All fish in tank stressed and dying.

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White Noise said:
I had 20 rummy nose tetra, 20 cardinal tetra, 5 white fin tetra, 6 plecos, 3 bristlenose catfish, 4 guppies, and 10 cherry barbs (5m/5f). On Sunday of those fish I added 10 cardinals, 4 guppies and the white fins.
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Hello; That is 68 fish if I got the count right. With 19 new ones added on one day. You do not list the tank size so it is hard to determine if the tank is overcrowded. Most of the fish are smaller species except for the 6 plecos. A common pleco can be large and even one is a bit much for a lot of tanks.
White Noise said:
These are taken by freshwater master kit and is a colour chart hence the approx.
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Hello; You may have had an ammonia spike from adding 19 new fish. Let me suggest cleaning the test kit vials with distilled water. This will help get rid of any residues and should give more accurate test results

MrsE88 said:
but with a lower ph I’d watch out for swings and a possible crash.
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Hello; This and if there is a difference in the tank pH compared to the source water pH. Please check the pH of the tap water and the tank water. It is my understanding a pH difference between the two can have an effect after a waterchange.(WC)

Hello; The tank is set up for seven months. Plenty long enough to be fully cycled but also time enough for the filter system to become a problem. The very low nitrates would seem to indicate the filter is in good shape if indeed the nitrate number is accurate.

Some additional information might be of help. 1) size of the tank 2) WC amount and schedule 3) filter media maintainence routine 4) feeding routine - how often & how much.

I would also chime in that a quarantine tank (QT) be considered for the future.
good luck
 
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OP says tank is 850 Litres, So about 225 U.S. gallons. I don't buy the nitrates at 3. Even doing 50% water change twice a week, a reading of 15 would be more in typical range.
 
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skjl47 said:
Let me suggest cleaning the test kit vials with distilled water. This will help get rid of any residues and should give more accurate test results.
Click to expand...

I always appreciate seeing this suggested. I use to just rinse mine with tank water (this is how I was told to do it by a different fish keeper) and after rinsing with the distilled water I got more accurate results.
 
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MrsE88 said:
Do you have a kh test kit?
This might not have anything to do with your current issues, but with a lower ph I’d watch out for swings and a possible crash. If your kh is high I wouldn’t worry, but if it’s low that can be very dangerous.
To check for ph swings all you need to do is check the ph in the morning, afternoon, and in the evening.
If it is swinging that can stress the fish making them more susceptible to illness too.
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I have a Cichlid tank and I just got a Kh kit. What numbers am I looking for?
 
You don’t need to achieve a certain kh value, but I believe you’ll want to see 5 or higher. Anything lower then 5 can you could experience swings in your ph. Maybe not enough to kill everything overnight, but could take out weaker fish or stress them enough for sickness to take over.

This is going off memory, so you may want to look it up to double check. Unless someone else can chime in.
 
skjl47 said:
Hello; That is 68 fish if I got the count right. With 19 new ones added on one day. You do not list the tank size so it is hard to determine if the tank is overcrowded. Most of the fish are smaller species except for the 6 plecos. A common pleco can be large and even one is a bit much for a lot of tanks.

Hello; You may have had an ammonia spike from adding 19 new fish. Let me suggest cleaning the test kit vials with distilled water. This will help get rid of any residues and should give more accurate test results


Hello; This and if there is a difference in the tank pH compared to the source water pH. Please check the pH of the tap water and the tank water. It is my understanding a pH difference between the two can have an effect after a waterchange.(WC)

Hello; The tank is set up for seven months. Plenty long enough to be fully cycled but also time enough for the filter system to become a problem. The very low nitrates would seem to indicate the filter is in good shape if indeed the nitrate number is accurate.

Some additional information might be of help. 1) size of the tank 2) WC amount and schedule 3) filter media maintainence routine 4) feeding routine - how often & how much.

I would also chime in that a quarantine tank (QT) be considered for the future.
good luck
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The tank size is in the original post, it is 850L /190 gallons so the tank is still very under stocked.
WC I usually do between 10-20% every weekend, although during this time I have done an extra 3 20% water changes daily.
Filter maintenance - I have a eheim pro 3 and I clean it approx 1 every 3 months. I has been cleaned once in this time, since the first several months I did not have any fish in the tank, only the gravel and the wood, and then it was stocked very lightly and very slowly until the cycle had finished.
Feeding wise I am rather paranoid of over feeding. I give 2 hikari feeding wafers and 1 mini algae wafers (same brand) each morning for the 9 bottom feeders (although the others have a good go at them as well). I give a couple of pinches of thera+A new life spectrum which rarely if any do any pieces hit the ground.

I am DEFINITELY going to get a small quarantine tank from now on. This has shaken me right up.

The good news is although there were 3 more dead cardinals this morning, these were the really crook ones from last night. The others seem MUCH more happy, the rummy noses have coloured back up and fingers crossed this is the end of it.
Water parameters this morning haven't changed from last night even with the dead fish so they didn't get a chance to decompose.
Thanks
 
punman said:
OP says tank is 850 Litres, So about 225 U.S. gallons. I don't buy the nitrates at 3. Even doing 50% water change twice a week, a reading of 15 would be more in typical range.
Click to expand...
MrsE88 said:
I always appreciate seeing this suggested. I use to just rinse mine with tank water (this is how I was told to do it by a different fish keeper) and after rinsing with the distilled water I got more accurate results.
Click to expand...
I usually rinse mine out with separate tank water before doing the tests. I have had a little lab experience and a few habits stuck.
 
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