Losing Fish Daily- Help

[mummybearspain]

Two weeks ago I found my black molly and another cat fish lying dead in our tank. Living in Spain it is sometimes difficult to find out the real names of the fish. They are very helpful in the shop and advise as to what fish will mix well. We decided to buy new fish with a selection of large and small. Since they have been added we have lost 7 more including some of the new additions. Our plec, called George(!) was dead on the bottom today with some of his fins haven been eaten away. He is about a year old, as were most of our other dead fish (3platys and 2 tetras) An angel fish has died todayalso. We have a fish similar to a swordtail but it is reddy gold with a black middle section. It has a long spine thing hanging from underneath. I have tried to find out what it is but can find no pictures on the net. It was nibbling at the angel fish while it was still alive! The angel was obviously struggling though so I euthanased it. Can someone help and tell me why this is happening all together? I have done a regular water change with sunstrata cleaning every 2 weeks plus cleaning the filters (alternate weeks) every 6 weeks. The water tested fine and the temperature is constant. I changed the carbon in the filters about 4 weeks ago. The new carbon bags are a little too big for the filter but they do close up ok. Please help before I lose more. Thanks

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank.
Can you post your water stats please.
Worse thing you can do is add fish you don't know which it is breed it is as you have to make sure all your fish are conpatiable.

 

[mummybearspain]

How many gallons is the tank.
Can you post your water stats please.
Worse thing you can do is add fish you don't know which it is breed it is as you have to make sure all your fish are conpatiable.

I have a wall mounted aquarium with approx 32 litres- (it is like a plasma tv on the wall.). We asked the fish expert in the shop if the fish were compatible and she said yes- there were other fish like we have in the tank at the shop. The ph level and nitrate level are fine. I use a testing strip with colours to show high or low levels. Do you know what this swordtail like fish is?

 

[Colin_T]

An aquarium fish with a long filament coming off the bottom of the tail is actually called a swordtail (Xiphophorus helleri)

Wilder is going to ask these questions but I got to first

Do you know what the ammonia and nitrite levels are?
How long has the tank been set up for?
How do you clean the filter? Filter sponges should only be washed out in a bucket of tank water. If you wash it out under tap water the chlorine can kill off the good bacteria living in it.
What do the fish look like when they die?

 

[WILDER]

Not one fish should be kept in that tank size to be honest.
Angels need larger tanks of 25 gallons.
Platys and livebeaers are active fish and need 10 gallons.
Tetras are shoaling fish and also shouldn't be kept in less than 10 galllons.
Your tanks overstocked thats why they are dying.
Need to look at your water stats.

All I would keep in a wall mounted tank is some live plants and maybe a male betta.

 

[DarkEntity]

just to add to the above, your tank being wall mounted, will have very very little surface water area so little oxygen exchange can occur this will also cause issues in the long run. My suggestion would be to bin the wall hanger and get a proper tank.

Or take all the fish back and get some endlers for the wall hanger and thats it.

 

[mummybearspain]

Thanks you all for your replies and suggestions. The wall aquarium has been up and running for over a year now with at least 18 fish at any one time. They have all lived together fine until I added a few new ones. Yes, I agree, the tank was overcrowded so now we have a good balance. I have taken the swordtail back to the shop as he was eating my sumatra last night, even though it was still alive! I have purchased a new plec too as the tank needs something to clean the glass etc. I have an air stone plus 2 filters adding to the air and oxygen supply so that should be enough. I clean my filters under the tap but always re do them in the water taken from the tank when cleaning the substrata. So, hopefully the situation will return to normal. I think my other sumatra is in shock due to the death of its mate so I am keeping an eye on him.

 

[DarkEntity]

Thanks you all for your replies and suggestions. The wall aquarium has been up and running for over a year now with at least 18 fish at any one time. They have all lived together fine until I added a few new ones. Yes, I agree, the tank was overcrowded so now we have a good balance. I have taken the swordtail back to the shop as he was eating my sumatra last night, even though it was still alive! I have purchased a new plec too as the tank needs something to clean the glass etc. I have an air stone plus 2 filters adding to the air and oxygen supply so that should be enough. I clean my filters under the tap but always re do them in the water taken from the tank when cleaning the substrata. So, hopefully the situation will return to normal. I think my other sumatra is in shock due to the death of its mate so I am keeping an eye on him.

sigh....

adding anything at all is a really bad idea, especially a Plec....they are massive waste producers, you should be removing fish NOT adding them.

 

[WILDER]

If you want to keep the wall mounted tank why not just keep some nice plants in it and a betta.
It not ideal for keeping fish in same as darkentity has said.

 

[Colin_T]

you shouldn't really wash the filter materials out under tap water. It kills off the good bacteria living in it and takes a few weeks before it regrows. The water quality could be a big problem during that time.
It is better to only wash the filter sponges in a bucket of tank water and then put them straight back into the tank/filter.