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Fish deaths

Lee iley

Lee iley

Member
Joined
19 Aug 2018
Messages
383
Location
Preston
Hi guys,

Just after a little advice, over the last 2 weeks I have lost a couple of shrimp, 4 pygmy Cory's and 1 neon green rasbora.
I don't test for anything apart from ph and tds. (As you guys say not to bother)
My tank has been set up since May and I put my fish and shrimps in on the 9th of August. Current set up.

Tank 180 litre.
Fluval plant 3.0 set at 40% for 6 hours.
Oase biomaster thermo 350.
Ph 7.2
Tds 189ppm
Gh around 4
Kh around 4 going of my latest water report. I do a 40% water changes per week.
Dose prime every water change and tnc complete every water change.
Tanks is very heavily planted and all seem to be growing fine.
Jbl pro soil capped with gravel and sand.
Hard scape seryu stone.
I did a water change Monday after work and both my logs lifted and couldn't get them to settle again so I took them out.
It did disturb alot of sand/gravel and lifted a few of my swords. Could this have some thing to do with it. My current tank temp is 24 aswel. Any help would be grand.

Cheers Lee
 
Sorry to hear about ur losses. Notoriously difficult to diagnose fish deaths and new fish in a new tank are usually at their most vulnerable, but…..

A collection of poor stock and/or issues with the fish before you got them is not beyond the realms of possibility but as you’ve had multiple losses of more than one breed, as well as shrimp, it could perhaps indicate an issue in the tank.

The deaths have also happened fairly quickly since adding them.

For me this would put an ammonia spike fairly high on my list.

This is probably a few more fish than I would add to a new tank at once, although in fairness, these are not huge fish, but possibly the influx of fish load, along with the subsequent fish food and your unfortunately disturbed substrate (which I understand contains root tabs) could have resulted in an ammonia load that the system just couldn’t cope with.

A decent amount of well growing plants will certainly help to clear ammonia, and the bio/eco system can adjust fairly quickly but perhaps the circumstances have tipped the balance.

Have you seen any redness around gills, lethargy, gasping and/or any other symptoms that may help folks to confirm or offer an alternative diagnosis!?

For the moment, I would advise a water change as soon as you can do one and maybe a couple of extra in the next week or so (with Prime of course). No guarantee that the above is the cause but WC’s won’t do any harm and certainly may help if ammonia is the issue.

I’m not a huge fan of testing myself but you could always get an ammonia test at least, just to see what results that gives you.

There are certainly other issues that can cause fish deaths but if it is a tank issue rather than an inherent problem with the stock, then the number of problems that can cause death inside two weeks should be a bit more limited. Some sort of toxicity would be my first guess.

Also, try to make sure you have good surface movement as Oxygen exchange is your friend, both for your fish and your good bacteria.

@MirandaB is pretty good with fish. Tagged so maybe she will drop by.
 
KirstyF said:
Sorry to hear about ur losses. Notoriously difficult to diagnose fish deaths and new fish in a new tank are usually at their most vulnerable, but…..

A collection of poor stock and/or issues with the fish before you got them is not beyond the realms of possibility but as you’ve had multiple losses of more than one breed, as well as shrimp, it could perhaps indicate an issue in the tank.

The deaths have also happened fairly quickly since adding them.

For me this would put an ammonia spike fairly high on my list.

This is probably a few more fish than I would add to a new tank at once, although in fairness, these are not huge fish, but possibly the influx of fish load, along with the subsequent fish food and your unfortunately disturbed substrate (which I understand contains root tabs) could have resulted in an ammonia load that the system just couldn’t cope with.

A decent amount of well growing plants will certainly help to clear ammonia, and the bio/eco system can adjust fairly quickly but perhaps the circumstances have tipped the balance.

Have you seen any redness around gills, lethargy, gasping and/or any other symptoms that may help folks to confirm or offer an alternative diagnosis!?

For the moment, I would advise a water change as soon as you can do one and maybe a couple of extra in the next week or so (with Prime of course). No guarantee that the above is the cause but WC’s won’t do any harm and certainly may help if ammonia is the issue.

I’m not a huge fan of testing myself but you could always get an ammonia test at least, just to see what results that gives you.

There are certainly other issues that can cause fish deaths but if it is a tank issue rather than an inherent problem with the stock, then the number of problems that can cause death inside two weeks should be a bit more limited. Some sort of toxicity would be my first guess.

Also, try to make sure you have good surface movement as Oxygen exchange is your friend, both for your fish and your good bacteria.

@MirandaB is pretty good with fish. Tagged so maybe she will drop by.
Click to expand...
Thanks kirsty for your reply. I have seen no redness around the gills and the fish seem fine and happy. Although the Cory's do seem to rest alot on the bottom is this normal for them. When the Substrate got disturbed some of the root tab yellow balls came up so I popped them straight back into the Substrate. Also I have tested my Tds and pH tonite and bone have rose. Tds now stands at 222 and pH 7.8 is this something to worry about? I will do a water change after work tomorrow.
 
Well TDS will tend to rise between water changes and my tank can vary by up to 80TDS (with EI dosing) across the course of a week. The PH could be down to your stone which is known to push PH up, though you might expect less so as your water is already on the alkaline side.

In and of themselves, I wouldn’t expect those numbers to be the cause of the issue as that PH is still in the acceptable zone for Corys and fish tolerate fluctuations pretty well.

I’ve not kept corys myself but as I understand, they are generally quite active little fish and Pygmy’s in particular are well known for swimming mid tank rather than just hanging around at the bottom of the tank, so you should definitely keep an eye on them.

It can take a little while for fish to settle but you would really want to be seeing them moving around and, of course, eating well/showing an appetite.

If they seem lethargic and/or aren’t eating, this could be a sign that they aren’t in a happy place.
 
MirandaB said:
Agree with all @KirstyF said,with both a relatively new tank and new fish it can be difficult to pin down the cause.
I would certainly get a test for both ammonia and nitrite to rule those out.
Quite possibly moving the wood and disturbing the substrate could have caused a spike.
What root tabs have you used?
Click to expand...
Thanks miranda , root tabs have been pro aqua nutri caps are these any good. Was going to get some more for my amazon swords.
 
Hi all,
KirstyF said:
The deaths have also happened fairly quickly since adding them.

For me this would put an ammonia spike fairly high on my list.

This is probably a few more fish than I would add to a new tank at once
Click to expand...
Lee iley said:
10 amano shrimp, 9 pygmy Cory's and 10 neon green rasboras.
Click to expand...
Probably that one unfortunately.
Lee iley said:
I have seen no redness around the gills
Click to expand...
You could still have gill damage and then sub-optimal oxygen levels might tip them over the brink.
Lee iley said:
pro aqua nutri caps
Click to expand...
Lee iley said:
When the Substrate got disturbed some of the root tab yellow balls came up so I popped them straight back into the Substrate.
Click to expand...
I would be be very wary of <"controlled release"> root capsules. @erwin123 produced some very useful graphs in this thread <"Root tabs and/or liquid ferts">.

Have a look at <"My unfortunate vacation experience and "who dun it""> as well.

cheers Darrel
 
Lee iley said:
I don't test for anything apart from ph and tds. (As you guys say not to bother)
Click to expand...
Just going to add on here - the general advice seems to not bother with test kits for fertilisers, but ammonia and nitrite test kits are an exception - they work and are invaluable in assessing the tank for the most common toxins. Generally if you're having fish deaths, the very first thing to do is test for ammonia and nitrite, it's quick, easy and rules out a common cause.
Sorry to hear about your losses, fish deaths suck :(
 
I did an amonia and nitrite test and both came bk 0. Since that I lost another pygmy corry. So not sure really why now.
 
Any signs of disease?
Do the fish look old?
A random shrimp death could just be that.

An ammonia spike would always be my first guess, got an air stone? I think it’s worth running one.

Are filters working fine? Have you cleaned them? I’d do that too, you never know what they’re up to really.

If you can, reduce feeding, or increase feeding. I’d feed once every other day. See if that helps, changing food might help too.
 
A magnifying glass will help you observe the fish to see if anything shows on the fish. Probably too many fish added at once as said. I lean towards a water quality problem so several 20% water changes daily. You tested for ammonia and nitrite but that would pick up pollutants. Adding a general tonic may help
 
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