to your fish.
If it's floating around, you're definitely feeding to much. Only give them what they can consume in a couple of minutes. They're stomachs are only as big as their eyes.
Do you have a gravel vacuum? If not, put that on your shopping list too.

When you do your water change, rinse your filter media (if it's gunked up) in the used tank water, don't throw it away, return it to the filter.

Neons can be really sensitive too, but I'm guessing they're feeling the effects of ammonia.

Steen16

iv got sum brown algae on some of the rocks in my tank im not sure what it is either.. mine is spots

Chief_waterchanger

If the brown stuff is spots rather than strands of algae it is probably diatoms.

If it is diatoms it will go away in a few weeks by itself, or you can keep wiping it off.

colleenross

Wow guys thanks for all the help. I did a 50% tank change but am definitely going to lose the last neon, he doesn't look well at all. Everyone else seems to be doing ok though - hope they make it through the night. Thanks, Chief for the info on the algae - it is definitely spots not strands. I'm going shopping tomorrow and will by the necessary kits and the vacuum.

Lucy

There's a good thread on the forum on how to use the gravel vac.
Here's the link:
How is it done?

In the mean time, go to the beginners section of the forum and read up, there's alot of good information there.

Good luck.