Dead Fish Every Week Or So

[N30n T3tr4]

I keep finding dead fish in my tank and I have no idea why.

34 Litre Tank
Ph levels are good.
Ammonia and Nitrite levels appear good.
Nitrate levels are ok but could be little better.
I have an air stone running 24/7 for aeration (should this be turned off at all or should it be left running?).
There are also 3 plants.
Water temp sits at around 24-25 degrees at night but during the day with the hot weather it can reach about 27-28 degrees.
Just recently been adding a good bacteria additive called "Cycle". This seems to have improved the cloudy water that would appear under the lights; which I guess is a good thing.

That said, I'm still finding at least 1 dead fish in my tank every week.

The only fish in the tank are about 8 Neon Tetras, 9 Guppies, 2 Cat Fish. The Tetra's were the ones dieing the most but have recently come good and now the guppies are dieing. The cat fish have been in there from the very start and seem fine, always have.

What else could be causing the fish to die? Have I missed anything that I should be testing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

what are your stats for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate... just saying they're good doesn;t give us much to go on, give us the actual numbers!!

how long has the tank been running?

that's only about a 10g tank, so you can have about 10 1" fish in it, you've got nearly 20 which is probably gonna be at the heart of your problem.

my first guess is because you have way too many fish your filter isn't coping and the water quality has now started slipping and therefore the fish are dying.

 

[N30n T3tr4]

Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 5~ ppm
Ph = 8~

Only 10x 1" fish? Bugger! If that is the case, then I would definitely have to many. I was under the impression 20 odd small fish would be rather comfy in that tank.

The tank has been running for just over 2 months.

If it is a case of too many fish, would a bigger filter cope better? I currently have an AquaOne 380 tank with all the standard accessories including filter.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 5~ ppm
Ph = 8~

Only 10x 1" fish? Bugger! If that is the case, then I would definitely have to many. I was under the impression 20 odd small fish would be rather comfy in that tank.

The tank has been running for just over 2 months.

If it is a case of too many fish, would a bigger filter cope better? I currently have an AquaOne 380 tank with all the standard accessories including filter.

a bigger filter will help to an extent but it still won't allow you to have that many fish in there.

i'm afraid your going to have to re-home a significant number of your fish even if you do upgrade the filter.

also you should bear in mind that both neons and guppies are very weak because they've been inbred loads to get the colour strains you see today, so weak fish with not enough room and a filter not good enough to cope with they're waste... well it'sa recepie for disaster really.

 

[N30n T3tr4]

That's not very good news but thanks a lot for your help.

Greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no problem

 

[N30n T3tr4]

I forgot, but that air stone I mentioned above, should it be safe to run 24/7? It just sits on the right hand side of the tank creating lots of bubbles.

 

[bharathbala2003]

even i'd like to know that.. i also like when i see those bubbles.. also another doubt.. can mollys be put with gold? some ppl told me they can but some say no..

 

[N30n T3tr4]

even i'd like to know that.. i also like when i see those bubbles.. also another doubt..

I went and seen someone at a fish shop where all they specialise in is pretty much gold and tropical fish. The lady I spoke to seemed pretty knowledgeable and informed me that so long as the bubbles aren't throwing the fish around or creating a current that is too strong for them to swim against, then leaving the bubbles going 24/7 wont do anything. She also mentioned that it helps aerate the water, so the longer I could leave it running the more beneficial it is going to be.