Please help!!!!!!

[Guppy 1230]

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?

41-50%

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 recently switched my fish into a 40 breeder tank. We had a handful for bala sharks, two spiny eels, a tire track, and some black skirt tetras. We added in a pleco, cat fish, and some killifish. They’ve all been doing fine until this passed week, all the sharks died for no reason, same with the pleco and cat fish. Well now my tire track is not doing good, two days ago he was fine, yesterday morning I noticed his slime coat looked odd and last night it looked like boiled egg whites were coming off of him. This morning he looks even worse, I don’t think he’ll make it passed today to I want to treat whatever it is. I added salt to the water thinking maybe it is ich but I’ve never seen it come on this quick. I am very sad that my eel will pass but it came on so quick I don’t think there is much I could have done. Also other than the fish that have died and the tire track no other fish has this and the others that died didn’t have the skin stuff.

 

[Guppy 1230]

Also I don’t do a 50% water change every week, usually it’s a 25%.

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

It certainly doesn't help that your stuffing a lot of monster-sized fish in a 40 breeder. I'm not sure what you're going for in your tank but half of the fish in your list will eat the other half of the fish in your list. I'm not sure what exact disease is going on in your tank, but nevertheless in the long term all your fish will have short lifespans (I'd be glad if they lasted over a year).

Here's what will happen in your tank UNLESS you remove some fish or get a much bigger tank:

Your Bala sharks will grow to a foot long or even longer and they'll eat your black skirt tetras and your killifish. After that, they'll slowly die out by ramming themselves at full speed at your small tank's glass if they're spooked. (Bala sharks get spooked easily and hence have this problem).

Your two spiny eels and tire track eels will also slowly hunt down your black skirt tetras and killifish.

Why have a pleco (pleco have enormous bio loads) when you can just get a magnetic algae scraper that has 0 bio load.

Definitely specify what cat fish you have because if you have a red-tailed catfish or tiger shovelnose then return them immediately to the store before they quickly outgrow your tank, eat its tank mates, and you'll be forced to throw them into a pond/lake/river if no LFS wants them.

The black skirt tetras and killifish aren't going to survive very long with all these monster fish above.

 

[BIG-G]

Fish do not die for no reason.
Was this tank cycled?
My guess is you over loaded a tank that is way to small for all these fish, you had a huge ammonia spike and fish are dying because of it.
The eel is most likely suffering from serious ammonia burn.
Short term advice would be to do water changes and add a product to help neutralize the ammonia.
Moving forward you should research the fish you like and decide if they are compatible with current stock and if their growth, final size and water requirements can be met, before you purchase them.
Good luck

 

[Guppy 1230]

It certainly doesn't help that your stuffing a lot of monster-sized fish in a 40 breeder. I'm not sure what you're going for in your tank but half of the fish in your list will eat the other half of the fish in your list. I'm not sure what exact disease is going on in your tank, but nevertheless in the long term all your fish will have short lifespans (I'd be glad if they lasted over a year).

Here's what will happen in your tank UNLESS you remove some fish or get a much bigger tank:

Your Bala sharks will grow to a foot long or even longer and they'll eat your black skirt tetras and your killifish. After that, they'll slowly die out by ramming themselves at full speed at your small tank's glass if they're spooked. (Bala sharks get spooked easily and hence have this problem).

Your two spiny eels and tire track eels will also slowly hunt down your black skirt tetras and killifish.

Why have a pleco (pleco have enormous bio loads) when you can just get a magnetic algae scraper that has 0 bio load.

Definitely specify what cat fish you have because if you have a red-tailed catfish or tiger shovelnose then return them immediately to the store before they quickly outgrow your tank, eat its tank mates, and you'll be forced to throw them into a pond/lake/river if no LFS wants them.

The black skirt tetras and killifish aren't going to survive very long with all these monster fish above.

Everyone got along fine, the bala sharks are all dead so they aren’t a problem. My spineys aren’t big enough to eat the tetras at all. I didn’t realize that me asking for help would result in people A) not reading through my whole post and B) bashing me for the types of fish I have when I do extensive research in what can be tank mates or not.

I would never get a red tail or shovel nose because I do not plan on having a tank big enough for them to ever grow into. I know the size limit of my tank and the amount of fish I can have.

I have had the eels for over two year now, I am not new to fish keeping but I have not seen this before, I just want help identifying what’s going on with my eel and how to help it. Not be judged.

 

[Guppy 1230]

Fish do not die for no reason.
Was this tank cycled?
My guess is you over loaded a tank that is way to small for all these fish, you had a huge ammonia spike and fish are dying because of it.
The eel is most likely suffering from serious ammonia burn.
Short term advice would be to do water changes and add a product to help neutralize the ammonia.
Moving forward you should research the fish you like and decide if they are compatible with current stock and if their growth, final size and water requirements can be met, before you purchase them.
Good luck

I agree, but there were no obvious reasons for them to die. Yes the tank was cycled and I let it run empty for two months and then added goldfish to help it establish.

I did not add them all at once, I had the two spineys and tire track in a different tank together and had the balas and tetras in a different tank and consolidated them. They have been in the tank for about two months now and have been fine. The only thing I have added in the passed few weeks is the killifish.
I always research the fish I’m looking into before getting them to be sure they will be happy and good tank mates to the other fish I have.

I know the proper load size for my tank and was getting ready to get rid of the sharks the only reason I had them is because a friend gave them to me and I know they would get too big for my tank.

Also I have a ton of plants and thought they were supposed to help reduce the ammonia in the tank.

 

[BIG-G]

I agree, but there were no obvious reasons for them to die. Yes the tank was cycled and I let it run empty for two months and then added goldfish to help it establish.

I did not add them all at once, I had the two spineys and tire track in a different tank together and had the balas and tetras in a different tank and consolidated them. They have been in the tank for about two months now and have been fine. The only thing I have added in the passed few weeks is the killifish.
I always research the fish I’m looking into before getting them to be sure they will be happy and good tank mates to the other fish I have.

I know the proper load size for my tank and was getting ready to get rid of the sharks the only reason I had them is because a friend gave them to me and I know they would get too big for my tank.

Also I have a ton of plants and thought they were supposed to help reduce the ammonia in the tank.

Not bashing or attack. Critical advice can come across like an attack, but I assure you I have no ill will towards you at all.
What type filtration do you use?
In your first post you stated you “recently “ add these fish, going by that and what I see in the pictures it looks like this tank could not handle the bioload and you’ve had an ammonia spike.
You didn’t post any test results.
Did you test during this process?
Testing would have given you critical information as to what was happening to the water quality.
Also while it is true plants can help with ammonia and nitrate build up. What you have in this tank is very sparse. It would take the tank being very densely planted to see any real up take compared to what the fish can produce.

 

[latapy10]

I recently switched my fish into a 40 breeder tank. We had a handful for bala sharks, two spiny eels, a tire track, and some black skirt tetras. We added in a pleco, cat fish, and some killifish. They’ve all been doing fine until this passed week, all the sharks died for no reason, same with the pleco and cat fish. Well now my tire track is not doing good, two days ago he was fine, yesterday morning I noticed his slime coat looked odd and last night it looked like boiled egg whites were coming off of him. This morning he looks even worse, I don’t think he’ll make it passed today to I want to treat whatever it is. I added salt to the water thinking maybe it is ich but I’ve never seen it come on this quick. I am very sad that my eel will pass but it came on so quick I don’t think there is much I could have done. Also other than the fish that have died and the tire track no other fish has this and the others that died didn’t have the skin stuff.

View attachment 1516541

View attachment 1516542

View attachment 1516543

miserably overfished with big species of fishes...

 

[FINWIN]

I agree, but there were no obvious reasons for them to die. Yes the tank was cycled and I let it run empty for two months and then added goldfish to help it establish.

I did not add them all at once, I had the two spineys and tire track in a different tank together and had the balas and tetras in a different tank and consolidated them. They have been in the tank for about two months now and have been fine. The only thing I have added in the passed few weeks is the killifish.
I always research the fish I’m looking into before getting them to be sure they will be happy and good tank mates to the other fish I have.

I know the proper load size for my tank and was getting ready to get rid of the sharks the only reason I had them is because a friend gave them to me and I know they would get too big for my tank.

Also I have a ton of plants and thought they were supposed to help reduce the ammonia in the tank.

Something you said caught my attention. If there was a 2 month gap between your cycle and adding fish it's likely you lost all your beneficial bacteria and were back to square one. So when your other fish went in it was probably a 'raw' tank again with a huge ammonia spike.

Once a tank is cycled you would add small amounts of ammonia to keep it going to feed the bacteria until you add fish. Testing here is key to make sure your parameters are ok.

You can try this in an emergency. It will buy you time. Follow the directions.

 

[ken31cay]

, the bala sharks are all dead so they aren’t a problem.

I just thought this was hysterical.

I'll just show myself out now... best of luck to OP