problem. please help

[thai]

ok, this is the history.
180 litre tank, been set up 8 months, had no problems until:
about a week ago a flame tetra died. no sign of illness.
4 platies introduced, one died next day
2 days ago a black ruby barb died. no sign, was fine in the afternoon, dead in the evening.
did a water change, just to be safe.
this morning my siamese fighter was dead
water has been tested twice in this period by my lfs and he says all is absolutely fine.
1 molly was rock rubbing 3 days ago but has stopped.
saw 1 platy doing the same yesterday,nothing today.
i have studied all the fish for hours.
absolutely no sign of spots or slime.
used a general water tonic today as have not a lot else to go on.
PLEASE HELP i don't want any more of my fish to die

stock: 2 mollies, 3 neons, 2 ruby barbs, 5 cherry barbs, 2 honey gouramis, 2 plecs 3 widow tetras 2 rams 3 platies

thank u in advance for all suggestions

 

[Fella]

When he says "absolutely fine" I'd be keen for actual numbers. "absolutely fine" is pretty vague...

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like a parasite with the flicking and rubbing any sign of laboured breathing, look at the gills do they look red and inflamed or pale.

 

[black angel]

and, any rubbing can mean anything from poor water quality to parasites. With the deaths happening so fast i would look at something poisoning them perhaps.
What are you using in way of additives to the water?

Go back to the lfs and ask them to write the values down for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph.

 

[WILDER]

Also when the fish are just swimming in position does it look like they are uncomfortable and like they keep twitching as something is irratating them.

 

[thai]

the fish do not look uncomfortable at all, no twitching.
one of the platies may have red gills, but this is not the one that was flicking.
the only additives in the water are what is used for the water change, nutrafin.
if it was a parasite, why is that platy and molly not rubbing anymore??
i have become obsessed with watching them, i don't want to get up tmrw to find more dead.
everything was going so well, i even started a 240 litre tank yesterday

ammonia and nitrite was 0 don't know about nitrate

but it's been tested twice in the week and he said the water was ok

he used a chart for ph and it was a mid blue, didn't look at reading

 

[WILDER]

Red inflamed gills can be poor water quality or gill flukes.

 

[WILDER]

http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/flukes.htm

 

[thai]

a cherry barb died today. man from lfs has looked at tank and said nothing appears to be wrong. fish look fine , then die.
did another 20% water change today.
can anyone else shed any light??

 

[sylvia]

I don't know what it is but I strongly urge you to go out and buy yourself a liquid-based test kit that you can use to measure ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte and pH. I don't trust the LFS's readings or the paper strip test kits they are apparently using.

Regardless of what's wrong with your fish, check the temperature is ok and then do water changes with de-chlorinated water on a regular basis to improve water quality as much as possible. I would do one every couple of days at least until you have figured out what may be wrong.

Flicking like you've described, if your water params are indeed fine, has to either mean parasites or that there's something in your water that's irritating the fish.

If it's parasites I'd expect to see some symptoms. You did mention the inflamed gills... Many anti-external parasite treatments can be used as a preventative measure safely. Considering the number of deaths you've experienced, this may be something to consider trying.

Now if the problem is that your fish are getting poisoned by something you need to work out what. Have you sprayed anything near the tank recently? Anything from air fresheners to paint to scented candles or hair spray can kill your fish. The same applies to any trace amounts of soap... rinse whatever equipment you use to do water changes etc thoroughly before using them to be on the safe side. Something else to consider may be that, if you use water from the hot water tap, there may be elevated amounts of heavy metals etc getting into your tank. No matter exactly what it is, adding carbon to your filter might help. Keep in mind, however, that you must remove the carbon if you wish to medicate the tank so you are going to have to work out whether the problem is a disease or poisoning...

 

[thai]

i had a plug in air freshener in the room. i have taken this out now. do u think it may have had something to do with it?

on a slightly brighter note, 17 baby mollies were found this mornign when i got up. they are now in a breeding trap and fingers crossed