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[HerrGideon]

this is urgent.

i have a 4 feet by 1.5 feet by 1.5 feet planted tank.

i have about 50 malayan shrimp, 16 cherry barbs, 2 angels, 5 SAEs and 4 discus.
just bought two more discus and 50 neons two nights ago, and 100 malayan shrimp yesterday.

and when i woke up today, 3 discus (not the new ones), 2 cherrys and 70 shrimp died, and the other fish and shrimp gasping at the surface.

what went wrong?
and what can i do?

PLEASE HELP.

[13-186]

can we assumed that the tank is stable and cyclebefore the disaster happened?
were those shrimps introduced at the correct way into the tank? they are very very sensitive to pH shock.
observed anything weird (like swimming mary-go-round) before they kick the bucket?
if not, could it be one of the bags of newly bought items carries harmful disease? was water in the bag poured into your tank?
just a 5cent of opinion on what are the changes introduced to your tank before the disaster happened....

[checkerboard]

Are you running a planted tank?
Is your CO2 on 24hrs. that might be the problem.

also, you bio-load is way too high in my opinion.
maybe that itself is the problem withour aeration at night
and sufficient photosynthesis in the day to saturate the water with oxygen.

[mordrake]

i think it's a case of ammonia spike that caused this.
adding so many fishes and shrimps at one go is not a good idea. your beneficial bacteria may not be able to cope with the extra bioload.
did you check your ammonia, nitrite readings?
also, did you quarantine your fishes?

[JT]

Confirmed its overcrowded! Lack of Oxygen. The shrimps are already coming up to the surface. Quite severe. Take a look at the fishes...are their mouth grasping for air? - opening and closing rapidly?

U need to inject oxygen straight away.

[plantmania]

One heck of a CROWDED tank....

1. Not enough air, need aeration
2. Ammonia spikes, bio filter cannot handle the bioload....
3. New tank syndrome. You must have a new tank with no proper cycling done....
4. Noob/Newbie syndrome. You added tons of fish, and don't check water parameters.... High level of nitrite nitrate or ammonia.... Don't read .... Don't listen .....

What you can do?
1. Most of the fish died , good news actually lower bioload. Remove all dead fish/shrimps, whatever. Change at least 50% water....
2. DON'T add any more fish for at least 1 month
3. Get an air pump if you plan to have more fish after 1 month....
4. Test water for ammonia every 3 days for a month to determine if water is cycled... BUY a test kit.
5. Add beneficial bacterial from commercial products if you are too lazy or inpatient. This does not mean you can add more fish. Try nutrafin's cycle...

[HerrGideon]

thanks guys for your help!

i think it's an oxygen problem, added aeration and the fish are doing much better now. my two new discus are still very shy, and the remaining one which used to be pretty bold always hides with them now. what should i do?

i've just bought 5 pots of e. tenellus and planted them, are they easy to grow?

and how big is an amazon sword? is it to be planted in the foreground, midground or background? do you think it will complement the large tiger lotus i have, or look weird together?

thanks!