Asymptomatic Fish & dead new fish

SkeptikalScabies

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2014
113
1
33
Edmonton, Alberta
Have you tested your water?
No
If I did not test my water...
...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.
Do you do water changes?
Yes
What percentage of water do you change?
31-40%
How frequently do you change your water?
Every week
If I do not change my water...
...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.
I have a tank with three fish, two Severums and an ornate bichir. I used to have more fish in there but everything dies with the exception of my three aforementioned fish.

the issue:
The three current fish almost never have visible signs of poor health, every other fish that is put in the tank seems to die within months. It’s a sickening, slow decline. I have tried a plethora of medications, stepping up water changes, reducing food at feedings to minimize waste, you name it. Most recently I introduced a 5” common pleco and it croaked within two weeks. It had no obvious cause of death. It was alive when I turned the lights on, and dead an hour later. this is the fastest death I’ve had but it still matches the other declines.

I have a fluval FX-6 canister on a 60 gallon. cleaned monthly.
I do water changes on a more or less regular schedule (+ or - a couple days)
I have live plants, and no substrate. I have the hard scale of driftwood and plants set to minimize trapped food/detritus.

when I set up this tank a year ago I had a bad flare of parasitic infections that I treated successfully with metro.

I have no idea why everything is dying. I’ve been keeping tanks for a decade without ever having something like this. Has anyone got any ideas?
Whatever is plaguing this tank killed my previously bombproof parrot cichlids.

My only guess is that the water in my apartment has something to do with it. It doesn’t have any results on a water test but that’s the only major change since I relocated the tank here.
 

kno4te

MFK Moderator
Staff member
Global Moderator
MFK Member
Dec 24, 2005
18,450
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USA
What’s ur water parameters? How are u cleaning ur canister filter? Are u using a dechlorinator? Wouldn’t add any more fish to the tank as the fish in there will be big and making lots of waste.
 

neutrino

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2013
2,396
2,627
179
Mid-Atlantic, US
Do you know your ph? Temperature? How big are the current fish? Any indication the sevs have paired up?

Some fish healthy and others dying might mean pH or some other water condition is okay for some of your fish and stressful on the others. Aggression could also explain it. But these are stabs in the dark at this point.
 
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