Emergency! Mass Fish Die Off!

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pkppv

Fish Crazy
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Oct 16, 2011
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Location
Voluntown, Connecticut (U.S.)
To start, i have a 40gal, got it from a pet store going out of business a few weeks back, and transfered my fish to it slowly, the right way, and after it had cycled. (The media was already mature as it was from an old filter of mine and an old filter of the shops so it cycled quick). Ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate can not possibly be the issue as ammonia is 0ppm nitrite is 0ppm and nitrate is just 10 ppm.

The past couple of days i have seen 8 fish die and i have no idea why!!!!! At first i thought it was my bully fish because i have one sivertip tetra that chases and stresses other tetras, but today i saw my angel and my panda cory dead!! along with yet another tetra!!!! This has to be a disease or something! what do i do?!?!? helppppp!!!!

Also, before i had 2 cories die, i noticed both had some pretty beat up looking fins, maybe due to disease, maybe due to this bully tetra, but i feel its unlikely as nothing ever really messes with cories...

NEVER had this sort of problem in my 15gal, even though it was usually overstocked


Tank size: 40 US gal
pH:7
ammonia:0ppm
nitrite:0ppm
nitrate:10ppm
kH:?
gH:?
tank temp:78.5F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): A few tetras have cuts, some spot specific color issues, one silvertip tetra fish has been very aggressive lately

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 40 percent weekly

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: No additives, unless activated carbon in my 3 filters counts....aka i keep my water awfully clean

Tank inhabitants: 5 silvertip tetras, 3 bloodfin tetras, 5 serpae tetras, 1 panda cory (RIP 2 pandas), 1 rainbow shark, 1 silvertip catshark, 2 yoyo loaches, RIP 3 neon tetras, RIP 3 angelfish

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): My tank is relatively new (almost a month old) but i swear its well cycled as it has many sources of mature media. yoyo loaches and angels were recent additions

Exposure to chemicals: Nope
 
Its possible that you added all your fishes too quickly and caused an ammonia spike since the beneficial bacteria in the filtration which was in a cycled tank in the store handled a different waste load. Therefor its use to a set amount of waste and your fishes might of been more than it could handle. Reason you stock only a few fish at a time. You avoid an ammonia spike and cause the bacteria to establish to that stocking level slowly. Just because a tank is cycled that does not mean you can heavily stock it in just a matter of a day. Your stocking list is such a high amount of fish to transfer in such a short amount of time. I would have transferred a few fish at a time and allowed the bacteria to slowly build up to higher levels.
 
Its possible that you added all your fishes too quickly and caused an ammonia spike since the beneficial bacteria in the filtration which was in a cycled tank in the store handled a different waste load. Therefor its use to a set amount of waste and your fishes might of been more than it could handle. Reason you stock only a few fish at a time. You avoid an ammonia spike and cause the bacteria to establish to that stocking level slowly. Just because a tank is cycled that does not mean you can heavily stock it in just a matter of a day.


So transfering my fish was the issue? Its possible, but that was weeks ago, and i monitor ammonia very closely and iv seen no spikes.

But if that is the case, i would be very glad, as it is much less devastating that a disease...and much more understandable

Also, when i transfered my fish load from old tank to new, i also tranfered the filter from the old tank to the new, in addition to another larger filter, so wouldnt my old filter be very used to this load?
 
How did you add the extra 25 gallons of water? Was it tap water? Dechlorinated?
 
How old is that Rainbow Shark? They have a tendency to get very territorial as they get older, and you mentioned some of the tetras had bodily damage.
 
How old is that Rainbow Shark? They have a tendency to get very territorial as they get older, and you mentioned some of the tetras had bodily damage.

Missed that. I'm glad we have the_lock_man here, otherwise I'd never spot anything.

Agreed, they can get nasty, by all appearances overnight. I'd have thought that more room may have helped with this, but maybe the change in territory has sparked a reaction.
 
Well i have been keeping a close eye on everybody, and the shark really hasnt been terrotorial other than on rare occasion when another fish enters her cave, and all my fish know better so it is rare. When she is out and about, she is very peacerful, so i really dont think thats the problem

Oh and the rainbow is relatively young, 6 months old?
 
my water check today turned out normal and clean, other than a somewhat high ph that i never really noticed before. By high, i only mean like 7.5-7.6 so i dont think it will have a huge effect, but my fish do prefer lower ph. My tap is just over 7. Why would my tank be higher than my tap? theres no coral or anything? and does it even matter if its 7.55?
 
my water check today turned out normal and clean, other than a somewhat high ph that i never really noticed before. By high, i only mean like 7.5-7.6 so i dont think it will have a huge effect, but my fish do prefer lower ph. My tap is just over 7. Why would my tank be higher than my tap? theres no coral or anything? and does it even matter if its 7.55?

That level of pH is fine.

When you tested the pH of tap, was that straight out of the tap, or did you leave it 24hours before testing.

A lot of water companies add some carbon dioxide to the water, to protect their pipes from corrosion, and IIRC, this is slightly acidic - once it gasses off from the water, the water returns to its "normal" pH.

I think I've got that right, please someone correct me if I've remembered incorrectly.
 

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