Help......what is happening to my fish

[hjt]

I am experiencing dying fish....... I have many tetras, 2 gouarmi's (1 male, 1 female), 2 clown loaches, mollies, guppies and platties. Over the last month or so the guppies have been dying one by one. The tails start to look as if they have been nibbled at, then they have been looking as if they are having trouble swimming, then it dies. A few days or a week later it happens to another one. Last night I noticed that a plattie was nose diving in the tank. On closer inspection the tail had disappeared. Initially I treated the tank for fin rot, this did not cure anything. Surely if this was what was wrong all of the fish would be suffering. What I am wondering is whether one of the fish could be attacking them one by one. Any ideas?

HELP!

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Quite possible. One of my guys picked on the others till 1 by 1 there was only him & 1 other left. Or else, there might be some illness & the weakened ones are being picked on. On the other hand, stress (from being bullied) makes fish more suceptible to disease, so it could be a vicious cycle. What size tank do you have? What are your ammonia, nitrIte, & nitrAte levels? How long has it been set up (is it cycled?)?Someone more knowledgeable will probably be along soon, but in the meantime, I'd say:

1. If anyone, I'd blame the gouramis for any bullying, I think they can get aggressive, esp. if their tank's too small.

2. If they're having trouble swimming, it may be a swim bladder thing. Don't feed for a couple of days, & if you're still having problems try treating for a bacterial infection, since constipation & bacterial infection are the 2 major causes of swim bladder disease. Well besides bad water quality. If you have ANY traces of ammonia or nitrIte do a 20-30% water change now (using a water conditioner that detoxifies chlorine AND chloramine), then test daily & keep it down.

Orright, hope that helped a bit, goodluck.
Michelle.

 

[hjt]

Thanks for that, appreciated.

The tank has been set up for some months, helped by my brother, who has gone on to a bigger and better tank. Although, he doesn't have a clue to my fish problem (already asked him and I thought big bro's were meant to be helpful!)

The Gouramis are dwarf ones, so they are not alot bigger than the other fish. The two clown loaches I have, however, are quite big.

I have had the water tested and it is fine.

I think the only reason that they have a problem with swimming is due to the lack of tail!

Even sat watcjing last night to see if there is a bully, but I think they knew and swam about like nice fishies!

 

[wrs]

well, the guppies and mollies can be mean. mine killed eachother, also arent tetras fin nippers.

 

[suemack]

hi hjt....welcome to the forum

sorry to hear about your fish problems - it would help to get a better idea of what's going on if you could give us a few more details of your tank and setup.

how big is the tank, what sort of filtration (e.g ugf, hang on back and what size), how often and how much with your water changes......when did you add more fish to the tank .....and how many fish there are in there.

add anything else you can think of.....the more details the better please

it's awful when you have fishy deaths and you're not sure what's going on...but, you've come to the right place to ask questions.

sue

 

[hjt]

I am impressed with all of this help, cheers!

The tank is about 25 litres (?). I do a water change each weekend and had the water tested last weekend - It was just right.

There are 5 neons, 5 harlequins, 2 dwarf gouramis, 2 clownn loaches, now only 2 guppies, 3 platties + 2 babies, 4 mollies + 4 babies and 4 rubynose(?) tetras.

Algae is fine. Feed them flakes, pelets for the bottom feeders, live food and frozen mosi larvae and stuff.

The last fish to go, last night, was ok the day before, so what ever had happened was quick.

All the fish seem happy, even nibble my daughters fingers when she feeds them. The male gouarmi chases the female one etc etc.

Totally baffled!

 

[Tenko]

I'd check your tank size if I was you. My 2nd tank is a 40 litre and it's tiny, only get a few fish in there. If you can't find out the capacity, post the measurements and we'll work it out for you.

 

[hjt]

Good call, my tank is approx 3ft x 2ft x 1ft?

I have now passed on 4 mollie fry and 2 guppies to someone with a larger tank, but a lot less fish.

Although now one of my mollies has a sticky out eye, looks like it will pop out at any moment - although generally healthy otherwise.

Do you think it possible that I have too many fish?

 

[schzaam]

tetras 4 depend on the tetras there are some bad tetras they are very nippy and htey like fancy tails so im 99% sure it them they feel more aggressive in a pack off many

 

[schzaam]

hjt you dont have to many fish it just that your goin through a roughpatch with fish dont worry thses things happen it cant be helped

 

[hjt]

Thank you. I certainly hope you are right. I respect your greater knowledge of these things! It's quite sad losing fish, not being that experienced at it didn't realise that you get quite attached to the slippery things.

 

[hjt]

Ok, so I said that my fish were dying. I re-homed 2 guppies, and 4 molly fries to avoid further atrocities in my tank. Then one of my big mollies, looked a bit poorly, and one of it's eye looked as if it was just about to pop out and, to be honest, I was waiting for the demise of yet another fish.

In the meantime my ickle girl and me decided we wanted some of this small oto's that lots of you talk about (thanks for the idea!). In the LFS my daughter explained to the shop assistant that we were getting these fish to replace the ones we had lost etc etc..... Bless him he did listen to her!

So anyway, we arrive home with 3 otos and live blood worm. I lift the tank lid to place the bag of fish on top for aclimatising and low and behold the Mollie with the dodgy eye looked alot slimmer, and there were at least 14 fry swimming about on the top of the water! We now have lots of fish!

I guess we will have fatalities in the future, but hey, they are breeding too!

Well happy! Just thought I would let you know..........

 

[my_fallen_angel]

is its eye better??

sounds like pop-eye to me.

i have a gourami that had it, i used a fungus aid and did 25% water changes every day for a week and his eyes went back in.

as for the other problem my gouramis tend to get a bit nippy, could they be the bullies??