Fish Problem... Help.
Right, I apparently have to do another water change or something... not sure what at this point. I moved an aquarium last night from one room to another. I cleaned it with a new bottle brush bought for the tanks because it was all gunked with algae (after rinsing the brush in water being drained from the tank via a Python Water Changer). I cleaned the under gravel filter’s lift tubes. I filled it, added the chems (Dechlorinator with something to remove the Chloramines; Aquarium bacteria after that had a chance to work), let the temperature regulate... properly adjusted the fish, even used the tank thermometer to make sure the temperatures were the same (this isn’t the first time this has happened so I wanted to make damned sure it wasn’t something I did, this also happens when I do water changes but normally it’s one or two I lose and I was doing that via buckets and adjusting the water before it went in for the chems and such...) Fresh filters (rinsed before insertion). I’ve had fish for a long time, and did not have any problems before moving to this complex. I also care for my mom’s fish and since she moved, we haven’t lost any except one and that was swim bladder issues.
I moved the 20 gallon aquarium last night to my bedroom, away from the living room window. I lost 8 fish overnight. All six standard neon tetras, and 2 sempre tetras.
Three of the Sempre Tetras are fine. The Four Black Neon Tetras are fine. The 2 Tiger Barbs are fine.
Now, here’s the kicker.... my tank water quality tends to be better than the water quality out of the tap. The Nitrites and Nitrates tend to be high out of my tap for some reason (Plus the chlorine is so bad it smells like a swimming pool, and the Chloramines tend to be high, in addition to the water being so hard that it leaves calcium deposits everywhere). I am wondering if it has something to do with the tap water in my area. When I was doing my mom’s tank in the building next door, she regularly lost fish when I did water changes. Now, she moved to another town with a different water company, and she has not lost a fish since during a water change.
That being said, the water in the tank does smell very off but I cannot put my finger on it. It’s not a pool like smell, not a pond smell, not a natural water way smell, not even a fishy smell, it’s not a lake smell, not a living water smell.... I don’t recognize it at all. The smell is with the tap too. Smells almost like a decay smell but not quite.
I normally only do 10 to 25 percent water changes unless I have to hit it with a hard one due to a chemical contamination (bedbugs are a problem in my building, and if one falls into the tank, it’ll poison every fish in the tank - tanks are covered and turned off completely during any sprayings and for 24 to 48 hours afterward but the sprayings are not on any recommended schedule so now I’m packing and getting rid of most of my stuff so I can move before the end of October).
My hands were washed extra well with a rinse of several minutes. Arms too.
No chemicals came in contact with the tank unless they were in the water.
I can hardly wait to move. My Standard neon tetras were my favorites so I’m a bit upset at the moment.
I do not have the money for an in depth water analysis, just the strips which don’t reveal much. Petco and PetSmart use the strips to test your water.
Any suggestions?
I have a 55gal, a 20gal, a 13gal (Quarantine tank), a 5gal Hex (Betta Tank - he’s very happy in that tank and interacts all the time! He’s such a showoff! - Running a 10 gallon Aqeuon Power Filter in it with the flow as low as possible), and a 5.6 Gallon (Quarantine Tank), and a 3gal (On loan to my mom for her Betta - and he’s quite happy and interactive! It’s running an i3 pump/filter by Tetra). I’ve been at this for a long time but cannot figure out why I lost so many fish at once unless it was water quality. They acted like they were poisoned/shocked but the water temps were the same.
The 20 gallon is equipped with a 10/20 undergravel filter because I usually keep my guppies in it but switched them due to a population explosion. The tetras and barbs were supposed to go in the 55. I did recently find somewhere to take the excess population so I should be able to switch them back soon.