Fish Keep Dying

[KendaMc]

I've had 6 zebra danios and one common pleco die in the last month and a half.

I have a 29 gallon tank that has been set up for 3 months. the cycling finished over a month ago, and since then my ammonia and nitrite have been 0 ppm, my nitrates have gotten up to about 30 ppm before water changes, and my pH has always been 8.3 (apparently normal for Southwest Michigan where I am.) The temperature in the tank has been between 78 and 80 consistantly. I've been doing water changes of about 4 gallons a week since the tank has been cycled. I did more during the cycling to keep levels of ammonia and nitrite from getting too high. I use API freshwater master test kit, and took a sample of water in to the store I've gotten everything so far for a test, and their numbers match what I've been getting. The only chemicals I add to my tank is some liquid fertilizer for the live plants I have in my tank, which I add less of than it recommends, having only a few plants.

I used two zebra danios to help cycle the tank, so I wasn't really surprised when they died, but the four zebras I added after the cycle was established have also died, as did my common pleco that I got a few weeks after the cycle was stable. The male betta and the 2 swordtails (one male, one female) I have seem to be doing fine.

About half of the danios seemed to get a curved back the day or two before they died, though not all of them did. The last one to die looked just fine the night before, I check in the morning and he's dead. The pleco also gave no warning before dying.

Nothing has changed in about a month, since I got the pleco and the betta.

I'm worried about my betta and swords dying. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[TCfishies]

I'm no expert, but if your tank really is cycled, perhaps your ph is just too high for the fish you have chosen?

maybe try cichilds? Something that likes high ph?

good luck

TC

 

[KendaMc]

according to the fish store, that pH isn't that big of a deal, it is normal around here and all of their tanks are that high too. of course, i did check and the review of that store on this forum isn't very good, so i don't know. any one else have any thoughts on the matter? i really don't want my swords or betta to die if there is anything i can do to protect them.

 

[thisguyek]

I always thought (to a certain extent) that as long as you have a STEADY Ph, most fish will adapt. certainly most pet stores don't adjust Ph for each of their display tanks...

I actually had the same ordeal happen to me when i set up my 55. I got my stock up to around 16 and lost every.single.one.... I heard that zebra danios were very hardy and there were a lot of people who use them to cycle in their tanks with little to no problems... My Ph is about 8.2... so i guess i really dont have a good explanation!

as far as the pleco... not sure what to tell you there either. I've got a common pleco myself and its still going strong! it survived my first years where i didnt know ANYTHING about fishkeeping. Its gone through severely overstocked tanks to moving homes to upgraded tanks!

 

[This Old Spouse]

Yeah, the pleco dying is really a puzzler. I've had plecos survive a myriad of disasters when nothing else did, like my daughter "helping" by feeding an entire box of Cream of Wheat. You can't even imagine the ungodly mess that was!

I'm having kind of the same problem in the wilderness of Minnesota, but our water here is ultra low pH. And I've been having corydoras dying or getting sick for no apparent reason, save the LFS where I bought them.

How is your tank set up? Do you have any driftwood in the tank? That will naturally bring down the pH.

 

[This Old Spouse]

And then there's this marvelous video 6 Ways

 

[KendaMc]

so, now my male betta died. he looked ok, if a little lethargic, yesterday, and i check this morning and he is dead. my levels are still ok, so i have no idea what to do now other than start all over. i'm now really worried about my swordtails. any advice would be very welcome.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Please post a photo of your tank.

Bettas usually have a problem in a larger tank, from what I've read here. I still can't imagine what killed the pleco, unless he didn't have enough to eat. And btw, please don't buy another common pleco. They can reach a length of a foot or more and have been known to actually break the glass of a 55g, so they're just a bad idea.

I think it would be a good idea to bring down the pH of your tank, using one of the 6 methods shown in my link in my post above.

What do you feed your fish, and how often and how much? What kind of substrate is in the tank? Tell us everything, and maybe we can help.

 

[KendaMc]

unfortunately, i can't post a photo at this time, i don't have a camera right now.

I have had bettas in large tanks before and as long at it isn't a big, empty tank they've been fine. and as for the pleco (which i don't actually know for sure is he was a common pleco or not) getting big, i am aware of this and was planning on having a bigger tank when he got bigger. he was only 2 and a half inches and would have taken a few years to outgrow this tank.

as for lowering the pH, i asked at the store i got all of the fish and was told that their pH is just as high and that consistency was more important. they said it should not be a problem. (and i can't open you video here at work, our firewall blocks it. i'll try at home tonight).

i feed aqueon tropical flakes, a small amount every other day. gravel substrate, a few plants, a few rocks (slate and quartz types, all nonreactive)

growing up my mom and i had a tank, don't remember for sure how big, but we did water changes rarely, never tested the water, always had too many fish in it (green swordtails just kept having babies) and never had this kind of problems.

 

[KendaMc]

just to keep anyone who is interested posted, i have decided to start my tank pretty much over a week from now when i get back from visiting my grandparents. i'm going to get water from somewhere else, i'm going to rinse everything i have out, especially my substrate, and i'm going to get some driftwood or something along those lines to bring my pH down a little. if my swords are still alive at that point, great. if not (and for any new ones anyway), i'm going to get fish from a different store. when 10 out of 12 fish die within a few months, and in two different tanks with different water sources, things don't look too good for that store. if anyone has any suggestions on what other changes i need to make, please let me know.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'm so sorry this is happening. I know how frustrating it can be to have these kinds of problems and not have any answers. I think you're on the right track, though, to start going to a different LFS. I had a similar experience with our LFS and finally just gave up going there.

One thing I'd suggest is putting down a sand substrate. I'm sure you've seen this a million times on the forum, and I know you don't have cories, but it's a much more hygienic substrate than gravel. Everything just sits on top of it, rather than falling through the gravel, and you can just vac the surface to get rid of the waste.

Keep us posted, and good luck.

 

[nehpets81]

i'm going to get fish from a different store. when 10 out of 12 fish die within a few months, and in two different tanks with different water sources, things don't look too good for that store.

I think you're on the right track, though, to start going to a different LFS. I had a similar experience with our LFS and finally just gave up going there.

For what it's worth, I think this is definitely a good idea. Even in a worse case scenario where the new fish start dying too, you will have ruled out that variable.

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1

 

[KendaMc]

One thing I'd suggest is putting down a sand substrate. I'm sure you've seen this a million times on the forum, and I know you don't have cories, but it's a much more hygienic substrate than gravel. Everything just sits on top of it, rather than falling through the gravel, and you can just vac the surface to get rid of the waste.

how will my plants handle sand? i think i have Jungle Val, java Ferns, and ludwigia. are they going to be bothered by sand?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Plants love sand!