Unexplained Swordtail Death

[redmonty]

Hi,

Just had a new female swordtail die in our tank and don't know why. Sad and worried that it will be something which could affect the other fish but have read it is bad to medicate unless you know what is wrong. Any ideas what could be wrong? Anything we can do to help the other fish?

Got a new 60L tank in September which has now cycled. Had two platy and one honey gourami until last weekend when added 6 copper tetra and 2 swordtail (male and female).

Nitrate levels in tank less than 0.3. Sorry, don't have tests for amonia. Temperature is 23C. Do a 20% water change weekly.

The female swordtail didn't show any physical symptoms but did seem to have eratic movement from when we bought her. Gave birth to some fry within the first few days of being in the tank. Hope this isn't too morbid but picture of her just after death below in case it can help anyone tell me what is wrong. She just laid down on her side under a rock and died.

Other fish seem to be fine - although the male swordtail seems genuinely depressed. Concerned that his eyes could be beginning to bulge but may be being paranoid.

Don't want our other fish to suffer the same fate - please help!

 

[5teady_2012]

What you should do asap is a big waterchange, the nitrites should be 0....

Do a 50% waterchange, and see if they perc up a bit, are the fins clamped? the one in the pic also looks like it stomach is a bit flat, could of been a internal parasite problem...

Up your weekly water changes to 30%

Also, whehn buying livebearers such as swordtails, you should always ratio them out 1 male to every 2-3 females to minimize stress of the male harrasing just one female.

What filter you using? do you clean it? how do you clean it?

adding 8 fish at once is not always a good idea, the levels in the tank can go high quickly if your filter is not established enough to cope with all the waste produced from the new and old fish at once.