Sudden deaths

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Date

01-31-2007

Posted by Richard Watson on January 31, 2007, 3:46 pm

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Hi all,

I'm returning to fish, although previously I only dabbled so am by no
means an expert. Now I have two small children intrigued by what's going
on in the tank.

Unfortunately what's going on is not so good.

I started off a freshwater tank with 4 Mollys. I realise I'm reclimbing
the learning curve but was a bit sad when 3 of them died at intervals of
a few weeks apart. The one remaining has lasted longer than the rest put
together and looked quite happy so I thought I must be doing something
right and decided to get him some friends. (Tank size is 2x1x1 BTW.)

Last weekend I bought some more fish - 5 Danios, 5 Neons and 4
Corydoras. Within a couple of days 3 of each of the Danios and Neons
have died, however the Corydoras have survived. The surviving Molly is
still fine.

None of the fish look poorly until they wind up dead. I've been using a
multi testing strip which tells me that Nitrates, Nitrites, GH, and KH
are fine. pH however seems to be a little too low - can this be causing
my deaths? The information I've read doesn't seem to imply that it would
have such a dramatic effect.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions for the best course of action.

Thanks.

--
Richard Watson
"Mail delay is sometimes happened. If, unfortunately, it is happened to
you, please be patience."

Posted by Edward Cowling London UK on February 2, 2007, 6:40 am

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>
>None of the fish look poorly until they wind up dead. I've been using a
>multi testing strip which tells me that Nitrates, Nitrites, GH, and KH
>are fine. pH however seems to be a little too low - can this be causing
>my deaths? The information I've read doesn't seem to imply that it would
>have such a dramatic effect.
>
>I'd be grateful for any suggestions for the best course of action.
>

What kind of water circulation / filtration are you using ? It may sound
obvious, but with modern water pumps they don't put fresh air into the
tank. So people have a super great pump hurtling the water about and a
tightly shut tank lid so the gasses can't exchange with the air.

If you have no air pump you need to leave the tank flaps open a bit.

Any plants ? A Carbon filter element ? Are you changing some of the
water every week ?

--
Edward Cowling London UK

Posted by Richard Watson on February 2, 2007, 3:28 pm

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Edward Cowling London UK wrote:

> What kind of water circulation / filtration are you using ? It may sound
> obvious, but with modern water pumps they don't put fresh air into the
> tank. So people have a super great pump hurtling the water about and a
> tightly shut tank lid so the gasses can't exchange with the air.

Thanks for this response, and also to those who emailed suggestions.

I have a new internal filter, which is an Elite Stingray. I also have a
small air pump which is a bit old and feeble but does make some bubbles
through an air stone. I'll consider upgrading that (I could do with a
quieter model anyway).

> Any plants ? A Carbon filter element ? Are you changing some of the
> water every week ?

I have about 6 plants which seem to be doing OK for a change. The filter
seems to have sponge and carbon. I'm not altogether sure when/if I
should be replacing the carbon. I'm maybe not as good at changing water
as I should be, but I did change a lot before I put the new fish in (and
yes I treated it for chlorine etc). I'm now building a better schedule
for changing water - would anyone like to share their schedule or
recommend a trustworthy online resource?

I also feel I should have a spare tank in case I notice a fish being
poorly. Does anyone have any advice on this? How big should it be and
how should I start it off?

However the good news is that since I first posted I have to report that
I've had no more deaths.

Thanks again,

--
Richard Watson
"Mail delay is sometimes happened. If, unfortunately, it is happened to
you, please be patience."

Posted by Edward Cowling London UK on February 2, 2007, 9:23 pm

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>However the good news is that since I first posted I have to report that
>I've had no more deaths.
>

That's all that really matters.

Great news

--
Edward Cowling London UK

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