Fish Dying

[Sesshis_grl]

Having massive fish death. At first I thought it was bullying/aggression and got rid of the trouble makers. Then it seems it might have been an ammonia spike due to adding too many fish? That's my only guess as this tank has been up and running about 2 years and is established. But even if this was the cause I've been doing 50% water changes due to various things and did a 100% after doing API test and finding the ammonia spike. But even after this I've had 2 fish deaths. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with them either, no sign of illness. They just start to swim on their side and float, and then die. I'm starting to wonder if its my terra cotta pot I stuck in there a week ago. I think after the deaths started after I put it in..I washed it well and rinsed it well before sticking it in. I didn't seal it with anything tho...are you supposed to do that??

I'm just so confused, I don't know why they are dying. And these are my fish that I've had for a year now..in addition to some of the new ones

 

[Spurry]

i think your going to have to give some more details in to the "I've been doing 50% water changes due to various things" once you have expanded on various things
list the fish you keep and full waterstats

 

[onidrase]

I've had a terra cotta pot in my 10 gallon tank since I set it up, and nothing has died on me yet.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

I've had a terra cotta pot in my 10 gallon tank since I set it up, and nothing has died on me yet.

Same of have some in with discis are they are real picky, there maybe something on the pot if you got it from a garden. Did you scrub it and wash it 1sr?

 

[OldMan47]

You are right to always inspect the most recent change that you have made when anything goes wrong. It is the first thing in any troubleshooting we do over many different subjects, even fish keeping. I have never seen terra cotta affect a tank but anything new is always suspect. Maybe there was something about your terra cotta that was not standard, such as insecticides if the pot was made for gardening.

 

[Scopee]

If your tank is 2 years already... have you kept those fish for that long? If so, they might have died of mass aging. The Ammonia spike might have accelerated their death.

I have heard some people said you need to prepare to restock every two years. Mine is pure guessing though.

 

[OldMan47]

Sorry Scopee but I am going to disagree with your diagnosis. Fish often live far more than 2 years in my tanks. A typical betta goes over 5 years and my goodeids go well over 3 years. The egg layers like my rainbow cichlids, Herotilapia multispinosa, go well over 4 years.
I really wish I could give you more insight into your losses. Do you have the results of all of your tests that you could post for us?

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with OM47 - Are your API kits in good shape and not too old and if so it would be good to give the members some specific numbers for your ammonia, nitrite(NO2) and nitrate(NO3) test results. If water changes have not been frequent for a long period but then a gravel clean water change session comes along, a lot of gravel based debris can be kicked up that can create a really high ammonia spike in some cases. It depends on the individual tank of course.

Apologies if you have other threads and the others are familiar with them but I guess we are also assuming the water changes are being done with good technique. Rough but good temperature matching, especially with very large water changes. A good conditioner to handle the chlorine/chloramines. With delicate fish it can help to let the incoming water mix slowly in of course.

~~waterdrop~~