# I lost my first two fish today...



## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

I do not understand what happend and why this is so. Today I lost my 2 little algae eaters. I do not know what they are exactly, but I got them a week ago because my tank looked like Algae hell. They are small with a black stripe running down each side, blend well with danios, and are the same size. They are very quick little guys too. I added them a week ago and everything was fine until last night. 

Last night I added my first two Dwarf Gouramies. I do not see how this could have hurt the two little guys, but it is a huge coincidence that 3 hours after the Gouramies got added both Sucker Fish become skittish. I left to work thinking they would calm down when my wife called me and told me that they where dying. We trying to move them to another tank to see if it had something to do with the gouramies but they where dead by morning. I researched everything I could read about the Gouramies and they are not aggressive and I never saw them do anything. 

Was it something in the water? If so, why did the other 10 Danios survive?
Did I starve them? I see algae still on my castle and tried to feed algae tablets but they wouldnt eat from either.

Can anyone explain this?

Thanks


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## osteoporoosi (Jan 27, 2005)

Sorry for your loss!
Well first we need your water specs, ph, hardness,nitrite,nitrate. How often you change your water, tanks size and buddies. Then we maybe are able to crack this mystery.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Were thye oto's? If so they are sensitive wee things. Have lost several myself. They are extremely sensitive to the slightest thing. I believe they are wild caught so have many changes to put up with before they get to your tank.


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

I came downstairs today and found I have now lost a Gourami. I setup this tank about 5 weeks ago and have had my Danios in there to cycle it for about 4 weeks now. I have not seen any Nitrate or Nitrites yet, and I have had problems with my pH being to high. I try to correct my pH and get it down but it goes back up. I know I do not want to constantly take the pH up and down though. Is this from the Alkalinity? My test claims it is high and that might be how the pH goes up. How can I fix this?

Current Conditions

pH 7.8-8.0 (This is only thing I can think of)
GH 7-8 (on chart it claims to be a safe level)
Ammonia 0 that I can read on my stick or vial testing kit
Nitrate 0 that I can read on either
Nitrite 0 that I can read on either
Alkalinity 300 (I think that is right.. from strip test)

So at this point I suppose I have simply added this other fish to soon. I do not understand why my tank will not cycle with all of these fish in it. I have had tons of brown aglae build up on the castle inside and walls. I then added my algae eaters and they helped clear all of that up in conjunction with me cleaning the gravel and tank glass off. These little guys where in there a week and where happy go lucky until I added these Gouramies.

Well go ahead and give me a lesson what I did wrong please. I am gonna keep my chin up and keep working to make a happy home for my fish. I feel terrible about these losses.


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

mousey @ Wed Apr 20 said:


> Were thye oto's? If so they are sensitive wee things. Have lost several myself. They are extremely sensitive to the slightest thing. I believe they are wild caught so have many changes to put up with before they get to your tank.


I wish I knew. When I make it by my petstore again I will find out for sure.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

OK, chin up is good. I think, with help from the good folks on this forum, we can fix this. First let's figure out what is wrong. A couple of things come to mind initially. First, I think you wolud be better off not trying to fix your PH. Fluctuations in PH could very well be killing your fish. Lowering PH and keeping it constant is very difficult. It's much better for it to be too high but stay constant. Secondly, I am concerned about your cycle being complete. You mentioned that, so I think you are concerned about that too. It is odd that you have 0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. You should have something. I wonder about the accuracy of your test kit??? In a cycled tank, it is very difficult to completely eliminate nitrates. I don't think the gourami had anything to do with it. I think it is one of the things I just mentioned. We need good data on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Tell me about the test kit you used. What kind? How old is it?


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

Yeah I have heard that before about the pH. I understand that if I use a reverse osmosis unit I can fix this. I will look into that further.

As far as the testing kits. I use two.

I have a test kit using vials from "Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Canada, INC."
I have a strip test kit from Jungle.

They both seem to come back with the same results. I have done this over and over and over. I bought the Jungle kit for this exact reason. I did not trust the vial kit. 

I do not see how I do not have any ammonia since I have a considerable amount of waste build up, algae growing, and 10 fish in this tank for like 4 weeks. Just doesnt seem right.

My other gourami seems to be active and acting normal at this point.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Xanaxo, do you have any ammonia in your house? If so, add some to a cup of tap water. Test it with your kit and see if you get a reading.


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

ron v @ Wed Apr 20 said:


> Xanaxo, do you have any ammonia in your house? If so, add some to a cup of tap water. Test it with your kit and see if you get a reading.


Okay I tested the ammonia level from some water with glass cleaner in it and it came back positive. In fact it was very green on the chart and quickstyle.

So what next?


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

Actually, I have between .25 and .50 ppm of Ammonia in the tank. The colors are very close on the charts and hard to see, but I can certainly say there is some for sure in there.

I have no idea what the deal is.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Sounds like your ammonia test is working..... And you are getting 0 nitrates??? Have you done a super large water change? Like 75% or more that would dilute the nitrate? Oh yeah, how big is your tank? I should have ask that to start with. If it's a big tank with few fish, maybe ammonia is just not very concentrated??? Let me think....you said you had lots of algae. I think algae will consume ammonia. I know plants will. But if it's a small tank and you have several fish, there has to be ammonia. So if it's at zero, it is being converted to nitrite, which is half the cycle. But you get zero nitrite also. Which means it's being converted to nitrate, right. Which means nitrate should show on your test. But you don't show nitrate. Something doesn't add up. Eiither something, that I can't figure out, is consuming your fish waste, or your test are wrong. I need for someone else to jump in here???


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

ron v @ Wed Apr 20 said:


> Sounds like your ammonia test is working..... And you are getting 0 nitrates??? Have you done a super large water change? Like 75% or more that would dilute the nitrate? Oh yeah, how big is your tank? I should have ask that to start with. If it's a big tank with few fish, maybe ammonia is just not very concentrated??? Let me think....you said you had lots of algae. I think algae will consume ammonia. I know plants will. But if it's a small tank and you have several fish, there has to be ammonia. So if it's at zero, it is being converted to nitrite, which is half the cycle. But you get zero nitrite also. Which means it's being converted to nitrate, right. Which means nitrate should show on your test. But you don't show nitrate. Something doesn't add up. Eiither something, that I can't figure out, is consuming your fish waste, or your test are wrong. I need for someone else to jump in here???


Well I have a 37 gallon show tank from Eclipse. I follow everything you are saying. My level of Ammonia is so small it is hard to be certain on the test. We just did the nitrite and it for sure is not in there. However, we did do another Nitrate test and it MIGHT be at 5 ppm. It just depends on how the light reflects on the vial. The strip test is less accurate and shows nothing.

I do have 3 different types of plants in there also.


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

What? Nobody has any clue? You all are too quiet!


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

Update:

I am getting a lot of brown algae back in the tank. My second gouramie is okay, but he likes to stay inside the castle and is very skittish when anyone comes near the tank. My water quality seems okay. Someone told me today that the algae is being helped a lot from the tank lights being on all the time. I guess if that is true I have to deal with it because my plants are real and they need the light. The two sucker fish that I lost appear to have been Chineese Algae eaters based on a picture my wife found. I do not know if that picture was wrong or what because they still do not look like ever other Chinesse Algae eater I have seen before. I suppose if I got a couple of that guys I really dont want them in my tank anyway. I will just have to double check with the store I bought them from in the first place to find out for sure.


Do Gouramies need to be in groups?


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## Imbrium (Feb 7, 2005)

Are you using any water conditioner? Some test kits aren't compatible with some condittioners.


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## Xanaxo (Mar 24, 2005)

Imbrium @ Fri Apr 22 said:


> Are you using any water conditioner?  Some test kits aren't compatible with some condittioners.


Nope.


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