The Planted Tank Forum banner

Slow Fish Deaths.... no signs of illness.

630 views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  ice9 
#1 ·
Can't figure out what is killing my fish :(

Water params are all good (0 nh3, 0 no2, 10ppm no3, 1ppm po4, ph 7.5, kh 5 or 6, gh 12ish) - using dry ferts to maintain those levels, testing every other day - adding a tiny amount of trace (CSM+B) and K+Iron 2x a week. Drop checker nice and pale green. Plants pearling as they should.

Med-light, cycled tank (2+ months), moderately planted

Journal is here:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/1156282-20h-noname-journal.html

All cheap fish, but I feel bad.... had 13 to start with (5 cherry barb, 5 neons, 3 rasbora), added 2 rasboras and 2 panda corys about a week later. About 2 weeks later, I would lose 1 or 2 a week. Only fish left from that batch are the corys.

Added 4 and then another 4 longfin zebra danios about a week apart. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Now I've lost 2 of those. Put in 4 amanos which seem very happy. Corys are still fine (I think they are actually M/F - showing very obvious spawning behavior). So current stock is 6 danios, 2 corys, 4 amano in a 20H - nowhere near overstocked.

The ones that died would just get lazy and hang out at the top - looking normal, but not very active. Next day, dead. No sign of bloating, fin clamping, or anything. No signs of ick. A couple I noticed having some fast breathing, but not much else obvious.

Should I just dose the tank with anti-everything - did I get a parasite, or are there fungal/bacterial infections that don't have any visible signs? Is it just some sort of stress or bad fish (i.e. avoid those stores)? Old food?

My 5 gallon tank which uses the same tap water source is fine - mostly algae-free, and happy, year-old fish. No CO2 or ferts in that one tho - just a single T8 over that one.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
you seem to have lost mostly fish that like a lower pH (7 tops)...
doesn't mean much..most can adjust .
could be anything, from bacterial to weak stock (personally don't think its unusual to lose onw or 2 out of a batch)

I'd probably dial back ferts/CO2 a bit..but consider this just a shot in the dark..
 
  • Like
Reactions: ice9
#3 ·
One store I definitely won't go back to - literally every fish I bought (about 12-15) there died. Since then, I've found a few better stores to get fish from. I'm worried I've got some parasite (flukes, etc) in the tank from the first batch.

I'm trying to keep the ferts as low as possible and still get plants to grow out.
 
#5 ·
Why are cories unaffected?
 
#7 ·
The weird thing is that I've looked at the dead fish under a magnifying glass, and I don't see anything - no lesions, white spots, gills look ok (I think, since I am not a vet, but they look like I would expect - reddish pink? pinkish red? but not bloody red)

Bump: I had also one rasbora that had been hanging on - sometime over the weekend he died.... but I can't find him anywhere. I'm thinking the shrimp devoured him - there is ZERO sign of him.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top