Why are my freshwater fishes dying one by one?
I have a fully cycled freshwater 55 gal tank with a 25 gal sump. Water params are: Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20 ppm. Water temp is 76 F.
1 UpsideDown Catfish, 7 Neo Tetras, 2 Siamese Algae Eaters, 5 Serpae Tetra, 2 Kuhli Loaches, 2 Swordtails 2 Betta fish (male/female), 4 Blue Rams and 1 Blind Cave Mexican Tetra.
It started with the Blue Rams Dying the second day after I introduced them, even the female laid eggs and the pair was guarding them. The other 2 died, then the male guarding the eggs died. The female lasted 5 more days and died. They all seemed pretty well were active and eating. 2 Neon tetras died within the last 3 days, I could’nt help but notice one of them could not close its mouth, like it was paralyzed, the other one lost half of it’s body color.
2 Serpae Tetra died within 2 weeks, they seemed to have some king of white scaring around their mouth. The same kind of scaring happened to my male Swordtail plus he had one eye completly white but he fully recovered.
Today I notice my two Kuhli are swimming like crazy all over the place, they do not want to stay at the bottom instead prefer to be on top of my plants at all times. My female Betta died today, she had some white scarind on her right side (I thought it had been the male chasing her).
One of my Siamese Algae Eaters doesn’t seem very active today and they always are, he didn’t come out to eat and is hiding and not moving much. I am going nuts here, I love my fish can anyone help me with a clue as to whats going on? I change 10-20% of the water on a weekly basis. I also have added some Aquarium Salt but mush less than the recommended dose just in case. My plants are flourishing, I have like 40 of like 20 different species.
Thank you all, I don’t think is Neon Disease. My pH level is 7.4, I know it is kind of high for Rams but they are kept at the same pH at the LFS.
I have the Synodontis catfish he is about 3 inches and I don’t think he is attacking the fish.
I did a 35% water change yesterday hoping if it was something else that it would bring down the levels. I guess I just won’t buy any other fish for a while and see what happens with the rest of them. I’ll try another water change and add some more aquarium salt, this is really frustrating, the were all doing so good. Thanks again.
One of my Kuhlis died today, I can’t find the other one, I’m pretty sure she is dead. I can’t find the Chinese Algae Eater that I thought was sick yesterday, he might have died too.
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I’m sorry you are having so many problems. It sounds like some of your fish had what they call Neon Disease. http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/neon_tetra_disease/ Check that website out. Without seeing your fish I can’t tell you for sure if that’s what it is. The losing the of their color and the swimming like crazy are symptoms of the disease. If it is that, there is nothing you can do.
I’m not sure about your blue rams. What is your ph at?! Blue rams like it kinda low. I hope it all works out for you. I wouldn’t recommend any medications. I would just let it run its course. I would add a little more salt. That will help the stress that the fish are going through.
You don’t mention a pH level, do you know what it is? Rams are sensitive to pH and water quality, so it would make sense for them to be the first to be affected. You might have something in your tank that’s raising or lowering the pH without your knowing it (driftwood, rocks). I’d check the level in your tank, as well as your water source and see how they compare.
What sort of upsidedown catfish do you have? The Synodontis nigriventris http://www.discusmadness.com/images/Discus%20Tips/upsidedown-catfish.gif shouldn’t be a problem, but maybe you have the Mystus leucophasis http://www.petcity.co.kr/fishimg/fi07im01.jpg . These guys are predators, so they might be attacking your fish during the night (when these guys are most active). It may not have been a problem when you first got your fish and it was small, but they can get 6″ or more. That can also explain the white marks if these look like where scales have been scraped off – this would be damage from bites or running into stuff in your tank while trying to escape. The WalMarts by me were selling the Mystus at about an inch and a half length, but the sign for care info was for the Synodontis. Maybe you purchased one of these.
And it’s possible there’s something else in your tank (chemical-wise, a parasite or bacteria/fungus) that’s affecting them. I’d personally try a larger water change to see if that helps. If it’s a chemical problem, that would remove more of it than you’re doing in your weekly water changes. Since you’re seeing most of the marks around the fishes’ mouths, google pictures and info on mouth rot (Columnaris) to see if it looks like that. This is a bacterial infection which you can treat with antibiotics. Just read the labels on the aquarium meds, and find something that treats this.
put 3 capsule of 500mg teramycine , but before that clean the whole tank properly.