Help!!! My fishes are dying!!

[TBoss]

Help!! My fishes are dropping dead day by day. I really dont know what to do right now so hope some experts out there can help me, especially during the festive seasons when all LFS are closed.

I set up my new tank in Nov last year. I followed all procedures like cycling for at least 1 month before putting in my first first faunas. It's a planted tank (sorry I dont know what plants I bought) but is quite heavily planted for a small tank. As for the faunas, I originally owned 7 golden pencils, 4 cherry barbs, 6 Albino corys, 3 pgymy corys, 2 otos and some cherry shrimps and yamatos. All started well. Then last month, i realised my shrimps were dropping dead everytime I changed water each week. Then all shrimps were wiped out. Ok... I know is abit overloaded but I bought another 5 cardinals. This month, all hell broke lose. First the cardinals started to die. Then this week, my longest lived golden pencils which I had for 2 years also dropped one by one... I added 3 thread rainbow fishes and 3 lampeyes last week. So far the corys, otos & cherry barbs dont seem to have any signs. My golden pencils are down to 3 while the cardinals were all wiped out.

I tried changing my filter media per week but things dont seem to improve.. So what exactly is happening? Overloaded? Overfeeding? Ammonia spike? And what should I do? Should I rescape or...? Help help help...

Tank - Set up in Nov last year. Built in filter. 30cm x 30cm x 20cm
CO2 - Was using CO2 pills then started with Flourish Excel last week
Fert - Base Fert then ADA soil. I bought it 2 years ago
Lights - 4 x 36 PL + 1 x 36 FL
Temp 28-30
Lights on 10 hrs a day
PH/KH test: Sorry... I dont know how to...

[PeterGwee]

Did you change all the filter media? Did you dose the excel according to the stated amount on the bottle?

Regards,
Peter Gwee

[TBoss]

I did not change any filter elements before the havoc. I only changed it after.

[TBoss]

And ya... I think I did not overdose my excel

[PeterGwee]

Well, hard to know what exactly went wrong but always add anti-chloramine solution whenever you do water changes as modern water source do come with chloramine for prevention of bacteria growth in pipelines and for killing of pathogens. Also, make sure you have moderate surface movement so as to encourage good gas exchange for good oxygen level in the tank.

Note: Do not overload the tank if you care about the fish. Give them a nice spacious home to live in.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

[Merviso]

Hi bro, just to make sure I understand correctly, your time line is as follows:

1. The tank is set up on nov 2008
2. You cycle for one month => dec 2008
3. "Then last month, i realised my shrimps were dropping dead..." => dec 2008
4. "This month, all hell broke lose." => jan 2009

Is this correct ?

Btw... it will be good to show us your tank photo so that we can understand better.

"I tried changing my filter media per week.." What kind of filter are you using? What kind of media?

"my shrimps were dropping dead everytime I changed water each week..." How did you change water? How much each time? Did you use any water conditional? Did you aged your water?

Please provide us with as much information so that we can understand better.

[TBoss]

"I tried changing my filter media per week.." What kind of filter are you using? What kind of media? -
Eh... Is a built in filter. I have normal sponge for aquariums, biomechanical filter medium (ceramic rings?) and PUR-II water recharge Ammonia & Nitrate Controller.

"my shrimps were dropping dead everytime I changed water each week..." How did you change water? How much each time? Did you use any water conditional? Did you aged your water?
- I changed about 20% to 25% each weekend. Yes, I used Ocean Free Super fish Guard. Is it a water conditioner? It says removes chlorine on it. As for the water I use, I store up water in mineral water bottles for one week.

Hope these info are enough. Oh yes... one of my Cherry barbs is showing signs of "leaving" today... its stomach seems bloated and it's hiding in a dark corner...

[Merviso]

Hi TBoss,

If my understanding of your time line is correct, then your tank is considered relatively new. I personally have lots of problems with shrimps on new tanks too. So it is normally recommended to put in shrimp after a few months and let your tank parameters settle down first.

I'm not sure how you do the one month cycling, but since you only put in your fishes after one month, that would only mean that you added all these fishes and shrimps within a short span of time... My guess is that you may have a New Tank Syndrome ... I can only advice that you let the tank settle down for the time being and not add any more fish until the fish is stable.

For your filter, you mention changing the medias every week. I hope you are only referring to filter wool. Since the nitrifying bacteria live on the filter medias, I hope your ceramic rings is enough compared to your filter wool., so that when you throw your filter wool, enough nitrifying bacteria is left. Anyway, I dun think you need to change it so often unless it is really clogged.

You have a small tank, so too much water changes at one time will have big effect on the parameters of the water. You may try doing smaller water changes twice a week as a start. I don't use Ocean Free Super fish Guard, but guess it should be ok,. I usually just keep a pail of water, add in condition the day before water change.

Good luck to you!

[hell united]

Did you wash your driftwood before placing into your tank? According to my experience, you should place your driftwood into hot water and soak it for about 4 hours. Wood are excellent in absorbing nutrients (and pollutants!). If you do not wash them sufficiently clean and if you are unlucky, your wood may contain pollutants. The worst you ever want to imagine is for your wood to release industrial chemical into your aquarium. I hope i am not frightening you but i have once wash out 2 cockroaches hiding inside an opening in my driftwood. If you are desperate, you should strip your tank and restart by washing everything all over again before you buy any more fishes only to die.

[TBoss]

Just bought PH, Ammonia and Nitrate test kits. Tested and all went well... PH was around 6.5... Ammonia 0 and Nitrate around 10... Maybe my changing of water for the pass few days helped alot. No casulties for 1 day already. *Finger crossed