# Fish are dying and stressed. Tank was cycled. What's wrong?



## jan3sobieski (Feb 11, 2015)

60 gallon tank, took over a month to cycle. Weekly 10% water changes

After tank cycled, added 4 angelfish. 4 weeks later added a bristlenose, 1 blue ram, 1 oto cat, 2 assassin snails and 3 more angelfish. Next day oto was dead. In the coming weeks, each angelfish would be found dead a couple of days apart. Down to 3 now ;( 
Blue ram seems to have ich and bristlenose now has it too. Fish are obviously stressed, but I dunno why.

Ammonia is and has been at zero since i added the new fish.
Nitrites are and have been at zero since i added the new fish.
Nitrates are between 10-20mg/L, is this what's causing the stress? I've been changing 30% of the water now weekly hoping to bring this down. I'm not sure if that's a good idea.
pH is between 6.5-7

What should I do at this point?

I also have this green thing on my sand. I'm not sure if it's algae or something the snails secrete. (i've never had snails before)


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## Arthur7 (Feb 22, 2013)

The coating on the sand are blue-green algae. They create an unhealthy environment in the basin. It's called blue-green algae, but there are bacteria.
Most often arise at the beginning, when the basin had a bad start, with respect to the microbiology.
A new clean pool offers all microorganisms equal opportunities for development. But that's not good. Then it happened. When you restart must be inoculated with the right bacteria. They must be immediately in the majority. Take it from a well running a little aquarium gravel, a few buckets of water or a non-clean filter sponge. Then, in the new pool instantly right bacteria will have the upper hand. The blue-green algae have no chance then.
A typical initial problem. I also had.


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## jan3sobieski (Feb 11, 2015)

It's very odd thought that it started growing after the second set of fish (almost 2 months after tank set up and 3 weeks after tank was cycled). So what's the best course of action now? 

Btw, my blue ram didn't make it through the night  I am so bummed.


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## SueD (Aug 4, 2012)

How often were you testing the tank after adding the fish? Seven angels in a 60g tank is asking for trouble - were you just trying to grow these out to find a pair, or intending to keep all of them in there? I would think 2 would be the max for the angels. 

Nitrate of 20 wouldn't cause those quick deaths and I don't believe that 10% water changes are enough. I change 50% each week in all of my tanks. What is your process for filter maintenance?

I can't say why the sudden deaths given what you've reported, but water parameters are always first on my check list, then looking for disease of some sort that was brought in and transmitted.


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## jan3sobieski (Feb 11, 2015)

SueD said:


> How often were you testing the tank after adding the fish? Seven angels in a 60g tank is asking for trouble - were you just trying to grow these out to find a pair, or intending to keep all of them in there? I would think 2 would be the max for the angels.
> 
> Nitrate of 20 wouldn't cause those quick deaths and I don't believe that 10% water changes are enough. I change 50% each week in all of my tanks. What is your process for filter maintenance?
> 
> I can't say why the sudden deaths given what you've reported, but water parameters are always first on my check list, then looking for disease of some sort that was brought in and transmitted.


Tank was started. Took about 5-6 weeks to cycle. After 6 weeks, no ammonia, no nitrites, some nitrates. At 7 weeks I added 4 angelfish. Tested water every week after that. 4 weeks later, still no ammonia, no nitrites, some nitrates. At this point there is still no algae, water is clear and 4 angelfish seem very happy. Added 3 more angelfish (they're all very small) I thought a 60 gallon is plenty for 7 small angelfish. At the same time added a tiny oto, small bristlenose, 1 german blue ram and 2 tiny assassin snails. Next day, oto was dead. Tested the water, no ammonia, no nitrites, some nitrates. 2 days later, one angelfish is dead. tested water, no ammonia, no nitrites, some nitrates. Since then almost daily something died and green algae started covering my sand. At first i attributed it to the snails. I thought they're leaving some slime behind them. I'm so confused  I keep testing the water daily. No ammonia, no nitrites, some nitrates. Since the fish started dying, i kept doing 10%, 20% 30% daily water changes. They keep dying. Blue ram had visible ich. Died today. 

I'm using two Fluval Aquaclear 70 filters. Haven't changed any media since the tank was started. It's getting close to 3 months now.


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## kalyke (Nov 19, 2014)

Algea. Cynobacteria. Certain light spectrums encourage. Red and orange. Also Ph. Alcaline. 

Does water quality matter? It is whether it photosynthasizes. It seems that it is just light, and ph that matter in the long run.

Your blue ram died of ick. Why did you not take it out and treat it? When you have a fish with ick, remove it from the tank and treat it. So the blue ram death has nothing to do with the algea. Bristlenose also has ick. If you treat it, this animal can have a long happy 10-20 year life. Just like any other pet, you bring it to the vet, or treat if it is sick. 

What other plants do you have in your tank?


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## jan3sobieski (Feb 11, 2015)

kalyke said:


> Algea. Cynobacteria. Certain light spectrums encourage. Red and orange. Also Ph. Alcaline.
> 
> Does water quality matter? It is whether it photosynthasizes. It seems that it is just light, and ph that matter in the long run.
> 
> ...


As of right now i have 4 bunches of ludwigias and 1 potter water sprite. I didn't have a spare tank to put the blue ram in. I have one now, but it was too late. The bristlenose is in the spare tank now getting treated.

I'm just not sure what happened. Everything was fine, water seemed fine. Then they just started dying after introducing the second batch of fish.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You need to up the percentage on your water changes...at least to the 35% or higher level. 10% is sometimes nearly your evap rate and not enough to take down nitrate levels. Good to see that you bumped it up. 20ppm nitrates isn't going to hurt anything but you should try to keep under 40ppm - optimally. Try vacuuming out the BGA off of your substrate.

Never pull out a single fish for Ich treatment. Read up on how it produces and how it detaches itself from the fish and you'll see that you will not get rid of it out of your tank if you do this. ALWAYS treat the entire tank.

Have you tested your tap water. With a ph that low I would be concerned about whether that is the ph of my tap or the level my tank is dropping to. Some water has too low of a kh and it will start at one level from your tap and lower a day or two after it has been in your tank and your fish suffer through this. The way to check this is to take a water sample from your tap and test the ph. Then, set aside a sample of water and test it 24hrs later and see if there is a difference. If there is your tank may be going through this and your ph is unstable. Worth a check anyway.


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## vreugy (May 1, 2013)

How do you introduce fish to your tank?? Drip acclimation is the best, but floating works well too if you do it slow enough. Also, never had the water they came in to your tank. If you just dump them in, the shock of different water is enough to kill any fish. Just a thought.


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