Fish Dying

[Angry_Platy]

In the last week or so I have lost quite a lot of fish....here goes....

2 platy fry, suspected swim bladder. Both were listing a lot. Died w/in 1 day of symptoms appearing. Both died in 30 gal tank.

3 neon tetras, NTD suspects, bent spines, cystic looking bodies, paler than normal. All died in 30 gal tank.

1 male adult platy, had a white haze for a week or so. Was in quar tank with salt. White haze appeared to be getting better. Fish died with no other obvious symptoms. Died in 10 gal quar tank.

1 female adult platy, had gotten thin over a period of a week or so. Was "kinda" out of balance in the water. Shied away from other fish. Euthanased after found lying on side at bottom of tank.

1 blue ram, had been acting normally last time I saw, 8 hours ago. Body appeared normal. Died in 30 gal tank.

Water has been tested each time a fish died. Ammo 0, nitrite 0, nitrate between 5-10ppm. Water changes performed everytime a body removed. Yes, there has been a lot of water changes over the last week.

All other fish ATM look healthy, are eating well, not hiding from other fish and are behaving normally. I wasn't too concerned about the neons. They have always been sickly fish and had bent spines for a few months. The platy fry, well, fry are sensitive at the best of times. My adult male platy stumped me. As too did the female platy and the blue ram.

A week ago a newish male platy nipped the fin of an existing male platy taking a slight chunk out. fish was placed in quar with 2tbsp/10 gal salt. Fin has healed nicely.

Any ideas?

I change 25% of the water on all my tanks weekly. I have not needed to replace filter media in the time this has happened. I have used the same brand dechlorinator since I had fish. HOWEVER, 2 weeks ago I used a different one as I ran out of my old stuff and the stores were closed (new years and christmas and all)...it is a stress coat type thing, not stress coat itself but one of those slime coat protector things (that also dechlors the water). I have the original "normal" dehclor now.

Nothing else has changed with the routine of feeding and the like. I am using the same fish food (flakes). The fish do not get overfed. If anything they get underfed.

The 75gal cichlid tank and the 6gal swordy/betta tank have had no troubles. I think one of my EYs is holding in the 75gal (off topic).

All new fish I buy go into the quarantine tank for a minmum of 3 weeks. Recent new fish were in quarantine for 4 weeks.

Well, I think I have summed it up as concisely as possible. Any questions please ask.

Any ideas will be appreciated.......

 

[The_Gilly]

sounds very strange to me. Maybe they are all un related? I take it all the fish that have died were not old?

Had a similar run of bad luck with our fish about a fortnight ago. One got stuck behind a heater, one escaped a breeding net and got beaten up so bad it was killed and another got white spot from being bullied and then died.

nightmare really.........should have got a dog

 

[Angry_Platy]

Fish that died were at least 12 months old (thats how long I had had them for anyways).....except the platy fry, 4 months old....

I do have a dog....SOOO much easier ATM. Not to mention less frustrating. I am beginning to hate looking at my tanks for fear of what may have died next.

 

[The-Wolf]

Symptoms
The sudden death of many fish over a short period of time with few preceding symptoms. Surviving fish hang around the water surface / stay on the bottom and may lose equilibrium. They are lethargic and don't eat.

Causes & possible remidies
1) Acute poisoning. Water should be tested for core parameters and fish examined for signs of severe parasite or bacterial infection. If possible, post mortem recently dead fish. If these are negative carry out a 75% or more water change on the presumption of some (as yet, unknown) toxin. Send water sample away for toxicology testing.

2) Low dissolved oxygen levels. Measure levels in pond/ filter early in morning when DO levels at at their lowest

3) Peracute bacterial disease. Diagnosis would require post mortem and aseptic bacterial sampling of organs

taken from
http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/clinicalsigns.htm

 

[Ben]

do you know if any cemicals are g4etting in the tank? i.e windex

or are you using the bucket you use for water changes for anything else
?

DD

 

[Angry_Platy]

Windex...don't use. I clean the outside glass rarely weith methylated spirits. This was done last.....at least 2 months ago.

Don't use a bucket for water changes...I have a python, attaches directly to the tap.

Thanks anyway DD.....keep the suggestrions coming....

 

[Ben]

hmmmmm,is there anything (maybe the dog) that scared them and stressed them out? which might have killed them?

DD

 

[Angry_Platy]

OK...I "may" have found the culprit. It comes in the form of a dog toy which we had sitting on top of the tank away from the dog (on the hood)...part of the toy was draping in the HOB filter.

How is this relevant??
Once a month the dog gets flea treated, with liquid stuff we spot on the back of his neck. This toy is taken everywhere by the dog. Chances are some of the flea stuff MAY have gotten on it. Now its in my tank. All fish that died got sick in the 30 gal (where toy was).

I got to thinking about the local water supply....and was going to call them...BUT...the fish in the 6 gal and 75gal are fine. I have loaches in the 75gal. If it were the water supply loaches would go down first yes??

What to do now? Removed toy from tank. Proceed to do LARGE water change with fish in tank. Closely monitor fish for next few days with carbon in filters (normally I don't use carbon).....

Pray amd cross fins.....

 

[ddm18]

One suggestion, based on something someone said recently on another topic (can't be more precise, sorry!) - I think that some dechloinators can produce chloramine, if something (I forget what - sorry!) is present in the water supply (it is present in some and isn't in others). Could it be that the new dechlorinator did this??? Hopefully someone else can actually fill in my pathetic attempt at details!!!

(I did try a search, but either I'm stupid or it is - I've never yet managed to make it work!)

 

[CathyG]

On the subject of flea treatment possibly contaminating the water. This shouldn't be overlooked, since I know that flea spray specifically warns it is harmful to fish and crustaceans (though I guess the warning is on the packaging because a spray is airborne) We use a product called Frontline on our cats (dropped on back of neck) and I could find no warning on the packaging there to be sure. Could the toy have come into contact with the back of the dogs neck? If so, then this may have been the culprit as you suspect.

I would not over rule a bacterial infection though. Keep up daily water changes until you are sure things have stabilised. Good luck!

 

[sylvia]

About the chloramine thing. Some places treat their water with chlorine, others with chloramines. Most de-chlorinators will remove just the chlorine part. Chloramine is ammonia with chlorine so removing just the chlorine would leave the ammonia. In a cycled tank this should not cause problems unless they have only just recently started to use chloramines - in which case there would be a sudden change in water chemistry which might stress the fish. Due to the other tanks being fine though, I doubt this is the cause