[Blackheart]

In the past couple weeks, I am losing fish here and there. So far only one at a time. I've lost 4 so far altogether. It is a 55 gallon tank filtered by two Aquaclear 70 filters.

Here is what I currently have/had stocked with

20 Neon Tetras (17 now)

12 Rummy Nose Tetras

10 Panda Cory Cats (9 now)

I've checked all my water parameters and levels and such and everything is fine. So what's up with the random fish losses? I don't see any indications of disease or sickness or anything like that.

I did recently add the Cory Cats within the two weeks or so, but I had already lost a couple of Neons before I added them.

Only one thing I could possibly speculate on. Recently, I've stopped using the glass canopies on my tank because my tank looks better without them on. Well, about every 2-3 days I have to top the water off because it gets evaporated so quickly. I figured since it's just a small top off, I don't use any Prime. Could this be the culprit or unlikely?

 

[PickieBee]

It's hard to say but I had a situation similar to yours where a very low-level ich infection was slowly killing my cories. I only figured out it was ich because one rainbowfish had about three ich spots on it that disappeared after a day or two. I think if your fish are generally pretty healthy they might not manifest the dramatic white spots you see in bad ich outbreaks, but just a few parasites on the gills is enough to cause a 'mysterious' death in a sensitive fish. Good luck!

 

[bigbadjon]

Doing chlorinated water top offs will not hurt your fish. Are you running co2?

 

[Blackheart]

It's hard to say but I had a situation similar to yours where a very low-level ich infection was slowly killing my cories. I only figured out it was ich because one rainbowfish had about three ich spots on it that disappeared after a day or two. I think if your fish are generally pretty healthy they might not manifest the dramatic white spots you see in bad ich outbreaks, but just a few parasites on the gills is enough to cause a 'mysterious' death in a sensitive fish. Good luck!

Should I start treating the tank for ich and do a good old water change? I actually lost another Cory today... This is getting really frustrating.

Doing chlorinated water top offs will not hurt your fish. Are you running co2?

No, no C02.

 

[bigbadjon]

With the top open do you have any air fresheners or cleaner that may taint the water?

 

[Blackheart]

Nope. I am gonna start treating slowly for ich

 

[AquaLabAquaria]

stop dosing with untreated tap, why risk it? Your municipal water may likely use chloramine which does not gas off like chlorine.

If I had to speculate, I think many fish deaths can often be attributed to hypoxic conditions. Try creating more flow and aeration, two HOB's doesn't do much, espeically if yourl tank is topped up...Throw an airstone in their and see if it stabilizes things.

Remember, your fish aren't the only things respirating in your tank, so are the bacteria and their demand can be very appreciable! Is your tank planted? Dense planting also has a grand effect on dissolved oxygen in the aquarium.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Diana]

Slow deaths like this can also happen with some diseases or internal parasites.
Mycobacterium is a slow killer. Often it weakens the fish, they become susceptible to something else, and 'something else' gets blamed for killing them.
Internal parasites usually move slowly through the fish population, killing them one at a time like this.

Are the fish showing any symptoms of anything?
Odd behavior- hanging at the top, or hovering at the bottom, hiding or ... something else not normal to the species?
Less eating?
Problems eliminating? Are the feces normal? (Not white, stringy)
Any physical signs like red or white patches, frayed fins, swollen body or other?

If they are showing any of these or other signs, how long before they die?

Which Ich med are you using? Some are active against some other fish diseases, too.

 

[Blackheart]

I believe it's called API super ich. Should be arriving in two days. I also did around a 70% water change tonight. They aren't really showing any signs of anything though. They are all eating just fine. The only thing I can really think of is they are schooling a bit more than usual. They are generally more relaxed.

 

[Blackheart]

So... I've tried using the API medicine to no avail. I am still losing Neons here and there. I started off with having 20 about three weeks ago now I'm down to either 12 or 13.

Oddly enough, I still have all my Rummy Nose Tetras and haven't lost a single one so far. So why only the Neons and Cories?

Still not sure what to do, I'm contemplating somewhat nuking the tank and completely emptying it for a couple days and cleaning out a little bit. I don't know if that would help though. Possibly changing out the substrate and everything in it because I was contemplating doing that anyways.