Dying Fish

[Moochela]

I recently moved my fish into a bigger aquarium, a Rio 180, about 145 litre tank, put it a Fluval filter and a heater and let it cycle for a couple of weeks, added a few plants and moved the fish in over a couple of days. A week later I added a few new fish and now they have started dying! Since Sunday, I have lost 6 fish! I have had the water tested twice, the only thing is the nitrates are a little higher so I have put in Stress Zyme as recommended by a fish shop. Now some fish have fin rot and fungal cotton like patches. I treated this wil Anti Fungus and Fin Rot medicine. Not sure what to do, should I do a partial water change? Any help would be greatly appreciated, preferably without a lot of technical terms as I am new to this! There are about 20 fish in the tank now. Stephanie

 

[JustFrozen]

I recently moved my fish into a bigger aquarium, a Rio 180, about 145 litre tank, put it a Fluval filter and a heater and let it cycle for a couple of weeks, added a few plants and moved the fish in over a couple of days. A week later I added a few new fish and now they have started dying! Since Sunday, I have lost 6 fish! I have had the water tested twice, the only thing is the nitrates are a little higher so I have put in Stress Zyme as recommended by a fish shop. Now some fish have fin rot and fungal cotton like patches. I treated this wil Anti Fungus and Fin Rot medicine. Not sure what to do, should I do a partial water change? Any help would be greatly appreciated, preferably without a lot of technical terms as I am new to this! There are about 20 fish in the tank now. Stephanie

not sure about the medical probs but if u have high nitrates, then yes do a water change as soon as you can, just make sure to dechlorinate the water first.

when you mention "let it cycle for a few weeks" does that mean you it tested for 0 nitrite and ammonia for a week while you were still adding 5ppm ammonia each day? 3 weeks sounds really fast to me unless maybe u used mature media

also what have you been testing with?

also if you're worried about the medical probs with the fish that are still alive, it would be better to post this in the fish emergency forum, you'll get better help for it there

 

[Gilli]

Was you tank fully cycled? when you transferred the fish over did you transfer the old filter or the filter media tank water etc or did you start it all off with new? You cant add 20 odd fish to a new tank especially if its not cycled or you will have major problems

What are your water stats? High nitrates shouldnt be a problem but if you have a reading of nitrite or ammonia then thats why your fish are dying. If you keep tropical fish you really should have a water testing kit - the liquid kind not the paper strips as they are not accurate.

you are goiung to have to do a lot of water changes - at least 50% a day until you know your water readings are safe or you will loose all your fish. redose your tank with the meds again each time you change the water.