My fish are dying please help!?

Question

I have a 48" by 12" by 18" tank and I have, 6 cardinal tetras, 6 rummy-nose tetras, 2 golden nugget plecos, 4 cory catfish, 1 betta, 4 dwarf gouramis, 2 platies, 6 peacock gobies, 2 gardners killifish, and 4 neon rainbowfish. Not out of those fish, over the past week I have had 1 dwarf gourami, 2 rosy-line sharks, and 1 sailfin molly die. The nitrates and ammonia are at 0, the temperature is at 78.2 degrees, and the pH is at 7. What is wrong? Whenever I know a fish is dying it is because they start not eating and eventually they stay in one place on the ground and whenever they try to swim, the back end of their body goes back down and they sit on the ground again. Please help!!!

My tank has been running for about 2 months and the nitrates have been at 0 for about 2 weeks. A rainbow fish just died. I usually change about half the water every week.

The fish in my tank now are:
4 dwarf gouramis
5 peacock gobies
1 gardners killifish
4 three-lined cory catfish
2 platies
2 golden nugget plecos
6 cardinal tetras
6 rummy-nose tetras
3 neon rainbowfish

Answer 1

#1 thing to do is start doing water changes. IN that size tank I'd change 10 gallons a day for the next week or so. You have quite a few fish in that tank and the issue is most likely water conditions. Once things stabilize you can go back to once a week.

Next thing to do is add salt to the water. About a tablespoon per five gallons or so. Remember to add it when you change the water as well.

Another thing to try is reduce feeding the fish. I would cut the feedings to twice a week at this point. That will reduce the amount of biological waste in the tank and will help overall water quality.

You mentioned that Nitrates are 0, nitrates don't really start kicking in until the biological filteration has been well established. How long has the tank been set up? If it's less than 6 weeks your fish are experiencing nitrite issues. Nitrites are the second part of the new tank cycling process, after ammonia levels drop.

Bottom line, frequent water changes are the critical piece of fishkeeping. Good luck.

Answer 2

You do have a lot of fish in your tank I must say. Perhaps one of your fish was sick at the time you placed them all into the tank, and they might be ill with a bacterial infection. Regular water changes are one of the most important chores you need to do. 25% per week - every week, please.

1. I would suggest that you make a 25% (1/4 of total water volume) right away.
2. Get your yourself an all round antibiotic meds such as "Maracyn II" - add this according to package instruction. Maracyn II treatment should be done for 5 days straight.
3. Afterwards you need to make another 25% water change.
4. Observe your fish so you can remove any dead bodies right away.
5. Don't overfeed - a fish stomach is only the size of its eye! Rotting food spoils the water.
6. After all is well again, add salt with each water change - 1tsp. per 10 gallons of fresh water you add. Salt kills bacteria. At this dose it should not hurt your live plants (if you have any) in the tank.

I wish you good luck with your fish family.

Answer 3

Depending on the gallon amount of the tank..the rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon. Too many females in the tank can also cause the males to over exert themselves trying to breed and cause premature death. The tank I have is smaller than yours but something that seems to help with the mollies and there breed of fish is putting some sea salt in the water only a few tablespoons or as much as directed for your size tank. The salt acts as a " nerve pill" for the fish calming them down and keeping them from dying from stress. I hope that some or all of this is helpful. If not good luck and let me know what happens.

Answer 4

It sounds like you have a 40 gallon tank. That seems like a lot of fish. What do you use for filtration? are you overfeeding?
Why are you changing 50% of your water so often? I would only do a 25% change every two or three weeks. Sorry to answer your questions w/ questions, it is meant to make you think.
Have you checked for diseases? Pay attention to the fish store also. Are their fish healthy? I have seen some deplorable conditions in discount retailers' fish aquariums.

Answer 5

If you have a filter, with filter pads, and a bag of charcoal, change the charcoal in the bag. After a certain time, the charcoal does not filter the water correctly, and in time, will emit poisons into the aquarium water that slow fish down and in big quantities will kill your fish. When you clean the filter, do not rinse the filter pads (especially if you change the aquarium water) as the pads have organisms in them that keep the eco-system of your tank and your fish in good stead. Your fish sound is if they are 'losing north' = their equilibrium. This will will lead to fish swimming upside-down and they don't realise they are doing it until you touch them and then they 'wake up'. Your best bet is to clean your aquarium totally, if you have plastic plants and stones in there, soak and wash them all in a reasonably heavy salt solution (soak and rinse thoroughly after in cold water). The salt kills all bad yuckies. Clean all filter tubes leading in and out of the aquarium, and basically start your aquarium again. You can buy 'fish revitalizer' in the pet shops (fish tonic) Leave your aquarium a few days working with the filter, void of fish, so that the old sediment in the filter pads rehabilitates your aquarium to a nice fish eco-system! Let me know how you go! Cheers! If all else fails, buy a tortoise ;-) ps: I recently lost all my fish in my tank due to this problem - maybe you have the same problem I did !! I started my aquarium again .... and it's fabulous!

Answer 6

Sounds like you may have some type of bacterial infection. You might try changing out the water at around 4 gallons per day until you have changed out your whole 44 gallons. When is the last time you changed your filter? What type of aeration are you getting in the tank?

Answer 7

that is way too many fish for a 55 gallon tank. too much bio-load. it sounds like there is a disease in the tank...possibly fungal or bacterial. I would consider adding some malachite green in the tank, and then bringing some fish back to the store. did you overfeed the fish? is the tank well aerated?

Answer 8

Try maybe changing their fish food.

Answer 9

change water