Lost one fish

[gale]

I have a 20 long that until today had a pair of guppies, pair of dalmatian mollies, pair of cherry barbs and an albino cory cat. Lately the female guppy has been spending all of her time at the top and doesn't seem to be eating-the rest of the fish have been fine. Then today I noticed the female molly staying up top a lot and then this afternoon she was dead. Very sudden and I had not noticed her acting odd. Then by tonight the female guppy is about to die. She was stuck to the suck pipe of the filter a couple times so I unplugged it (should I buy one with variable speeds?) and now she is alive but either swimming with her nose down or staying up top. AND the cherry barbs are molesting her like crazy. We did a partial water change today (about 1/3 of the water) and noticed a LOT of crap coming out of the gravel so we will do another in 2 or 3 days. I suppose we're overfeeding or something-I will definitely not feed tomorrow at all. Also, tomorrow I will go and get a test kit. Anything else I can try? My water is now really cloudy and icky looking.

eta: these fish are all about 10 days from when I got them at the LFS other than the catfish which was bought about a week before that. The tank has been full of water since last summer when we tried (and failed) to keep goldfish and I did a 50% change before getting the tropical fish plus changed the filter cartridge. Filter is a penguin bio wheel without the bio wheel.

 

[619 Fish GOD]

Sorry to say but i can't help but they might have been strest by the barbs i
lost 3 rasabora to a shoal of green moss barbs if so give them there own 36''
tank

GOOD LUCK

 

[caterpillar5]

Did u cycle your tank before adding these fish in? what are your water parameters? And another note, albino need to be kept in groups of at least 3, preferably 4.

 

[gale]

Did u cycle your tank before adding these fish in? what are your water parameters? And another note, albino need to be kept in groups of at least 3, preferably 4.

No I didn't know about cycling until I came to this forum just a few days ago. I am going to get 2 more of the cory cats but I should wait until I have my test kit and find out if my water is ok, right?

Sorry to say but i can't help but they might have been strest by the barbs i
lost 3 rasabora to a shoal of green moss barbs if so give them there own 36''
tank

Thanks-I think I might get a small tank for just those two fish although this is the first I've seen them act aggresively. The male molly is actually usually more aggressive than the barbs.

 

[caterpillar5]

yes, u should get a test kit for ammonia and nitrite and also nitrate but nitrate aint that important...
Just make sure u do daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitIte levels down...

 

[sylvia]

If your ammonia and nitrite levels are ok, consider adding 2 more cherry barbs (ONLY if you have no ammonia/nitrites). IME these fish are not usualy aggressive but keeping them in a small shoal will help ease the aggression you are seeing. The reason your fish have been hanging around the top may be too much ammonia/nitrites. These usualy are most concentrated nearest to the bottom of the tank. Your male guppy will chase your female and stress her out. Another female will help devide his attention though you had best wait until you know your tank is cycled. Without a female molly, the male molly may also chase the guppy so she'll have to deal with both.

 

[gale]

I got my kit (this one - it's the only one the LFS had) and tested the water. Here are the results:

ph-very high. The high ph test went to 8.8 and it was that color on the comparison chart but maybe it's higher yet. I do know that when we fill our swimming pool we always have a problem with high ph.

nitrates-10

nitrites zero

ammonia zero

so it's not nitrates, nitrites or ammonia. Could it be the ph? What should I buy for it?

eta: I bought a ten gallon kit today so if necessary I can get it ready to move a few fish out (like ones that don't play well with others). If I do that should I take some of the water from the old tank?

 

[modernhamlet]

Cherry barbs are among the most peaceful of barbs and aren't know for fin nipping. I'm loath to blame them for your troubles. They are also one of the rare cases that do best in pairs/trios rather than large groups.

I would ask your LFS what their standard water parameters are, specifically at what pH they keep their fish. While I'm a firm believer that most fish can adapt to most pH levels (as long as they are stable), 8.8 or higher is really getting up there.

Double check your parameters one more time. At pH levels that high, even the slightest amount of ammonia can kill. The reason I ask is that you say you got the fish about 10 days ago. That's generally just about the amount of time it takes for fish to start dying from new tank syndrome (i.e. ammonia poisoning). You might also consider taking some samples of water to your LFS for testing. You might have gotten a bad kit. It happens.

Whatever you do, don't get more fish until you know what is causing the fish deaths.

Hope this helps...

 

[gale]

You might also consider taking some samples of water to your LFS for testing. You might have gotten a bad kit. It happens.

I did take some of the water to the not local FS and they said it was fine-I think they tested ammonia and ph only. It was the local FS where I got the kit and it's the last one they had. It's a very small crappy store btw. I am going to call the store where I got my fish (the one that is not local) and see what their ph is but the local store is pretty much a big waste. I don't plan on buying fish there ever, but I figured for something like a test kit I might as well since they are a lot closer. Are you thinking maybe the ammonia is actually higher but the test for that is bad? Or the ph? Because with our pool we always have super high ph.

Should I get ph minus for it?

 

[gale]

I called the faraway fish shop and they said they normally only test for ammonia. Not sure exactly what the guy tested for when I took my sample in, but he did fill 2 vials. I asked about the ph and they said their ph is also high. They use tap water and when I said 8.8 he said yup possibly higher. So the fish are used to a high ph. He said I should not mess with the ph. He did say to raise my temp a couple degrees (I have it at 78. I turned it up a click but it didn't do anything so far-that was a few hours ago) and tried to convince me that all of the fish died of ich due to temp fluctuations but I never saw anything that looked like ich.

I lost my male guppy tonight-he had ragged fins earlier (I have a feeling the other fish were after him because I saw it a few times) and then he was staying right up against the glass. I don't notice any white spots or any other discoloration on him. I am going to test my water again using the same test kit but the LFS said their test is fine and they won't take it back so I can't really afford another $25 test kit. But if the other FS tested ammonia and it was fine then my test is probably correct. I would guess so anyway. So now I am down to one male molly, 2 cherry barbs (one male, one female, I think) and the albino cory cat.