my fish keep dieing?

Question

i HAD a goldfish and three suckerfish, they all dead excapt one sucker fish, my water is clear and i have plenty of oxygenation, i add water stablizer when i add new water.....they just sit there even when theyre not dead they just sit there and i even think theyre dead but when i go to get them out they zoom away.....the last one left is acting paralayzed......he will just sit there....but if i go to grab him he swims away, then floats to the bottom of the tank as if he cant swim there....HELP i am tired of having fish die!

Answer 1

there could be a number of problems with your tank. First of all how long has your tank been up and running? How big is your tank? What is the water quality in your tank?

If your tank is NEW, has not completed a "Cycle" or Startup cycle, this is your main problem. (Email me an dI will tell you how to cycle your tank)

Gold fish and suckers both are cold water fish. So your temperature should be around 65-68 degrees. (Anything from 55-70 is fine) Gold fish aren't as squeemish about temperature changes as most tropical fish. Warm water will make gold fish lathargic.

You cannot use a "Water stabalizer" you need a DeChlorinator. AquaNova+ makes a really good one, but start right will also work. Your fish may now be suffering from ammonia poisoning or just stress. When you do a water change, you should not remove more than 20-25% of the water. You should also use a gravel syphon to clean the gravel off the bottom.

You need to get your water tested. Many household water as well as bottled waters contain high nitrate levels.

THe store where you bought your fish should be able to help you. Word of added advice: If you bought your fish from Walmart, find a new source to buy fish.

Feel free to email or im me and I will try to help further.

Answer 2

If your sucker fish are plecostomus then that is normal behaviour! They are mainly nocturnal, they are also bottom feeders and rarely swim in the other regions of the tank. He's not floating to the bottom he's gliding (it's the way they move) You should never have goldfish and tropical fish together and whoever sold you three suckerfish for one tank? You don't say anything about heater, filter or what size tank you have but pleco's need a temperature of 26 C or 78 F. They need pleco wafers or tabs and especially if kept with a greedy fish like a goldfish are not going to eat the normal flake. They live mainly on algae. It's not the fishes fault they are dying its your lack of knowledge that is killing them. Do some reading(most libraries have pet care books) and try going to some of the fish-keeping sites.www.thinkfish.co.uk is a good one for beginners.

Answer 3

How big is your tank? Every goldfish needs at least 10 gallons of water. The reason being is they create a lot of ammonia. If there is not enough water to break it down it will kill the fish.

Also some other things to look at. Do you have a good filter? How often do you feed them?

With out a good filter the water will become bad and kill the fish. Also if you feed them to much it will leave toxins in the water.

I would suggest doing a 50% water change and don't forget to add your water conditioner. Let it run for a week or so before you add anything new.

Also you can not mix tropical and goldfish. They require different water temperatures and foods.

Answer 4

Right first things first.

how long has the tank been set up?
i take it you have cycled the tank?
when you say a sucker mouth do you mean a common pleco? if so these are massive messy fish that can grow to 20" which is nearly 2ft. they need a 6ft tank at the bare minimum to keep them happy. without they become stunted and there lives are much much shorter. so basicly your killing them. sorry if i sound a bit harsh there. same with the goldfish, they are a species of carp and have the potential to reach 10".

did you add dechlorinator to the water that is going in from the water change?

first you need to get yourself a mini master test kit which will test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. or go to your local fish store and ask them to test it.
you should have no ammonia, if there is the problem is ammonia poisoning. there should be no nitrite either. but some nitrate.
please please do not add airation tablets; they will lead to poor water quality which may be the reason for the deaths.
get your self a proper air pump, they only cost about a tenner.
also please please don't add a turtle, they will eat anything that can fit in their mouths, including fish!!!

when you come back with answers i can help more.

hope that helps

david

Answer 5

Everyone's got all these fancy answers about testing the water quality and taking water samples to pet stores and not overfeeding, which is definitely part of the problem, but failed to address the basic reason that the bad water quality happened in the first place. 0xsimplyirresistiblexox was the only one to hit on it. You had four fish in a tank that I'm betting wasn't even a 10 gallon tank. For the goldfish, at 10 gallons of water minimum per fish, and the three suckerfish, at an average of 3 inches each and using the 1 inch of fish per per 1 gallon of water, you have a total water need of a minimum of 19 gallons. You need a 20 gallon tank minimum and it really ought to be a 30-40 gallon tank to keep that many fish. If you save the "suckerfish" (not the correct name btw...) it's more than likely that your tank is too small to put any more fish in it anyway. If you are tired of having fish die, you need to do some research into keeping goldfish, about what fish are compatible with goldfish, how to cycle water, how to do water changes, how to identify diseases, in addition to learning how to determine how many fish you can have for the size of tank you have before you go out and buy any more fish and try again. Take it slow or more fish will just die. But, like the others said, your water quality is probably way out of proper parameters. Get a master test kit and test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I'm hoping you don't use soap or any other chemicals to clean your tank as this could be the cause of death too. You need to get your water properly cycled. I would say get a treatment going for the fish, but you shouldn't use chemical medications when you don't know what you're treating for, so usually, for an undiagnosed disease, a salt solution is suggested. Bottom feeders, however, don't usually handle salt solutions very well though. If you want to try it, it's a scant 1 tsp of aquarium salt, not table salt, per 1 gallon of water. Don't overdo the salt as it can kill too. This reduces stress and builds the slime coat on the fish and kills any bugs that might be in the water, which isn't the same as bad water quality however. I'm sorry that your fish died. We all made these same mistakes when we first started too. That's why some of us know now what to do and not do. We also were tired of killing our fish and did research and read and learned so that it wouldn't happen again. Good luck the next time around! Take care.

Answer 6

Are you new to tropical fish it can be quite tricky to get the tank perfect but when it is it more or less runs itself
Please don't give up aquariums give so much pleasure
Crystal clear water means nothing there are signs up in Maidenhead aquatics saying THAT,
If you can get to one of these big aquatic`s they will give you free advice
take a water sample with you and they will check your water for about 50 pence
i think you should check your ammonia levels but you could spend a fortune on different remedies ;looking for the cause cut back the food only feed a tiny amount every other day that will help if its the ammonia levels

Answer 7

we decide on to understand a touch better to assist. What length tank are they in? How massive is the goldfish? Whats the water parameters like? Ammonia? Nitrite? what style of fish died? How many times do you sparkling your tank? Goldfish create quite a number of ammonia, if the tanks been set up for a lengthy time period and doesnt have adequate filtration or is too small or you dont sparkling the gravel or change the water or overfeed, opportunities are severe there grow to be too a lot ammonia contained in the tank or they were eaten

Answer 8

The best reason i can think of is the water,some towns water suppliers put a chemical called chlorine which is harmless to people but a deadly poison to all fish [even sharks!] DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF YOUR FISH they could die with in minutes,hours or even days.
You can get this out of the water by bying a water filter,or by doing what i do-SIMPLY LET THE WATER YOU ARE GOING TO USE STAND IN THE BATH FOR AT LEAST 24 HOURS.
go on this web site and see http://lhsfoss.org/fossweb/teachers/materials/plantanimal/goldfish.html

Answer 9

Make sure the water is the right temperature for the fish, make sure the ph is ok, don't put too many fish in a small tank

Answer 10

i had the same problem when i had fish years ago. you could be adding too much water treatment stuff to the water one drop should be good for a medium sized tank. also if u are buying your fish from a retail store like a walmart or something, when they scan the bar code on the fish the lights affect them and could be killing them, also your tank could be to small for that many fish. i would ask a pet store or look for some info on goldfish. good luck



also if u are changing the water too much or using water warmer or clder then the temp in the tank ur shocking them and u coud be giving them way too much stress to handle, so let ur water sit to warm or cool down before u add ur fishies, i had a goldfish for 6 years untill i starved him to death by accident