why are my fish dying?

Question

USDED TANK FROMYARD SALE TANK WAS WASHED WITH SOAP AND BEACH I FILLED RAN +DRAINED3-4 TIMES ADDED 5 SMALL GOLD FISH .1-2 DIE EVERY DAY HELP

Answer 1

you may not have rinsed the tank well enough. It's really not a good idea to wash with bleach. Anyway, you need to also "establish" the tank before you start putting fish in there. The proper bacteria have to be set up before the fish can be introduced.

Try picking up an aquarium fish book and read how to do this. good luck.

Answer 2

Assuming the bleach and soap have been washed out, couple things to look for.

1. Did you dechlorinate the water? If not, you can get this from a pet store, or leave some water out over night, and refill as needed. Initially you should be changing about 25% of the water each week for the first months or two, after that, maybe every 2 weeks.

2.) Did you just add the fish, or did you let the tank sit for awhile? I am thinking you probably just added the fish. If your fish don't make it, start over. However, when you start over let the tank sit for about a week. This way the necessary bacteria will have time to grow.

3.) Get your water tested at a PetSmart or Petco. This will tell you what's wrong with your water. If they say Ammonima, Nitrates, or Nitrites, and try to sell your chemicals, pass on the chemicals, replace some of the water with new water (see answer 1), and wait.

4.) Finally Goldfish are used to colder water versus mainstream tropical fish you find in a pet store. So you don't need a heater. Also avoid putting the tank near a window or heater vent. THis will mess with the water temperature and cause your fish to stress and die.

Answer 3

Soap and/or bleach are never a good idea for a tank, it usually contaminates the tank for a long time. Sure you rinsed the tank multiple times and the soap is probably gone, but the bleach will be around for a while. Bleach will soak into the seams of the tank. you need to continue rinsing, I would use dechloronated water and add water treatment to the tank each time I rinsed it. Use extra hot water too, this will help the chlorine from the bleach dilute better. Basically bleach is almost pure chlorine (clorox) and rinsing the tank with water dilutes the chlorine some but water can only hold so much cholrine at a time so you need to keep rinsing and usng dechloronator and water treatment.

Answer 4

There are a number of things that could possibly kill your fish. Certainly how many times your feeding them a day, too much or too little will deffinatly do it. The water cant be cold or hot , it must be warm. Doesn't hurt if you have a filter in your tank as well. Once you get 5+ the filter is a necessity. Also make sure your buying your fish from a credible source. Several years ago I also bought a fairly large tank at a yard sale. I washed mine out just like you did and put about 10 really cheap goldfish from Wal Mart in it. I didn't have one die for about 2 years. Mine started off really small and grew to be very large. Good luck.

Answer 5

You need to rinse it better and NEVER USE SOAP AGAIN.Only about a Tablespoon of bleach per 5 gallons of water and rinse at least for an hour and then let it air dry. Make sure to use a good dechlorinator when you fill it and let it cycle for a week or so with the filter running and no fish in it.Add a pinch of food everyday while cycling. Then add 1 fish at a time. You shouldn't buy used aquariums unless you know what was in them. There could have been some crazy fungul outbreak in it that killed the previous owners fish and you could be stuck with it. You never know.

Answer 6

there are so many things that could have gone wrong. my suggestions are all for if the rest of the fish die, if they live then obviously it won't matter.

1. not all of the bleach and soap have been rinsed out. sit the tank out in the sun for a day. this gets rid of left over bleach. then rise one more time before filling.

2. water quality. add beneficial bacteria (you can get a bottle of if at the pet store) and run the filter. do this for about a week before adding your fish. this will cycle the tank for your fish. you'll also need to add a water conditioner to neutralize all the harsh chemicals in the water.

3. over crowding. how big is the tank? you need 20gallons for one goldfish. 30gallons if you want two. 40gallons for 3-5. buy accordingly. goldfish get VERY big and produce tons of waste. you'll need a filter for 10gallons larger than the tank you actually have. watch ammonia levels and pH and nitrate and all that good stuff.

4. not acclimating them. you'll need to float the bags in the water in the tank for at least and hour, adding a spoonful of the tank water to their bag water every 15mins. then you can put the fish in.

5. suffocating. goldfish need very aerated water. for 5 goldfish (assuming you have the right sized tank) you'll need 2-3 bubblers. try bubble plates, they're big and produce a lot of bubbles and look really pretty.

Answer 7

Most of the time dying fish are the result of bad water. Before adding fish the tank has to be "cycled". If I were you I would start from scratch again. It's a bummer but remove the remaining fish. Wash the tank and everything in it again. Rinse thoroughly. Add tap water and condition the water with Stress Coat or AquaSafe. This takes all the harmful chlorine and minerals out of tap water. The chlorine from the bleach may be your culprit.

Answer 8

Well bleach isn't going to help matters. NEVER WASH A FISH TANK IN ANYTHING BUT HOT WATER.
Buy a test kit and test the water. It is probably either Nitrite that is killing them or PH. Those are the main causes. Also, fish need to breathe. If you have crammed the tank with too many fish and there is not a filter or an air pump this will also kill them.

Answer 9

Could be the tank wasn't rinsed well enough. I have found that for goldfish, cycling the tank isn't that important because they can tolerate just about anything. (Been raising goldfish all my life and have never cycled the tanks - I add water, add the filter and adornments and of course add AquaSafe because we have hard water) I never use bleach though either, only hot hot water (no soap) and a glass scrapper to remove water lines and algae. They sell specific tank cleaners at the pet stores that are safe for cleaning tanks. I had to use it once to remove hard water build up but I can't recall the name. I wouldn't add any more fish until you see if any survive. If none do, reclean the tank, FULLY and do not use bleach. Rinse it very well then try again.

Answer 10

You really should not use any kind of chemicals to clean your tank. There are way to many reason's your fish could be dying. Try to test your water, if you do not want to invest in a master test kit try to find a pet store that will test your water. Make sure you have the right temperature, goldfish are cold water fish.