Help Dying Fish

[xjojox86]

Help dying fish!!!!!
Over the last 4 days I've had a dead fish everyday first my angel fish day after my female sword just after giving birth then the day after my male pineapple sword and then a neon teta and today it looks like my black ghost knife fish is dying too! They are all losing there colour and getting whiter and whiter except the knife he's just acting strange and Lyin still! But they all seem to be gasping for breath aswell my tank levels are

Nitrate 20ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
PH 7.8

So am really struggling as to what is going on in my tank also the pineapple sword had 22 babies last 2 days 4 have died don't know if that's to be expected please help am confused and not sure what to do x

 

[wrighty8529]

When was last time you did a water change?

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank please?
How many fish and which type?
What is the brand name of the test kit you are using?
Has any household chemical gotten in the tank water?
Immediate water change.

Do the gills look pale, red inflamed, lilac gills?
Any signs of flicking and rubbing?
Any sign of erratic swimming, darting, swimming in circles fast. turning upside down?

 

[Chad]

On top of WILDER's questions can you also tell us how old the tank is?

 

[xjojox86]

Hi the tank is the last water change was 5 days ago about 30%, the tank is approx 27 gal or 125 litre,
Fish I have
2 x gold wag sword tail
5 x tri colour platty
6 x glowlight tetra
1 x Siamese fighter
1 x ghost knife fish
1 x small angel
3 x common algae eaters

Test kit I use is api liquid test kit and I also have a nutrafin liquid kit and I have api strips but the previous readings are from api liquid!

There are no signs of any other wierd behaviour except of the common algea eaters keeps attacking the platty s and swords but only noticed that today! There's no unusual coloration on the gills and they look fine it's literally there fin will get a little white and then over time gets whiter and whiter and takes over the body then after 2 or 3 days they die!

The tank is only 8 weeks old but we did a fish in cycle x

 

[Chad]

I suspect that the tank is overstocked for it's age. While a tank may be cycled and can take fish it's important to introduce them slowly so the bacteria have time to adjust to the new bioload. It is possible to introduce ammonia into a cycled tank this way. I suspect that's what has happened here. Frequent water changes and increased surface agitation will benefit the fish.

 

[xjojox86]

I have only added 3-5 fish a weekas that's what my pet store told me to do am not adding anything else tho till its resolved x

 

[wrighty8529]

i wouldn't add anymore till you get a bigger tank try doing 25% water changes every other day to bring Nitrate down i dont know if any1 will agree with me but thats what i would do,

 

[Chad]

I have only added 3-5 fish a weekas that's what my pet store told me to do am not adding anything else tho till its resolved x

I believe that what will help is frequent water changes until the tank is more mature. 27 gallons is a small tank so water quality can change pretty quickly. I suggest 25% twice a week or more depending on the results you see from that.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Just FYI, that tank is way too small for a ghost knife. They grow to well over a foot long so they really need a tank more than double the size of yours, otherwise they will not survive very long/will be susceptible to infection, etc. I know that they are pretty tiny when they are usually in the lfs, but they get much bigger.

 

[xjojox86]

Yea we are upgrading our tank in a couple of months anyway and the Lfs said they won't grow that big in that time but he was only a baby, he died during the night I really don't know what is wrong do you think they are stressed out x

 

[fluttermoth]

Did these fish go through the fish-in cycle? If they did, it could be that the raised ammonia/nitrite levels at that time could have damaged them, but you're only see the effects of it now. Lots of big water changes, for the moment, in case it's something we can't/don't test for.

Sorry for your losses