oh no !!!!

[Rayne]

In the past week i have lost 3 fish. 2 new ones and a guppie i've had for months.

Let's start that yes i have tested my water parameters and everything is just fine. Nothing has changed in months since i cycled i keep up on cleaning and when i introduce any new fish i test the water everyday for at least a week to keep track of any changes.

Last week i got 6 new tiger barbs. later in the week i finally found a bristle nose pleco. Then one of my barbs died (the smallest of the 6), two days later i lost the pleco. and now i just did a head count in my tank and realized my female guppie has died.

Can this all just be a conincidence or did i do something wrong?

I feel really sad about losing the fish as I spent a lot of money(for me unemployed) on the pleco. He was almost $20. The barbs were kinda cheap at $1.99 each.

I would really appreciate any input or ideas anyone might have.


P.S. the tank is 55 gal
cycled (well over a year)
other occupants - rainbow shark (black red tail )
1 angel
1 male guppie
1 oto
5 tiger barbs left

 

[rdd1952]

Any time you add new fish, you create a mini cycle in the tank. There is only enough good bacteria present to support the current fish load but since you checked the parameters, the water shouldn't be an issue. It's possible that the pleco or the barb was diseased and died from that. One or both of them could have also been injured when they netted it for you. Did you look them over for signs of injury or disease? If one of the new fish was already sick, it could spread to the rest. Did you quarantine the new fish before you put them in your tank?

 

[troutfly]

I just have a few questions to ask you.

1. How large is you angle and shark?
2. Did you acclimate the fish correctly?
3. Did you put all 6 new fish in at one time?
4. Did you add too much of the LFS's water to your tank?
5. How long were the fish at your LFS? Were they new arrivals that had not been quarenteened?

I don't mean to ask simple questions, or imply you are a "rookie" fish owner, but I wasn't there when you added the fish.

My theroy is that you "overloaded" the tank capacity all at once. You have to be careful when adding to many new fish at one time even in an "aged" tank. Your angel if he is big enough could have led to the demise of the other fish, people underestimate an Angle decause they seem docile. Rainbow sharks can get aggressive if they feel threatened or cornered. I am just trying to give you a heads up.

 

[Rayne]

the angel and shark are small. Angel is 2" max and the shark is about 3". All the new fish i added looked fine when i got them or i wouldn't have bought them .
I never added any LFS water to my tank i netted the fish in the bag anfd then reasle dthem into the tank. I' don't know how long the fish were at the store but the fish were on sale and the worker at the store said they were selling the fish as soon as they were out of quarentine. I personally didn't quarentine them becasue i don't have a tank to be able to do that. Should i treat the watre in the tank with some sort of meds. The fish that died didn't show any symptoms of any sickness whatsoever it was just one minute they were fin the next they were belly up!