Help, I am baffled and ready to just give up on this tank. I have lost 5 platys in 2 weeks. There is one female platy and one female swordtail left in the tank. It's a 20 gal talk tank. 3 platys died after gulping for air at the top of the tank. One died from jumping out of tank ( tank is covered except for filter cutout). One platy got sucked up to the filter and died. Now, my swordtail and remaining platy are completely hiding and only coming up to eat. This is a 2 month old tank. It is cycled. Parameters are good according to master API kit. Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 10 and pH 7.6. I have a hob aquatech 10/20 gal filter. Water temp was 78 deg but slowly reduced it to 76 hoping this would allow for more oxygen in tank. Added bubbler a week ago. The only two things I can think after researching and researching is I diffused essential oils in same room as tank. So today I added polishing pad to the filter hoping this may help reduce any water contamination, if there is any. Also, don't have a test to test gh thought maybe water is too soft for platys. Anyone have any other suggestions/ideas?? I have done several water changes using prime water conditioner. I don't want lose anymore fish! Sorry for the lengthy details. Thanks.
Help all my platys are dying!
- Thread starter Kris2005
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Your fish are being poisoned by something. The fish that jumped out didn't like something in the water. The fish you found on the filter intake probably died and got sucked onto the intake after it was dead.
The essential oils used in the room could be the cause, but so could other things.
Make sure you use fish only buckets for the fish. Do not use any bucket that has been used for cleaning or anything except water.
Make sure you dechlorinate the tap water before using it.
Make sure you don't have any moisturising cream, perfume, oil, grease or anything else on your hands when working on the tank. That includes using soaps with perfumes in. They should be avoided because they leave a residue on the skin.
Do not use any sort of spray in the room with the fish. No hair spray, perfume, deodorant, cigarette smoke, paint, air fresheners, bug sprays, etc. That includes the burning of incense and essential oils.
Do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean each day for a week and see if it helps.
Make sure the new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Adding Activated or Highly Activated Carbon to the filter will help if it is a chemical getting into the water. The carbon should be replaced after a week because it will absorb chemicals and when it's full, it will stop absorbing stuff. However, once the problem has settled down you can stop using carbon.
If you can post a picture of the remaining fish we can see if they have a disease that might be contributing to this.
The essential oils used in the room could be the cause, but so could other things.
Make sure you use fish only buckets for the fish. Do not use any bucket that has been used for cleaning or anything except water.
Make sure you dechlorinate the tap water before using it.
Make sure you don't have any moisturising cream, perfume, oil, grease or anything else on your hands when working on the tank. That includes using soaps with perfumes in. They should be avoided because they leave a residue on the skin.
Do not use any sort of spray in the room with the fish. No hair spray, perfume, deodorant, cigarette smoke, paint, air fresheners, bug sprays, etc. That includes the burning of incense and essential oils.
Do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean each day for a week and see if it helps.
Make sure the new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Adding Activated or Highly Activated Carbon to the filter will help if it is a chemical getting into the water. The carbon should be replaced after a week because it will absorb chemicals and when it's full, it will stop absorbing stuff. However, once the problem has settled down you can stop using carbon.
If you can post a picture of the remaining fish we can see if they have a disease that might be contributing to this.
Ok thanks! I will try to get a pic of the fish in the morning and will do a 75 pwc then. I changed my filter about a week ago and it has activated carbon in it. Should I change it again? Don't want to cause a mini cycle on top of everything else unless you think changing it again would help. I'm using Prime water decholirinator before adding water to the tank.Buckets are fish only buckets. Maybe it is the essential oils. Thanks again for your help.
You should pin down the GH just to know. Check with your municipal water authority if you are on city water, the data may be posted on their website. You can also take a sample of tap water to a reliable fish store to test, but make sure you get a number and the unit (example, 12 degrees GH, or 120 ppm or 120 mg/l, etc. Subjective terms like "moderate hard" are meaningless without a number.
If you have a Topfin hang on back style filter with the white material cartridge that has carbon in, you can cut a slit in the top of the white material and tip the carbon out and throw it away. Then add some new carbon and put the filter pad back in the filter.
If you buy a box of activated carbon from the petshop, you take some out and rinse it with tap water to remove any dust, then put it in the white filter pad. Then put the filter pad and new carbon into the filter.
You can get round sponges that are used for internal filters, and these round sponges can go on the intake tube of the filter and provide additional places for the beneficial filter bacteria to live. This means you are less likely to lose bacteria when you change the carbon.
I wasn't able to get a picture of the fish unfortunately. They are hiding. I did a gravel vac and 75 pwc and when I removed all the tank decor they were darting around too fast for a pic. I will go get the hardness tested. I am also going to add the carbon. I did add a polishing pad to the filter yesterday. This should eventually help keep the cycle too shouldn't it? Thank you for your help.
You don't have to move the ornaments every time you gravel clean the substrate. Just clean around them and once a week or so then lift or move one or two ornaments and clean under them. Then next water change move a different one.
I don't know what the polishing pad is but if it's a material type of cartridge it will develop filter bacteria too as long as its got water flowing through it.
I don't know what the polishing pad is but if it's a material type of cartridge it will develop filter bacteria too as long as its got water flowing through it.
Thanks everyone. I think I figured out the problem and I feel really, really stupid! I think the fish died from overdose of seachrem prime. I did several water changes after first dead platy ( which I'm not sure why he died, but could be any reason) and continued doing them as more fish died. I just read in much too large of doses prime decreases oxygen in the water. Not knowing this I figured if it was something in the water more is better. I am so upset with myself right now! But, I think I may have found my answer.
This is possible, but I would not think all that likely. If you use the recommended amount of Prime at each water change, you should not "overdose." The number of water changes is not the issue, but the amount of Prime added to the water at a given time. However, with that in mind, it is important never to overdose conditioner be it Prime or any other, regardless of what the manufacturer may claim about it being safe. Additives to the tank water get inside the fish, naturally; even so-called "safe" additives are still chemicals affecting the fish's physiology, and must be controlled and kept to only what is necessary.
You still need to find the GH as I explained in post #4. This might well be part of the issue here.
I took water
I am definately going to find the GH of my water. I plan on calling on calling the water department tomorrow morning. I cant find reports online for my town. I will post as soon as I find out. Was planning on calling today but since it is a holiday they were closed.
I did use ALOT of seachrem prime though. I didnt think it would hurt and thought it would get rid of any toxins in my water. I used extra on every 5 gal bucket plus dosed the whole tank afterwards.I was just trying to help but may have done much more damage than good. The bottle says its safe to 5 times recommended dose but I think I went over that.
Anyhow, I will post my GH when I find out. Thanks!
I did use ALOT of seachrem prime though. I didnt think it would hurt and thought it would get rid of any toxins in my water. I used extra on every 5 gal bucket plus dosed the whole tank afterwards.I was just trying to help but may have done much more damage than good. The bottle says its safe to 5 times recommended dose but I think I went over that.
Anyhow, I will post my GH when I find out. Thanks!
I mentioned it previously, but will again, because it is not well understood. Overdosing conditioners is not at all "safe," and you are right that this may have been a factor here. That much Prime getting inside the fish's bloodstream, internal organs, etc, can cause serious issues, regardless of what Seachem may tell us. Only add the amount required for the fresh water, never for the whole tank. Now you know. We continue to learn, it never stops.
It depends - mg per litre of what?
If it's mg/l CaCO3, that's the same as ppm, so 100 ppm which converts to 5.6 dH which is too soft for platies.
If it's mg/l Ca, that converts to 250 ppm and 14 dH, which is OK for platies.
I know that a lot of UK companies use mg/l Ca (mine does), but I have no idea which your water supplier uses. However, given the problems you've had, I think it is probably CaCO3, and the soft water combined with overdosing Prime would have not have been very good for the fish.
If it's mg/l CaCO3, that's the same as ppm, so 100 ppm which converts to 5.6 dH which is too soft for platies.
If it's mg/l Ca, that converts to 250 ppm and 14 dH, which is OK for platies.
I know that a lot of UK companies use mg/l Ca (mine does), but I have no idea which your water supplier uses. However, given the problems you've had, I think it is probably CaCO3, and the soft water combined with overdosing Prime would have not have been very good for the fish.
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