Fish Keep Dying

[Josho]

My sister has an aquarium set up, a BiOrb and her fish keep dying. It all started a little while ago. She had a Betta and two Plattys in her tank. Then we went to a different shop and she got two guppies. It turned out that the guppies had finrot as one died and the other had a big chunk of tail missing. Then her Betta kicked the bucket too and then the other guppy died. The plattys lived on. We know it was the guppies as when we went back to the shop a couple of days later to get a filter pad, their tank was infected with a few dead.

We washed everything out and put some more fish in, from the shop we got the first lot from, a dedicated fish shop that has no problems. Two more guppies, a small sword tail guppie I think and a fighting fish. The next week one of the guppies is dead, then the two plattys and then finally the Betta is dead. Since this happened two or three times, we washed everything out with a bleach and water solution, put the two remaining fish in a seperate tank, new filter and a heater, fresh water.

We washed out the Bi-Orb with boiling water a few times, making sure it was clear of bleach. New filter pad, new airstone, new media. Only thing the same is the tank and air pump.

Today one of the guppies has hit the bucket with finrot. Was completely fine from the well maintained shop, and it looks like the Betta might have it too.

WHAT IS GOING ON?

It's like finrot is in the air.

Setup:
Bi-Orb, think it's a 10 US gallon.
Bi-Orb filter system, with a better airpump since the old one broke.
Treated with Stress Coat and Stress Zyme
50w Heater at 27c

Why are they dying? Waters clear, pH is fine, filtered through, fresh air supplied. Makes no sence.

On another note, my other sister's fish died within 4 days of having it. The water suddenly clouded up, it doesn't have a filter, but we were going to do partial water changes each week. Had a cold water plant and a fish. A black moore, bobble eyed fish. That came from the shop that triggered all the other problems off though, so wouldn't put it past that.

Thanks! Josh.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

My sister has an aquarium set up, a BiOrb and her fish keep dying. It all started a little while ago. She had a Betta and two Plattys in her tank. Then we went to a different shop and she got two guppies. It turned out that the guppies had finrot as one died and the other had a big chunk of tail missing. Then her Betta kicked the bucket too and then the other guppy died. The plattys lived on. We know it was the guppies as when we went back to the shop a couple of days later to get a filter pad, their tank was infected with a few dead.

We washed everything out and put some more fish in, from the shop we got the first lot from, a dedicated fish shop that has no problems. Two more guppies, a small sword tail guppie I think and a fighting fish. The next week one of the guppies is dead, then the two plattys and then finally the Betta is dead. Since this happened two or three times, we washed everything out with a bleach and water solution, put the two remaining fish in a seperate tank, new filter and a heater, fresh water.

We washed out the Bi-Orb with boiling water a few times, making sure it was clear of bleach. New filter pad, new airstone, new media. Only thing the same is the tank and air pump.

Today one of the guppies has hit the bucket with finrot. Was completely fine from the well maintained shop, and it looks like the Betta might have it too.

WHAT IS GOING ON?

It's like finrot is in the air.

Setup:
Bi-Orb, think it's a 10 US gallon.
Bi-Orb filter system, with a better airpump since the old one broke.
Treated with Stress Coat and Stress Zyme
50w Heater at 27c

Why are they dying? Waters clear, pH is fine, filtered through, fresh air supplied. Makes no sence.

On another note, my other sister's fish died within 4 days of having it. The water suddenly clouded up, it doesn't have a filter, but we were going to do partial water changes each week. Had a cold water plant and a fish. A black moore, bobble eyed fish. That came from the shop that triggered all the other problems off though, so wouldn't put it past that.

Thanks! Josh.

i dont think your tank has cycled and think this is your problem of your dead fish

what is your:

ph
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate

 

[Josho]

I know the pH was around 7 I'm not sure about the other three to be honest, but there is media in the filter enclosure. How long is best to cycle a tank for?

 

[maidenfan]

josh the media inside the filter enclosure is only carbon and a sponge the bacteria holding media in a biorb is the substrate in the tank as i understand it you have been setting up this tank then adding a number of fish straight away, you need to cycle the tank fiirst before adding fish and in a biorb this must be done slowly and stocking with fish must be a little at first then add a few more later i suggest you go look here http/biorbforum.co.uk/

i hope this helps you

 

[Josho]

josh the media inside the filter enclosure is only carbon and a sponge the bacteria holding media in a biorb is the substrate in the tank as i understand it you have been setting up this tank then adding a number of fish straight away, you need to cycle the tank fiirst before adding fish and in a biorb this must be done slowly and stocking with fish must be a little at first then add a few more later i suggest you go look here [URL="http/biorbforum.co.uk/"]http/biorbforum.co.uk/[/URL]

i hope this helps you

OK thanks, but I have added some nitrate, nitrite and some ammonia media to it.

Still bad?

Thanks.

 

[Corleone]

What kind of media did you add? Zeolite will remove ammonia for a time, but it'll get saturated and the ammonia in the water will start climbing. There's also stuff sold to remove ammonia that either doesn't or only converts it into its less toxic ammonium form. The best thing to remove ammonia and nitrites is the bacteria that take time to grow in the filter media. When the bacteria don't keep up, water changes are plan B. Water changes are also the most feasible way to remove nitrates from fresh water.

You really need a liquid test kit to get readings. With the number of useless, unreliable, or counterproductive products sold for aquarium use, you can't trust that things just work, you've got to monitor them and react accordingly to changes.