Fish dying

[Zuberi]

Hi all,

I have manager to set-up a planted aquarium, with no fish.

I pump CO2 by 3 DIY 2L bottle.

I week ago I introduce three black mollies, three are all fine.

Two days ago, I introduce 20 Neon Tetras, 10 Cardinal and 20 Rummy.

Disaster, yesterday four fish cardinal 1 Rummy died.

I my panic, I have reduce CO2 to two DIY 2L bottles and started air stone using Rena 200 thinking fish may be dying due to lack on oxygen!

Please advice, I do not want to kill the fish yet maintaining a healthy planted aquarium. I have a carpet of Eleocharis parvula.

Shall I keep air stone going without damaging the grass [Eleocharis parvula.]

Many thanks in anticipation.

Regards

Adam.

 

[Ed Seeley]

If it was CO2 I'd expect more deaths and high CO2 does not mean low O2.

Have you tested your water and are you using a drop checker to check the level of CO2? I would have thought that raised ammonia and/or nitrite levels might have been the problem as you have added a lot of fish in a short period of time. Biological filters need time to adjust to new stocking levels. I always give it at least two weeks between stockings unless the filter is very mature and I wouldn't add 50 fish in one go unless I was very confident of the filter's maturity.

I'd test for ammonia, nitrite and pH and do a 50% water change ASAP. It won't cause any harm even if you don't have raised ammonia levels.

 

[Zuberi]

Hi Ed,

Thank you for your post.

I have already done 30% water change.

Sep-up. Tank 3ft x 1.5ft tank approx capacity 30 gallons, Ehiem 2224 canister filter, and 3 florescence light 30 inches long each.

I have not tested ammonia, but nitrite, PH and all the rest on the testing strip are fine. I suppose, it must have been introduction of large quantity of fish, as you suggested.

Please advice, shall I keep air stone going or not. I do not want to damage the grass!

Thanks

Adam

 

[Ed Seeley]

I don't think you need the air stone but until you have a means of measuring the CO2 level (a drop checker filled with 4dKH solution) you won't be able to tell for sure that CO2 wasn't the problem. If you are worried about the oxygen and CO2 levels then I'd remove both the DIY CO2 and the air stone for a while if it were me.

I'd keep doing daily water changes and test the water each day. If you detect nitrite and ammonia (get an ammonia test kit as this will kill the fish before it is converted into nitrite if present) then do another water change.

How long did you leave the tank for before adding the mollies?

By the way test strips are not the best way to test water as they are notoriously inaccurate, even for hobbiest test kits. When you say nitrite and the other tests are fine, what are the actual readings as I've seen some lousy advice about what is 'fine' on test kit boxes?

 

[Radik]

Did you introduce them slowly and acclimatized them? Few hours of dripping water etc. Also if yo buy new fish it does not mean they are all healthy, depends on seller but if they been stressed too much they just give up. Quite often LFS does not care about fish well being so I usually buy some extra as I always count with collateral.

 

[Radik]

And also you introduced too much livestock at once and you could get ammonia spike. Get Seachem Prime to eliminate ammonia/nitrite toxicity if that's the case.

 

[RudeDogg1]

yup sounds like a big ammonia spike from adding way to many fish at once specialy for that size tank

 

[Piper]

Yeah you need to be doing water changes every few days for the next few weeks. Other wise your ammonia will just build up killing more fish.

 

[Zuberi]

Hi All,

Thank you for your input.

I will get an ammonia testing kit. I think Radik could be right, I bought these fish in bulk via post and the journey might have stressed them.

When the fish arrived on Friday, I try to acclimatise them by putting the plaster bags in the aquarium for 5-6 hours, before releasing them.

Other facts: The tank has been going for 8 weeks and mollies were introduced about 4 weeks ago. These mollies are still fine. This indicates that water chemistry is correct!

Anyway, I use Tetra 6 in 1 testing strips these test for Ph, KH, GH, NO2, NO3 and Cl2. The cylinder has safe range indicator, for all the tests.

Adam

 

[Ed Seeley]

Other facts: The tank has been going for 8 weeks and mollies were introduced about 4 weeks ago. These mollies are still fine. This indicates that water chemistry is correct!

Sorry but that's not what your first post said.

I week ago I introduce three black mollies, three are all fine.

Two days ago, I introduce 20 Neon Tetras, 10 Cardinal and 20 Rummy.

Different species of fish can tolerate different levels of chemicals so some being fine while others aren't does not necessarily mean your water quality is 'correct'. Mollies (though not always the toughest species themselves) and other livebearers are often used in new tanks and as they were more established and less stressed than the newcomers it would make sense that they were more tolerant if the water quality deteriorated.

Anyway, I use Tetra 6 in 1 testing strips these test for Ph, KH, GH, NO2, NO3 and Cl2. The cylinder has safe range indicator, for all the tests.

But what are the actual readings? It should give you values along with the 'safe range' indicator. As I said earlier what's safe for some fish isn't necessarily safe for others, though the only 'safe' level for nitrite on a test kit is 0.

 

[Zuberi]

Hi Ed,

Sorry I have not been very pragmatic with time, but facts remain the same. Mollies were introduced well before new fish.

Good news is fish have stop dying, only one cardinal died since yesterday.

Thanks for your help.

Adam

 

[mrjackdempsey]

Good news in that the fish deaths seem to have stopped but the fish could have been stressed from travelling before they got to your tank,too many fish introduced at once would put a load on your filter before the bacteria catch up or maybe some fish were already in poor health before they got to you .Hopefully everything will sort itself out