how come any new fish i put in my 40 gallon aquarium die? after 2 weeks?

Question

Hello again!

EVERYTIME i add in new fish to my 40 gallon aquarium they always die after 2 weeks. I have a 40 gallon aquarium with one full grown black moor goldfish in it. and an african dwarf frog. everytime i ad in new fish the aquarium seems to get extremely dirty and they new fish die. I have the appropriate sized filer and air pumps for my aquarium. but i just added in 2 more goldfish 2 weeks ago and 3 more african dwarf frogs. one of the goldfish dies last night and the other one seems liek hes abotu to die =(

I took a smaple of my water to the paet store and they tested it for everything (phosphate and nitrate levels) abd they were all normla. I did a 25% water change and added the appropriate medications to make the water safe for the fish.. (i usually do the recommended 25% water change every 2 weeks)

why does every new fish i add into the aquarium die on me! all of the frogs and the full grown black moor are still doing fine.i dont understand!

i do also let them sit in my aquarium(in the bags) for 30 minutes before releasing them into the tank

the blackmoor is very friendly and i do use a dechlorinator for the aquarium.

Answer 1

It's odd that the new fish are dying but that your current fish is not. This indicates to me, anyway, that there might be something in your water that your old fish is used to, but that your new fish are not.

Firstly, are you using a dechlorinator? You always need to use that to neutralize the chlorine and chloramines in tap water.

Increase water changes to 30% every week, which is the more recommended frequency.

Don't get too many fish at once. Nitrifying bacteria are what convert toxic ammonia produced by fish into less toxic nitrates. Your tank is only equipped to cope with 1 goldfish and 1 ADF. Adding 2 goldfish and 3 frogs within a couple days is tough for the tank to deal with; only add one fish per week in the future so the bacterial populations have the chance to increase.

You said you had your water tested for phosphates and nitrates... you need to test fo rmuch more than that - ammonia and nitrites, in particular. I suggest you buy a master testing kit. It'll cost you 30$, and you'll know the exact numbers instead of just "perfect" - because the petstore's definition of perfect might differ from your fish's definition of perfect.

Lastly, you may want to consider the source of the fish. Do you always get them from the same store? Some stores simply carry inferior stock. Consider getting them from a breeder or a specialized fish store.

Answer 2

Some ideas that I can not rule out from what you entered...

1) Do you feed them regularly and properly ?? (overfeeding would cloud up the water)

2) Is your Moor Territorial? Are they dying all beat up or just simply keeling over.

3) Some frogs are toxic to fish. If the new fish pick on the frogs they may be poisoned by the skin. Your moor may have learned this or may be immune to the toxin.

Try this on your next batch.

1) Get a small goldfish bowl and, using water from the main tank that you swap out daily see if the new goldfish survive past the two week period. If they do release them into the main tank and see if they don't. If that happens you can rule out the water issue and look at either the moor or the frogs.

Better still get a breeding trap (like they use for live breeders in tropical fish tanks) that will let the goldfish be in the main tank but isolate them from the other fish.

OR...

2) Once you determine that it is NOT the water, add new goldfish and temporarily remove either the frogs or the moor... if they die.... do it again with the other one absent.

good luck... oh, and you might want to just use feeder goldfish for your tests (about 10 cents each).

.

Answer 3

This is a hard one,something that might help is a longer acclimation process. Try this,instead of floating the bags,get a fish safe bucket,put the new fish in it with all of the pet store water. Take a small hose (air line size),with an air line valve in it. Siphon some tank water into the bucket,verrry slowly,a drop at a time. When the water in the bucket gets to be double the original volume pour most of it out,(say two thirds,maybe). Repeat this process several times until the water is almost pure tank water then net the new fish out and refill the tank with fresh water. The key is to go slowly,it should take about 2 hours ,more time is OK.Besides acclimating your new fish more slowly,this cuts down on the possibility of water borne diseases from the pet store. Hope this helps.PeeTee

Answer 4

it's kinda hard to answer this question without seeing the tank and stuff but here goes... first of all try only doing a 10% water change every 3 weeks. constantly changing 25% of your water and adding new fish all the time might be messing up the biological cycle of your tank. when you add the new fish how do you add them? just dump them in? you should pour the fish into a net and throw the pet store water away. i just pour the bag over a net above my sink and then put just the fish in the tank. i would wait a month before adding anymore fish so that your tank can stable itself a little.


have you looked to see is maybe the black moor is killing the other fish? are the dead fish beaten up at all?

Answer 5

Guppies are large starter fish, i'm no longer particular why they could allow you to comprehend that. basically be sure that the tank has been operating for some days without the fish in it. i doesn't reccomend neon tetras because they have been over bred and are fairly fragile because of it. if you're needing yet another tetra, glowlight tetras are very fairly, about an identical fee and college nicely. Serpae tetras are also good all started tetras. basically be sure you get 6 or more effective tetras of an identical style, as a fashion to college. Platys are also a good starter fish, they're heaerty and are available in such an excellent type of colorings. basically be sure you get a minimum of three women folk to each male. the keep can sex them for you. (that rule is going for guppies besides) In 40 gallon tank you may have a style of livebearers and different community fish a set up i might want to reccomend might want to be - 8 glowlight tetras - a million male platy, 4 women folk - 2 African Dwarf Frogs - a million rainbow/red tailed shark

Answer 6

I would check the nitrates/nitrites and hardness of your water as well, make sure the filter is big enough for your tank, and that there no predatory fish doing the damage. Also make sure you have a cascading water filter, or a good oxygen supply in a an undergravel or other type of filter. Fish need oxygen, which is provided by having water 'dumping itself into the tank, or with an air pump.

Answer 7

Don't get goldfish, that's why your tank was always dirty, goldfish are probably THE messiest fish around. It might be the frogs getting too aggressive, not sure. I would definately up that 25% change and week to a 25% change every week if you have goldfish and frogs. good luck.

Answer 8

Sounds like your doing water changes frequent enough. Could be that 30minutes isn't long enough to wait before you add the new fish to the tank. Try waiting 45 minutes and then remove 50% of the bag water (dump in the sink) and add equal amount of tank water to bag. Wait another 15 minutes then add to the tank.

Answer 9

You need to when you buy the fish and its still in the bag with them still in the bag let the bag sit in the water for about 30 minutes so it gets use to the water if not it will get water shock and soon die

Answer 10

Get a quarintine tank and isolate them for a month before putting them in there. Go to a different pet store, sounds like the fish are sick to begin with.