Dead Fish... Please help?

Question

I had 6 fish and 3 died from nitrites so i took the 3 that were alive to someone else. I then cleaned out my fish tank until the water was safe. I then addded 3 fish and a snail. There were 2 swordtails and 1 guppy. one swordtalil has died and my guppy just died and i dont know why. They died in the same place too. I tested the water and it was fine. I dont understand. What should i do????

Answer 1

If fish died from high nitrites then either the tank was not cycled or something killed the bacteria in the tank. As you cleaned out the tank since the previous deaths, the tank certainly is not cycles now and that was most likely the cause of the additional deaths.

You need to cycle the tank either naturally of using a fishless cycle. To do it naturally you will need to add 1 fish to the tank and check the ammonia daily, doing water changes daily to keep the ammonia level low enough for the fish to survive, but allowing some ammonia to remain in the tank. You will have to continue that until you read no ammonia and no nitrites in the tank at all. Then you can add just a few (1-2) more fish and allow the cycle to grow to meet the new load (usually 2-3 weeks). Then you will be able to add a few more fish and so on and so on until the tank is stocked.

A fishless cycle uses something other than fish to produce the ammonia, like a bit of fish food daily, a piece of fish or shrimp, basically something to rot in the tank and create ammonia. With this method you need not change water daily, but need only to wait until both the ammonia and nitrites reach 0 to add fish. You will be ablle to add fish sooner and a few more at first than with the natural method.

MM

Answer 2

The fact that you had nitrites in your tank shows that it wasn't finished cycling yet. Did you test for ammonia as well? Both of these are toxic to fish if the concentration is high enough.

When you add fish to a tank that hasn't been cycled (like a new tank that was just set up), when you fish poop, they are adding ammonia to the tank from the food they've eaten. Beneficial bacteria in the tank convert the ammonia into nitrite, then into nitrate. But if you've just set the tank up, there's no bacteria yet. Since you cleaned out the tank after your first fish died, you removed the bacteria that was already there.

If you want to start the tank up again, try doing a "fishless" cycle first - this allows the bacteria to start before you add fish to the tank, so it will be safer for them. The directions to do this are in the website below. If you don't have test kits for ammonia and nitrate, you should get these as well. Don't add more fish till the ammonia and nitrites are both zero and you start to see nitrates in your tank.

When you do add fish, just add a few (2-3, like you did before) and keep testing the water - if the ammonia, nitrites starts to get high (or at least once a week), do a 20-25% water change.

This should help you out with your next fish. Good luck!

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
http://freshwater.fanatics.googlepages.com/cyclinganaquarium

Answer 3

Your tank was not cycled if you had a high Nitrite reading on your water. You need to cycle it first before you put your main fish in so that the nitrification process does not harm them. You can do what's called a "fish-less" cycle with pure/clear ammonia, or a "fish-in" cycle with feeder goldies I suppose.

Either way you can plan on a couple of months for it to cycle. DO NOT change your water during this cycling process, or empty it out and clean anything because it is going to do nothing but cause you to have to start all over again.

Answer 4

New tank syndrome.

Here is what happens,
1-Feed fish- Fish eat create waist oer feading create waist.
2-waist Turns to amonia (Deadly) Enzimes brealk down
3-Amonis turns Nitrate (Not as deadly but bad newse) Enzimes brealk down
4-Nitrite turns Nitrate.
Nitrate is broken down by enzymes in the filter

Place anmonia rock in the filter this will absorb it, And preform water changes. Theere is water conditioner, and salt this will help the salt add ad directed it lessens stress. i have a milk crate of ready to go water, with teh proper salt and conditioner in it. I let water sit for about 3 weeks before I use it to break the amonia and other stuff down. and leave the water under the tank so it is at room temp not to shock the fish too bad when I add it.
Check weekly PH, No2 NH3 ann the hardness. (Kit is about 30 bucks)

Answer 5

If you had high nitrites it means your cycle was half way over, taking everything out and cleaning it completely crashed your cycle and is making you start over again. Cycled water is what keeps fish happy and healthy. If you don't understand tank cycling or don't even know what it is do a search and read up on it.

Answer 6

The first thung is you say you cleaned out your tank. Did you do it completely like cleaning all the filters? if so then it probably wasn't cycled. Also you need to put water conditioner in your tank if you used tap water and let it mix in for about an hour before you put in your fish. Other than that I don't know what could've happened. Hope this helps!

Answer 7

It might have just been stress from taking them out of there tank. Don't worry, fish can die all the time for no apparent reason. They are unpredictable. Try again and hope you got a healthy, lucky pair.

Answer 8

Fill your aquarium with water add your Start right or cycle to the aquarium allow you aquarium to sit with pumps running with no fish for 30 days this will allow your tank to stabilize and grow the bacteria fish need for survival,when you add fish make sure to leave them in the plastic bag floating in your tank for at least 30 minutes,once you add the fish add more start right or cycle. See if this helps.

Answer 9

I would go to your pet store for assistance. It might be something as simple as a virus that somehow didn't get killed when you cleaned or maybe the water is too cold. It's hard to know without all the details. Your pet store should be able to help.

Answer 10

Just flush them down the toilet and get a new tank. Also, the water could have chlorine in it. DON'T EVER USE TAP WATER WITH FISH! If you have a tank, fill it with filtered water, because tap water has chlorine in it that can kill fish.