Dead Platy & Not So Good Dwarf Gourami!

[Madness13]

Hi guys,

One of my platys died today, so that would have been my 4th platy that I have bought from Pets at Home that died.

2 days ago, I also bought a Male Dwarf Gourami from Pets at Home and he's now laying at the bottom of the tank on his side (perhaps struggling to breathe?).

I have a 125 litre tank that has an already cycled filter in it alongside a Fluval U3. I had 1 platy (until it died today), 4 Cardinal Tetras and 1 Pakistani loach (about 2.5 inches). The rest of the fish are completely fine.

Readings today showed

7.6 pH
0 ammonia
0.50 ppm Nitrite
10 ppm Nitrate

I done a 50% water change and added some API ammo-lock (which apparently also neutralises nitrites).

The Gourami is still laying on his side at the bottom.

What should I do? I may take him back to Pets at Home and demand a refund as it's only been 2 days.

 

[fm1978]

You shouldn't really be getting a Nitrite reading if the filter is already cycled. A cycled filter should give you readings of (ideally) 0ppm NH3/NH4, 0ppm NO2, 0-40ppm NO3.
 
Doesn't sound good for the Gourami, I'm afraid. You could try taking him back, but they may expect a perfect test from your water and you don't currently have that. Did you acclimate him correctly etc? What temperature did he come from and go to? I would have suggested that he may already have been unwell prior to getting him, but, you say you've lost platies as well - that suggests a problem on your tank end.

 

[Madness13]

Hi Fm,
 
Thanks for your reply. The old filter was a Rena 40 so it was pretty small, I did a full fishless cycle on it before in a 17 litre tank, perhaps it's gone into a mini-cycle?
 
I definitely acclimated him correctly. Placed him in the water inside the plastic bag for 20 mins, added some tank water every 5 minutes, netted him and put him in. He was completely fine yesterday, the platy was hiding prior to passing though. The other 2 platys that died were from an older 17 litre tank (I upgraded as soon as I realised my tank was too small for the loach and all the other fish).
 
Surely if there was a disease in the tank then the other fish would be suffering too right? The loach is absolutely fine and crazy as ever, the tetras seem pretty happy. I've just had no luck from Platys, or any fish purchased from Pets at Home to be honest. The loach and tetra's were purchased from another LFS.
 
I think I'll keep an eye on the readings and him and see how he goes. Sad to see them suffer though...

 

[ADW1988]

Hi Fm,
 
Thanks for your reply. The old filter was a Rena 40 so it was pretty small, I did a full fishless cycle on it before in a 17 litre tank, perhaps it's gone into a mini-cycle?
 
I definitely acclimated him correctly. Placed him in the water inside the plastic bag for 20 mins, added some tank water every 5 minutes, netted him and put him in. He was completely fine yesterday, the platy was hiding prior to passing though. The other 2 platys that died were from an older 17 litre tank (I upgraded as soon as I realised my tank was too small for the loach and all the other fish).
 
Surely if there was a disease in the tank then the other fish would be suffering too right? The loach is absolutely fine and crazy as ever, the tetras seem pretty happy. I've just had no luck from Platys, or any fish purchased from Pets at Home to be honest. The loach and tetra's were purchased from another LFS.
 
I think I'll keep an eye on the readings and him and see how he goes. Sad to see them suffer though...

 
When did you upgrade the tank? Is it a new larger tank?
 
I'm wondering whether the Filter you cycled with cannot stand up to the bioload of the new tank? May have been better to cycle as per usual with ammonia source to 3ppm using the media from the 17l tank?
But then maybe you'd have worse readings than that so I could be wrong.
 
hope you get all sorted

 

[Ch4rlie]

Lets get this clear....
 
You HAD a 17 litre tank with these fish, realised tank far too small and needed a bigger tank.
 
You then got a 125 litre tank with a Fluval U3 filter, but am a bit confused by this.....
 

I have a 125 litre tank that has an already cycled filter in it alongside a Fluval U3.

 
First need to ask, when did you get this 125l tank?
Is this already cycled filter from your 17 litre tank (the Rena 40) ?
Sound like you have the two filters side by side in your 125l tank?
 
Are you sure your 125 litre tank was fully cycled?
Did you do a fishless cycle to your 125l tank before transferring all your stock from the 17l tank?
 
Would not bother with the APi product Ammo Lock if you still have the carbon media inside your U3 filter
 
So you say you have a Gourami, 4 Cardinals and a Pakistani Loach
(incidentally your 125l is still too small for your pakistani loach, more commonly known as Yo Yo Loach and needs to be in a group of 6 and a tank length of at least 120cm)