# Can't keep fish alive, suggestions?



## Dom (Oct 1, 2015)

Hi folks,

I've had a 30 Gallon fresh water aquarium for 18 months now and despite my best efforts to educate myself and stay on top of things I just can't seem to give my fish a healthy home, I feel like my tank is death row for the poor creatures.

I have an Aquaclear filter rated for 40-70 Gallon aquariums, have lights on an automated timer for 12h a day, monitor the temperature regularly and it is stable at 26 C (79 F), I feed the fish manually every morning and make sure they eat all the food within 1-2 minutes to avoid over-feeding, I measure water quality every week or two (7.4 pH, 0 NH3/NH4, 0 NO2, 10 to 20 NO3, pretty stable since the tank was cycled), 15% water changes weekly and I clean the filter media weekly. For a while I used to leave the water in a pale overnight to get rid of the chlorine, for the last few months I've just been treating it with water conditioner just before the water change.

After cycling the tank when I first got it, I introduced 6 guppies and 6 cherry barbs as the initial population. Since then I have been replenishing my stock because my fish keep dying on me, I've lost a total of 20 fish in the last 18 months. This is my first tank so I don't know how frequently I should be expecting my fish to be dying but this seems a little high!

A week ago my stock consisted of 2 guppies, 1 barb, 3 neon tetras, 3 adult Plattys, 1 Pleco and 5 or 6 tiny Platty fry (I think the tank should be able to handle this level of stock without issue), and just in the last week or so I've lost 2 of the adult Plattys and one of the neon tetras.

The fish store I use seems like a decent one, I've brought them dead fish to look at and water samples to test and described my routine. They found nothing wrong but suggested I treat the tank with Melafix (which I did for a week about a month ago) and add a bit of Aquarium salt on every water change. Even with this advice I had those 3 fish die on my this last week.

So my two questions are:
1. How often should I expect fish to die, or how long should I expect fish like cherry barbs, guppies and plattys to live for?
2. Any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot why I have such a poor record with my stock or what I can try to improve it?

Thanks in advance!
Dom


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

Are you getting fish from more than one location? Example, some fish stores are terrible at getting healthy fish. Or have terrible tanks. So, you're already getting fish on the brink of death. 

Are you drip acclimating the fish to the tank? Search, I would recommend this for any fish. IT allows the fish to be slowly acclimated to your tank water. Greatly reducing stress on the fish.

How is your tank setup? decor wise. 

Fish will live for years. 

Are there live plants? Maybe reduce the light duration. Unless you have plants, the aquarium lights are only for us to see our fish. Fish don't need the aquarium light on.


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## Fishtail76 (Oct 17, 2013)

Dom said:


> 15% water changes weekly and I clean the filter media weekly. For a while I used to leave the water in a pale overnight to get rid of the chlorine, for the last few months I've just been treating it with water conditioner just before the water change. Dom


I would suggest doing 50% water changes weekly and do not clean your filter media weekly, this is where most of the beneficial bacteria is. I would wait until you notice a reduction in water flow to clean the filter and when you clean the media just slosh it around in a bucket of tank water and put it back in the filter unless it is falling apart. 
It is best to use a water conditioner like Prime before adding water to your fish tank. Leaving water in a pale overnight will not remove chloroamine and it will harm fish.

Hope this helps!


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## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

All of those fish you have mentioned should life for at least 3 years. The other people have said what to do.


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## mambee (Jul 19, 2013)

I agree with Fishtail76 about performing 50% water changes. It is to fish tanks what rebooting is to computers. Also, make sure that you use a good water conditioner, such as Prime. Many localities now use chloramine instead of chlorine. Chloramine doesn't dissipate overnight. I use Safe, which is the dry form of Prime.

Also, you should think about adding some live plants. I find that they go a long way towards stabilizing the water, plus they can host beneficial bacteria. Good low light plants are Java moss and fern, anubias, and crypts.


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## vreugy (May 1, 2013)

Only thing I can add is a hospital tank for new fish until you are certain the fish are healthy. Sure hope you solve your problem. It can be very frustrating to keep loosing fish.


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## Dom (Oct 1, 2015)

Sorry for the really late reply, it took some time to get my account activated so I could post replies.

Thank you all very much for your advice.

I've made some changes based on your suggestions and other research:
- Started using Prime rather than a store brand conditioner
- Added live plants and upgraded the lighting to support them
- Stopped feeding on weekends
- Modified water change amount / frequency
- Added some shrimp as a cleaning crew... I admit this was more because I wanted shrimp than anything else 

It's way too early to tell if any of this will help but 3 weeks into it and fish + plants seem happy.

Thanks again!


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