[danio]

My fish have been dying for thecpast several days and I've noticed a strange pattern. They are danios, to note. I lost 5 last night and found them this morning floating and bloated. One died just a moment ago when my back was turned. It was bloated, floating with its fins out stiff. There was blood pooled in the area around its gills and in the area of its pectoral fins.

The nitrate is fluctuating between 0 and 10 ppm with water changes. I've been dosing with aquarium salt throughtout the day. I recently discovered that they're lights have not been turning off at night, and they seem worse off when I can't get into the classroom to turn them off at night. The ammonia and ph are ok.

I've been vacuuming the gravel and feeding twice a day, only as much as the can eat in a few minutes.

Is there anything anyone might, please, suggest I do to save them. I can get to a pet store tomorrow, so I can pick things up too.

 

[sprmankalel]

They could be stressed because they aren't getting the proper lighting cycle. This can be easily solved for about $6 with a timer. See if that solves the issue. Sometimes fish get sick or are sick when you bring them home. So without knowing how long you had them or if any other fish in the tank were effected I doubt anyone would be able to offer insight.

 

[danio]

I got them as a group (~40), and have had them for maybe 3 weeks. I am now down to about 20 fish. Thank you for replying. This is my first time keeping fish, and my professor doesn't know why this is happening either. They die even when I switched them to our emergency tank. So I'm not quite certain what's going on.

 

[jentralala]

Was the tank cycled?

It sounds a lot like hemorrhagic septicemia, with the blood and bloating. I'm not sure how to treat (or even if this is the right diagnoses), but I'll ask some people to come take a look at this and see what they think.

 

[danio]

My tanks werre cycled before I put my fish in, but I only got them 3-4 weeks ago. The other person who got fish from the same order of fish is having the same problem. I picked up a general bacterial treatment to give them, but even the fellow at the aquarium shop had no idea what it could be.

 

[sandybottom]

aquarium salt should only be used up to 2 weeks.

 

[danio]

This is the end of my second week using salt. We thought it was other problems before now.

 

[rsskylight04]

Was the tank cycled?

It sounds a lot like hemorrhagic septicemia, with the blood and bloating. I'm not sure how to treat (or even if this is the right diagnoses), but I'll ask some people to come take a look at this and see what they think.

Agree. Can you post a close photo of one of the affected fish?