Help Needed Desperately For My Fishies!

[Delabrum]

Hi one and all. Me and my wife set up our tropical tank approximately 8 months ago, we've had a few deaths along the way but nothing out of the ordinary, but in the last few weeks selected fish of numerous species have being dropping like flies and we can't figure out for the life of us why. Our water is almost perfect, 7.2 ph and ammonia/nitrate levels fine, temperature stable at 78F, and there is no sign of disease on any of the fish. The only thing the guy at my local fish store could think is that they're struggling for oxygen, therefore he suggested doing a pretty hefty water change and setting up an air pump with an air stone. Well I've ordered the air pump and done the water change and I've lost another fish (darnio) today. I've looked up symptoms of just about every possible disease they could have and none of them are present in our fish. Can anyone give me any suggestions or help?!

P.s. When I did the water change I figured I might as well do our monthly clean of the tank as well and the carbon section of our filter is flooded and I can't figure out why, could this be a contributing factor?

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons or litres is the tank.
How many fish and which type.
Can you post your water stats please.

How long was the carbon in the tank.
No need use carbon all the time if a complete waste of money., It's only useful for when removing meds from a tank.

Were the fish laboured breathing or gasping at the service of the tank.
Have you used and chemicals near the tank or been decorating.

 

[Delabrum]

How many gallons or litres is the tank.
How many fish and which type.
Can you post your water stats please.

How long was the carbon in the tank.
No need use carbon all the time if a complete waste of money., It's only useful for when removing meds from a tank.

Were the fish laboured breathing or gasping at the service of the tank.
Have you used and chemicals near the tank or been decorating.

Hi thanks for the reply. Our tank is 75 litres, UFO 550. I don't know my water stats exactly, I always get the guy at the fish shop to test it as he's extremely good at his job so I trust his judgement and he told me the ammonia/nitrate levels are nothing to worry about. Before all our fish started dying we had 4 dalmation mollys (2 of which are now dead), 6 guppys (2 of which are now dead), 6 neon tetras, 6 danios (3 now dead), 3 shrimp (one died), 3 silver sharks (2 of which are dead and the other 1 looks pretty bleak), 4 rummy nosed tetras (1 dead) and a zebra pleck. As I said, we have had maybe 3 or 4 fish die before this but we were told fish dying on a small scale like that is probably nothing to worry about, but all those fish have died in the last 2-3 weeks. We've had the carbon in the tank from the start. I'm pretty sure there's been no gasping at the surface. Nope no chemicals near the tank; I assume you're talking about air fresheners? No decorating been done either.

 

[WILDER]

Bad advice from the lfs.
How long has the tank been set up.

Your tanks severely overstocked.
Bala sharks need 90 gallon tanks so take them back the tanks to small.
Also the tanks to small for the zebra plec.

Research the fish before you buy for tank size adult size, and if the fish is compatiable with the fish you keep.
I would strongly suggest investing in some liquid test kits of your own.

Take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to write the readings down for you.
Water changes and increase aeration for now.

 

[Delabrum]

Bad advice from the lfs.
How long has the tank been set up.

Your tanks severely overstocked.
Bala sharks need 90 gallon tanks so take them back the tanks to small.
Also the tanks to small for the zebra plec.

Research the fish before you buy for tank size adult size, and if the fish is compatiable with the fish you keep.
I would strongly suggest investing in some liquid test kits of your own.

Take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to write the readings down for you.
Water changes and increase aeration for now.

The tank's been setup for about 8-10 months. Are you suggesting that the fact that we have too many fish could potentially be the reason why they're dying?

 

[WILDER]

Your tanks overstocked and thats why the fish have been dying,.
Never trust an lfs when they say your water stats are fine.

 

[Delabrum]

Your tanks overstocked and thats why the fish have been dying,.
Never trust an lfs when they say your water stats are fine.

Thing I don't understand though is that like I said we did have some fish die earlier i.e. months ago with no signs of disease or water problems and back then we literally just had 6 neons our plec and 3 plattys, couple of the neons and the plattys died for no apparent reason. Surely that amount of fish in our tank back then wasn't too full? The tank is actually 80 litres by the way.

 

[WILDER]

Your tanks still overstocked even with some fish dying.
I would get your water tested.
How often do you maintain the tank.

 

[Delabrum]

Your tanks still overstocked even with some fish dying.
I would get your water tested.
How often do you maintain the tank.

Clean it generally once every 3-4 weeks (although if algae is building up in that time I remove it). I just got the water tested yesterday and the ph was 7.2 and everything else fine. Also do a water change about every 3 weeks. Should I increase how often I do a water change then? Thanks for the advice.

 

[WILDER]

Gravel vac and water change once a week. With your tanks being overstocked it defianately wants to be done once a week even more.
I would get your own test kits and test the water for yourself. As lfs have be know to lie about water test readings.