4 Dead Fish This Morning

[Lizzie71]

Following on from my post about a power cut at the weekend, this morning I found that 4 of my 6 hengel's rasboras were dead

This is almost certainly down to poor water quality, what with the filter being off for about 8 hours, although I didn't have time for a test before I had to leave for work. The drop in temperature when the heater was off can't have helped either.

I have fished out the dead ones and done a 1/3 water change (all I had time for this morning) but what else can I do?

The remaining 2 rasboras look OK, but my 3 platys are hiding in the plants and a lot less active than usual. I can also only find 1 of 3 ottos, but I think the others are just hiding because I had a good search round during the water change and dead ones would have turned up.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry for your problems.
Can you post stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
If water temp droped fast best to let the temp come back up with the heater rather than a water change.
Look out for whitespot. columnaris and swim bladder with the temp dropping.

 

[Lizzie71]

I tested the water this morning, after yesterday's water change.

The stats were ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, ph about 7.5. Since the power cut on Saturday, the tank temperature has been steady around 26-27 degrees.

The remaining fish seem OK at the moment, no signs of illness. The 2 remaining rasboras look a bit lonely, but I don't want to get more until I am sure the tank is free of disease and fully cycled.

The good news is I found 2 of the 3 ottos this morning. Still one missing, but I have checked again and haven't found a body, so I'm hoping he is just hiding in the plants.

The platys look a bit more lively today, except for one which I think is pregnant. Also I found one surviving platy fry, about 1 week old

 

[Mikaila31]

Are you doing anything to the filter. I have a canister filter and when I lose power for more than 4 hours I disconnect the output hose and drop it into a bucket. This causes water to syphon from the tank, through the filter, and then into the bucket. Then I pour the bucket back into the tank. This can help your good bacteria from dieing off.

 

[Lizzie71]

Well, no more dead fish but a test this afternoon showed ammonia of 0.1 And one otto is still missing despite taking everything out of the tank today for a good clean up, including taking the filter apart just in case. So I think an undetected fish death must be the reason for the problems.

I've done another 1/3 water change, and trimmed back the plants, cleaned up the filter (there was so much gunge stuck to the outside that it wasn't flowing properly) and added some filter start.

Hope I can keep the remaining fish alive.

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like another fish has eaten him.
Good luck.