My Fish Keep Dying I Don't Know Why ?

[peeps]

My tropical 3ft tank of 8 years has been running perfect unto now.  I have mainly rams, cardinals,guppys, bottom feeders, gobys and 3 shrimp.
 
I have now started to loose some fish quite drastically, about 8 in the last 2 weeks.   One new ram got POP EYE, so i hookd him out, then another got it,  so i had to hook him out. Then a couple of tetras just died (no popeye)  then another ram went SKINNY and died, now another ram just died. ??? HELP please.
 
I do regular water changes,gravel cleans, can't see any "fungus" or anything anywhere. Water condition is good. Just can't figure out what is wrong or what to do ?? I'm not able to set up a quarantine tank, is there anything i can treat the tank with that won't kill my shrimp too ??
 
Please can anyone help me ??

 

[DrRob]

The standard questions apply. What exactly do you have in the tank, what dimensions is it (there are limited varieties of 3 footers out there, but some are considerably bigger (and conversely smaller) than others).
 
Also what water change regime have you been running and the usual question about testing the water, what do you use and what were the results?
 
Finally the other standard question which is have there been any recent changes? This can be in the tank and out. We've seen problems resulting from air freshener plug ins and new decor, as well as new fish.
 
To answer your final question, and admittedly only partly pending the answers to the above, regular large (think over 75% every day for a couple of days) water changes can cure a variety of ailments without bothering the shrimp, or in fact doing any shopping.

 

[peeps]

Hi Dr Rob,  thanks so much for answering my distress call !
 
1) fish i have in the tank are =  4 x bulgarian rams,  2 blue rams, 2 golden rams, 3 guppies, 2 penguin tetras, 10 cardinal tetras, 3 gobies, 2 zebra loach, 2 butterfly plecs, 
 
2) Tank size = 42' length x 18' high, x 15' depth..........approx 120ltrs
 
3) Water changes i do 30-40% every week, and a gravel hoover clean every 2 weeks.
 
4) Water test every month always ok, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph........liquid tests
 
as to anything " new" ......no !  the only new thing was a couple of new rams i bought 2 weeks ago, both of which developed POPEYE, i had to put them to sleep as soon as i noticed one of their eyes starting to pop out !. then other fish started to just die !  no visible signs on them at all, just found the odd one virtually every day nearly being eaten by my shrimp. hence i hooked them out straight away. So i just can't diagnose what the problem is. Im now constantly watching their behaviour , I've noticed a couple have gone a bit "thin" and one bulgarian ram is just sitting on the gravel not doing much !?  i think dr death is hanging over that one too !
Can you make any sense of any of this please ?? many many thanks - 

 

[stanleo]

Did you quarantine the rams before adding them to the main tank? It sounds to me like they were already sick with a bacterial infection that has now spread to the other fish. I did the same thing with one harlequin with fin rot and lost ten fish before I got it cured. I used Melafix and treated for 7 days and upped the temp to 80F. I also fed only meaty foods and no algae based food. I believe a high protein diet is good for their immune system. It's been 2 weeks and no one who has died and the cory who was losing fin has grown some of it back. Hope this helps.

 

[fluttermoth]

Peeps; we do need the actual numbers from your tests (and what you're using to test with)
 
Do you know the pH and hardness of your water?
 
What temperature is the tank at?

 

[peeps]

Hi Dr Rob,  thanks so much for answering my distress call !
 
1) fish i have in the tank are =  4 x bulgarian rams,  2 blue rams, 2 golden rams, 3 guppies, 2 penguin tetras, 10 cardinal tetras, 3 gobies, 2 zebra loach, 2 butterfly plecs, 
 
2) Tank size = 42' length x 18' high, x 15' depth..........approx 120ltrs
 
3) Water changes i do 30-40% every week, and a gravel hoover clean every 2 weeks.
 
4) Water test every month always ok, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph........liquid tests
 
as to anything " new" ......no !  the only new thing was a couple of new rams i bought 2 weeks ago, both of which developed POPEYE, i had to put them to sleep as soon as i noticed one of their eyes starting to pop out !. then other fish started to just die !  no visible signs on them at all, just found the odd one virtually every day nearly being eaten by my shrimp. hence i hooked them out straight away. So i just can't diagnose what the problem is. Im now constantly watching their behaviour , I've noticed a couple have gone a bit "thin" and one bulgarian ram is just sitting on the gravel not doing much !?  i think dr death is hanging over that one too !

Can you make any sense of any of this please

?? many many thanks - 

 

[the_lock_man]

Peeps, when Fluttermoth asked you for the actual numbers of your water tests, she did actually want you to post the actual results, the actual level of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and indeed KH if you have ever tested that. Your idea of "ok" might be very different to hers and mine.
 
Just reposting your previous post isn't really helpful.