# Killifish died D=



## jemjdragon (Jun 22, 2010)

We found our female Lyretail Killifish dead today. I'm curious if it is because something is wrong. For the past few days I saw her swimming around near the surface and before she normally swam near the bottem or by the driftwood (which could mean nothing, we're not always at this house). Yesterday the male kept following her around (which made us hopeful) but today when we came home with new plants and fish for the tank, the female was dead. Could the swimming near the surface mean there is too little O2? No other fish are doing this. I have an airpump in there and just added more plants. Could she have been sick? If so what should I do? The tankis 10 gallons, has 5 porkchop rasboras, 5 cardinal tetras, 1 cory, 5-6 cherry shrimp, and the male lyretail killifish. We hadn't had any fish deaths for 3-4 months and just added the cardinal tetras today.

Edit: Also if there is nothing wrong, is there any place I can just get female lyretail killifish? Every where I look they're sold in pairs.


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Tad bit over stocked for a 10 gallon, are there plants in the tank, how often do u do water changes and have u checked your water with a master test kit?


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## jemjdragon (Jun 22, 2010)

There are plants in the tank and we try to get a 10% to 15% change in water every week. I know I have a melon sword, about 5-6 wisteria, some sort of broad leaf plants, plants that has many short bright green needle-like leaves, a few grass-like plants, a lotus, and a plant with large leaves like a sword but they are thinner and twisted in a cork-screw shape. If we miss water changes we do a 20% to 30% change the next week. We have not yet checked the tank with a master test because we ran out of testing solution.


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

what kind of filter you got on there? Maybe you need larger water changes.


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## jemjdragon (Jun 22, 2010)

I'm not sure of the brand of filter (I have the box if thats needed), but its for a 10 gallon tank, and it is an "in tank" filter. I don't like it (I prefer out of tank filters) but my fiance wanted to save space. I was thinking of getting a small filter for the other side of the tank to help filter the water.
Also thank you for the help and advice =]


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Yeah the odds are you dont have enough filtration on that tank. Try like an aqua 20 HOB or somthing of that nature, they are small and have a decent flow rate for a 10 gallon.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Sounds like the filter isn't enough to me too. Tanks are often sold with filters that are not really good enough for the size of tank. Killifish don't like too much light and need plenty of cover from plants etc also.


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## jemjdragon (Jun 22, 2010)

I just added a bunch of plants into the tank and the male killi has started swimming around in them so I think he's comfortable now. We will have to wait for a few days till we can buy another filter though. Is this enough plants and hiding places for our remaining killifish?








He normally likes to hide in the lotus and under the log, but now with the plants he hides everywhere.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I'm no expert in Killifish but that looks ok to me, maybe some one else can give more input.


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## jemjdragon (Jun 22, 2010)

Okay, thank you.
Right now I'm faced with a new issue. One of the cardinals seems to have its tail bitten off. I don't think any of the fish in my tank would do that, and the cardinals were fine when I got them 3 days ago. The other cardinals are fine, the one who is tailless hangs out alone in the plants and its "tail stump" is whitish but not fuzzy. Any advice?


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## Northern Hawk (Sep 1, 2010)

just based on looking at the picture the water level could go up a little bit... seems down in the picture anyways.... cardinal tetra more likely got it's tale bitten off by the killfish... thats about the only idea i've got... corys can't bit it off and rasboras are a calm enough fish were they more likely won't do that


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