Major Fish Problem!!!!!!!!?

Question

I just spent over 250 dollars on a stand and gorgeous set-up for my 40 gallon fish tank. I hated the rocks I had and purchased the type of sand that balances the ph in the water. So I put all the fish (2 bala sharks, 2 tiger barbs, 1 ghost knife, 1 sucker fish, 1 yellow tail, and 1 eel in my 10 gallon while I set up. I waited an hour and the fish began fighting with each other so I called the fish guy asked if it would be alright if I put the fish although the water was still hazy. He tells me its ok, its normal, the water is just settling, the fish will be fine, mind you I asked him twice. So I put them in the 40 gallon and before I know it 12 hours later all are dead except the ghost knife and the sucker fish. In fact, I had to help two "pass away" because it was clearly obvouis they were suffering and I wasnt about to let them die like that ever though they are fish. What happened!??! I'm angry and sad, did he give me the wrong sand with a high ph? Or what?!

Answer 1

It sounds as if you didn't acclimate them properly... and that they probably died from the shock of being put into 2 different kinds of water in a short period (I don't know if you had any filteration setup in your 10 gallon or any places for the fish to hide while you were setting it up, but that would contribute to their stress- I personally do not know if those species you got are even compatable...).

Fish need to be acclimated rather slowly to new water (I've killed a few by not doing this), and it's not a hobby you can rush with. The filter should also be established before adding very many fish at a time (it needs to develop the bacterial "slime" which breaks down ammonia and nitrite).

Answer 2

First, not everyone that works in a pet store is an expert. They may act like it, but remember, he is there to sell products. The first problem yo have is trying to do it the easy way when really there are no short cuts. I am sorry you lost your fish. That sucks.
Through trial and error I found out some things can't be rushed.
Proper set up should be, (if you use gravel) wash gravel, put it in tank. Filter your tap water and fill the tank and add a few live plants to help keep the environment balanced. Put in some rocks for hiding places, (especially with a Ghost knife). Set up the filter for the tank and turn it on. You need to check for pH balance, alkalinity and hardness. Adjust the water if need be and let the water flow for about 2 hours and it should be good to go depending on tank filter gph.
That many fish in a 10 gal. huh? No wonder they fought.
I don't advise on using sand for several reasons. If you want to email me feel free to and I will give you some pointers. Also, what kind of filter are you using?
I have had Ghost knives, cool fish, but hard to breed. It took me forever as they like to fight. I had to put them in a 150 gal. tank before they would ever breed. The eels were easier to breed. You can get the eels to eat right out of your fingers too.
But I digress. Give me a shout if you want, if not, take care and hope everything works out. God bless.
P.S. Tiger Barbs are kind of aggressive. They may pick at the Bala sharks. the Ghost will be able to defend itself. The tiger will learn the hard way. lol By the way to those that don't know, no her Bala Shark isn't a real shark. It is a fresh water fish.

Answer 3

Therre are lots of things wrong with this picture. First...did you use a dechlorinator in the tank??? Second, as for sand that balances ph??? I haven't heard of that. I know that some sands (coral and shell based, aragonite) will raise your ph to a much more alkaline environment. The fish you have like a more neutral to slightly acidic water. Sand is fine to use even with those fish as long as you use a sand that does NOT affect the ph in any way. Play sand like what's in a sand box works as long as you rinse it really well. But sand that balances ph??? To what???? Neutral? Never heard of it. Third, they all fought in the 10 gal because (as others have said) small tank!
Fourth......You didn't cycle the tank. The tank needs time to build up a biological filter sufficient enough to support that much of a bio-load. Now, it sounds like you had fish in this tank previously and just changed the decor. Which shouldn't have been much of a problem as long as you didn't change out all the water and the filter material in your filter. In addition, an hour also isn't enough time for the temp to stabalize either. So, there could be one or numerous reasons for the death of your fish. My guess is shock of some sort, either ph, temperature shock, or the lack of use of a dechlorinator (chlorine poisoning).
As for the cloudiness in your water......that's sometimes normal when using sand. It's best to let everything settle before adding your fish.

Sorry you lost your fish. And sorry the guy at the fish store wasn't more careful about giving advice. As someone else said, the people that work in pet stores often know less about pets than they want you to think.

Answer 4

Well first thing, when you noticed that the fish were fighting it was only that they were in a smaller tank and didn't like being confined, second the reason that the ghost knife and the Plecostomus lived was that the change in water temperature and various PH levels don't affect them in the same way; they also are less likely to go into shock when being transferred from one tank to another. Some of the things that you failed to tell us in your request for advice were the PH levels and the temperature of the water. In order to know exactly why the fish went into shock and most died, the info about water temp and PH levels are important, also are you using reverse osmosis water or is it water that comes straight in from the water treatment plant? To what PH does the sand treat the water, and how long does it take to balance out.

Answer 5

OK - it sounds like what happened is that you had not completely cycled the 40g tank prior to putting the tank buddies in there. Also - though a 10g tank is not that big - did you check to see if all the species you were buying were fairly compatable with each other? We can explore that one later if you like...

Back to your 40G though - you have to make sure that the Nitrogen cycle is complete before putting your fish in there (otherwise their just gonna burn themselve and die from the Ammonia spike that is gonna happen).

See - Ammonia is created by the fishes fecal matter and urea. This is an inevitable process of any aqaurium setup. They best thing to do is to first make sure you tank is completely cycled, and then put your fish selection in. If you do not have a freshwater aquarium test kit I HIGHLY recommend you get one (so you can check your parameters on a daily basis while the tank is cycling).

I also would recommend doing a fishless cycle since it is not only more humane towards the fish you would otherwise use to cycle with, but because it is faster, and you wind up with better bacteria colonies at the end of the cycle.

Here is an article for you on fishless cycling...
http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm

Here is a link for buying a freshwater testing kit...
http://www.petstore.com/ps_viewitem.aspx?idproduct=AP3321


*****EDIT - P.S.*****
All these others that have posted about Acclimation and treating the water with a water conditioner for Chlorine are also correct. The combination of those along with the Nitrogen cycle are what did you buddies in.

Answer 6

Fish don't do well to drastically different water conditions and parameters. The old water they were in was very different from the new water (you basically subjected them to a near 100% water change and the differences in the parameters shocked them to death which explains so many losses in so little time).
The likelihood of this occuring is high if you hadn't done weekly regular water changes previously on the 40gal (frequent water changes reduce the difference between your tank water and your source water).

A better method would have been to have placed the fish in a large 20-30gal rubbermaid bucket with as much of the old water as possible, then return the fish and all the old water to the newly rearranged 40gal. That would have been less stressful for the fish while you redecorated.

How many times did you wash the sand? Sand needs to be washed throughly (much more than gravel) to get all the silt out. If the sand wasn't properly rinsed, that may have contributed to the losses as well.

Answer 7

Oh. sorry to hear about your loss.
Next time try to acclimate the fish before changing their environment so drastically. The ph could be very different.. causing ph burn( when the ph levels have a great difference)
or...
the water hadn't settled yet. it is advisable to cycle the water once before letting any fish in. cycling the water means letting the filter run with the water for at least a day.. depending on the size of the tank and pump.
lastly.. please check the types of fish you are keeping.
1)barbs are known to be territorial and will stress other fish.
2)Ghost knife tend to nip other fishes for the fun of it. just as territorial as barbs.
3)some eels are territorial as well. if its a moray your moray could well be eating your fish.

please do a little research next time. at least it wasn't a thousand dollars worth of fish u lost.=)

Answer 8

Well first of all I would make sure that the fish guy was gonna replace my fish once my tank was healthy! Well I would reccomend that you know what your ph, and temp. requirement's are for the fish you want. Buy a ph tester,and also If you have city water you most likely have chlorine in your water.Just fill your tank and let it sit for 24 hours and the chlorine will evaporate.There are products that will eliminate chlorine from your tap water also.It Is very easy to test your own water,and not all advice you receive from your local pet shop will be the gospel...Invest In a good aquarium hobbyist book many of your questions will be answered In there.

Answer 9

Whoa! How long did you wait after setting up the tank before you added the fish? The water should never be cloudy before you add the fish. First, did you rinse the rocks and sand BEFORE setting up your tank? I usually wait a week after setting up before adding any fish or live plants. It sounds like your fish guy needs more experience before answering your questions. During the week before adding anything living, you need to test for pH, water hardness, and also gives time for the chlorine to dissolve out from the water. I would start over, rinsing out the rocks and sand outside the tank. Rinsing inside the tank only keeps possible contaminants inside. It is also possible that they sold you sand with salt on it, and this killed your fish. Rinse everything out and start over.

Answer 10

Salt water or fresh? You always wait 24 hours before putting the fish in new water. You float them in the little bags they come in to acclamate them to the water temperature for hours before you release them. You didn't specify what the water temp was, either. There are so many variables that can kill your fish besides temperature. Get a book, go online, get all the information you can get before you attempt it again...and take those dead fish back to the store for a refund. Good Luck!