Fish Are Dying In 2's And 3's

XTiger1X

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Hi,

I'm new to this forum so if I have posted this in the wrong place I apologise.

I have a problem with my tropical fish tank. I am having fish die in 2's and 3's for no obvious reason. I have tested the water and nitrites, amonia and PH is all fine, no white spot or anything else obvious. Water temp is maintaining at 28c.

Any ideas???

Many thanks
XTiger1X
 
40 litre tank, stocking platty's, Guppy's, 2x bottom feeders, swordtails, mixed tetra's, neon's

(Dead = 1x male swordtail, number of platty's and guppy's plus one shark!)

Maintenance = 10% water change every 2-3 weeks
 
How long has the tank been running and was it cycled at all? It sounds massivley overstocked, and your water changes aren't enough, IMO.

I'd do a series of large water changes, using warm, dechlorinated water and see if theings perk up. And think about either re-homing some fish or getting a larger tank!
 
Tank is about 7 months old. Not sure if it has been cycled. Should I be doing complete water changes? When I bought the tank off the fish shop, they said only 10% every 2 weeks.
What do you class as large water change, 50%???

Thanks for all your help.
 
After 7 months it ought to be cycled ('cycling' just means growing a colony of bacteria in your filter that process the fish wastes from ammoina, through nitrite into nitrate). Unless you're washing the filter out in tap water, or changing all the sponges at the same time, you sohuld have a good colony by now; especially if your water is testing as zero for ammonia and nitrites.

You don't need to do complete water changes, as in taking all the fish out and stripping the tank down completely, but I'd certainly be doing more than 10% a fortnight; I do 50% weekly on my tanks.

There are all sorts of substances that we can't/don't test for that could be building up in your water. Do you know what your nitrates are?

What are your 'bottom feeders' by the way? They may well be a species that will outgrow your tank, and there are no species of 'shark' that are suitable for a 40l!

28°C is quite high; I don't think it'll be causing the deaths, but it would be better turned down to around 24 or 25°C.
 
After 7 months it ought to be cycled ('cycling' just means growing a colony of bacteria in your filter that process the fish wastes from ammoina, through nitrite into nitrate). Unless you're washing the filter out in tap water, or changing all the sponges at the same time, you sohuld have a good colony by now; especially if your water is testing as zero for ammonia and nitrites.

You don't need to do complete water changes, as in taking all the fish out and stripping the tank down completely, but I'd certainly be doing more than 10% a fortnight; I do 50% weekly on my tanks.

There are all sorts of substances that we can't/don't test for that could be building up in your water. Do you know what your nitrates are?

What are your 'bottom feeders' by the way? They may well be a species that will outgrow your tank, and there are no species of 'shark' that are suitable for a 40l!

28°C is quite high; I don't think it'll be causing the deaths, but it would be better turned down to around 24 or 25°C.
I don't clean anything in tap water, and I only clean a peice of the filter one at a time at each water change. No idea what my nitrates are. I have one orange bottom feeder and one leapard. The shop I got the tank from has been advising me on what to put into my tank and how to clean it so think I might have misunderstood them.
I'll turn the temp down too which I hope will help.
How often do you feed your fish and how much?
 
It's more likely that your shop isn't giving you terribly good advice in the first place; I'm afraid we see it all the time :(

Do some large water chnages; it's always the best thing to do if you've been losing fish.

Any chance you could put up some pics of your bottom feeders so we can identify them for you?
 
Here are an image of my tank and the orange feeder, the other one is hiding at the mo.

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Photo%20May%2013%2C%2021%2012%2044.jpg
 
Those images aren't working mate!
 
Orange bottom feeder could be Chinese algae eater?. They can grow to six inches and as they mature,,they are likely to become aggressive(nippy) with smaller fishes.
Oddly,they aren't from China and are by most account's rather poor algae eaters.
This fish may be causing considerable stress to other fishes especially at night when they are most active and smaller fishes are unaware,Resting.
They also have been reported to kill smaller fishes and most folks avoid them for this reason.(cute when theyr'e little)
 
Hope this works if not the link is:

https://picasaweb.google.com/XTiger1X/Fish#5606473887316754306
https://picasaweb.google.com/XTiger1X/Fish#5606473875720025602
 
Yes, I'm afraid that is an albino Chinese algae eater Gyrinocheilus aymonieri.

They can grow up to 11 inches long, become more territorial, stop eating algae and can get a taste for eating holes in the sides of other fish as they get older. Take it back to the shop and complain!
 
The shop has said I can take it back but wont let me have a refund or another fish in replacement. Great customer service!!!
Is my tank over crouded? All the fish were out in that pic!
 
Yes, I think it is; a useful guideline (not a rule) for stocking is one inch of adult fish per gallon, or 1 cm of fish per 2 litres if you think in metric.

So, add up the full grown (not the size they are now) sizes of all your fish; you should have between 8 and 10 inches (or 20 cms).

If you have more than that, you're overstocked and should look, in the short term, at doing more water changes, and long term, getting a larger tank or re-homing some.
 

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