Help! I'm Stumped

[kuhliloacher]

I am having constant problems with my 55 gal hex tank. I can't figure out what's going on. Every day when I come home from work, there's another dead fish. This has been ongoing for months now. I have lost all of my original Serpaes (7 in all), about 15 Tiger/Odessa Barbs and 4 Kuhli Loaches, just to name a few. Now I have a sick Panda Cory that's really dark in color and near death, just sitting on the gravel. I am absolutely stumped. I have been treating with Maracyn Plus and administered my second dose today. I have removed all of my filter media (except for the sponge) during treatment. I dose my tank with Stress Coat, Stress Zyme and Immune Plus every Saturday. I recently switched my filter media and now use Chemi-Pure instead of carbon. I keep the temp at 78F. I tested the water tonight and came up with the following: PH-6.6, Ammonia-0ppm, Nitrite-0ppm, Nitrate-40ppm. I try to keep my PH at 7.0, but I can't get it there anymore, even with Proper PH since I started using the Chemi-Pure filter media. I have the following fish left at the moment:

5 Tiger Barbs
1 Odessa Barb
7 Kuhli Loaches
1 Cherry Barb
3 Panda Corys
3 Yoyo Loaches
3 Burmese Border Loaches
1 Flying Fox
1 Red Tail Shark
6 Serpae Tetras

I feed my fish frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, Omega flakes and Hikari algae wafers. I have been using an AquaClear 300 power filter, but I recently purchased a Fluval 305 canister filter, which I am not going to set that up until i'm done medicating, which will be Sunday. I will also do a 50% water change then. With the warmer weather lately (I live in western Pennsylvania), I have kept the windows open. I thought maybe something was polluting the tank. This has not helped either. I cleaned my power filter and power head to no avail. So basically, everything is working the way it should and the water tests always come out good. The water is crystal clear when not medicating. There are no temperature fluctuations. I monitor everything on a very regular basis. But my fish keep dying, one by one. Please help!!!

 

[rdd1952]

I try to keep my PH at 7.0, but I can't get it there anymore, even with Proper PH since I started using the Chemi-Pure filter media.

I strongly suspect that is your problem. The worst thing you can do is try to alter the pH with chemicals. Fish can adjust to a stable pH that isn't perfect for them but they can't adjust to a pH that is in constant swing. Leave the pH alone and if you feel you must adjust it, use natural sources (driftwood, peat to lower it, crushed coral to raise it). They will do it gradually and it will stay there.

Too many people make too much fuss about their pH being too low or high. I have had my tanks running for over 2 years and until today probably hadn't tested the pH in either of them in a year or more. I only tested because someone else was aking questions. My 29 gallon that has tetras, kuhli loaches and amano shrimp is at 6.0 to 6.2. The 75 gallon which has tetras, angels, SAEs corys and a pleco is at 6.8 and the betta tank is at 7.2. My tap water runs between 6.8 and 7.2 (6.8 today). All of those tanks are doing great so the pH isn't nearly as important as most people make it out to be unless you have fish that are very delicate.

As for changing your media, you should never do that all at one time (I realize you removed it for the medication). You basically throw your entire bacteria colony out with the media. If you decide to change it, do a third each week. That way the bacteria doesn't have much to do to replenish to handle the waste.

I also wouldn't use medication unless I knew exactly what the problem was. You may be wasting your money using a medication that does nothing to the particular disease/parasite you have. And some of them will completely wipe out your bacteria colony, leaving you with an uncycled tank and a major problem if you are fully stocked. Always better to medicate only the sick fish in a hospital tank.

One last thing, I would get rid of all the chemicals except Stresscoat which is your dechlorinator. Stress Zyme is a bacteria starter and is useless. And if your fish are dying from a disease, obviously, the Immune Plus isn't doing anything either.