Please Help - My Fish Are Starting To Die :o(

[glittergayle]

Hi,
Last night my zebra danio died. I noticed my 7 fish and 3 apple snails swimming near the top and the zebra was swimming upside down. It was trying to right itself but couldn't and eventually it stopped breathing and died. This only took about 5-10 minutes. It had no other symptoms apart from floating upside down. I did a massive water change (about 75%) and the rest of the fish seemed to perk up a bit. I also did loads of tests - ph, ammonia, nitrate, iron etc. and all were fine. I have 2 danios left, 1 white cloud minnow and 3 guppys. But then this morning, the minnow was upside down too....dead...again with no other visible symptoms. I changed the water again and did more tests, but again the results came back perfect.

My boyfriend and i have had the tank for at least 6 months and none of our fish have ever died. We had always kept coldwater fish, but then a couple of weeks ago we bought a bigger tank (7 gallons), then a week later we bought the 3 guppys - 1 male and 2 female. We also got a bigger filter (fluval 2), a heater and a thermometer. The fish have all been fine in this new tank - or so we thought.

Does anyone have any idea what might be happening to them? We haven't changed their feeding patterns or anything like that, and we even saw that some baby guppies have been born, there's about 3 of them hiding in the plants, so we've been looking forward to watching them grow but are now afraid they won't last. Does anyone have any ideas why our fish are suddenly dying with no visible symptoms???
Thanks.

 

[jungleistmassiv]

i've got the same problems as you - what are your ammonia readings?? Looks like you didn't cycle your tank properly either

Have a look on my thread (just 1 below yours)

rich

 

[-germ-]

Did you cycle your new filter....
I'm rubbish at diseases, just thought i'd ask...

 

[glittergayle]

Did you cycle your new filter....
I'm rubbish at diseases, just thought i'd ask...

We just put our filter in, didn't know you had to cycle them. of course we had to put new sand in too so that'll be cycling, but kept all the sand from our first smaller tank and put it on top of the new sand cos we knew it held alot of bacteria.
What were we supposed to do with our filter? I think my boyfriend put the carbon insert into it...

 

[glittergayle]

i've got the same problems as you - what are your ammonia readings?? Looks like you didn't cycle your tank properly either

Have a look on my thread (just 1 below yours)

rich

And by the way, our ammonia nitrate and nitrates are zero, so i'm not sure that it is actually a cycling problem. I'm going home at lunch time to check on them, but am worried i'll find another one dead (

 

[-germ-]

How old is your test kit?
They stop giving accurate readings after a bit... Is it liquid or strip.....

 

[glittergayle]

How old is your test kit?
They stop giving accurate readings after a bit... Is it liquid or strip.....

It's liquid, and we bought it off ebay 6 months ago so don't know how old it is! Maybe they're giving off incorrect readings and they've all got ammonia poisoning! (

I'm off to the pet shop now to see if they've got any answers and remedies - i'll let you know )

 

[-germ-]

Woah, if it is toxicity in your tank get some seachem prime!!
They're only going to try to sell you something you don't need....
(cynic)

 

[vinylman]

We just put our filter in, didn't know you had to cycle them. of course we had to put new sand in too so that'll be cycling, but kept all the sand from our first smaller tank and put it on top of the new sand cos we knew it held alot of bacteria.
What were we supposed to do with our filter? I think my boyfriend put the carbon insert into it...

Sand or gravel doesn't cycle, as a filter has to; compared to a filter, substrate holds very little bacteria. You only really need carbon in a filter when you want to remove medications from the water; take out the carbon pad and replace it with another filter sponge. There are several threads on cycling, please read them; it's stuff you NEED to know - ammonia and nitrates can kill fish. You say your water tests were perfect - what were the exact results?.



I've just read that your nitrates are zero; they should never be zero - every tank will have SOME nitrates. If that's what your test read, then you'll probably need a new one. Check the date on the packaging if you can before you buy.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I've just read that your nitrates are zero; they should never be zero - every tank will have SOME nitrates. If that's what your test read, then you'll probably need a new one. Check the date on the packaging if you can before you buy.

read the links in my sig on cycling, get some accurate test results for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and post back with the readings (nto just saying they are fine, give us the actual numbers, (fine for one fish is not always fine for another) and we'll take it from there.

 

[glittergayle]

Ross, why don't you tell them the test results cos i can't remember... x

 

[glittergayle]

I've just read that your nitrates are zero; they should never be zero - every tank will have SOME nitrates. If that's what your test read, then you'll probably need a new one. Check the date on the packaging if you can before you buy.

read the links in my sig on cycling, get some accurate test results for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and post back with the readings (nto just saying they are fine, give us the actual numbers, (fine for one fish is not always fine for another) and we'll take it from there.

I'm back from the shop and they did tests on my water and the ammonia is fine. I can't remember the results, i've asked my boyfriend to let you know but he's pretty busy at work so might not get the chance.
Anyway, the girl in the shop suggested neon tetra disease which i found on the net and the symptoms seem to be right. She said she would've thought if it was ammonia or something to do with the water that the guppies would've died first seeing as though danios are much hardier fish than guppies. I've been home at lunch time and they seem to be fine, as do the snails, so fingers crossed

 

[Christine1014]

Hi,
Last night my zebra danio died. I noticed my 7 fish and 3 apple snails swimming near the top and the zebra was swimming upside down. It was trying to right itself but couldn't and eventually it stopped breathing and died. This only took about 5-10 minutes. It had no other symptoms apart from floating upside down. I did a massive water change (about 75%) and the rest of the fish seemed to perk up a bit. I also did loads of tests - ph, ammonia, nitrate, iron etc. and all were fine. I have 2 danios left, 1 white cloud minnow and 3 guppys. But then this morning, the minnow was upside down too....dead...again with no other visible symptoms. I changed the water again and did more tests, but again the results came back perfect.

My boyfriend and i have had the tank for at least 6 months and none of our fish have ever died. We had always kept coldwater fish, but then a couple of weeks ago we bought a bigger tank (7 gallons), then a week later we bought the 3 guppys - 1 male and 2 female.

So did you have 7 fish and three snails in a 7 gallon tank? If so, part of your problem is likely that you're overstocked. If your nitrates are zero, either your tank has only just begun to cycle (first you get ammonia - lots of it. Then NitrItes, and lastly, you'll see a nitrAte reading). But when you're too overstocked, a small filter just can't house enough beneficial bacteria to process the ammonia and nitrite. The only "fine" level of ammonia is zero -- a concept which, sadly, some LFS employees don't seem to get.

 

[glittergayle]

Hi,
Last night my zebra danio died. I noticed my 7 fish and 3 apple snails swimming near the top and the zebra was swimming upside down. It was trying to right itself but couldn't and eventually it stopped breathing and died. This only took about 5-10 minutes. It had no other symptoms apart from floating upside down. I did a massive water change (about 75%) and the rest of the fish seemed to perk up a bit. I also did loads of tests - ph, ammonia, nitrate, iron etc. and all were fine. I have 2 danios left, 1 white cloud minnow and 3 guppys. But then this morning, the minnow was upside down too....dead...again with no other visible symptoms. I changed the water again and did more tests, but again the results came back perfect.

My boyfriend and i have had the tank for at least 6 months and none of our fish have ever died. We had always kept coldwater fish, but then a couple of weeks ago we bought a bigger tank (7 gallons), then a week later we bought the 3 guppys - 1 male and 2 female.

So did you have 7 fish and three snails in a 7 gallon tank? If so, part of your problem is likely that you're overstocked. If your nitrates are zero, either your tank has only just begun to cycle (first you get ammonia - lots of it. Then NitrItes, and lastly, you'll see a nitrAte reading). But when you're too overstocked, a small filter just can't house enough beneficial bacteria to process the ammonia and nitrite. The only "fine" level of ammonia is zero -- a concept which, sadly, some LFS employees don't seem to get.

Hi, yes i had 7 fish, but they're only 1 inch long, some aren't even that so it's def not overstocked. I apologise for confusing everyone by saying all the tests were zero. That's not what i meant. I meant they were all ok...they all had the correct levels of whatever they're supposed to have in them! My boyfriend does the tests, he's the scientist! Besides, they were also tested by the pet shop which said our water was fine, so i'll see how they are tonight when i get in from work and will post a message on here tomorrow.

Thanks for all your advice everyone