Help my fish are dying

[queeniechimp]

I am lost as to what is happening in my fishtank. The first week of November we lost our first fish as to what has been linked to a problem with his swim bladder due to being bullied by another fish - he was a blue gourami. At the time we had a blue and red gourami and an upside down catfish in a 6 gallon tank. They had all been living in this tank for 14 months. After the blue gourami died we purchased a 33 gallon tank and added a tetra and another upside down catfish.
We had no problems adding them and thought everything was fine.

We brought home an orange catfish (Sorry do not know what kind he was though he was a beautiful cat) approx. December 27th and put him in the tank along with a new plant (HUGE noobie mistake as neither were quarantined before being added) On January 25th one of our upside down catfish was found dead floating at the top of the tank and the following day January 26th the orange catfish is found dead on the bottom of the tank. Neither had anything wrong with them - no bulges or spots or anything abnormal. I tested the water and everything was at ideal levels.

Today - February 10- we wake up to our red gourami turned upside down dead at the bottom of the tank. He looked like he had a cut on his site but other than that looked very normal. Also when I got him out of the tank I noticed there was a small snail near him. We have never added snails and have no clue where this one came from. I have tried to get him out, but so far haven't been able to.
The tank is a tall 33 gallon instead of a wide tank. Though from what I have read snails can multiply quickly and he needs to be gotten rid of.

My question is (Sorry for being long winded) :

We put a water softener on our house and then switched to using bottled distilled water in the tank so the fish wouldn't have to be in salty water. Would the water from the softener hurt the fish?? Could the distilled water be our problem as we started using it around Dec. 10th and just 2 mo. later have lost almost all of our fish. If it isn't a problem with the water we are using does anybody have any ideas as to what can be happening?? We do water changes weekly, never over feed and test the water weekly. Should we set up another tank and transfer our last two fish to it and disinfect the big tank and pray for the best?? Please help as I am lost as to what to do next.

 

[WILDER]

Yes bottle water is soft and probably wasn't matching your ph that the fish in the tank were happy with,the snail could of come in on your live plants in the tank if you have any, just float a lettuce leaf in the tank, when the snail is on the lettuce leaf remove it from the tank.

 

[queeniechimp]

Thank you very much ..... when I finally found the correct test kit it said that the water is acidic though all other levels are in the normal/ideal range.

Should I stop using the distilled water? Is the water from my tap OK even though it is filtered through a treatment system? I worry there is too much salt in the water for the fish. I killed a lot of my houseplants due to watering them with salty water and I really don't want to lose the last 2 fish also.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi queeniechimp

Distilled water has had all the natural minerals removed and because of this it is not usually recommended for use in aquariums. If you have had trouble with the softened water killing your houseplants, it might not be good for your fish either, although some fish and adapt better than others to some salt in the water.

Perhaps a friend or neighbor could help you out by giving you a few gallons of water each week so that you can do your water changes. By using local water, you lessen the chance of shocking new fish when you add them to your tank, since it will most likely be the same as that of your lfs.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you make the change gradually so your fish can adjust to the changing conditions. Then retest it. If it is still acid, but not too much, leave it alone. This is one of those things that fish can adapt to if it is not severe. I suggest asking what the water at your lfs is before making any changes because once you start, it is difficult to keep it stable.

In general, unless you really want a particular fish that needs specific conditions, it's better to try to find ones that are tolerant of what you have, rather than try to change them.

 

[gale]

We use water that goes through the softener and don't have any trouble with it. It doesn't taste salty or anything so if there's salt in it, it must not be much.

 

[Mr Miagi]

Some bottled water can contain high levels of CO2.

Some aquariests use distilled natural spring water, (IN TINY) volumes, to add co2 into there aquariums system for their plants. Too much and it can suffocate your fish.

Do your fish show any signs of lack of oxygen. For example, do they swim close to the surface, and are their gills moving rapidly?

 

[queeniechimp]

The gills on the last fish that died had been moving extremely rapidly for a while, but we couldn't figure out why. None of them swam close to the surface - But the tank is very tall instead of wide so it is a very long swim to the top. The two remaining fish were purchased locally (I think there are still 2 we haven't been able to find one for 2 days) The store used local water, but where I live we are on a different water system and ours is horrid water which is why we purchased the softener. I will try to do a small water change and use the water from my tap and hope for the best. I do appreciate all of you for helping!! I never realized how attached you can get to fish.