Help! Sunset platy found dead, and Albino catfish disappeared!!

[saera]

I will start by telling you all that I am definitely a beginner. This is my first tank, a 25gal, and so far I have two albino catfish, three rummy nose tetras, five sunset platys and a anchor catfish. I have had the tank set up for about a month, and the fish in the tank for about 2 1/2 weeks. I have done one water change (25%) since the fish have been in the aquarium. I have been using cycle and aqua plus in the water about once a week.

So, this morning I woke up and noticed I could only see four of five sunset platys swimming around... I checked around the rocks and noticed the fifth one was laying on it's side on the bottom of the aquarium... Strange. I also noticed throughout the day that one of my albino catfish is missing. He is nowheres to be found.

I talked with a friend who works in the fish department for a pet store... He suggests I take a water sample in. I also checked in the filter to see if the albino catfish had gotten stuck... Nope.

About five minutes ago I noticed another one of my sunset platys is hiding under a rock, still breathing, but he is practically laying on the bottom of the tank and not moving around much... The other guys are fine, and so are the rummy nose tetras.

If you have any suggestions, please please let me know!! I would like to try and save them if at all possible.

 

[JWright]

Water changes, water changes, and more water changes (with dechlorinated water).

The Cycle really isn't doing anything for you. There have been a lot of folks who have done informal studies that have shown it does nothing to help your tank cycle.

What's killing your fish is a buildup of their waste (ammonia), which your tank isn't yet ready to take care of. So, the short term fix is to do 30-40% water changes to take the waste out yourself (waste is more than just the solid stuff you can see, it's also chemicals released directly into the water).

Over time, bacteria will build up in your filter which will convert that ammonia into nitrate, which is much less toxic (but still needs to be removed with water changes). It will take some weeks for this bacteria colony to develop, and you will have to keep testing your ammonia and nitrite levels and do water changes whenever they get about 1 ppm.

So... visit your LFS (local fish store), and pick up some test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Then head home and pick up a bucket... you have some water changes to do

~JW

 

[saera]

Thanks for you help, JWright, hopefully that will work for my tank.... But what about my albino catfish? He is nowheres to be found. I just moved the rocks and also the castle I have for them and I cannot find him... Also with my sunset platy. The sick looking one has disappeared.

 

[saera]

Okay, so I found the "missing" sunset platy. Dead. Have yet to find the albino catfish though...

 

[saera]

Okay, so I found the albino catfish also. took some digging, he was under a bunch of rocks... Also, He looked "fuzzy". Could that be what is making the others sick??

 

[FroggyFox]

Probably not, although it would be making the ammonia level in your tank go up a lot. Did you do a nice big water change? Sorry for your losses! Hopefully you'll get through your cycle pretty quickly. In the meantime do not add any additional fish to the tank...and I'd follow JWright's suggestions on getting some test kits so that you know how many water changes you need to do and how often. Check out the threads that are stickied at the top of the beginner forum, they help explain what is going on in more depth.

 

[saera]

thanks
I haven't done a water change yet today, I'm waiting on my boyfriend to come home with some buckets... I did however scoop up all the pieces that came to the top after digging through the rocks. Added some tap water treatment and cycle... Though JWright says that stuff is not good :S But, thanks again for the help, I'll definitely put it to good use.

 

[MissFishy]

Yup, you're slowly and painfully killing your fish by allowing them to swim around in their own waste. For a more detailed explanation on cycling and how to help your fish survive it, click on the link in my signature. If you don't have a water siphon yet, you may want to check out that section as well.