I'm new here, but I have a few questions about my recent problems with sick fish.

I've had a 30 gallon aquarium since May 2007. We kept a few tetras, zebra danios and gourami in there with no problem for about seven months. Then, I bought three clown loaches and three white tetras, and everything fell apart! The three tetras died within two days of purchasing them with the clown loaches close behind. Then, all of the other fish followed along until we were left with only two serpae tetras. When the fish started dying, I took a water sample to the store to see if something was wrong with it, but everything tested normal. At the time, we also had a snail infestation (from buying real plants), and whatever killed the fish killed all of the snails, too.

After the fish died, I cleaned the tank thoroughly (80% water change, boiled the decorations, removed and threw away all live plants, etc). I let the tank sit for about two months with regular water changes of about 15-20% weekly, and the two remaining serpae tetras stayed healthy. After two months, I did another 50% water change, and then bought three silver dollars and a parrot cichlid a week later. We just bought them on Sunday, and yesterday (Tuesday), the parrot cichlid began head standing (floating/swimming around with his head down and tail up), and I noticed that one of the silver dollars has white "stuff" on him. It doesn't look like ich, it looks more like peeling "skin" or white strings of fuzz. All three silver dollars also appear to have ragged edges on their fins, but I can't tell for sure if it's new or if they already had that when they came - I did see one of the serpae tetras nipping at one of them when I first put them in. I did another 20% water change last night when I noticed that the fish looked sick, but they still looked sick this morning.

They have plenty of oxygen, and ammonia levels are fine (I have an ammonia reader on the side of my tank). I plan to take a water sample into the store to test nitrites and nitrates, but what else can I do?? I'm not sure how they got so sick in just two days! We were hoping to upgrade to a 50-75 gallon tank later this year, but we don't want to make that kind of investment if we can't keep any fish alive!! The store will take the fish back if they die within 14 days, but I'd much prefer to find out why they keep getting sick so I can keep them alive!! Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated!!

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]