Hello, my fish are dying one by one and I don't know what to do.
Water parameters in my 26g:
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
ph 6.5-7 (have a hard time deciding between the colors)
nitrates 0 (I took the test 3 times today and I REALLY got rough with bottle number 2 and it's not expired)
Aquatop cf400uv canister filter
DIY co2 at 2 bpm, maybe less but never more (citric acid and baking soda version)
Temp 77
Planted tank with water hyacinth, water lettuce, baby tears, bacopa carolina, mini alternanthera reineckii and another that I've not identified with certainty but I think it's a type of hygrophilia, one piece of Malaysian driftwood and one piece of spider wood
We have struggled with various algae's since the beginning and ongoing. We are really struggling to understand the balance for plants and just when we think we're getting somewhere, some new algae pops up. We do 25-30% water changes weekly and we test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates just before the changes, weekly. Everything has been fine.
Until the deaths started we had 8 white cloud minnows for about 2 months. We added 3 otocinclus a few days short of 5 weeks ago.
About a week after the otos arrived a minnow died of no apparent reason. I went to do my daily fish count and he was just dead. I checked his corpse for anything unusual and I could not see anything odd but I'm new to fish keeping. I watch my fish carefully and I did not notice a thing wrong the day before, the otos seemed to be settling in fine as well. I tested the water parameters, spoke to my lfs and watched everyone carefully. About a week or so after the minnow died, one of the otos began acting lethargic and sitting in one spot on the intake tube, near the top. Besides fin clamping I couldn't see anything wrong again. His belly seemed bloated but I know otos should have fat pearls for bellies and so I'm not sure if it was "too" fat. I checked the water and did an extra pwc and watched him. I know that otos are known to have a high mortality rate when brought home so I was expecting to lose at minimum, one. I kept watching to see some visual symptom on what he might have but unfortunately he died after 4 days
This past Thursday I noticed another minnow and an oto acting "off" I couldn't see anything wrong once again but they aren't right. The oto goes in spurts of being lethargic and then acting normal and the minnow has been hanging out alone in one corner of the tank. On Friday I noticed a different minnow with a fuzz on his head acting a little slower than usual. At that point I am certain something is wrong so the next day (stores were closed) a visit to my lfs sent me home with Pimafix. I read about it and it's seriously controversial whether it works or not but no-one said it killed their fish, just that it didn't make them better so we did 30% water change and began the doing per the instructions on Saturday. The fish with fuzz on his head is not going to make it through tonight I don't think and the other one is looking worse and worse and both otos are very inactive. All the fish are still eating when it's offered.
I don't know what to do because I understand dumping a bunch of chemicals in my tank and hoping for the best can do more harm than good but at this point I KNOW something is wrong and I don't want to do nothing while my fish suffer and die one by one
Lastly, the Pimafix directions are not especially clear. It says do a 25% water change at the end of the week but I stopped using the co2 when I started using the pimafix as many sites suggested it lowers oxygen levels in the water and now i'm growing algae like a queen again. Hindsight says "you should have stopped ferts and light too then, silly girl" but I didn't. I need to do a water change today imo the tank looks awful and I know that clean water is the 100% priority for a healthy tank but the Pimafix instructions said after a week do 25%...
I really need some experienced advice please. I've added some pics on my profile of the dead oto and tank.
Water parameters in my 26g:
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
ph 6.5-7 (have a hard time deciding between the colors)
nitrates 0 (I took the test 3 times today and I REALLY got rough with bottle number 2 and it's not expired)
Aquatop cf400uv canister filter
DIY co2 at 2 bpm, maybe less but never more (citric acid and baking soda version)
Temp 77
Planted tank with water hyacinth, water lettuce, baby tears, bacopa carolina, mini alternanthera reineckii and another that I've not identified with certainty but I think it's a type of hygrophilia, one piece of Malaysian driftwood and one piece of spider wood
We have struggled with various algae's since the beginning and ongoing. We are really struggling to understand the balance for plants and just when we think we're getting somewhere, some new algae pops up. We do 25-30% water changes weekly and we test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates just before the changes, weekly. Everything has been fine.
Until the deaths started we had 8 white cloud minnows for about 2 months. We added 3 otocinclus a few days short of 5 weeks ago.
About a week after the otos arrived a minnow died of no apparent reason. I went to do my daily fish count and he was just dead. I checked his corpse for anything unusual and I could not see anything odd but I'm new to fish keeping. I watch my fish carefully and I did not notice a thing wrong the day before, the otos seemed to be settling in fine as well. I tested the water parameters, spoke to my lfs and watched everyone carefully. About a week or so after the minnow died, one of the otos began acting lethargic and sitting in one spot on the intake tube, near the top. Besides fin clamping I couldn't see anything wrong again. His belly seemed bloated but I know otos should have fat pearls for bellies and so I'm not sure if it was "too" fat. I checked the water and did an extra pwc and watched him. I know that otos are known to have a high mortality rate when brought home so I was expecting to lose at minimum, one. I kept watching to see some visual symptom on what he might have but unfortunately he died after 4 days
I don't know what to do because I understand dumping a bunch of chemicals in my tank and hoping for the best can do more harm than good but at this point I KNOW something is wrong and I don't want to do nothing while my fish suffer and die one by one
Lastly, the Pimafix directions are not especially clear. It says do a 25% water change at the end of the week but I stopped using the co2 when I started using the pimafix as many sites suggested it lowers oxygen levels in the water and now i'm growing algae like a queen again. Hindsight says "you should have stopped ferts and light too then, silly girl" but I didn't. I need to do a water change today imo the tank looks awful and I know that clean water is the 100% priority for a healthy tank but the Pimafix instructions said after a week do 25%...
I really need some experienced advice please. I've added some pics on my profile of the dead oto and tank.