Losing Fish After Fish

[scorer14]

Hi Everyone, I'm new here but need some assistance I keep losing my fish - it seems to always being my guppies however I have started to lose my female betta's.

My water perimeters are all fine, I did a test yesterday but didn't write the results everything was in the normal zone nothing close to being high or toxic.
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Tank size:20 gallons
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:80 degrees

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):the guppies seem tired, they swim at top of tank. The Betta just stopped eating, but look healthy and the next day or two they are found dead.

Volume and Frequency of water changes:20% every week

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: salt and add cycle every water change. Are water is high in iron could this cause the deaths. I have a greenish tint to the tank, we removed some driftwood, and have added a UV sterlizer and it is slowly improving with each water change. The tank has been up and running for 5 months. I have live plants and a gravel bottom which is vacumned every week with water changes. I will also note that I have a small tank with a male betta and three neon tetras with no issues at all (same water)

Tank inhabitants:2 female guppies - left, 1 female betta - left, 3 tiny freshwater bumble bee, and 7 platies and two yo-yo loaches

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):none

Exposure to chemicals:none

Digital photo (include if possible):

Please give me some suggestions as to what could be causing this and what can I do to fix it. I really don't want to keep replacing fish or losing them.

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

and add cycle every water change.

what is this "cycle" stuff

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum scorer14.

The first thing I would do is leave out the salt and the Cycle. Cycle is only intended for a new tank and it has not proven very useful in even that circumstance. We have yet to see a cycle using it that went any faster than one that did not use it. You do not mention using a dechlorinator which should always be done for the fish's safety.

If you are salting the neon/betta tank, stop that too. Neons are especially sensitive to salt in their water.

Regular water changes will then gradually reduce the salt levels in your tank. I think I would up the water change to about 30% until you get past this issue and add no more fish for now.

The gobies are not truly fresh water fish, they are brackish although they will survive for a while in an unsalted tank especially when they are young. They really deserve a home of their own where you can add enough sea salt, not aquarium salt, to make the water maybe 1/3 as salty as a salt water tank would be.

Iron will not cause fish deaths in concentrations that are allowed for drinking water.

I did find this an interesting read while responding. It may be that the gobies themselves are your problem, if this is accurate.

 

[scorer14]

Welcome to the forum scorer14.

The first thing I would do is leave out the salt and the Cycle. Cycle is only intended for a new tank and it has not proven very useful in even that circumstance. We have yet to see a cycle using it that went any faster than one that did not use it. You do not mention using a dechlorinator which should always be done for the fish's safety.

If you are salting the neon/betta tank, stop that too. Neons are especially sensitive to salt in their water.

Regular water changes will then gradually reduce the salt levels in your tank. I think I would up the water change to about 30% until you get past this issue and add no more fish for now.

The gobies are not truly fresh water fish, they are brackish although they will survive for a while in an unsalted tank especially when they are young. They really deserve a home of their own where you can add enough sea salt, not aquarium salt, to make the water maybe 1/3 as salty as a salt water tank would be.

Iron will not cause fish deaths in concentrations that are allowed for drinking water.

I did find this an interesting read while responding. It may be that the gobies themselves are your problem, if this is accurate.

Thank you - are you saying that my Gobies maybe killing the guppies and betta's? I have kinda notice that it seems that the fins looked like they had been possibly nipped, so I did treat for tail and fin rot. I don't dechlorintate as we have a well, so no chlorine is added to our water. As for the salt I only added about 3 teaspoons to the 20 gallon tank, but will stop

 

[Enkil]

What kind of salt have you been adding to it? If it isn't aquarium salt, this could be why your fish are dieing.
What they are saying is that the gobies need to be in Brackish water. This is water with salt in it. They are not Freshwater fish like your guppies and bettas. They should have a separate tank so all fish can be happy and healthy in their homes.

As far as a dechlorinator, you should always use something to treat your water. I use Prime since it lasts a while and does so much with using only a few drops.