Betta Fish Dying One By One

[DanIOW]

Hi everyone, I need some help as i am feeling pretty helpless for my fish at the moment! as my Female Fighters, have started dying one by one with no real logic.
The Female fighters seem completly well and then one female by the morning will have lost scales around the gill area on both sides and will be dead by the evening. each female does not get ill until the previous has died.
I have treated the tank with melafix, but it seems to have zero effect! I have had fish for years and never have had a problem like this. It would appear this has started since i added four new female fighters and a gold loach to the tank.
my tank is set up as follows
70 litre tank
at 25 degrees
external filter

fish in tank
9 female fighters (now 5 only one that is not a new one is left)
1 male fighter
1 gold loach
1 cordyr catfish
4 danios
2 gourami

Any help would be much appreciated
thanks
Dan

 

[MBOU]

Probably the loach Is it a sucking loach with a flat mouth?

 

[DanIOW]

Yes it is a fltmouth sucking loach, I can remove him and put him in my 170litre terrapin tank, would that be adviseable, just hate seeing my fish die 1 by 1
Thanks for the quick reply
Dan

 

[lilfishie]

its some form of fungus/bacteria infection that attacks there face, i had the same problem quite recently, i removed the other females to prevent it spreading, as said it hits hard and fast, i lost 3 in 3 hours!

it only seemed to effect the bettas though, i would remove the healthy 1s just to prevent them getting it

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Also it's not recommended to keep male and female fighters together; eventually one will kill the other.

What are your water stats?

Also gourami fish aren't generally recommended with fighters in general; both are an aggressive species of fish and both use the "same" area of the tank so they'll fight it out (it may happen at night)

Cories need to be kept in larger numbers

Golden loaches get agressive as they get older; I had some in with goldfish and I asked the woman in the shop "will they be ok with the goldfish" - of course she said yes, of course they weren't. They got more aggressive as they got older .

 

[DanIOW]

Thankyou all so much for the different posts, I really appreciate all the helpful advice.
after reading through all replys I think i need to move all my fish around

Can you please help me configure my fish into two different tanks (70litre and 80litre) all the fish are listed here

5 female fighters
1 male fighter
1 gold loach
1 cordyr catfish
7 danios
2 gourami
3 Platy
1 Plec (6")

I presume i should not put any in with my Terrapins? (170 litre tank)
Plus if there is any suggestion of more fish to make the community better? Please let me know also
Thanks to all
Dan

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Thankyou all so much for the different posts, I really appreciate all the helpful advice.
after reading through all replys I think i need to move all my fish around

Can you please help me configure my fish into two different tanks (70litre and 80litre) all the fish are listed here

5 female fighters
1 male fighter
1 gold loach
1 cordyr catfish
7 danios
2 gourami
3 Platy
1 Plec (6")

I presume i should not put any in with my Terrapins? (170 litre tank)
Plus if there is any suggestion of more fish to make the community better? Please let me know also
Thanks to all
Dan

firstly the cory will appreciate more friends as they are shy. I would honestly suggest getting rid of the golden loach, separate the male and female bettas, I am tempted to say gourmai in one tank, females in another and possibly even buying a small 5 gallon for the male betta. I'm no expert on stocking - maybe ask in the discussion section as you'll get way more help in there.

Definitely do not add fish with the terrapins; they'll be terrapin food.

 

[lilfishie]

i would move the Male fighter, Cory (+ get some friends) and the Platies into the 70l.

The loach has to go

Any idea on the plec type?

 

[DanIOW]

its a regular one i think (plec), its the most common one i see in shops.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

its a regular one i think (plec), its the most common one i see in shops.

In that case...a common plec - they can grow up to 18inches - 2 foot. I recently got rid of mine - he was abosolutely gorgeous. It was do I spend £300+ (when I'm in the process of buying a house) to keep him or do I give him up to someone who can look after him.

 

[DanIOW]

Hi again everyone, I have just got in from work to find another dead and one struggling Female Fighter all fish apart from the female fighters are fine. I have noticed that the remaining Female fighters that look healthy have red splodge like markings/symptoms around there face, any info would be appreciated. i am just trying to take a photo to post.
thanks

 

[DanIOW]

My profile pic is the photo I'm uploading

 

[DanIOW]

The picture

 

[Athena]

First thing I noticed was your 70l was overstocked to begin with, let alone that you had all those incompatible fish together. But we all live and learn eh?

Have you tested your water recently (with a liquid test kit for accuracy)? Just wondering what your ammonia levels are like at the moment. It is possible for ammonia poisoning to cause red burn marks around the gills.

If it's not that then maybe they have been fighting.

I would do a large water change and reduce the numbers in your 70l. It might mean rehoming some of your fish (esp the plec and loach). Definitely separate the male/female bettas.

Regards, Athena

 

[marieukxx]

You shouldn't really have female fighters in with a male fighter. They need to be split up. Could the feamles be fighting and one is getting picked on and picked off each time and they move on to the others? Your male might be fighting or the females could be with eacother.