Hi, I set up my fluval chi a few weeks back and introduced 2 platys and one siamese fighter into it, the fighter sure enough died hours after. Platys are fine, I have tested my water regular since setting up the aquarium and i simply cannot put my finger on the problem.

I brought a new fighter the otherday, and sure enough hes now lying on the floor of the tank

I used to keep fighters without filters and without heat and theyve lasted aaages, i put one in a tank wiith filter and it doesnt seem to cope, any ideas?? Thanks

Fishkeepers seem to get the notion that fish thrive for years in less than ideal conditions - however the truth is they're simply taking a long time to die. Siamese Fighters are tropical fish; they won't thrive without heat.

Can you post the results from your water tests? Did you cycle the filter and if so how long for?

If I've worked it out correctly, 25 litres is about 5 gallons - the bare minimum for keeping most fish. In a tank of this size, you should really only be keeping the fighter and nothing else.

I don't beleive its the lack of space in this tank, though i do understand it's small.

I cycled the tank for a week and a half before adding anything, I've chucked results from yesterdays test so will re-do it in the morning and post them up.

The platys are showing absolutly no signs look really good etc, and one has even given birth and i have the fry in a breeder tank until I can get them rehomed. Im just baffled, i feel so cruel for buying another one that now has no hope, is there anything i can do for him? i have jugs of water thats been distilling on the window sill for over two days, or would that make things worse for him?

just tested ,y water as im quite anxious, i understand its probably too late for him, but I want to try!

Ammonia: 0ppm
Chlorine: 0mg/l
PH: quite high, how can i bring it down - between 7.6-8
Carbonate hardiness:6
GH:16 d
NO2 & NO3: 0

Please help me try to sort my tank out, i understand the water quality is not the best and theres room for improvment

Hi there,

I feel your pain!! I kept a fighter in a 15ltr tank without heat or filtration (lots of water changes) for 2 years when i lived in aus. After coming home and having to rehome him i wanted to get another here.
Sadley iv lost 3 fighters in the last year with them not lasting more than a few months.
They each went in cycled filtered and heated tanks and still they kept dieing. i finally decided that the fighters here are just more fragile than those in aus who live in cups. Ive re set up my tank, cycled it without fish until water was ready for them, then added some danios to mature the tank.
I had them in there for about 2 months then moved them to my community tank and got myself another fighter.
Touch wood, hes doing great! and is deffinatly the happiest iv had yet. I dont know if this has anything to do with the tank being more mature and settled or i just got lucky, but maybe worth a shot giving the tank time before adding another fighter. Also the bigger the tank the better, mines in a 30 ltr on his own and keeping the water conditions safe is so much easier in a bigger tank.
Its heart breaking not being able to do anything for them when they get ill.

Best of luck!

It's not really about physical space, but the volume of water. While small fish like Platies and Siamese Fighters don't produce a lot of waste, tanks do have a certain 'biological capacity'. There's also things such as surface area to consider.

Did you test the water during the cycling process?

What are you using to test the water? The water quality isn't bad; if the pH is stable then that's more important than trying to change it. Most community fish that have been bred in captivity slowly become acclimatized to the water conditions in aquatic stores.

If you really want to bring the pH down, use rainwater (that's been filtered through carbon and filter floss first to remove airborne pollutants and dissolved solids), peat (be careful, this stuff stains water!) or reverse osmosis water.

I think my GH and PH could both do with being lowered, I just dont really know how to do it. I avoid adding chemicals to the water at al costs, i'm concerned that a chemical going in the water is going to do more harm than good, well I have lost my fighter, poor boy, I give up on them for now, and your right a larger aquarium is alot easier I used to have a 30 Gal and had the fish in there for YEARS, I didn't test my water when it cycled, silly really, I didnt have any testing stuff here when I set-up, only been last few weeks ive been testing and trying to learn a bit more about it!

Thanks for all your advice, much appreciated

Be exceedingly careful when doing this, a pH level can crash in a few hours. As you probably already know, the KH (Carbonate Hardness) provides the buffering capacity for the pH of water due to all of the minerals and compounds dissolved in water in its natural state. Chemicals are a no-go area; most are actually quite dangerous.

We all make a few mistakes, don't beat yourself over anything. There's more ways than one of bringing an aquarium back from the brink of disaster. The cure starts with the simplest of things: the water.

I would say your filter may not have cycled it's self fully yet as you should not be getting 0 nitrate/n03. That's the last bit of breaking down of the fish waste so u should see some in the water. There would also be a small amount in tap water too

Unless there are live plants in the aquarium that are somehow absorbing all traces of the NO3. Something suggests to me a faulty test kit, rather than 0ppm of nitrate. Strip test kits are the most unreliable; however nearly all nitrate test kits are next to useless in the long-term as they all have very short shelf-lives!