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I've had a few fish pass recently


DavidR
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It started about two months ago. I had 4 fish that had been in the aquarium pass, I'm unsure why. They were all rainbow fish, I have otto's and lots of shrimp that didn't seem affected at all. 2 of the rainbows did survive and actually seemed to thrive. I checked parameters and had no ammonia or nirtrite with minimal nitrate present.

Fast forward to now, I watched the tank for a couple months and checked the parameters. No ammonia or nitrite appeared. I added 10 small rainbows after it seemed the tank was stable. All but two of them have passed over the week they have been in the tank. No other residents have had any issues. Again, I checked the parameters and noted no ammonia or nitrite and minimal nitrate.

This is a 78 gallon heavily planted tank that has been running for over a year. I have a bunch of cherry shrimp and 6 otto's in addition to the fish mentioned above. I'm confused as to what could be going on, any help is appreciated.

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On 9/1/2021 at 9:39 AM, Guppysnail said:

There are some very experienced rainbow folks here like I believe @Fish Folk They may be able to help more if you post actual number parameters like kh/gh/ph temp and such. 

I don't normally look at kh or gh, but my temp is 72 and ph ranges from 7.1-6.5 as I inject CO2. I closely monitor CO2 to maintain these parameters.

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The shrimp and the ottos doing well is a good sign. They tend to be a bit more fragile. In a stable 78 gallon tank changes to the water quality would be gradual for the fish living in there and they'd adjust as things gradually changed. It's possible a parameter that's now "normal" for your fish, even the more sensitive ones, is too much out of whack for new fish plopped into the tank who haven't adjusted to it. It could be something exotic that's built up over time that doesn't show up on tests. (Fluoride being one possibility. A buildup of fertilizer salts or a fertilizer micronutrient that your fish have adapted to might be another example.) You could also just have gotten a bad batch of replacement fish. It happens. They may have been overly stressed from shipping or traumatized in some other way. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'd quarantine any new fish for a few weeks before adding them to that tank and then add them one at a time and watch them. If they show signs of stress upon being added then it could be something exotic gone wrong with your tank water that your fish have adapted to. Water is a lot more complicated than we like to think. If it is the water, then a gradual replacement program and maybe altering/stopping any additives (fertilizer and whatnot) could let you gradually readapt your existing fish to better water and make life easier for newcomers.

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Would personally say that the water temperature is a bit low for rainbows in my experience. Do you have anything other than the ottos and shrimp in the tank? If not slowly increase the tank temperature over the next few weeks to better suit the rainbows you want to keep as they can both deal with warmer water. 

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