2 Of 3 Platys Dead Within Three Days?

[skyhook]

Hi i just finished cycling a 29g freshwater tank. Three days ago i put in 8 cardinal tetras, 3 green cobra guppies, 3 platys and my 1 month old golden chinese algae eater. i believe they were called sunset platys.

The 1st day of having my tank filled with some beatiful fish i find one of my female platys dead! i wasn't too sure what it was, at first i thought maybe it was just stressed out, but tonight, i came home to see another platy dead, the 2nd of my 3 i started with. i've read that algae eaters can be aggressive but from what i understood it was only mature algae eaters ( 1+ years old). Does anyone have any suggestions to why it is that 2/3 of my platys have died in the first 3 days and the rest of my fish seem incredibly happy?. if this helps my water tests showed these results tonight

0ppm ammonia
2ppm nitrite
10ppm nitrate

am i in need of a water change because it is causing my platys to die, or could it be my golden chinese algae eater is just really ticked off at my platys. if this helps, it seems my platys were very, very curious about everything in my tank and maybe could of set him off? anyway thanks in advance if anyone can help me out with this problem.

 

[NutMutt]

You might not have the time because of real-life will sometimes not allow it for our favorite past-times. But just try to sit there and watch them if you are not sure if the platies are being bullied to death. Even the same kind of fish purchase at the same LFS can have different behaviors...

 

[Jonno]

are you sure it's finnished cycling? if nitrIte is at 2ppm then that would indicate not

definately do a largish water change asap.

 

[GRJ]

If your nitrite is not '0', the cycle hasnt finished. Ammonia and nitrite need to be '0' before you add fish, and then before dding fish you need to have done a very large water change, like 90% or something. Your platys have probabaly died from nitrite poisoning. It takes twice as long for the nitrite processing bacteria to form than it does for the ammonia processing bacteria. Ammonia should be '0', nitrite should be '0' and nitrate will start to rise, then it has cycled. Nitrate ideally should be kept below 50ppm. GRJ

 

[Musho3210]

50% water change will just bring it down to 1.0, it needs to be under .25, otherwise the damage could be ireversable (well it still can be but not as common at levels below .25). So that means, Do a 50% water change, wait about an hour, do another 50% water change, wait an hour, do another 50% water change. That should bring it down to .25. With a stocking level that high in an uncycled tank, levels are going to rise fast so you may need to do A LOT of 50% water changes.