Three Fish Dead In Past Week.

[CollegeFish]

Hi,

A week or so ago I had a fish (false julii cory) get stuck in two terracotta plant pots I'd introduced to the tank. As soon as it was freed from the hole on the pot I removed them and altered them so no fish would have a chance of becoming stuck again.

A few days after, one of my false julii corys was dead - I'm presuming (hoping) it was the one that got stuck.
I tested the water and all was fine.


Today I find two fish dead - another false julii cory and one of my panda garras. They were close to each other, and the garra seemed as if it had gotten itself stuck in amongst some of the rocks in the tank.

I tested the water again and all was okay, except the pH had gone from 8 to a very dark purple (8.8+). I've done a 50% water change and pH has dropped to the low 7's.

I have just noticed a white patch forming on the remaining panda garra though


Tank size: 54 litres
pH: 7.2
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
kH: unknown
gH: unknown
tank temp: 25.5c

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Remaining 3 false julii corys seem happier without the panda garras zooming around - will need to add more julii corys though.

Remaining panda garra is staying in one area of the tank and has a white patch that has formed in the last day or so which I need to identify. (photo at bottom of thread)

Volume and Frequency of water changes:
54 litres, once every 2 weeks unless water quality is elevated. (not had anything above zero for quite some time - pH was only increase, but possibly as a result of the two fish dieing).

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Cycled filter

Tank inhabitants:
4 rainbow neons, 5 cardinals, 5 black neons, 3 (was 5) small julii corys, 1 (was 2) panda garra.

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

Photo of white mark on panda garra:

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Sure you have 0ppm nitrate?

 

[CollegeFish]

Yeah its pretty much 0. More so than 5ppm.

Did have 5 plants but I've removed three since these deaths as they weren't looking healthy. So nitrate may begin to creep up.

 

[Kelly-Jo]

If you have 0 nitrite, ammonia and nitrate...are you sure the tank is cycled properly?

 

[This Old Spouse]

That was my question as well. With the nitrate test, please be sure you have shaken the bottle REALLY WELL before putting the drops in the test tube. In fact, when I was still using the API test kit I would rap that bottle hard, several times on a table top to dislodge any reagent that had settled. The first time I thought to do that my nitrate reading went from 0 ppm to 40!

 

[CollegeFish]

I've tested the nitrate again, shaken it (a lot) and its still showing 0.

The tank was fishless cycled for a few weeks, and was originally started at the beginning of may with filter media that was seeded from another tank.

I've not done a huge amount of water changes, and the water tests have always shown 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and low or 0 nitrate.

I don't really feel its a water quality issue? (not one the API kit can detect anyway).

 

[Kelly-Jo]

The thing is, you SHOULD have at least some nitrate reading. A reading of 0 suggests that your tank isn't cycled properly which would explain the fish's deaths.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Before and after your recent deaths, that is an awful lot of fish for a 54l, to put it into perspective I have ten Persian Killifish in a 54l that are ~2cm long. 21 fish is going to put a lot of strain on a typical filter that comes with a 54l (mine came with a Juwel mini, a single sponge and a 280lph pump) and in such small tanks any water probnlems can quickly esculate, not to mention the overcrowding could rapidly spread illness through the community.

The nitrates could well have been very low if the plants you had in there were fast growers, espcially if you were giving them long lighting hours (>6 per day) with the necessary fertilisers and a carbon source like Easycarbo.

How often were you doing water changes and how much were you changing with (dechlorinated?) water? Wondering if "old tank syndrome" is a possibility.

Were you sticking to the dosing instructions on the dechlorinator? Sometimes water companies add larger than normal doses of chemicals to our tap water, which is why I usually at least "double dose" the amount of Seachem Prime I add to each bucket of fresh water.

Any new fish recently? Were they quarantined or put straight in the 54l?

Your photos of the Panda Garra have not worked, would be great if you could try and sort that out so we can see what might be going on there. Two is a bad number for these fish (needs to be single or 3+), each garra needs at least 30x30cm of tank floor, as they do get territorial with each other and the fights result in a greying out of those lovely black/cream bands.