Sign Dying Fish....

[Ansel_Tk1]

Request Help

Please help - for some reason my Mollies and Gouramis dont live long in this tank. The other fish seem to be fine. I have lost 4 black mollies, 2

mickey mouse mollies and 2 silver gouramis over the last 3 months.

Tank size: 65G
pH: 7-7.2
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: ?
kH: 9
gH: 16
tank temp: 80.2

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Just seem to slow down and hang out near the bottom

and get a little wobbly and the next day they are floaters.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 1/8 once a week (there is evaporation that takes up another 1/8 a week)

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: CO2 compressed injection at 5 bubbles/second

Tank inhabitants:

10 neons
2 cobra guppies
1 dalmation molly left
2 clown loaches
1 pleco
2 diamond tetras
planted tank (see photo)

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): none

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible): attached

Some other notes - I have mixed a little crushed coral in with the filter balls in the canister filter to soften the water and prevent ph spikes.

Seems to work a little.

 

[WILDER]

Need that nitrate reading.
Gouramis are not that hardy to be honest and soon can come down with a bacterial infection.
Mollies do better in brackish water.
Any symtoms to go on.

 

[Ansel_Tk1]

sorry my pic didnt upload

 

[WILDER]

Don't need to mess about with the ph, what was the ph before you added the coral.

 

[Ansel_Tk1]

I will need to go get a nitrate tester I think.

The fish have appear to have no markings, fungus or slime on them. They look fine aside and then they look like they are starting to have trouble.

I have no oxygen coming into the tank other than what the plants provide - is that an issue?

 

[WILDER]

So you don't have a filter.
You still need an airstone in the tank for aeration.

 

[Ansel_Tk1]

Before I added the coral to the filter my readings were in the 6-6.5 range during the day. I got scared when I was told that because of the CO2 injection that might spike at night when the plants were not producing oxygen (or using CO2) with the lights off.

 

[WILDER]

How fast did the ph shoot up.

 

[Ansel_Tk1]

I checked the nitrate levels and there is little to no reading (water in the test tube stayed nearly clear).

The PH came up when I added the coral by about a point the next day.

When you asked that I have no filter - do you mean other than the canister filter? No just the canister filter. I have no oxygen going in the tank. I thought the plants would provide enough.

Do you think that might be the issue? The other fish seem to do fine - its just those mollies and the 2 gouramis I lost!

Also, slightly brackish for mollies? I guess I should have checked more carefully before I put them in!

Is the high KH and GH a problem? What can I do about that?

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[WILDER]

Ok so you do have a filter thats fine.
Test yoour tap water in nitrate.
Know nothig about kh and gh rdd1952 is the guy you won't I will pm for you.

 

[WILDER]

Here something to be going on with.
http/www.drhelm.com/aquarium/chemistry.html

 

[rdd1952]

The KH & GH of your water should be fine at 9 & 16. The 16 means your water is a little on the hard side but nothing your fish couldn't handle, especially the mollies. The only thing that could be causing problems is potential swings. The crushed coral in your filter will raise both the GH & KH so if your tap water has little or none (most municipal water supplies have very low GH & KH to make the water taste better) then water changes could cause swings but you are only changing 25% so it really shouldn't b a problem. It definitely sounds more like a disease to me than something related to water parameters. What is the pH, KH & GH of your tap water?

On thing I would do though is lower the temperature. 77 or 78 should be fine for your fish. And the higher temperature makes the possibiblty of the CO2 injection causing oxygen problems a little more likely as higher temperatures drive out oxygen.

 

[zoekin8yg]

Also dont forget the loaches and plec reach 12 inches