Suddenly losing fish one by one...what to do?

I bought some neon tetras and guppies a week ago. The neons were quite tine and I wondered if they would make it, but I still have 5 of the 12. Guppies are all gone...had bought 3. Now ,y zebra danioes that I have had for a month with no probs are starting to die. I can not see anything physically wrong. My water parameters are good, and I did extra Wc when this started. I am going tomorrow to buy a quarantine tank, which I know I should have bought before. Did a 50 percent WC today, is there something I should add to the water to help the fish who have been already exposed to this...besides prime of course?

 

What have they been exposed to? Do you have a sense of that?
What are their symptoms if any?
As I go on about in many posts, aquarium salt properly dosed and Indian almond leaves or rooibos tea are my favorite go tos for stressed or oddly ill fish.
But treating them everything when you don’t know if they have anything could make things much worse.

 

No idea what they were exposed to...brought them home acclimatized them....then added bits of water to each bag before putting them loose in the tank..No ick or swollen bellies. Sometimes there might be one that looks and acts a little sluggish, but all are still eating. Not sure if the sluggish ones were better later, or were he ones that dies. Water kept at 77 or 78, ammon 0 nitrites 0 and nitrates of 5, ph is about 7.8...same as it has been all along. Feeding flakes, bug bites and the odd sinking algae wafers for my mystery snails

 

No idea what they were exposed to...brought them home acclimatized them....then added bits of water to each bag before putting them loose in the tank..No ick or swollen bellies. Sometimes there might be one that looks and acts a little sluggish, but all are still eating. Not sure if the sluggish ones were better later, or were he ones that dies. Water kept at 77 or 78, ammon 0 nitrites 0 and nitrates of 5, ph is about 7.8...same as it has been all along. Feeding flakes, bug bites and the odd sinking algae wafers for my mystery snails

Did you get them all from the same store? What’s their ph? Because while I know guppies can tolerate a higher ph, Danios are typically on the lower end at a max of 7-7.2. So are tetras. 7.8 seems a bit high? I know you had the danios for a while but could be stress of new fish or whatnot.

But if they all came from the same store... maybe ask the store about their stock.
Frustrating when the fish don’t show clear symptoms.

 

where would I buy almond leaves?

yes, I will ask the store. All bought at the same store, danios I have had for a month with no losses before now. With the ph, I was originally using the second bottle for high testing, and have now not been using it as the ph has always stayed the same. Ph is the same as my tap water too. I will check with both bottles in the morning. Yes, very frustrating as I believe I may lose all of my remaining fish...ugh. I will get a small tank going and cycled and will not add any more fish for at least a month. I have only lost one fish up to this point, and not liking it at all

 

Did you get them all from the same store? What’s their ph? Because while I know guppies can tolerate a higher ph, Danios are typically on the lower end at a max of 7-7.2. So are tetras. 7.8 seems a bit high? I know you had the danios for a while but could be stress of new fish or whatnot.

But if they all came from the same store... maybe ask the store about their stock.
Frustrating when the fish don’t show clear symptoms.

Tank bred fish these days are very hardy and pH doesn't tend to make a difference with fish like these. I have danios and my tank pH is 8.2. Never had a problem with them in the slightest.

Any chance you put something in the tank with soap residue on it? Or sometimes with big water runoff the city will add more chlorine to the water, could be trace amounts of chlorine in your tank by chance? Got any pictures of the dead fish? And any odd behavior at all in them?

As for quarantine take some media out of your current tank so you can instant cycle the quarantine then you don't have to wait.

 

thanks for the info...how would I test for chlorine? No pics, sorry...not sure how to post them so I have not taken any. I can not think of any soap residue...I use the same container daily to test the water. It is washed and well rinsed by hand. There also are no soap suds even with lots of water moving. I have an on the back filter as well as two six inch long bubble stones.

 

where would I buy almond leaves?

Many pet stores or online (I’d check online). I couldn’t find leaves in local stores which is how I ended up originally using the tea.

There are liquid tests for chlorine. Probably have to order. Test strips from Tetra claim to notify of chlorine but will not show chloramine and I’ve had them be faulty - showing chlorine when there isn’t. But it would be a good first test step.
If you’re not dosing properly for them they could take out entire tanks quickly with minimal signs.

It really sucks no matter what though, sorry for your fish losses.

 

thanks for the info...how would I test for chlorine? No pics, sorry...not sure how to post them so I have not taken any. I can not think of any soap residue...I use the same container daily to test the water. It is washed and well rinsed by hand. There also are no soap suds even with lots of water moving. I have an on the back filter as well as two six inch long bubble stones.

Tetra 6 in 1 test strips test for it. Best test strips on the market and honestly not much worse than the apI master liquid kit. They just don't test for ammonia. But the chlorine is nice. You could always add a bit of dechlorinator to the tank water and see if it helps at least. Won't hurt anything.

Anybody else think it could be some sort of internal bacterial infection? Or a parasite of some sort? Something easy to slip past.

 

Tetra 6 in 1 test strips test for it. Best test strips on the market and honestly not much worse than the apI master liquid kit. They just don't test for ammonia. But the chlorine is nice. You could always add a bit of dechlorinator to the tank water and see if it helps at least. Won't hurt anything.

Anybody else think it could be some sort of internal bacterial infection? Or a parasite of some sort? Something easy to slip past.

But wouldn’t a fish or two, out of all of those in the tank, show something more than overnight or quick death?

After two months of trying to figure out what’s killed off 3 fish in less than 48 hours from the time they started showing ‘symptoms’ to the moment they just stopped breathing, very few infections or parasites come up with zero signs prior to death.

Even talking to fish disease experts (literally) left us all with more questions than answers.

Taking out a large chunk of fish in a short period of time with no obvious signs of parasite, infection or disease is usually linked to something ‘extraordinary’ going on such as the city dosing extra chlorine or even algae destroying chemicals, things like a power surge or short in something electric in the tank, someone spraying air fresheners or other chemicals near the water, etc.

Even my mystery deaths, which I suspect came from an initial infected fish, while they were sudden were also taking place over weeks not days like her tank.

 

Thanks for all info, interesting. Water parameters today are ph 7.6 high ph 7.4, ammonia and nitrites 0 and nitrates 5.0...all the same as before the 50 persent WC yesterday. No dead fish. one looks a bit sluggish, all are eating...gave only a small amount. One plant is molting and think I will pull all 3 plants in case they are the prob. Forgot today is a stat holiday here today, so stores closed....will have to wait til Tues or Wed to do anything else.