Help! Frequent Deaths Occurring!

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L

lukepfoster

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 7, 2010
38
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UK
Hi Guys. I need help asap!

I have 125L tank with the usual community fish in it. I have 7 neons, 2 rainbows, 1 black widow tetra, 4 baby mollies, 2 Plecs, 1 Czech Ram.

I had 3 lovely white mollies to begin my tank (which I have had for a year now) and they gave birth to some Fry and now of the hundreds that were born I have 4 small ones (they are about the same size as the Neons now). The adult mollies died one by one. they gradually got skinny (thinner than normal) and then they each died. Towards the end of their lives they looked pretty strange. Their bodies got very thin. The best way to describe them is looking like swimming heads!

Anyway, as the title of this suggests my fish are dying pretty frequently and I dont know what to do!

I had a Krib and it seemed like t was healthy and enjoying life then after a few days it secluded itself from the rest of the fish and stayed by himself all day. Then it went from being quite colourful, to going a dark grey/black colour. Then it died.

Then I had a lovely leopard Plec and I didnt notice anything wrong with it, then suddenly one morning I went to turn the lights on and as I did, to my horror was the skeleton of my lovely plec! It wasnt expected.

Now the latest victim is my siamese fighter fish. Like the plec, it looked healthy and then al of a sudden....DEAD!

I need serious help. I love my fish and they are dropping like flies.

The last water change was 2 weeks ago.

I just carried out a water test and the results are the following:

Nitrite - 0ppm (mg/l)
Nitrate - 0ppm (mg/l)
Ammonia - 0ppm (mg/l)
PH level - 7.4

Are these readings normal? ok? Dangerous?

No new fish have been added for 2 - 3 months.
 
it seems quite odd to me that you have no nitrates in your tank. there should be some in your tank considering your last change was two weeks ago. maybe you should re test that. what do you use to do a water test???
 
I second that retest and triple check it by taking a water sample to your LFS (most do it for free nowadays).
I cannot answer why you're fish are dropping like flies, but in regards to your mollies, it could be "old age". I've noticed the same weird thinning and distortion with a few of my platy(all breeders), but only to ones I've had for quite some time. (big daddy decided to go on me tonight, after having him about a year and only after he courted SEVERAL lucky ladies)
 
Thanks guys. I'll check again and keep you posted. How long do mollies live for? i only had them a year! whereas i still have a neon i bout nearly 4 years ago!!!

Im going to test the water again.. I use a kit I bought a while ago... has test tubes galore! So I think its pretty accurate. then i'll do a 50% water change...

Thanks for your help guys... I am worried but I knew i could come on MFK and some kind people would be happy to help.

Cheers for reading my thread and taking the time to respond. Very much appreciated.
 
mollies need sea salt in their water, so their deaths weren't too surprising esp. since you said they kind of wasted away.

I was going to say aggression on the krib, but seemed like the krib died earlier than the other fish which was the pleco and siamese algae eater.

I'm going to say it may have something to do w/the diets of both fish. I don't know if you're feeding them w/supplemental algae wafers or not.

Do you use conditioner during/after changing the water? also, what type of food do you use?

what's the latest deaths (i hope none).
 
tyl089;5051564; said:
mollies need sea salt in their water, so their deaths weren't too surprising esp. since you said they kind of wasted away.

I was going to say aggression on the krib, but seemed like the krib died earlier than the other fish which was the pleco and siamese algae eater.

I'm going to say it may have something to do w/the diets of both fish. I don't know if you're feeding them w/supplemental algae wafers or not.

Do you use conditioner during/after changing the water? also, what type of food do you use?

what's the latest deaths (i hope none).
Click to expand...


I use tropical flakes for the fish and algae pellets for the Plecs. Everyday I put either 1 or 2 pellets in and a small pinch of flakes. Maybe Im over doing it on the food./.?

I use water conditioner during the water change. I fill a bag with tap water and pour 3 cap fulls of conditioner in. The last water change I added about 3 tablespoons of aquarium salt to the tank. By this point the mollie were already dead but i heard that a little salt help with recovery of sick fish.

No deaths so far today.

I hope my plec (which is an Ancistrus) survives.. it has a wonderful personality and was very expensive!!

Would you recommend a 50% water change?

I think the problem may be my filter... There seems to be a lot of poo and muck in the gravel...as i vacuumed the tank the other day maybe I stirred up some toxic nitrates that may have been sitting under the gravel...

also with the death of so many fish..maybe I missed one and have had decomposing bodies in the tank...? any thoughts on this?


Thanks for your help
 
if there is alot of poo in the gravel your nitrate levels shouldnt be at 0. I would try vacuuming out the gravel , then rinse out all your filter parts (sponge, carbon, etc...)
then let cycle for a day and recheck water
 
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