Asked on the Fish Forum by totalguppygirl on 12/23/02, 4:44 pm
sudden death
I recently bought 3 Harlequin Rasboras and within 9 days 2 have died. I got the water tested and it was "great". When I am watching the fish there isn't any fights or aggression with the other fish. When I found the bodies, one was lying on a rock and the other was on the floor with his mouth open. Could they have any kind of disease? If so, what and what can I do to help it? Are there any other possibilities? I have no clue on what could have been wrong. The temperature is kept at 26* C(78* F), the 10 gallon tank is filtered properly and the other fish (guppies and neon tetras) are thriving. Please help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOD'S BLESSINGS!!!
Answered by stomkat on 12/23/02, 10:27 pm
A: sudden death
My guess is that you went over the capacity of your tank.
You have to go by how many inches of fish (at FULL grown length, and this only counts for fish who have a FULL grown length of UNDER 3").
Anything can upset this balance.
Of course, there is NO balance in the beginnning. For the first month you HAVE to test for ammonia and nitrites. If either goes above 1ppm you have to do an "emergency" water change of....whatever it takes to get it below 1ppm.
The only other option you have is to cycle your tank without fish...described on the water page of my site....
From my Fish FAQ:
Want to fishless cycle instead of subjecting fish to harmful chemicals (ammonia/nitrites)? Here's a couple links to help you in the fishless path:
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycling.html
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html
This is the basics of fishless cycling:
You set up the tank like you're about to put fish in it...heater, filters, water...everything but the fish.
Then you find ammonia that doesn't have anything in it but ammonia (and most have deionized water, too). I use Seaway (generic, but serves the purpose) Clear ammonia.
Now, you need test kits for ammonia and nitrItes. You add enough ammonia to the tank to get a 5 ppm reading.
Check the tank every 24 hours, and add ammonia as needed to keep the reading at 5 ppm.
Once you start getting low readings of ammonia every 24 hours, cut the ammonia back to 2-3 ppm every day, and start checking your nitrites.
Nitrites will slowly climb, then begin to go down once the bacteria forms to convert the nitrite to nitrate.
Check them every day, and once they are getting close to 0 ppm in 24 hours, you'll need a nitrate test kit.
Once the nitrates are beginning to climb the charts, you're there!
Do a 75%% water change, and you can add fish to the tank's capacity!!!
