PLEASE HELP: Fishes are dying

[DiaAndRob]

Hello and thank you so much for reading...

We have recently aquired a 130L fresh water fish tank which is housing the following: 1 blackmoore, 2 goldfish, 1 fancy goldfish, 2 (i think) female guppies, 2 male guppies, 4-5 small colourful fishies, and a plac. which I found dead today:*(.

My problem is that every plac (algae eater) we seem to get is dieing... we have also lost goldfish too which is very sad to me because I know I am responsible in a way for their death.

We have though started to change the water every week (20%) and clean the gravel, ornaments and filters (we have two because we were told it produces more oxygen)

Currentlly, the fishes are fed twice a day, once in the morning and again at night -- the light comes on at 7 Am and off at 6/7 PM and am hopping this is enough light to keep the brown algae away.... Oh we were also feeding the plac. oncein the morning with algae supplement which the fish used to eat but the fish store told us that is fine cause they eat anyway.. :/

Well, today I was searching for the little guy (plac) and I found him motionless on the botton of the floor :/ sure enough when I picked him up with the net he was dead...

I have now checked the water with a strip we bought at a fish store but have no idea how to read and what to do with the readings...this is what it says:

GH= 180
KH=0
PH=6.0-6.5
NO2=0
NO3=40

I have no clue what this means and would really hope if someone can enlighten us with some information...also, how can we produce more oxygen and should be buy an undergravel filter???

Thank you again for your help

 

[OrangeCones]

I would be suspicious of your readings of GH being 180 but KH equaling zero. What test kit are you using?

Do you have a reading for ammonia?

What temperature are you keeping the aquarium at? Do you use aquarium salt?

You have incompatible fish being kept in a tank too small for them all. Goldfish are a coldwater fish, the guppies and pleco are tropical. Not sure what the small colorful fish are, but likely tropical as well.

The moor and fancy goldfish need 80liters for the first one, and 40 for each additional fancy goldfish. You mentioned 2 goldfish in addition to the moor and the fancy goldfish. Are these koi? If so, they need a pond, not an aquarium.

 

[MdngtRain]

What OC said is where I'd go (they know way more then I do).
Also try feeding the pleco (I'm assuming that's what plac is) at night. They are nocturnal, and she away from much of anything during the day (at least mine do).
Good luck!

 

[DiaAndRob]

The test that we are using is called "5 in one aquarium test strips" which measures PH, nitriate, nitrite, carbonate and general hardness. I am now assuming we need to buy a seperate one for ammonia? Our tank size is 180L tank and I thought that was big enough for the amount of fishes we have inside. These are the new readings done this morning: GH=180, KH=40, PH=6.5, NO=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=40. Again, we do not know the ammonia levels but will buy some today and test. If GH is general hardeness and is at the highest level, how do we reduce this..or do we need to. Also we have no koi fish just two gold fish which are about 9CM long, a fancy goldfish about the same size, a blackmoore that is a a little smaller, plus the guppies ect.. which are doing fine in there. We have a thermometer but to be honest due to my ignorance I have not used it :/ and I have never put salt inside the aquarium as I was unaware of this needing to be done. (I feel horrible now) The coloured ones from what we have been told are freshwater, and the placo was also freshwater (this is what the aquarium people told us).

Can you please advice again..? Thank you for your last reply and look forward to the next one.

 

[OrangeCones]

The readings of GH and KH are fine, no need to mess with them.

The problem you are going to have is that you are keeping coldwater fish (needing temperatures 20-22 °C or 68-72 °F) with tropical fish (needing temperatures 23-28 °C or 74-82°F). It may be possible to use 72-74 for them all but neither would likely thrive.

ALL of your fish are freshwater. Adding aquarium salt, which a lot of pet stores try to say you must do, does not make the water 'salt water' as in a marine tank. Catfish like a Plecostomus species do not like salt at ALL.

What temperature are you keeping these fish at? Do you have a heater?

 

[DiaAndRob]

Hello and thank you for your reply

I checked teh tempatue with a thermometer which I use for meat since I do not have one :/ anywho, the reading says 70F.. I will try to go to petsathome and buy a thermometer for the tank since we do have a heater but never thought of using it. How much salt should I add to the tank and how often..what does the salt do? Also, can you recommend an algae eating fish that would thrive in this enviroment and if it would be okay to add anymore fish to the tank.. Again our tank size is 180L.

Oh, also should I check for ammonia? Any advice from you is greatly appreciated THANK YOU KINDLY !!!!!!

 

[OrangeCones]

I wouldn't recommend you ADD any fish until the water is stabilized and you no longer are having any fish die.

You are keeping fish together that cannot live together. One needs cold water (your various goldfish) and the others need warm water (the pleco, guppies, and possibly the 'small colorful fish'). You need to decide which you want to keep, and rehome the others, or set up another tank to keep them seperately. It is like a zoo trying to keep a penguin and a kangaroo together in the same exhibit. While they are unlikely to harm each other, you cannot provide one environment that is good for them BOTH.

I would not add any aquarium salt. As stated, you do not need it, and it is harmful to your catfish. If you had been using it, it would likely have harmed the pleco and that could be a contributing factor to the prior one's death.

Not sure how accurate the meat thermometer is for low temperatures (they are meant for higher temps while cooking meat). If the reading of the temperature is indeed 70, the tropical fish are not going to live long. That temperature is fine for the goldfish, however.

 

[DiaAndRob]

Again, thank you for your last reply Can you recommended a site which tells you which fishes are tropical or cold water? We have another tank and will try to make it suitable for our tropical fish and hopefully go from there.

Thanks again

 

[Thyra]

You can "google" the fish to find out more about each one or aquadivsor.com will give you a lot of information as will petsmart.com. Any of these sites would tell you the proper temperature for the different fish. Even if you do not have Petsmart stores in England, I assume you can get on their website and there is a wealth of info there.