Keep loosing fish

Question
QUESTION: Hi there!
I hope you'll be able to help me with this, I have a 29 Gallons (freshwater). Here's a list of my fish:
4 Pristella tetras
(until yesterday) 4 zebra danio (now 3, one that died was quite small)
(until yesterday) 6 neon Tetras (now 1 which will most likely be dead when I come back home today after work)
4 clown loaches (I had a new one that died 2 days after I got it, but it was very small, about the size of the tetras)
3 corydoras catfish
2 blackskirt tetras
1 chinese algae eater
1 dwarf frog
1 dwarf gourami (new guy, fish started to die after I put this guy in, I also found him eating a dead fish in the bottom. Also, this is my 3rd gourami, I lost the last 2 for suspicious reasons I can't understand)
1 veil angel fish (I've had it for quite a while and it never attacked any fish that I know of...)
1 white cloud.

That's it for the fish list

I have been quite good at keeping my levels, the only one I got to be off was my ph which was about 7.6.

2 days ago, my blue dwarf gourami died so I went to the petstore to buy a new one and there was a 50% discount on clown loaches, I thought about buying a new friend for my other 4 loaches. (please note that I know that the loaches will get big but I'm planning on upgrading the tank as the fish grows bigger).
Yesterday I noticed the new loache was dead, I picked it up to bring it back to the store which has a waranty policy as long as your water levels are fine. The store owner told me that my PH was about 7.6. I had a 40% water change last week, and I'm pretty good at doing my water changes 10% every week and 40% every month.

Yesterday, I lost 4 neon tetras, 1 zebra danio and last night I lost another neon tetra.

I'm highly suspicious about the dwarf gourami (its red) since the dying has started when I introduced this new guy. I feed my fish regularly so I know they are not starving. I do know that my other fish never had any behavior problems.

I do have to admit that I'm clueless about this...
By the way, when I came back from the store yesterday, I did another 40% water change to lower my ph, its now around 7.4-7.3 according the chart. Oh and my temp is around 80 degrees.

Thank you for your help.
Sam

ANSWER: Hello Sam
Sorry if I am going to sound a little hard but there are a few issues with your aquarium :-
1) Neon tetras are rather sensitive fish; so perhaps the answer lies in the water chemistry...Did you check for ammonia / nitrite levels as they can impact a neon more than other fish (causing a lot of people to opt for cardinal tetras instead)
2) Clown Loaches need a minimim 75g tank to live - they are great fish but more suited to 90g or larger setups. Why >> they love to live in groups and can hit a whopping 16" (I've seen several in the 8 to 12" size range)
3) Chinese Algae Eater - can get quite large too and VERY agressive. these will tip the 8" mark (maybe larger) and get quite pushy as they mature.
4) White Clouds are coldwater fish - they can live in a tropical tank, but it's the same situation with goldfish - not an ideal environment...
That said - I know people do get attached to fish as pets, so I don't want to pressure you any more on the issue. You are overstocked by a large margin, and that could be the reason for elevated ammonia /nitrite levels.
While gouramis can be agressive, most dwarf versions aren't... Your best bet is to check for behaviour with the lights on (watch from a distance) and then tonight when the lights go off... Cory's are very different fish at night (still peaceful but very active) and this could be true of some of your other tank inhabitants. Like humans fish all have different personalities, so you're in the best position to say if there's fish-on-fish agression.
The other part that has me curious... Is there a reason you are trying to bring down your pH? Often times if done wrong it affects the water's hardness and buffering and such, which also plays a part in fish loss. If you bought your fish locally they are probably accustomed to the local water and most of them on your list aren't demanding on the pH level. The other thing is when you said you did a 40% water change to drop the pH, did you mean using Reverse Osmosis water? If so, you need a buffering agent in that or it would really do a number on your fish. If you're using tap-water that isn't going to really alter your pH as is.
For now, with your current load, I'd first get the water parameters tested, then increase / double up on filtration if you're reading high levels of anything. Get something that is rated for the next size up on your tank - so a HOB that reads 300ghp if you're upgrading or if you're buying another then something that's 200gph in addition to your existing filter. Also, don't play around with the pH value as a lot of the products aren't the safest. And hold off on buying any new fish unless you reconfigure your setup. Hope that helps. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have.
shawn


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the answer, as it it, I had the water tested at the pet store and the owner told me that the only thing that was off was my ph, I did have a bunch of seashell in there and removed them because she told me it would be the reason why my tank is so high on ph, when I did my water change it dropped my ph from 7.6 to (7.3-7.4). My ammonia/ nitrite levels were perfect she said.

I am planning on upgrading this tank down the road, I'm doing this gradually. My loaches are still bellow 2inches, I have 2 that are 1 inch and 2 that are a little less than 2 inches. My chinese algae eater is about 4-5 inches long and so far it keeps to itself, there's a lot of hiding space in the tank (the bottom) the top is fairly empty to give swimming space.

I try to keep my tank as clean as possible but I do realise that I might need some better filtration. What brand and model do you recommend?

And finally, I want my clown loaches to be the center piece with the angel fish, I want my setup to accomodate these guys more than the others so any suggestion would be appreciated. How long do I have until they (loaches) grow huge? From my understanding from all sorts of forum, these live for a long time in good condition and take a long time to grow to full size. Is this correct?

Thank you very much!!

Sam

Answer
Hi Sam
Sea shells will rocket the pH up on your tank indeed... It's usually reserved for african cichlids who need near marine pH. A lot of the filtration problems isn't a reflection of your maintenance - you can only clean the debris - what you need is additional bio-filtration to house beneficial bacteria colonies.
When you do upgrade, I suggest you look at a tank in the 48" length category. They are large enough to keep most fish and yet aren't heavy enough to cause structural problems associated with the 60 and 72" set. This means your options range from a 55g to 90g roughly. My personal favourite is the 75g - it's not all that much wider than a 55g but gives you enough width to landscape. Also, that's the largest you can go without getting into the really expensive filtration.
For a filter - with a larger tank, you really want a canister. The short answer would be getting an Eheim 2215. They are pretty plain looking and seem to lack so called features and flow rate, but make up for all that in reliability and quality. Plus with Eheim releasing newer models they seem to have dropped a fair bit in price. Stay away from the newer Ecco line - if you choose to spring for the Pro series is up to you (I personally wouldn't). Other good options are the Rena XP line (XP2 or XP3 - the price difference is minimal) and Fluval (Hagen) 305 (contratry to a lot of reviews - they do work just fine - I have 5 at home). Stay away from the other brands - they range from unproven to badly built to just hard to find parts / media for.
If you're going for the HOB style the big options are Aquaclear (Hagen) 500 / 110 (they're the same filter), Marineland's Emperor 400 or their Penguin 350. As you can guess by the numbers they are all rated for the 75g to 90g set but that's an ambitious figure. if you're looking for long-term reliability with massive flow rate go with the AC500 - dollar for dollar it will out-clean anything on the market and I've personally seen a 20 year old aquaclear filter still holding up. The Marineland filters are big on bio filtration - they are the bio-wheel kind - both packing dual wheels which allows for a wet-dry mix. The downside lies in their mech / chem media abilities (penguins use a pre-fab cartridge that most hate).
Depending on where you are, you can get them real cheap on the used market or even new on sale at the right time, so it would be a good idea to get both kinds as it allows for good water circulation on a long tank.
Loaches take a while to get to full size - it largely depends on your maintenance / feeding schedule too. They will get up to 5" pretty quickly but then slow down in growth- take over 6 years to get to maturity from what I've read on them.
If you're going to set the tank up to cater to them, you definitely will need dual filters (they need clean water), will have to start picking up driftwood (buing it all at once is an expensive proposition - plus you can never get all the right shapes when you're looking), and perhaps a powerhead (Maxijet makes good ones). Oh, and a couple more loaches (I know I said no more fish - but they need to school). Most sites and forums will suggest a 6' tank - which is great if you have the space and resources but there is a growing trend of people going overboard in terms of space. I have discus and house 11 in a 75g and have achieved good growth and spawning - the prevailing opinion would have them in a 110g or larger, but with a tighter maintenance schedule and additional filtration, they are none the worse for it.
Another thing to mention regarding loaches is they are prone to ich. Also, be careful when using medication as they are more sensitive than other fish.
Hope that answers your questions. Don't hesitate to ask any further ones you may have.
Shawn