Help All My Fish Except My Guppies Are Dying!

[AliWolffish]

Hello, I have a tropical fresh water 55 gallon tank and it has been running since the middle of August. I let it cycle for a week then added 3 Cory's, 2 farawella cats, and 2 ray loaches (I think that's what they are called but I'm not sure), and 2 turquoise gourami's. My tank was doing great, minus one gourami dying on Thursday, my ammonia was only .25 and both the nitrites and nitrates were 0. So on Friday I added 3 dragon head guppies, 3 tuxedo guppies and replaces my gourami. I did a 25% water change on Sunday, let it cycle for 24 hours then removed the carbon filter (like I was told) and put Nox-ich in for the recommended 3 days in a row, then put the carbon filter back in. No, none of the fish had Ich or Velvet but I was told my an avid fish hobbyist that putting it in my tank "would not harm the fish, but its a good precaution to take". Anyway, now my tank is really cloudy and I've had both my farawellas die, my new gourami, one of the ray loaches and 2/3 cory's look really sick. I would really like some help with this and today I will be doing another water change and I'm going to clean my structures and plants.
 
PLEASE HELP ME!

 

[Byron]

The advice to add a substance to treat for a disease that is not present was very bad.  Never add medications without a specific reason, being the presence of the disease.  Any substance added to an aquarium does affect the fish, in various ways I won't bog this down with, so it is always safer not to add something unless it is absolutely necessary.
 
You may not understand cycling ( an aquarium is not likely to be cycled in a week) so please check the info links at the top.  You have been adding too many fish too quickly.  Please don't take this the wrong way; many of us have gone through these same problems.  The articles will help you understand what is going on.
 
What size tank is this?
 
You mix of fish is a bit odd, but without knowing the tank size I can't say much more.  What are your water parameters (tap water)?  GH (general hardness) and pH particularly.  Farlowella are extremely sensitive to these, and corys can have shock from too great a change from what they were in.  Also, ammonia or nitrite above zero is going to impact these fish significantly.
 
When ever fish are having the problems noted here, major daily water changes will almost always benefit.  By major I mean at lerast half the tank volume, but more.  Provided your tap water parameters and tank water parameters are close, as I would suspect them to be here, this will not hurt the fish anywhere near as much as the ammonia and nitrite.  And fish that live through this are internally affected for life, so it is important to prevent this as much as possible.
 
Byron.

 

[Baccus]

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear its not on happier fish keeping experiences.
 
Unfortunately it sounds as though the tank was not cycled (should call it maturing the filter rather than cycling the tank), and you have had an ammonia spike from adding too many fish at once. When you did the water changes did you add any formula to remove chlorine and chloramine? These are essential to remove from the water because they kill the beneficial bacteria we strive to keep in our filters. It is these good bacteria we need in order to keep the tank healthy in regards to the ammonia cycle.
How where you planning on cleaning your plants and structures? Please don't clean them under just tap water, as some beneficial filter bacteria will live on structure in the tank. I would suggest get a tub of water add chlorine and chloramine remover ad the required dose and clean the structures in that, but not to vigerously. The plants can be swished around in the tub of water if you want to try cleaning them too.
 
I am not familiar with the type of medication you used but as already stated only ever use medication if there is a clear sign of illness, its like taking a course of antibiotics on the off chance we might get a cold, either way it does us no good. I suspect that with the catfish and loaches (the stingray loaches I am guessing where some type of hillstream loach) died as a direct result of the medication. Catfish and loaches do not have scales like other fish and any medication used on them is suggested to be used at half dose. Also be aware that gourami are labyrinth breathers and some medications can coat their gills preventing them from obtaining oxygen from the waters surface which they have evolved to do in their natural low oxygen habitats. If the singray laoches are a type of hillstream loach they generally need high levels of oxygen and water movement because they evolved in fast running mountain streams.

 

[AliWolffish]

Thank you Byron for answering me. I have a 55 gallon. In regards to the cycling, I talked to 3 different people about 'when is the right time to put fish in the tank' and I also bought a book about tropical fish for beginners. I'm not sure about the GH, I don't have a test kit for it but here is a list of my water parameters:
pH is 7.6
nitrite is 0
nitrate is 0
ammonia is .75
 
I just finished a 50% water change about 30 minutes ago.
I have some AmmoniaSafe tabets, should I put them in?

 

[AliWolffish]

@Baccus
 
the first fish that I put in first were the 'cleaning team' as said in my book and also from the lady at Pieces Pet store. I also checked the parameters before I bought the guppies and the replacement gourami and all the tests were fine minus the ammonia which was .25 but the lady at Pieces said because its a new tank, as long as it wasn't above 1.0 it would be fine to add more fish. She was wrong apparently..

 

[Baccus]

Sadly it sounds like you have fallen into the trap of believing the sales person. I am not saying all sales people are wrong, just when it comes to live animals pet shops often have a vested interest in the sales of stock.
There is no real "clean Up " fish. All catfish and loaches need their own food and can not survive on just the left over scraps of food from the other fish in the tank. The only fish that might be considered "clean up" fish are ottocinclus and Siamese Algea Eaters, but both of these will not do well in a young tank, because they eat the algae's and micro organisms only found in mature tanks.
I am sorry that you have run into problems with the tank and your fish, but please do read other peoples experiences and solutions to similar problems throughout the forum.
Best of luck in your fish keeping journey.

 

[Byron]

I concur with Baccus (just so you, Ali, know I'm not ignoring that).  On the GH, find this out from your municipal water supply website, or call them Tuesday.  It is worth knowing as it might be such that some fish will have trouble, which only adds to the other trouble making things even worse.
 
Farlowella and corys are not good fish in new tanks.  Farlowella especially should only be added to an established tank.  Established goes beyond "cycled" or "matured" and means that the biological system has settled.  Normally this takes 2-3 months, sometimes even longer.  There are many fish that will have more serious issues adjusting and the establishment of the system can make quite a difference.  There is also the issue of their natural food which Baccus explained.
 
What conditioner are you using?  During cycling/establishment of a new tank, one that detoxifies ammonia and nitrite is worth using, and even nitrate.  Prime is one readily available.  You may not need to continue this, but it would help at this time.  It's detoxifying of ammonia is permanent, and it changes ammonia to the less harmful ammonium.  Nitrite it somehow binds but this will un-bind after 24-36 hours, hence the daily or alternate day water changes.  The AmmoniaSafe tablets I am not familiar with, but if this is the Tetra product they won't hurt.
 
Byron.

 

[AliWolffish]

I am using Nutrafin Auqa plus water conditioner, and yes the tablets are Tetra brand. I plan on putting them in once my ammonia test sets in a few mins

 

[nic1]

Aw poor fish- I really can't understand why pet store owners give bad advice!
Isn't the consumer more likely to come back when the right advice is given? This is another example of profit over anything thing else.
I'm glad you've found this site and are getting the right advice now.

 

[cl3537]

Aw poor fish- I really can't understand why pet store owners give bad advice!
Isn't the consumer more likely to come back when the right advice is given? This is another example of profit over anything thing else.
I'm glad you've found this site and are getting the right advice now.

The consumer is more likely to come back when their fish dies and they need to replace them!
Sad scenario but all too familiar for the stores I bet.