New fish dying in rapid succession (not new tank syndrome)

I have a 60 gallon that’s been setup for awhile with two fish in it: an angel fish and a black skirt tetra. They’re doing just fine.

So, I recently purchased five new angel fish and stocked my tank. But within just a few days, four of the five died. And they all died the same way. First their swim bladder got messed up so they started floating around and then they fell to the bottom and died.

I have no clue what’s going on here. What is the problem? I checked the water for nitrates, nitrites and ammonia and the levels are 0 for all three.

The original angel fish and black skirt tetra are still just fine.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

With absolutely no history from you and no other details, I would say there is a parasite/bacteria/deathamoeba in your tank. The two fish that are fine are the ones who are immune to it. Keep buying more fish, eventually more will live ooooorrrr fix the problem and quit killing fish.
If I had more info from you, I may be more sympathetic and say you're buying from a poor stock.

 

No Nitrates? Hate to say there may be an issue with your cycle here, from my understanding, you want some nitrates in the tank...

 

No Nitrates? Hate to say there may be an issue with your cycle here, from my understanding, you want some nitrates in the tank...

I like the "deathamoeba " option better. Leave the obvious out of the equation, they did.

 

Deathamoeba would be an awesome death metal band name. So there’s that!

 

You said no nitrates? Its entirely possible your cycle is in limbo or even non existent. you do want some nitrates in your tank. Was the tank cycled?

 

Welcome to the forum. Is it possible the original angel fish killed them?

 

I can think of two things. 1 the water in your tank was very different from the stores water, and the fish couldn't adjust. 2. They they were not cared for properly where you bought them, or your water didn't have the right parameters for them. I hope the remaining on makes it.

 

I have a 60 gallon that’s been setup for awhile with two fish in it: an angel fish and a black skirt tetra. They’re doing just fine.

So, I recently purchased five new angel fish and stocked my tank. But within just a few days, four of the five died. And they all died the same way. First their swim bladder got messed up so they started floating around and then they fell to the bottom and died.

I have no clue what’s going on here. What is the problem? I checked the water for nitrates, nitrites and ammonia and the levels are 0 for all three.

The original angel fish and black skirt tetra are still just fine.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

1. What is "a while"? weeks? months? days?
2. How did you acclimate the fish
3. If you don't have plants, your tank isn't cycled if nitrates aren't present. This isn't necessarily an issue so long as you also have zero ammonia, which you do. However...
4. Fish can suffer nitrate shock if their nitrate levels rapidly rise OR drop. I've killed fish adding them to QT this way, and it sucks, because until it happens you don't think zero nitrate could be a bad thing. I can't say for certain that's what happened, but their behavior prior to dying sounds like what I've experienced.

 

1. What is "a while"? weeks? months? days?
2. How did you acclimate the fish
3. If you don't have plants, your tank isn't cycled if nitrates aren't present. This isn't necessarily an issue so long as you also have zero ammonia, which you do. However...
4. Fish can suffer nitrate shock if their nitrate levels rapidly rise OR drop. I've killed fish adding them to QT this way, and it sucks, because until it happens you don't think zero nitrate could be a bad thing. I can't say for certain that's what happened, but their behavior prior to dying sounds like what I've experienced.

What is the appropriate response to there being no nitrates. I recently changed a lot of the water. Would that be why?

You said no nitrates? Its entirely possible your cycle is in limbo or even non existent. you do want some nitrates in your tank. Was the tank cycled?

the tank has been setup for six months so I can’t imagine it’s not cycled yet. I recently did a big water change so maybe that’s why I’m not seeing any nitrates?

I can think of two things. 1 the water in your tank was very different from the stores water, and the fish couldn't adjust. 2. They they were not cared for properly where you bought them, or your water didn't have the right parameters for them. I hope the remaining on makes it.

The remaining one has made it. He/she seems just fine. So that’s a relief I guess. I care for the fish as best I can so I don’t think it’s from neglect or anything like that.

 

Just an update to everyone: the final fish survived and is doing fine. The fish that died were all fine the first day. It wasn’t until the second full day that they started dying.

I recently did a big water change (before introducing the new fish) so I presume that’s why there is no nitrates in the tank.
My tank is six months old so it must be cycled I’m sure by now.

Thanks all for the help.
Also, there are no plants in my tank (no real ones).

 

I lost a whole new batch of Rasboras last week. My tank is good, so I'm thinking bad stock. It sure can get frustrating!

 

A 60 gallon tank with only two fish would develop a very weak cycle. If you add five more fish, it would expect to cause a mini-cycle with a spike in ammonia and nitrites. Hopefully it would be temporary.

A very weak cycle might be killed with a heavy cleaning and filter media change.

A large water change would reduce nitrates, but unless it was nearly a 100% water change, you would expect to see at least a little nitrates in a cycled tank with no plants. I suppose since your stocking has been light and if you have kept up with regular water changes, you nitrates might have been very low before your big water change and a big water change could have reduced nitrates to an undetectable level.

In seeking advice here it is helpful to be as precise in descriptions as possible. How big is a big water change? What has your water change practice been in the past? How many days exactly did it take the fish to die? How often do you check the water parameters?

I had four out of eight Panda Cories die in four days. Most people suggested that the fish probably came with some kind of bacterial infection. I still do not know. All eight have died now and I am still not sure I understand why. The rest of my fish, snails and shrimp are all doing well.

I have decided that in the future, I am going to do more research before buying fish and be very careful with my acclimation process.

 

Sadly, some stock are just rapidly bred for sale, not for health. This problem exists among many types of animals. Human intervention ruins many animals. Since there is such a demand, breeders will rush growing out, which can lead to less healthy populations. Or too much inbreeding can make the line weak, or accentuate an undesirable flaw, like health issues.

Examples of fish known to be weak, or hard to survive: Gouramis, neon tetras, even common Bettas. I'm sure angel fish as well.

 

What is the appropriate response to there being no nitrates. I recently changed a lot of the water. Would that be why?



the tank has been setup for six months so I can’t imagine it’s not cycled yet. I recently did a big water change so maybe that’s why I’m not seeing any nitrates?


The remaining one has made it. He/she seems just fine. So that’s a relief I guess. I care for the fish as best I can so I don’t think it’s from neglect or anything like that.

I find fishkeeping frustrating at times because we have to be patient... Lol. Do what we can and see what comes of it. Nature waits (or hurries) for no man.

 

People, let's do this the right way. OP, please fill out the form:

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/aquatic-emergency-template.376562/

If there are some more specific questions left after this, we shall ask.