So 4 Clown Loaches And 2 Bristlenose Catfish Just Died

[Shmiles]

Hi there,

So I've had a few fish from my local dam in my tank for the last few weeks. These 6 fish didn't seem to be in any distress and survived for a while but I never fed them so a few of them eventually died off. I don't know if this is due to lack of food or other reasons. My tank is about 3-4 weeks old and I release my cycle isn't fully set up, but the levels in my tank aren't dangerous for the fish.
During this time I plant a number of different plants, all of which have survived and grown well, and are still growing well at the time of posting.
Thursday, I purchase 4 clown loaches and 2 bristlenose catfish and everything seems okay. Friday one of my loaches dies. Saturday another 2 of my loaches die. Sunday the last loach and both catfish die.
I had tested my water (ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) before putting these loaches/catfish in and everything was fine. After 2 loaches died I took a sample of my water to my local aquarium to get a 2nd opinion, their results also show my water as fine.
What is going on? I just spent $80 on fish which have all died and left my with one original fish which I didn't want to survive. The only thing I can think of is that the original 6 fish from my local dam have introduced some sort of disease into my tank which have killed the 6 I actually paid for within 3 days. Is this possible? I need all the help I can get here...

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[fluttermoth]

It could be that the fish from your local water are carrying something that they're immune to, but that the shop fish aren't. What species of fish are/were they?

What are the actual numbers from the tests, how big is the tank, what's the temperature and what filtration are you running? The original fish, more than likely, died from ammonia poisoning from being in an uncycled tank, but the lack of food wouldn't have helped. Why didn't you feed them?!

You'll need to be doing large water changes (probably every day), with temperature matched, dechlorinated water to keep the levels of ammonia and nitrite down until your filter cycles, unless you can get hold of any already mature media; from a friend with a tank, or a helpful shop.

I'm afraid admitting to not feeding them and not wanting fish to survive isn't really going to do you any favours on this forum