half my tank died tonight...help??

tnt · 02-17-2007, 11:14 PM

--changed the water last night -fed them as usual, -added 2 cups of nitroban and -5mls of plant food..-ph in the tank hasnt changed, -temp either..-amonia level is at 0, -nitrate and nitroban tests say the water is fine...----woke up this morning after about 6 hours and 5 had died, throughout the day is progressed to 13 fish..the other fish are acting strange, hmm cant imagine why, but i would like to know if anyone has any comments suggestions stories or whatever

jd@ga · 02-17-2007, 11:22 PM

Tell us more about the set up (ex. tank size, how long has the tank been set up, how many fish in the tank, type of water you use, that kind of stuff)

tnt · 02-17-2007, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jd@ga

Tell us more about the set up (ex. tank size, how long has the tank been set up, how many fish in the tank, type of water you use, that kind of stuff)

its a 55 gallon, the tank has been set up for just a little over a month, there were about 25 fish, various kinds, not sure if that makes a difference, but none is particular died more than the others. it was a combined total of about 48 inches in adult size fish. theres one amazon sword, 2 onion plants, 8 money wart plants and one wysteria. 1 heater on each side of the tank, one 18 inch air stone, a 30-60 gallon whisper filter. the air pump is also a whisper.

jd@ga · 02-17-2007, 11:53 PM

How often do you do w/c? Do you use tap water? Did you cycle your tank with fish?

jd@ga · 02-18-2007, 12:11 AM

From here it sounds like new tank syndrome. I have battled with that in my past. Some tanks are harder to get cycled than others. Usually a sudden change is all that is needed to upset a newly cycled tank. That is why you don`t do 100% water changes, change out all filtration material at the same time and try to change water parms. suddenly.

fernival brainard · 02-20-2007, 12:32 PM

sounds like too many fish in a too new tank(IMO). when stocking a new tank it has to be done slowly so the filteration can adjust to the bio-load and 25 fish in a tank that is barely a month old sounds like alot to me.
I set my 55 up last september and I added the last of the fish to it around christmas. Adding too many fish to soon can overwork an under established filteration system and doing a major water change can compound the problem by removing some or most of any beneficial bacteria that may have started to grow.
I'm not sure about the use of nitra-ban, i tried it once and didn't have much luck, I just lost alot of fish because it gave me a false sense of "good" water quality. I do use Stress-zyme, made by API when i do water changees and when I add new fish and it seems to do well. It contains dual-action, live bacteria and IMO will help in reestablishing healthy bacterial colonies in a tank. Hope things get better for you! Good luck!

fern