HELP: One of my Leopard Danios is dying!

It could be any number of things. My first observation is that your
tank is not cycled. If it was cycled your ammonia would be 0, your
nitrite would be 0 and you would show some nitrates. When you have
alkaline water such as yours (pH of 8.0) the toxicity of ammonia
increases drastically. Even .25 ppm becomes dangerous. We need more
information to know what's actually causing his problem though.

What other fish do you keep with him? What kinds and how many?
What is the gh and kh of your water? Have you had any pH fluctuations?
What are the physical symptoms? Not eating? Lethargic? scrapes, nips or
parasites on his body?
How long have you had him?
What has he been eating?
What is the water temperature?
Have you had any mechanical problems? Heater, filter, air stone?
What water conditioners are you using? Are you adding anything else to
the water? Medication?
Anything else you can think of that may be helpful?

wrote in message
oups.com...
It could be any number of things. My first observation is that your
tank is not cycled. If it was cycled your ammonia would be 0, your
nitrite would be 0 and you would show some nitrates. When you have
alkaline water such as yours (pH of 8.0) the toxicity of ammonia
increases drastically. Even .25 ppm becomes dangerous. We need more
information to know what's actually causing his problem though.

Thing is I think the ammonia spike's from adding 2 danios (including the one
that has died now) and 3 ghost shrimp last week.

What other fish do you keep with him? What kinds and how many?
There are now 3 danios in there, as well as three ghost shrimp, 2 apple
snails, 6 neon tetra and a water wisteria.

What is the gh and kh of your water?

no idea, never tested it.

Have you had any pH fluctuations?

Nope, from the tap its 7.4, but in both my aquaria, it is 8.0

What are the physical symptoms? Not eating? Lethargic? scrapes, nips or
parasites on his body?

No parasites or anything physically obvious on him, no nips or fin rot etc,
just lethargy and lying on the bottom, when he was trying to swim he was
very tilted to one side.

How long have you had him?

A week

What has he been eating?

Normal flake food

What is the water temperature?

a steady 25 to 26 celcius, though there was a spike yesterday where it went
to 28/29 or 83 farenheit for those using that. This was due to sunlight
hitting the tank. (we usually draw the curtains in the afternoon)

Have you had any mechanical problems? Heater, filter, air stone?

None

What water conditioners are you using? Are you adding anything else to
the water? Medication?

I use Stress coat for getting rid of chlorines / chloramin when doing water
changes, no medications in use etc.

Anything else you can think of that may be helpful?

the only out of the ordinary event was the temperature spike yesterday :-(
--
Donegal Paul
Lambretta Li186 - crashed and bashed
Vespa T5 Millenium - Wifey's (technically)
www.thepilgrimssc.co.uk
www.a4c.co.uk - What are YOU doing?
www.ailishandcharlie.co.uk

Hmm, well that's curious. Your tank seems to be in order.

It is possible that the tank was going through a mini-cycled if you
added another fish but I don't think that has anything to do with your
danio.

My best guess is, since you've only had him a week, that whatever was
wrong with him may have started before you purchased him. As you likely
know, the majority of fish die in the first two weeks in their new
home. It's a very stressful time and he may have had any number of
diseases made worse by the stress of a new tank. (Here I should
emphasize the importance of quarantining your fish for 4 weeks prior to
introducing him to your community tank.)

I'm sorry to hear you lost the little guy. I wish I could give you a
more definitive answer, but it sounds like you're doing everything
you're supposed to be doing.

" wrote in message roups.com...
Hmm, well that's curious. Your tank seems to be in order.

Are you serious? If the pH of the tank is 8.0 and the water supply
has a pH of 7.4, each water change administer a pH shock.

Also, 3 danios are too few. I have 9 of them in my tank. They are
schooling fish. Your danios were probably in a constant state of
unease being in such small number. Since you have a small tank, get
one Gourami or some other solitary fish. Swordtails and platies are
also okay since they don't seems to be too concerned about being in
small numbers.

[deleted]

ManWorld42 wrote:

Are you serious? If the pH of the tank is 8.0 and the water supply
has a pH of 7.4, each water change administer a pH shock.

It's not at all uncommon for tap water to have a different pH than the
established tank water. Mine tends to vary by about 0.4 to 0.6 as well.
If you're doing large water changes, certainly it's a shock. But in a
ten percent change, the impact on pH is very small.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

"ManWorld42" replied to "
Hmm, well that's curious. Your tank seems to be in order.

Are you serious? If the pH of the tank is 8.0 and the water supply
has a pH of 7.4, each water change administer a pH shock.

Surely not with only a 20% change??

Also, 3 danios are too few. I have 9 of them in my tank. They are
schooling fish. Your danios were probably in a constant state of
unease being in such small number. Since you have a small tank, get
one Gourami or some other solitary fish. Swordtails and platies are
also okay since they don't seems to be too concerned about being in
small numbers.

I originally only had 2 and they were fine, i got another pair because i
thought that this would be nice for the others and as you say they are
schoolers.
It was one of the new pair that died, so now there are three.
I might get another to bring it up to 4 again, but i dont think i will buy
more as i think the tanks already at full capaicity with 3 danios, 3 ghost
shrimp, 2 apple snails and 6 neon tetras, its only a 10 gallon tank.
--
Donegal Paul
Lambretta Li186 - crashed and bashed
Vespa T5 Millenium - Wifey's (technically)
www.thepilgrimssc.co.uk
www.a4c.co.uk - What are YOU doing?
www.ailishandcharlie.co.uk

Are you serious? If the pH of the tank is 8.0 and the water supply
has a pH of 7.4, each water change administer a pH shock.

I'm quite serious. A small water change isn't going to put the fish
into pH shock especially with just a .4 difference.

Also, 3 danios is not too few and it's very doubtful they were uneasy
about it. I have 3 danios too and they school and they are very
healthy. I think the problem was caused by something else, possibly a
compromised immune system from an existing illness.

It happens, sometimes fish just get sick, especially during the first
week or two at home. It's a stressful time. All you can do is check
your water parameters, the fish and your set up and see if you have any
flaws. DP did that and there wasn't really anything significant that
would likely cause problems.

DP, if you like the LFS you bought them at, you may not want to
discount them yet. One sick fish isn't all that uncommon. If you had a
few sick ones, that may be a different story. I've found it pretty
difficult to find a LFS that'll meet my standard of care and now that
I've found one I like, I'd probably let one mishap slide. (Though I
haven't had any yet, phew!)

"IDzine01"said

DP, if you like the LFS you bought them at, you may not want to
discount them yet. One sick fish isn't all that uncommon. If you had a
few sick ones, that may be a different story. I've found it pretty
difficult to find a LFS that'll meet my standard of care and now that
I've found one I like, I'd probably let one mishap slide. (Though I
haven't had any yet, phew!)

I have to admit to "having a feeling" about the place, not sure what it was
really though and given that it meant id already driven 15 miles to get
there thought that id get them there. It has put me off them a bit but i
shant discount them totally, though i have a more local fish shop which is
well recommended and think id trust more.
--
Donegal Paul
Lambretta Li186 - crashed and bashed
Vespa T5 Millenium - Wifey's (technically)
www.thepilgrimssc.co.uk
www.a4c.co.uk - What are YOU doing?
www.ailishandcharlie.co.uk

said

I'm sorry to hear you lost the little guy. I wish I could give you a
more definitive answer, but it sounds like you're doing everything
you're supposed to be doing.

this is what im thinking, it certainly looks like whatever it was, it was
already happening to him at the fish shop.
I dont think ill be buying from them again i have to say.
--
Donegal Paul
Lambretta Li186 - crashed and bashed
Vespa T5 Millenium - Wifey's (technically)
www.thepilgrimssc.co.uk
www.a4c.co.uk - What are YOU doing?
www.ailishandcharlie.co.uk