Possibly Ill Fish?

[Whyteknight]

Hi,
I have a bit of a strange problem with my fish, i have a Juwel vision 260 that has been running now for a year (approx) it has the following fish:
1 x red tail shark (full grown)
2 x rainbow fish (about 2" so i guess full grown)
1 x golden killifish (2 3/4")
6 x emeperor tetra (full grown)
5 x zebra danio (full grown)
2 x thick lip gourami (full grown)
1 x honey gourami (fully grown, its friend died this weekend)
4 x amano shrimp
1 x Sail fin pleco (about 6")
1 x Female Ram (about 1" long, her mate died this weekend)

Amonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 15 maybe 20
The problem i have as you may have seen by the 2 fish that died this weekend is something is wrong but i have no idea what! two weeks ago i went away for the weekend so i fed the fish on friday evening when i got home sunday night all the fish apart from the gouramis had lost all their colour the rams and the tetras almost white! after feeding them all the fish regained their colour and they all looked really healthy once again. fast forward two weeks and two 10% water changes and i go away again this time from saturday morning (fed fish then) and got back sunday evening. to find my male ram dead and all the fish once again looking pale, i fed the fish and they all perked up again and when i checked the water amonia was still 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate aprox 20 maybe 25 so still normal but a bit higher than i normaly let it get. today one of the honey's died but every other fish is back to looking great?? I feed normaly a bit of food in a morning and a bit on an evening. I am totaly stumpped as to what is wrong! any help would be great!

 

[Colin_T]

what do the fish look like when they die?
do you have the lights on a timer or are they turned on or off when you go away?
is anyone looking after the fish while you are away, ie: nobody coming in and giving them extra food because you're not there?
do you do a water change or clean the filters before you go?

your rainbow sharks are probably being bullied by the redtail black shark, which I assume is bigger than them. Rainbow & redtail sharks are highly territorial and dominant fish will chase the smaller ones around.

 

[Whyteknight]

the honey looked fine, just like normal and unfortunately the ram had started to become food so he didn't look much like a ram.
No i only do water changes / filter maintenance when im going to be in just incase. no the lights are off when we are away, however they are in our livingroom and so its not dark during the day (but not near a window) and no noone comes in to feed them when i go away but surely tropical fish should be ok to live for 40 hours without food? (however i am going to buy a timed feed unit)
Sorry the description wasn't quite right on the rainbow fish, they are mirror looking things not sharks.

 

[Whyteknight]

the rainbow and the Ram a few days before i went away for the weekend

This is one of the tetras

sorry this is the ram and rainbow

 

[Colin_T]

sorry my mistake about the rainbowfish, fish not sharks. I didn't read it properly

if the ram had a disease and the other fishes ate it, they could develop the same problem in the near future.

fish can go for weeks without food so a couple of days won't affect them. I was curious as to whether someone was coming in and over feeding them while you where away.

It could be they are stressing out because the tank is dark (without lights on). You have upset their routine and they might stress from that, but it is unlikely.
I would fit a timer to the lights and that way you don't have to worry about turning them on or off. You could also try leaving the lights off during a weekend while you are home and see if anything happens in the darkened tank.

do you gravel clean the tank when you do water changes?

edited to add
the balloon rams are quite sensitive to health issues and often bloat up and die from internal complications. This is caused by them being shorter than normal and their internal organs are more squished up. They are also genetically weaker, which makes them more prone to health issues in general.
The rainbowfish is nice and so is the emperor tetra. Nice clear pics too

 

[Whyteknight]

Thanks, those pic's took me ages to take! thank god for digi cameras and 4gb cards!! I didn't even know he was a ballon ram.lol i guess i will leave the female to grieve for a bit then get her a new mate. I will try a timer before i next go away (and a feed thing).

Yeh i use a gravel vac which drives my girlfriend mad as half my tank is sand so it ends up being sucked up and going into the sink! (i forgot to mention the 2 khuli loaches, hence the sand part)

 

[Colin_T]

Yep digital cameras are great, no more wasting money on getting film developed. Just take picture after picture until you get a decent shot

Balloon rams are shorter and more rounded than normal rams. Yours also has long fins and that adds another genetic weakness to them.

If you get an automatic feeder, try it out a few times before you go away. Then you can monitor it and make sure it is working ok.

When I gravel clean sand I use a wide gravel cleaner (2litre plastic Coke bottle) and I kink the hose. The wider bottle helps prevent the sand being sucked up as quickly and kinking the hose gives the sand time to settle back in the tank and not get sucked out.