Another dead tiger barb and now a catfish

[Meeg1971]

Hi again everyone,

Last night I found our tiger barb stuck in our filter (aqua clear). I got him out and noticed his back fin (sorry don't know what it is called) was almost non-existant. He was swimming funny and I wasn't sure what to do. This morning I found him and our catfish stuck to the filter.

Now, the filter doesn't have any moving parts, it seems to me it is just a intake. Not sure what to do - everything has been going very well for the past little bit after some problems in the beginning.

Ammonia and Ph are good. I am also doing weekly 10% water changes (treating the water of course), doing my testing weekly and the temp has always remained constant.

Any advise you can give would be greatly appreciated. I'm getting really discouraged and feel like I just can't do this and I don't really know what I am doing wrong here.

Thanks.

 

[Joeyb1731]

have you read up on proper cycling. When you say your ammonia and pH are good can you give exact readings? Do you have a drop test or a paper strip test. If you do not have a proper test kit you should go get one ASAP. If you cant get one you should bring your water to a local fish store and have it tested by them, most do this for free. Make sure they test for nitrite nitrate and ammonia. Post your readings and we will go from there. but there should be no reason why a fish is getting stuck in your intake unless they are sick.

 

[Meeg1971]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply. Ammonia levels are 0 ppm and ph is 7.6. I am using the API ammonia and Ph liquid test kits.

 

[stoddern]

ph isn't all that important aslong as it stays stable and isn't swinging one way or the other. you should really test for both nitrites and nitrates api makes a great master kit thats not to pricy

 

[homebunnyj]

Nitrite is likely your problem. Test for it asap.

 

[bmoraski]

Dont give up , your in the home stretch now ! lol
unfortunately everything can look great , but water quality is still bad. ive mini cycled my sons tank a couple of times by cleaning too much , and have gotten nitrite spikes. Everything looked great but it wasnt. i have a different system for changing or rinsing filter media now, so far so good. its real easy to mess up such a fragile system. if i change anything, which isnt often, i test daily for a few days just to be safe. i use the API Master test kit ( drops ) not strips.
once you get the hang of your tanks needs, youll be good to go.
good luck.

 

[MissFishy]

A typical newbie mistake is to obsess over the PH, I highly doubt anything is wrong with that. I don't remember your exact set up but it's probably your nitrite levels as stated above. Test for it ASAP, nitrite is even more toxic than ammonia. The fish likely have nitrite poisoning and in their declining health are no longer able to fight the current of your filter intake where they are getting stuck. You WILL get this, it just takes time to get your tank up and running properly, don't get discouraged!