Help....my fish are dying!?

19 posts • Page 1 of 2

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


Zambize4899
 
Posts: 499
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:35 am

Help....my fish are dying!?

by Zambize4899

Hi everyone, in a little panic today. Four fish are dead in my community tank. I have a theory, but see what you think. This is what was in there 4-5 days ago:

1 Dwarf Neon Rainbow
1 Female Betta
3 Black Neon Tetras
3 Male Guppy
4 Zebra Danio

Through returning some to the lfs and moving some in from my Q-tank, I went to:

1 Dwarf Neon Rainbow
1 Female Betta
3 Black Neon Tetra
1 Male Guppy (tried to return him with other 2, but couldn't catch him)
2 Zebra Danio (tried to return them with other 2, but couldn't catch them)
7 Cardinal Tetras (added from Q-tank)

This morning 1 Cardinal and all 3 Black Neon Tetras were dead and had their tail fins chewed off. None of these have very large tail fins so I'm not suspecting the female Betta. My water parameters are the same as usual: Ammonia 0, pH 8.0-8.2, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 5-10ppm.

I've heard that Zebra can become aggressive, and I think I have a male and female left in this tank, so I'm wondering if they did this. However the Black Neons are quite fast and the Cardinals stick close together. I don't know.

Any ideas? Do I have a murderer in my tank?! Or could it be something else. I haven't changed anything else, that I can think of.

Zambize


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

by Sumthing_Fishy

Definitely a murderer on the loose in there, I would say the guppy did it. Some of the male guppies will pick on my tetras that have wandered off from the rest of the school, and pick on the female mollies, platies and 1 or 2 other male guppies that act like they might be afraid of them. I had to put one male guppy in time-out for yesterday for picking at the side fins on a mollie.


gumbii
 
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am

by gumbii

your PH is 8.0+...???


isn't that way to high for a planted tank...? maybe the PH fluctuates with the cycle of the light...


Zambize4899
 
Posts: 499
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:35 am

by Zambize4899

The pH is due to our water here. I'm slowly moving to R/O water. My lfs uses only R/O because of our awful water. Mine has been 8.0-8.2 since it finished its cycle. I've been trying to stick with fish that can handle it, but I want some new fish that won't take it so I'm moving to the R/O. Until this mass murder today I haven't had any significant deaths since the cycle finished. Icky pH though....

Z


gumbii
 
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am

by gumbii

my tap water is 7.8 - 7.9... and after a couple of days it goes down to 6.9 because of the driftwood... even after waterchanges it goes down to 6.9 in an hour... wierd...


Zambize4899
 
Posts: 499
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:35 am

by Zambize4899

I don't have any live plants or real driftwood....


gumbii
 
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:31 am

by gumbii

well you need something that will naturally lower the PH... get a small piece of driftwood, or even some coconut shells will do... i have a coconut cut into two halfs with a little cave made on each one... those will also lower the PH down... get a coconut and a dremel... lol...


Zambize4899
 
Posts: 499
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:35 am

by Zambize4899

In a 37 gallon tank what's the smallest piece of driftwood I can get to lower the pH to something respectable? I was looking at some Mopani today but didn't have a clue as to what size to get (I want the smallest), and it said on the label that it will discolor the water, and I don't want that either. Picky, picky....

Thanks,
Zambize


Peterkarig3210
 
Posts: 1980
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am

by Peterkarig3210

My-pH-is-like-8.0-or-somthing-when-the-co2-isn't-working,-like-now,-and-all-the-fish-are-thriving.

Mosquito-fish-(like-guppies),-baby-Tilapia,-SAE's,-2-Dojos,-and-some-Ottos.


Tmercier834747
 
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm

by Tmercier834747

If you're concerned about water discoloring, boil whatever you get for a minimum of 2 hours, making sure all the wood is exposed to the boiling hot water. The discoloring is from something the wood releases called tannic acid. I have a piece that oocupies about 2.5 gallons worth of water in my 16 gallon tank. I did not boil it, and it took about 15-20 water changes to completely remove the tannic acid from my water. No more is visible. It doesn't harm your fish, but can be unappealing to most eyes. If you ask me, while it was a part of my tank I think most of my fish felt a bit more at home. The piece brought my PH from a steady 7.4 down to about 6.5-6.7 in a months time.
Just use your best judgment with the size and choose it carefully, cause chances are with the price most LFS's charge for a piece of freaking wood, you'll wanna stick with it. No matter what you get its probably not going to do EXACTLY what you want, sorry to say. I'm sure whatever piece you choose won't lower your PH to <6.5 in a week though. 8.0+ is very high. You can even attatch some of that new moss to it. =P
As far as the fish....I had a male long finned zebra danio that used to pester the piss out of my guppies AND other fish, but never killed them. I've also had guppies do the same to tetras and mollies/platys, but never killed them. I now have 3 red minor tetras that pester the piss out of my gouramis (apparently cause the little red shits established territory before I added the gouramis) but are not damaging them. I would also note that after very long periods of pestering, I never noticed a great deal of tailfin damage. I wouldn't put it past your betta 100%.

Help....my fish are dying!?

19 posts • Page 1 of 2

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