Fish dying.

[Sasha]

During the past week, I have lost 3 fish. I have no idea why the died! One of them had dropsy, so I treated him in a hospital tank and in a couple of days he recover completely. A few days later, he died for no appearnt reason. A couple of other fish died and they showed no sign of illness.

Now, two other fish are layong on the bottom. One is a swordtail and the otehr is a black molly. They don't have any wounds or parasites on their body and I don't wantb to lose them. Any advice?

Ammonia is at 0
Nirite is 0
pH is 7

 

[Sasha]

Sadly, my pineapple swordtail just died. He wasn't acting normally today and was just on the bottom. I noticed a few red streaks near his mouth which I think was blood. I miss him so much! Any advice? This is the second fish I lost today and another molly is acting strange.

 

[Sasha]

I don't know what to do because I lost so many fish this week. I tested the water and everything seems to be where it should be. Any more suggestions?

 

[Olive]

I don't know what to do because I lost so many fish this week. I tested the water and everything seems to be where it should be. Any more suggestions?

Wow I am sorry to hear that happened to you. Do you have any fish left? How long has your tank been set up?

 

[Sasha]

I cann't believe it! I just lost another black molly. I have 12 fish remaining and a tiny African Frog. The tank has been set uo for over a year, so the only other guess is that there's a internal disease that's killing my fish.

 

[fish lady]

THis sounds very similar to the problems I have been having recently (hope you dont live in the same area - hants, UK - or that would mean there defnately is something in the water!). I have tried alsorts - a complete water cahnge over a few days, Protozin, a rest, then BSB, another rest (still losing fish), now we're trying aquarium salts and INterpet no9 (internal parasites).

Will let you know if they get any better.

Good Luck with your fish!

PS - Give the water a complete change, but over a couple of days - 3 days changing 50% (with good water - check it FIRST) should clear it out. Dont do it all at once that cant be good?!

 

[AquaNut]

Hi Sasha

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear about what's happening in your tank! I was shocked when I got to the part where you said it's been up for over a year; I was expecting to read that it was a new tank. Is there any way that some sort of contaminant could have gotten into the tank? I'm thinking of things like lotion on your hands (or somebody else's), perfume, any sort of aerosol spray in the room, soap residue, chlorine or chloramine, or any new rocks/wood/decorations etc. Is everybody eating? How often do you do water changes? Do you know what your nitrates are? Are you positive the first fish that died had dropsy? Is it possible the others have also had it, but it never progressed to the last stages of pineconed scales?

I would definitely start with some large scale water changes, as previously suggested.

 

[Sasha]

Nothing unusual have gotton into the tank. I clean the glass only with water, no cleaning spray or anything.

The decorations have been in the tank since it has been set up, but if I put anything in (like rocks) I always boil them and wash them a day before they go in. I haven't added anything new into the tank recently.

Every fish is eating normally and I feed them only three times a week so they don't get overfed. I do a 20% water change every week. I add salt and something to get rid of the chemicals in tap water. I haven't tested the Nitrates yet, but I'll do them soon. The black fish was bloated and his scales weren't as smooth as they should have been. I think it was dropsy, but the other fish looked healthy and they suddenly began acting strange before they died.

I'll to a few large water changes and see if that helps. I added two fish in last week, so is it possible that there could have been a disease that they transmitted in the tank although they looked and acted healthy?