Fish Are Dying

[Berkfishin]

Here's what I know.

We have a 10 gallon tank with heater and filter. It been running for about 2 months.

Here are the fish in the tank.
2 Ghost Shrimp
1 Albino Cat Fish
1 Molly
1 Platy (now dead)
1 Glofish
1 Clown Loach (now dead)

I understand the clown loach would have been too big for the tank down the road, however the lady at the fish store said it would be fine when my son bought it.

This morning he woke up and the clown loach and the sunburst platy were dead in the tank. So right away I did a 40% water change and vacumed the gravel. I do this on a weekly basis. Once I got the new water added I noticed that the water is flowing over the top of the filter and therefore not being filtered. i'm not sure how long it has been doing this, but my guess is not more than a week.

Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Hardness = very high (We have very hard water and it has been that way since we got the tank)
PH = 7.5

I don't have an ammonia test. I ran out.

I am going to pick up new filters on my way home from work today. Is this what killed them, and if not what else should i check/ do?

My son is 5 and tends to over feed the fish. I promised to replace the platy when I come home from work today, but said no to the clown loach. I said we could get a snail instead to add to the tank.

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,

 

[Berkfishin]

My wife just called and said there are white spots on one of the fishes tails.

 

[-FighterFishh]

My guess is it's probably just the overfeeding and the filter not working that has added up to a high ammonia reading, which then left them stressed and suseptible to other diseases.
That fish with white spots may have ich? I couldn't really say, I'm no expert on it. You'll have to wait for some more replies to just make sure, but for now just keep doing the water changes. Since you're getting a new filter it'll effectively be a fish in cycle. Info on this can be found here but I think someone has a better, more informed link on fish-in cycles, but I'm afraid I don't know who
I hope that helps and your son's fish pull through!

 

[anon02]

I would take the media out of the filter and give it a swish around in old tank water, clean the intake and return pipes and strainers then set it back up to see if that makes it work correctly, if possible you want to avoid getting rid of the mature media as this will hold the bacteria that you are trying to encourage. If all this fails to get the filter up and running then you may have to replace either the media or if it`s knackered, the whole filter, if you do replace either the media or the filter you willneed to read up on "fish in cycling" which can be found in the beginners resource centre of this forum

As for the white spots, if it is whitespot any of the malachite/formalin medications should sort it out in short order. If you decide to use a medication be sure to use a full course, even if the spots on the fish disappear

 

[Berkfishin]

It would be great if people could give me some more insight.

thanks

 

[Lolly123]

The problem with small tanks is that they pollute extremely quickly, and if your filter was not working then it make things a whole lot worse.

Did you cycle your tank properly....let the bacterial colony grow before you put fish in or did you cycle fish in?

With such a small tank if the ammonia cannot be processed and broken down then it will subsequently cause damage to your fish..and death. Positive readings for ammonia in any tank can cause harm, no matter the size, but small tanks get out of control very quickly and easily. If you have not read up on cycling then i'd advise to do so, its really the first stop for someone who is new to the hobby, it will give you an idea of how the nitrogen cycle works.

Please, do not add anything to the tank until you are able to sort your problem out first, if you do, you will more than likely make it worse.
Whatever you do, dont buy anymore clown loaches, they need a big tank and grow very big, and can easily suffer from stunted growth which causes problems in itself. They also need to be kept in groups and are quite skittish so stressing them out isnt hard.

As much as we can all help you on here, its really important that you also research yourself, a 10 gallon tank is very limiting in terms of what fish you can keep and how many. Before you add you are going to need to know how big they grow and if they are suitable.

When you get your kits and test if you are reading positives then you need to do water changes ensuring that the water is dechlorinated and at a similar temp. And also check your filter, ensure that its working properly.