Harlequin Rasboras

[Hammerboy]

I added 6 HRs to my tank on Monday.

The tank is 20gallons, was cycled beforehand , and had 2 platies living in there for 3 days previously.

When i put the HRs in the tank 4 of them scooted off and schooled together while the other 2 just did their own thing . One of them occasionally joined the other 4 but then went off on his own again. Anyway, within 48 hours both were dead.

Last night the other 4 seemed happy but maybe not as active as usual and today one of them looks not too good at all, not eating and not moving much having been active for the last 3 days.

The platies are fine.

My stats are : Ammonia 0 , Nitrite 0 , Nitrate 20

I did a 20lt water change last night with dechlorinator.

Does anybody have any idea what's wrong or what i can do to correct it ?

Current stock = 2 platies, 4 HR

 

[Hammerboy]

No.3 is now dead.


Any suggestions - anyone ?

 

[WILDER]

Only thing for now is how long did you climatise them for and what was the ph of the lfs to your tank.
You can lose fish in the first few days because of stress, and other things.

 

[Hammerboy]

My pH is around 8 but when i asked at the LFS they said it would be the same as theirs and they don't do anything to adjust it.

My Platies are fine

Left bag floating for 10 mins, added tank water every 10 mins , let them out of bag after 40 mins.

The other 2 are now stuttering in the top corner of the tank they look like they're trying to swim but not getting anywhere.

I don't expect they'll last until tomorrow ....

 

[WILDER]

Livebearers can suffer from the shimmies, where they swim in place but don't know about harlequins.
Everything else sounds ok, they sound stressed abit, whats there breathing like.

http/www.fishtanksandponds.net/care-main...h/shimmying.htm

 

[Hammerboy]

Thanks Wilder

It looks like this is what they're doing.

Their breathing is pretty quick like they're out of breath and one keeps gulping at the surface. I've checked Ammonia and Nitrite just now both are zero.

Maybe they didn't like the 20L water change which is close to 20-25% ? I've tested my pH before and it's 7 from the tap and about 8 in the tank. I did a 40L change last week which took the pH in the tank from 8 to 7.5 immediately after

Come to think of it, they weren't right before i did a water change.

 

[WILDER]

They havent climatised to well by the sounds of it.
Always when you get fish home check tank ph then the fish bag water ph, also check temp in bag it tells you how long to climatise them for.
What fish do you have in the tank thinking of salt if you have no corys or scaless fish.
Also increase aeration in the tank, and look out for parasites just to be sure.

 

[Hammerboy]

The temperature in the LFS was 80F, my tank is 77F. I didn't check the pH of the bag but i would have thought it couldn't be much different to mine ?

Apart from the 3 sickies ( don't know why i said 2 before !? ) i have just 2 wagtail platies.

Salt ?

 

[WILDER]

Add two tablespoon in a jug of tank water stir till it disolves then add evenly over the tank.