A Little Lost Please Help

[fire_king]

Hi i have a 180L tank which has been running for at least a month now with fish, it had mature filter media and live rock,gravel ornaments etc. Now i have 4 real plants which are thriving and
2 gold loaches
4 cherry shrimp small
10 neon tetras
9 harlequin rasboras (1 died)
4 black neon tetra
3 guppies
2 mollies
1 zebra danio (2 died)
1 platy (1 died)
R.I.P

So the other day i came to feed the fish and a harlequin rasbora is dead and floating so i removed it and did a little water change before i fed them.
Then the same day in the evening a zebra danio is dead lying in some plants? So i Tested the water and results were
Ph 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20

Temperature is at 27-28c

Yesterday morning i came down and oh my god i find my red platy dead, i have no idea what is causing this i change my water once every week and use water conditioner too.

So today morning everything was okay (thank god), so i fed them in the morning and everything was okay, so at 7.00pm second feed time and another zebra danio has left us, i am really worried as to what could be causing this and have checked everything, any info is appreciated

I am using a api water test kit not strips and am feeding the fish flakes and every 3 days dried bloodworm and fish treat tablets.

Thankyou for taking the time to read

 

[Rickzayne]

noticed any spots or parasites on the dead fish?

 

[fire_king]

No nothing that i could see of? The only one which was acting a bit slow was the platy the night before but was swimming okay?

 

[Rickzayne]

did you do a fish in cycle?

 

[fire_king]

As far as parasites is there anything i can look out for on the fish?

 

[soybean]

Nothing too weird is sticking out but your temp is possibly a bit high. Gradually lower it to around 24-25. Danios in particular prefer lower temps than 27-28.

 

[fire_king]

Yes i did a fish in cycle and have been checking water parameters every other day.

 

[Rickzayne]

Tbh if these are actually random deaths it could just be stress from the ammonia setting in..

you noticed any weird behaviour?
or strange faeces?

 

[soybean]

The stress of a fish-in cycle may be taking it's toll. Which fish did you cycle with? Did you have the ammonia and nitrite spikes before they went down to 0?

 

[fire_king]

Faeces?

The behavior of the fish was normal apart from the platy and the ammonia has always been on zero. I had the tank running with no fish for a week did not check any parameters and then added a few Fish at a time.

 

[soybean]

Yeah, your tank isn't cycled. Simply running the tank for a week and adding fish gradually doesnt work. Read up on fish in cycling. Start here! http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

 

[Rickzayne]

How often have you been doing your water changes?

If your doing a fish in cycle which it sound like you are, you need to be doing 25%+ water changes every other day to help keep ammonia down or the poison will kill off your fish.

you should never let your readings get above 0.25ppm on ammonia or nitrIte and 150ppm on NitrAte.

 

[fire_king]

Everything in the tank is mature media, and has been running for just over a month since in my posession all fish are thriving and i have nitrates at 20 which about 9 days ago were 5 with the slighest ever hint of ammonia possibly. So really is my tank not cycled??

I do a 20-30% waterchange every sunday and check the water every 2nd day. Thanks for all the info so far guys.

 

[soybean]

Where did you get the mature media from? If it didn't have a source of ammonia for a week before you added fish, it could have killed off much of the bacteria. If you're getting even a trace if ammonia it does suggest it's not quite right.

Do small water changes every few days and see how you get on. I think it's ammonia. Also lower your temp slightly.

 

[fire_king]

Thankyou soybean for all the info, i got the media from the person i bought the tank from, he had it kept in a bucket of water from his tank. On the last 6-7 water tests i have had A-0, Ni-0 and Nitrates go from 5 to 20 which what they are now. I will do more frequent water changesxand lower the temp and get back if anything else occurs, any other info appreciated
Thanks