Dropping Like Flys

[dazsmith69]

ive had my tank running for well over 6 months now, water stats are perfect, medium planted tank, and recently alot of my guppies, mollies and platies have died, im not too sure why, no visible illnesses, parasites etc all of a sudden just find one dead after being very healthy the previous day, and have introiduced 2 dwarf rams, and one died within 24 hours of adding it

could it just be the age of the fish as they dont last long and my dwarf ram didnt aclimatise very well and im unlucky

or could it be something else???

thanks Darren

 

[Athena]

When did you last do a water change? When was the last water test done and was it done with the paper strips or with a liquid test kit?


Athena

 

[Amunet]

When did the fish start to die after you added in the new ones?
Sounds like one of the new fish might've brought something with it.

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Can you post your water stats please.
How long are you climatising the fish for.
Any of the guppys look thin or bloated,.
What did it look like when they went to the toilet.
Any excess slime on the fish.

 

[dazsmith69]

thanks for the replies,

250l tank, water change done a week ago before new fish were added, few fish died before i added the rams, so i doubt they brought anything in with them

temp 26
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate below 5
ph 7 (although was a little lower before i performed the water change a week ago)


(liquid kit as theyre more accurate)


8 otos
2 flying foxes
8 albino cories
4 guppies
8 platies
3 pearl gouramis

number of plants including amazon sword and vals

the dwarf rams looked as if they'd lost all their colour when i found them dead, one last night one on monday night, they were fine though, feeding fine etc then just dead, very weird. no excess slime, fins were in tact. They seemed to poo fine, just normal fish poo, and the guppies looked very normal aswell, if anything was to go i would have thought the otos, but theyre thriving.

i climitise the fish for a good 20mins in the bag then add little bits of tank water for a further 30mins then realease them


thanks Darren

 

[Athena]

Hi Darren

Sounds like your Rams were just stressed out - they are known to be quite delicate fish very sensitive to changes in water conditions and whenever putting new dwarf rams into a tank there is always this possibility that they might not survive - it also depends on where these Rams came from (i.e. locally bred or imported) as this has a bearing on how genetically strong they are. The imported Rams tend not to fare so well or last as long.

Can you remember at all if the Rams were clamping their fins tight? Did you notice if they went a slightly darker colour when you put them in the tank? Reason I ask that is that colouration on Rams is a very early indicator that something is not right with them. When they are happy their colours are bright, the blue irridescent dots really shine under the light and their fins will be extended in a normal fashion - but when they are stressed or sick they take on a duller appearance, the blue is very vague or non-existent, sometimes their bodies look a charcoal greyish-black - the darker colour they go the more sick/stressed they are - and they clamp their fins close to their body. Of course, once they die then they lose most colouration, as you described.

Can't explain the sudden fish deaths you described in your tank as your water appears ok. Have you checked your heater thermostat to make sure there isn't any slight crack which may be causing stray voltage to leak into the tank when it switches on? Can't think what could be causing the fish to die if there is no apparent signs of illnesses or fighting going on.

What about when you do a water change - do you bring the freshly treated water to the same temp as the tank before adding it or are you adding completely cold water to your tank? Extremes of temperature can cause sudden death in fish, especially the sensitive ones.

Sorry I've not been much help really - but I hope you don't lose any more fish and if you decide to buy more Rams, let them have a bit longer than 20 mins of floating time before introducing them into the tank (with the tank lights off) and keep the tank lights off for the rest of that day.

Best wishes - Athena

 

[dazsmith69]

Hi Darren

Sounds like your Rams were just stressed out - they are known to be quite delicate fish very sensitive to changes in water conditions and whenever putting new dwarf rams into a tank there is always this possibility that they might not survive - it also depends on where these Rams came from (i.e. locally bred or imported) as this has a bearing on how genetically strong they are. The imported Rams tend not to fare so well or last as long.

Can you remember at all if the Rams were clamping their fins tight? Did you notice if they went a slightly darker colour when you put them in the tank? Reason I ask that is that colouration on Rams is a very early indicator that something is not right with them. When they are happy their colours are bright, the blue irridescent dots really shine under the light and their fins will be extended in a normal fashion - but when they are stressed or sick they take on a duller appearance, the blue is very vague or non-existent, sometimes their bodies look a charcoal greyish-black - the darker colour they go the more sick/stressed they are - and they clamp their fins close to their body. Of course, once they die then they lose most colouration, as you described.

Can't explain the sudden fish deaths you described in your tank as your water appears ok. Have you checked your heater thermostat to make sure there isn't any slight crack which may be causing stray voltage to leak into the tank when it switches on? Can't think what could be causing the fish to die if there is no apparent signs of illnesses or fighting going on.

What about when you do a water change - do you bring the freshly treated water to the same temp as the tank before adding it or are you adding completely cold water to your tank? Extremes of temperature can cause sudden death in fish, especially the sensitive ones.

Sorry I've not been much help really - but I hope you don't lose any more fish and if you decide to buy more Rams, let them have a bit longer than 20 mins of floating time before introducing them into the tank (with the tank lights off) and keep the tank lights off for the rest of that day.

Best wishes - Athena

hey,

thanks very much for your reply,

the heaters built in with the tank (Rena Aqualife good quality tank aswell) and dont think that could be causing an issue.

I took a pic of the ram, and his colours were amazing on the night that i bought him and his mate, ill post the pic up and you can see how colourfulo he is.

i think i can put it down to stress, they were sold as 'large rams' bigger than your usual ones, so maybe they were imported and didnt fair so well.

as for the other fish dying, could have been due to the slight drop in pH levels? platies and guppies require 7 or slightly higher? so could be down to that,

ill update this when i drop in at the LFS today to get my refund/other fish

thanks again Darren

 

[saz326]

Nitrate is very low. Think you said 5!

Mine is nearly always hovering around the 20 mark.

I wonder if you are doing too many water changes and stressing your fishies.

How often do you do a water change, do you let the water warm up from tap temperature, and do you de-chlorinate?

 

[dazsmith69]

Nitrate is very low. Think you said 5!

Mine is nearly always hovering around the 20 mark.

I wonder if you are doing too many water changes and stressing your fishies.

How often do you do a water change, do you let the water warm up from tap temperature, and do you de-chlorinate?

yeah always dechlorinate, i match the temp from the tap to the tank water before i put it in and only do water changes every 2 to 3 weeks, got an external XP3 and a low fish volume so ammonia is never a problem

yeah i was really surprised at how perfect my water is in comparison to the amount of fish ive lost! i thought the ammonia may have crept up with the occasional dead fish in but it hasnt. strange