# Mass fish death



## ML (Jan 20, 2009)

I was away ay a friends house when 4 of my fish died. both of my tiger barbs and both bala sharks that i have had since i got the tank. when i got home they were all dead. there was a nasty rusty colored algae on the glass, covering about 10% of the glass. and there were these worm looking things all over the gravel. they dont move and kinda look like roots but they dont do anything. the last water change before this happened had been 4days before. the only thing left in the tank is my 2 inch pleco. it hastnt been eating lately, or at least i havnt seen it. it just sits attatched to the suction cup of my heater. after looking at him closely i noticed that one of the root/worm things was coming out of his anus about an inch. i scooped him out and pulled it off thinking it was a parasite of some kind. i quickly changed the water and added all the necesary chemicals, but i dont have any water testing supplies so i have no idea wat the problem(s) could be.

i will be gone for the next 1-3 days, so i cant do anything drastic till saturday night.


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## Doedogg (Jun 21, 2008)

Before we can help we really need to know your water parameters, most important: ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. 
What size tank do you have? 
How long has it been set up? 
How often and how much do you feed your fish?


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## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

Two tiger barbs and two balas and a pleco need a lot of space and it does sound like you may have a new tank with that "rusty colored" algae on the glass sounds like new tank syndrome. It also sounds like you are having a parasite of some kind but we really need to have the information that was asked for as well as:

Temperature of the tank?
What are you feeding the fish?
Real or fake plants?
What types of decorations?
What type of substrate?
Was the tank and everything in it new or did you get some of it used?
Did you get all the fish at the same time and same place?
Did you quarantine any of the fish before adding them to the tank and if so for how long?
What type of heater do you have in the tank? How many watts?
What type of filter do you have in the tank? What size?
Do you run an airstone or other aeration?

We REALLY need to have the readings on Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. If you do not have the testing stuff you can take a sample of the water in to the pet store and ask them to test it for you. But don't let them just tell you it is OK tell them you want the numbers on the results.

Ammonia always needs to be 0 for fish health
Nitrites should be 0 but never more than 0.5 for real fish health
Nitrates should ideally be not more than 10 but never mrre than 20 for fish health.

If you have a small tank and those fish in there, you could have had a massacre. Those are semi-aggressive fish and all are territorial. They would fight for territories and could have fought each other but there would have been signs of trauma to the fish themselves.

We will wait for more information but cannot give you much more until we know more.

Rose


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## ML (Jan 20, 2009)

the tank is 3 months old
10 gallons
i dont know the chemical readings at this point, since the nearest store is over an hour away and i have to juggle school, track and work, theres never time.
last time they were checked, all were normal, pH was just a tiny bit high, but 98% of the water in this part of the state is, city or country, so the fish were used to it.
just before the brown algae came there was a bit of green algae that was taken care of with a 2 inch pleco. this is the first time since i started the tank that brown algae has grown at all
i have a Tetra Whisper made for 10-30 gallons. 
Temperature hovers around 76-78 all the time
I am feeding with Tetra tropical flakes in the morning, pellets at 4, and flakes at night.
trying to grow lilly bulbs, but so far nothing has sprouted, just grown fuzzy hairs
mostly just acrylic tank decorations, and some glass ornaments
regular aquarium gravel 
everything inside was new when bought in december
all fish were bought at the same place, the sharks in late december, barbs in mid february, and the pleco early march
no quarantine, just let the bag float for 1/2 hour
Whisper 10-15 gallon filter with week old filter, i usually change it every two weeks
I was planning on getting a small airstone when i bought the pleco, but the store was out of hose for it

I never saw any aggresion for each other, if only a quick dart at a member of the same species every few days or so. i never noticed any sign of trauma. the bigger of the two sharks was missing 5 scales or so, but it had been missing them for 2 months before this happened.

the last one to die ended up with a slightly swollen abdomen and seemed unable to move, he just kinda floated around with the current, sometimes upright, sometimes belly-up

i understand that the tank was crowded, but i live so far away that i like to buy extra fish since sometimes they dont make the drive home.


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## woodyg3 (Mar 24, 2009)

I'm really sorry for your problems and loses. Test kits are very helpful, but even without one it's very clear you need to be making some big water changes. I would change 50% of the water right away, and continue making changes as often as you can in the coming days. That way, you might save the pleco. I would cut way back on feeding, as well.

Good luck with the fish, and good luck with your track season, too!


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## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

There is nothing wrong with some algae in our tank other than we just don't like it in our tank. The brown algae (diatoms) usually pop up in new tanks and they thrive under low lights, silica, and over feeding.

Your last description of the one fish sounds like a swim bladder disease or bloat. This could be parasitic, so if you are still seeing "worms" you might just want to treat with something like Paraguard or Metro +.

Does the root thing look like this:


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## ML (Jan 20, 2009)

no the worms look just like little roots for something. thats originally what i thought they were since they were all worked into the gravel, but then theyh started hanging off it the pleco and just floating around. i have not noticed one actually swimming yet, so that must mean something


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