Tank Assistance

[NeoRawr]

Hello! I'm a bit worried about my freshwater 20 gal tank (72 degrees). I've had fish for numerous years and just now only having issues.
Fish: 4 mollys (one has stunted growth), German blue ram, clown loach, snakeskin barb, a green spotted puffer, small pleco and a red fin (dont recall the rest of the name for the fins).

Recently my small pleco died, one molly died after, then the clown loach, my german blue and the second pleco I had to replace the first. The tank seems fine, there is no ick on any fish. The dead fish all look perfectly fine and healthy so I'm at a loss of what could possibly be wrong.


My brother is really good with fish and has owned a saltwater tank and hes not sure what could be wrong. Any help would be awesome, thanks!

[jasonp87]

Were any of the fish added recently other then the second pleco you mentioned? Maybe one brought something with it. Seems like a lot of fish for a 20 gallon tank too. Maybe ammonia spiked killing one and started a snowball effect creating more and more ammonia killing off the rest of the fish.

[SmilinAvnger]

Done any testing of the water? I have had the green spotted puffers before and they can pick on other fish. See any of that activity going on?

[NeoRawr]

I had the fish quarantined for a day and when I introduced him to the tank I replaced the water. Originally my I had my brothers mollies and puffer (he was moving and needed them housed and I had a 20 gal available). Then I got the red fin, barb, german, and clown few months later. Before introducing them to the tank I cleaned the water again and everything had been fine. (the puffer gets territorial and will attack unless I do it that way.) Everything has been great until a few days ago.

No testing as of yet.

[SmilinAvnger]

Well, I'm no expert but since no one else has chimed in...

You have a couple of fish that I know are aggressive to many other fishes, the puffer and the clown loach(not usually but it can be). I am not familiar with the other species you mentioned May be part of the problem.

You should definitely test your water just to see and rule that out. It could be a big issue. I think petco will test it for free. Most LFS will test for a buck or 2.

Are you acclimating your fish to the tank?

Dripping tank water into the bag or another small container with your new fish and it's old water in it? Once that fills up you can dump half the water and keep dripping. I usually do this 3 times with the salt water fish. (I did not do this with fresh water... didn't know any better)

Then dump the water and fish into a net (over the sink) and dump the fish in the tank. That way you keep most of the old water out of your tank.

Doing a 10 to 20 % water change on the tank every couple of weeks is a good idea as well. (in case you are not doing that regularly already)

I also think your tank is a bit small for some of your fish. The clown loach can get pretty big.

Hope that helps.