Help please!!!

[Josh Giro]

I came home from work today to feed my 4 fish (had 2 platys and 2 guppies, all male) and one of my platys was dead! Last night I added 3 Neocaridina shrimp and a plant. I tested my water last night: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate really low, and then I added half a cap of Prime Seachem in case of anything. I just tested my water again, and the tests showed up the same and my water has been at 79°F steadily. I got these 4 fish a little over a month ago… They all seem to have lots of energy and were eating well. I feed them a tiny bit of Spirulina flakes once per day around the same time and have my light on a timer for 9 hours a day.

I’m just so flustered about why this happened?!? Is it because I added a plant and shrimp? Is it because I added some Prime? Please someone try to make sense of this for me

Also, I changed my background to a black background last night, but I don’t think that is the reason.

Any ideas/suggestions on what I should do now & should have done are appreciated! I can also take a picture of “Sunny” if needed, but would rather not. Thank you!

Edited August 16 by Josh Giro

[Tony s]

Sorry for your loss. Just curious as to why you added the prime. Did you do a water change after your test? Or before? Prime can cause a bit of an oxygen drop, usually not too serious. And you added enough prime for a 25g tank. Hopefully that’s what you have. Adding extra in a smaller tank can cause a bit more of an issue. And adding for no reason opens you up to problems you didn’t have. So, very possible it was the prime. Most of the time it’s perfectly safe. But sometimes, it becomes more than our fish can handle.
 

Neither the shrimp or plants should do much of anything. and your remaining fish hopefully are doing okay?

[Colu]

What your KH GH and pH as low KH can cause a lot of health issues with platys any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy flashing any redness to the body of the one who died  @Josh Giro

Edited August 16 by Colu

[reefhugger]

Just out of curiosity are you only feeding spirulina flakes?  If so could smarter people than I opine on if that is adequate or if more variety is needed? 

[Josh Giro]

On 8/15/2024 at 10:27 PM, Tony s said:

Sorry for your loss. Just curious as to why you added the prime. Did you do a water change after your test? Or before? Prime can cause a bit of an oxygen drop, usually not too serious. And you added enough prime for a 25g tank. Hopefully that’s what you have. Adding extra in a smaller tank can cause a bit more of an issue. And adding for no reason opens you up to problems you didn’t have. So, very possible it was the prime. Most of the time it’s perfectly safe. But sometimes, it becomes more than our fish can handle.
 

Neither the shrimp or plants should do much of anything. and your remaining fish hopefully are doing okay?

Yes my other fish seem completely fine. I topped up my water a little bit but definitely not 25g worth. You could be right. I should’ve just not put the prime I guess

On 8/16/2024 at 4:27 AM, reefhugger said:

Just out of curiosity are you only feeding spirulina flakes?  If so could smarter people than I opine on if that is adequate or if more variety is needed? 

Yes only the spirulina flakes

On 8/16/2024 at 3:41 AM, Colu said:

What your KH GH and pH as low KH can cause a lot of health issues with platys any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy flashing any redness to the body of the one who died  @Josh Giro

No redness, I noticed there was a little more black than usual, and when I tried to flip him over, he was only floating on the one side no matter how much I tried to get him to stay on the other

[Tony s]

On 8/16/2024 at 8:53 AM, Josh Giro said:

I should’ve just not put the prime I guess

They make a droplet squeeze bottle for small tanks. I kind of like it better than the cap off one in small tanks. And not at all saying he wasn’t sick. But it does happen. We had a someone 6 months ago that lost a large number of big fish from this. Large water change. Late at night. Extra prime. And with the big fish, you really get extra attached. Was just heartbreaking. 
 

hopefully, that’s what it was and everyone else stays fine. 
 

and yeah, if you have a low ph kh gh , those could cause issues. But easily fixed. If you can run test for that. Depends on what hardness your water is. Platys love hard water 

[Josh Giro]

On 8/16/2024 at 7:28 AM, Tony s said:

They make a droplet squeeze bottle for small tanks. I kind of like it better than the cap off one in small tanks. And not at all saying he wasn’t sick. But it does happen. We had a someone 6 months ago that lost a large number of big fish from this. Large water change. Late at night. Extra prime. And with the big fish, you really get extra attached. Was just heartbreaking. 
 

hopefully, that’s what it was and everyone else stays fine. 
 

and yeah, if you have a low ph kh gh , those could cause issues. But easily fixed. If you can run test for that. Depends on what hardness your water is. Platys love hard water 

Thanks a lot!! I will look into the droplet bottle

[TOtrees]

I think new keepers (I'm assuming this is you @Josh Giro) tend to fixate on identifying or blaming 1 specific problem whenever a fish dies. But I don't think that's helpful. Sometimes fish will die, and you won't be able to know specifically why. In my experience (15 odd tanks, 5+ years, strong bio/eco background) it's rare that a fish will die from one reason only, it's usually a complex of reasons or a cascade of events. Unless you've had the fish for 2 months or more, it's very possible that whatever is going in started before you ever got the fish or tank. You're never going to have a full understanding of that, so I recommend focusing on conditions in the tank now, ie things that ARE under your control. Keep up with your water changes, ensure you have adequate circulation/aeration, feed decent foods and not too much, follow label directions for dechlor, and so forth. If you continue to see disease or death, then you need to tighten all that down even more, and possibly consider a medication regime. But I wouldn't recommend that based on 1 death, due to cause unknown. 

Another good option is to add activated carbon to your filter, if possible. It doesn't necessarily need to be a permanent addition, maybe just a few weeks or months. If you do end up medicating, be sure to remove the carbon. 

[Josh Giro]

On 8/16/2024 at 9:01 AM, TOtrees said:

I think new keepers (I'm assuming this is you @Josh Giro) tend to fixate on identifying or blaming 1 specific problem whenever a fish dies. But I don't think that's helpful. Sometimes fish will die, and you won't be able to know specifically why. In my experience (15 odd tanks, 5+ years, strong bio/eco background) it's rare that a fish will die from one reason only, it's usually a complex of reasons or a cascade of events. Unless you've had the fish for 2 months or more, it's very possible that whatever is going in started before you ever got the fish or tank. You're never going to have a full understanding of that, so I recommend focusing on conditions in the tank now, ie things that ARE under your control. Keep up with your water changes, ensure you have adequate circulation/aeration, feed decent foods and not too much, follow label directions for dechlor, and so forth. If you continue to see disease or death, then you need to tighten all that down even more, and possibly consider a medication regime. But I wouldn't recommend that based on 1 death, due to cause unknown. 

Another good option is to add activated carbon to your filter, if possible. It doesn't necessarily need to be a permanent addition, maybe just a few weeks or months. If you do end up medicating, be sure to remove the carbon. 

I did a 20% water change last night, as my nitrate levels were higher than normal. Do I need to do anything more if a dead fish was in there? Or just keep monitoring it? I only had this fish for about a month, so what you’re saying could be likely. Also, I was wondering that now that this Platy died, I only have 1 Platy and 2 Guppies, should I consider getting another Platy to accompany the other one? Thanks for the advice!

[TOtrees]

On 8/16/2024 at 11:52 AM, Josh Giro said:

should I consider getting another Platy to accompany the other one?

I would base that decision on how the three remaining fish are behaving. If any one of them is overly aggressive or, at the other end of the spectrum, being picked on incessantly, then adding fish will help to reduce or mitigate or correct that. But if they are peaceful, I would leave things as they are and let the tank settle for at least a few weeks or more before adding anything else. 

[Tony s]

On 8/16/2024 at 11:52 AM, Josh Giro said:

should I consider getting another Platy to accompany the other one

You could. Your tank is used to that bioload. But he does have his guppy friends for now 

[Guupy42]

On 8/16/2024 at 5:27 AM, reefhugger said:

Just out of curiosity are you only feeding spirulina flakes?  If so could smarter people than I opine on if that is adequate or if more variety is needed? 

I'm pretty sure that the spirulina flakes are meant as a treat, not as an everyday food. I feed my Endler Guppies regular flakes, and spirulina once or twice a week. @Josh Giro, did your platy that passed look kind of skinny? It might be from malnutrition.

Also, regarding the prime, what size is your tank? People have been assuming you overdosed the prime, but with proper tank parameters and size, someone more experienced might be able to find out what happened.

[Tony s]

On 8/18/2024 at 9:27 AM, Guupy42 said:

People have been assuming you overdosed the prime

Yeah, I sorta did, not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of extra prime. Once in a while. It’s labeled for up to 5x dosage. But I’ve done that before and had a betta be at the bottom of the tank just be shivering from the chemicals. 80% water change and he was fine. Prime has the potential to drastically reduce available oxygen in the tank if overdosed. So do other things like meds. I had a large tank crash on me 3 weeks ago from meds. I followed the instructions exactly. The tank clouded up and the fish were all gasping for air. And I had put 2 extra air stones in. Luckily I had space to move them. Sometimes it’s about what our animals or aquariums can handle. Even when we do the right things.

and if I wasn’t clear before, I don’t believe it was their fault. Was just trying to find an answer for them. One that makes sense. One that I’ve personally seen before. When we’re learning, it’s a balancing act. Between things going on in the tank and things happening to our animals. Adding extra things that may not be needed can throw off the balance. Everything comes together, but it takes time and experience. Trust me on this, lord knows I screwed up enough when just starting. We all do. Then we learn, and we do better.
 

@Josh Giro and for all we know, there was nothing at all wrong. Sometimes animals just pass. Btw, hoping everyone else is still okay?

[Josh Giro]

On 8/18/2024 at 7:27 AM, Guupy42 said:

I'm pretty sure that the spirulina flakes are meant as a treat, not as an everyday food. I feed my Endler Guppies regular flakes, and spirulina once or twice a week. @Josh Giro, did your platy that passed look kind of skinny? It might be from malnutrition.

Also, regarding the prime, what size is your tank? People have been assuming you overdosed the prime, but with proper tank parameters and size, someone more experienced might be able to find out what happened.

Thanks, it’s a 10 gallon tank. I looked it up and it said Spirulina flakes are fine for every day food for platys and guppies

On 8/18/2024 at 8:04 AM, Tony s said:

Yeah, I sorta did, not that there’s anything wrong with a bit of extra prime. Once in a while. It’s labeled for up to 5x dosage. But I’ve done that before and had a betta be at the bottom of the tank just be shivering from the chemicals. 80% water change and he was fine. Prime has the potential to drastically reduce available oxygen in the tank if overdosed. So do other things like meds. I had a large tank crash on me 3 weeks ago from meds. I followed the instructions exactly. The tank clouded up and the fish were all gasping for air. And I had put 2 extra air stones in. Luckily I had space to move them. Sometimes it’s about what our animals or aquariums can handle. Even when we do the right things.

and if I wasn’t clear before, I don’t believe it was their fault. Was just trying to find an answer for them. One that makes sense. One that I’ve personally seen before. When we’re learning, it’s a balancing act. Between things going on in the tank and things happening to our animals. Adding extra things that may not be needed can throw off the balance. Everything comes together, but it takes time and experience. Trust me on this, lord knows I screwed up enough when just starting. We all do. Then we learn, and we do better.
 

@Josh Giro and for all we know, there was nothing at all wrong. Sometimes animals just pass. Btw, hoping everyone else is still okay?

Yeah, everyone else is doing just fine! Except I saw one of my guppies attack my shrimp yesterday which kinda bothered me, it wasn’t a tiny little shrimp either. Is that normal?

Edited August 18 by Josh Giro

[Tony s]

On 8/18/2024 at 10:11 AM, Josh Giro said:

Is that normal?

I honestly have no idea. Haven’t ever kept shrimp 

[Josh Giro]

On 8/18/2024 at 8:15 AM, Tony s said:

I honestly have no idea. Haven’t ever kept shrimp 

I kinda want to add one more platy since my one died, my water parameters are still fine. You think that’d be okay? Might help the shrimp issue too

[Tony s]

On 8/18/2024 at 10:17 AM, Josh Giro said:

You think that’d be okay? Might help the shrimp issue too

I think so. You could even add one more. Total of 3. Everything else is fine. If you know how to sex them, you’ll either want all female or at least 2 females per male. Help stop aggression. 

Edited August 18 by Tony s

[Josh Giro]

On 8/18/2024 at 8:25 AM, Tony s said:

I think so. You could even add one more. Total of 3. Everything else is fine. If you know how to sex them, you’ll either want all female or at least 2 females per male. Help stop aggression. 

I have all male fish right now so I think I’d need to get males or else the female would be overwhelmed

[Tony s]

On 8/18/2024 at 10:34 AM, Josh Giro said:

I have all male fish right now so I think I’d need to get males or else the female would be overwhelmed

Right, all males are a great choice. They can squabble among themselves, but don’t usually injure each other. I actually tried sorting once. Males in one tank. Females in another. Didn’t have any issues except the females had babies for 3 months after. I eventually gave up on that idea