Fish Deaths!!

[Sasha]

Last week, I lost 3 fish: 2 platies and one Balloon molly. They were acting sluggish and looked a bit thin. I treated the tank with Melafix, then with Jungle Parasite Clear. Today, I found another platy dead! I haven't added any new fish into the tank since mid July. I did a 25% water change today and added some more Melafix into the tank. Can anyone help me solve this problem?

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
pH - 7.0
Nitrate - 5.0 (it's always been like that ever since I started!)
Temperature - 78 degree F.

 

[Moving Shadow]

HMMMM...

Well the obvious thing is the nitrates. At high levels they can still kill.

Your fish could have an internal parasite which you will need to get treatment for.

If not welcome to the world of random fish deaths. Had a whole load myself. No cause, some lived some didn't. It happens, it sucks and there is precisely sod all you can do about it.

Hope you can sort this

 

[Sasha]

The Nitrates have been like that even since I established the tank. Every week I do 25% water changes, but the Nitrates still remain at that level. I hadn't had any problems in the past with this tank, so I don't think the problem is with the water. I'm just very concerned about my other fish!

 

[TorPeteO]

It's not the nitrates, 5.0 PPM is a very good amount of nitrates to have. I guess it could be an internal parasite, but I don't know much about them, sorry.

Make sure you're doing tests exactly as the directions indicate (sorry if I sound condescending there, I'm just checking) and if the numbers are still the same, it must be a more difficult problem.

Just a question, how old is the tank? It could be that, if it's really old, the fish are just dying of old age.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

[Sasha]

The tank was set up in February. I estimated that the fish that died were about a year old because they were still small . . only an inch long or so.

 

[Moving Shadow]

Hmmmm...

Really think this is a case of random fish death. I know it sounds flippant, but they really do happen amongst tropical fish, without any good reason.

How long has it been since your last death?

 

[Sasha]

Well, on August 8th I lost 1 Balloon molly and 2 platies all within an hour. I lost another platy on August 13th. Now, one of my Marble mollies looks thin so I separated her and I'm treating her with Parasite Clear.

 

[Lorelei]

I just did a search on fish wasting deaths and came up with this :

http/www.aquavet.i12.com/Fish.htm

and this:

http/www.koivet.com/html/glossary/glossa...tegory=Symptoms