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whitepinehokie
11-02-2008, 01:45 AM
My fish are dying!!!! I don't know what's wrong with them, but I am at my wits end. I did (before this problem) have 5 cory cats (4 peppered, 1 green), 6 zebra danios and 4 platys in a 29 gallon tank.

Four days ago, I noticed one of the peppered corys had red streaks on his stomach. I thought he had scraped himself on the gravel and put a mental note to get some sand. He was dead in the morning, with his stomach red and slightly protruded. When I found him, his mouth was open as well. The next day, a zebra danio died with the same symptoms (red stomach, protruding stomach after death, mouth open after death). Yesterday, I had 2 zebra danios and a platy die. Neither of them had their mouths open or the red streaking. They both had protruded stomachs. On all of the fish, their scales were smooth like normal. None of them except the first cory had any symptoms before death. They didn't gasp at the surface or anything before they died either.

I just got my tank cycled a few weeks ago. I cycled with fish (I didn't know about fishless cycling). The zebra danios and 1 platy were from the cycling. That platy is fine. I added the cory cats a week after cycling finished and made sure I didn't have a mini cycle before adding 3 more platys.

I do a 50% water change every week and I have done one after each fish death as well. I did a huge water change last night. I took all the fish out (in a bucket) and really cleaned the gravel and scrubbed all the decor. Before I did such a large water change, I had no ammonia, no nitrites and 5-10 ppm nitrates. My pH is 7.2, GH between 0-25, and 120 KH. My ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are done with a liquid test. pH, GH, and KH are on a strip. It is currently 78.1 degrees in there. I use a chlorine/chloramine remover when I change the water.

I'm really upset my fish have died so unexpectedly. I worry now because one of my platys (sunset) has really red gills and is swimming around with clamped fins. Another platy (red wag - cycled with her) is also swimming with clamped fins. I also worry because due to the deaths, my zebra danio school is down to three. They seem to have become rather nippy since there are so few of them left. I don't want to add any more fish until I figure out what's going on, however, I worry that their behavior and nippiness is stressing the other fish. The sunset platy has been given a salt dip, but outside of the water changes, that has been the only treatment thus far.

Are they just stressed? Could it be a bacterial infection? Any advice anyone has would be much appreciated. I am at my wits end. :confused:

Dave66
11-02-2008, 02:04 AM
Check your ammonia again. The symptoms are indicative of an ammonia burn. You might want to check the expiration on those test kits, as the regents expire within three months.
The red gills are inflamed and burned, meaning the fish have to labor to breath, and soon suffocate. Gill burning is almost always an ammonia burn.

Dave

whitepinehokie
11-02-2008, 02:41 AM
I thought it could have been an ammonia burn, but I have checked the tests and they are well within the three month range. I also have changed the water (50% change each time) every day for the past week. The five fish which have died didn't have red gills. It's just this one platy (alive) which does.

flishloverr
11-09-2008, 08:44 PM
I thought it could have been an ammonia burn, but I have checked the tests and they are well within the three month range. I also have changed the water (50% change each time) every day for the past week. The five fish which have died didn't have red gills. It's just this one platy (alive) which does.


i wouldnt change so much water. i had an ammonia spike and those were pretty much the sympoms, but if u checked and it was fine, its probably because ur changing the water too much. fish produce their own bacteria, and if u change 50 percent that often, their bacteria is growing less, so they can get sick from the bad bacterias that happen during replacing too much water. dont fear,though. go to a pet store and ask for this like liquid that u drop into the aquarium to increase their bacteria. it is a very good medication for the fisha nd it works pretty fast (maybe even in 24 hours) and the fish should feel better. if not, check ur filters and maybe u might want to get better pumps (if u do not have them) because it could be a sign that they cannot breathe if that is how they died. hope that helpes!! message back on how it went.
fellow fish lover,Alicia.