fish are dying! home fish aquarium?

Question

Mine is a 6 month old aquarium. almost 7 out of 14 fish have died and i m unable to help. i have tetra fish, gold fish, crocodile fish. wud like to knwo the following:
1. what are the other com[atible fish i can keep in the aquarium its a little more than 1 foot high and wide, the aquarium.
2. how often should the water be changed in the aquarium?
3.what water should be used to fill the tank? normal tap water or somethign should eb added to it?
4. why are the new fishes dying even after they have been added with the old water they were bought with and after 4 months.?
additional information:
the oxygen pump is left on most of the time.
the water temperature is natural, means no heater or anything. its kept in my room.
kindly help i want to keep the fish alive, i dont overfeed them...!

Answer 1

1. First, add no more fish. It sounds to me as if your tank is already crowded. I would also suggest you remove the gold fish as it is a coldwater fish and the others are tropical.

2. Change about 25% weekly. Use a gravel vacuum siphon from any pet store.

3. Use tap water, but condition it with dechlorinator drops first. Also available at any pet store.

4. Due undoubtably to a lack of water changes. The waste in the tank has finally caught up with even these hardy fishes.

You should leave your pump or filter running 24/7 it's that important to the fish. You should also invest in a heater. They are very cheap and unless you keep your room about 78-80 the fish really need it.

Doing these things will insure a much healthier aquarium and much better luck with your fish.

MM

Answer 2

four gallon of water per inch of fish is the rule for setting up a tank this allows space for them to find there own territory and room to grow also en ought oxygen as they ex hail carbon witch stays in the water for along time also have an under gravel filter this makes friendly bacteria to digest waste you should start with a twenty gallon tank if you want to keep fish don't be fobbed off with cheep novelty tanks you should have a heater this keeps the water constant tropicals like 80 to 83 degrees & gold fish dont mind

Answer 3

In spite of what some answers may imply Goldfish will live quite happily in a tropical tank as will many other cold water fish like plecostomus and weather loaches.

Having said that
I suggest you syphon of a bucket of water pop you fish in it and cover the bucket. (to stop anything jumping)

Empty the tank clean it and the gravel with tap water (The chlorine in the water will kill most of the bacteria. If you have a disinfectant like Milton for babies use that and clean and rinse it all out. Clean the filter sponge in tap water too.
DO NOT USE HOUSE HOLD DISINFECTANT

Refill the tank with tepid water (Just barely warm to the touch)
Refit the gravel and filter. Use the recommended amount of TAPSAFE (FROM PET SHOP) or similar in the water. This eliminates the chlorine and heavy metals from the water (copper, lead, zinc etc,)

Net your fish into the tank (don;t tip the bucket in you are trying to eradicate viruses & bacteria)

Keep checking on you fish on a regular basis.
If you see any unusual or behaviour or
marks ( swiming in circles, on there side, bruses, holes, cotton wool like fur, tatty fins etc} get down to the pet shop and ask the assistant dor advice also getting a book on keeping tropicals and their illness' would be usefull the pet shop will almost certainly have one that would be usefull to you.

Illnesses
I have found the most common problem to be 'internal bacteria' this causes the fish to swm in circles or on their sides..it's caused by bacteria effecting the swim bladder. It is easily cured and it is always a good idea to have the remedy to hand (they rarly fall ill at convenient times)
Holes in their sides or tatty fins may indicate 'fin rot' again easy to cure with the right medicine. (although in keeping fish for about 10 years i have never had the problem occur
Cotton wool like fur is fungus usually occurs after the skin has be brused or damaged in some way

BE VERY CAREFULL ABOUT DOSAGE RATHER TOO LITTLE THAN TOO MUCH. To much will kill you fish off very fast

Water change
I usual chang 1/2 the water about every 2 weks. (poisons build up in the water). DONT FORGET THE 'TAPSAFE'

Filter
best to clean the filter about once a week

Answer 4

Goldfish and tetras do not mix. Tetras are tropical fish which means they need water to be 75°F to live. Your goldfish will do fine in unheated water.
I'm not sure what you mean by a crocodile fish, because the ones I know of get to be 50cm in length and are not aquarium fish. http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=466

It sounds like you need to do more research before you try a tank again.

Also that sounds like an absolutely tiny tank. 1 foot by 1 foot. The only fish that you could humanly keep in that would be a betta, and even that is pushing it.

Goldfish get quite large and they are dirty fish, your ammoina levels are probably high which will contribute to your fish dieing.

I would take out the fish you have, give them to a petstore before you kill them, and then do some proper research

Answer 5

First, you can't mix gold fish with tropical fish. Tropicals need a heater, goldfish don't. How many gallons is your tank? Goldfish are also very dirty,messy fish. Only one goldfish per ten gallons of water. STOP adding more fish! When you change the water use only distilled or filtered water. Do a partial water change once a week, about a quarter of the water.

Answer 6

Water should be changed every 3 to 4 weeks only 25% of it.
Water temp. should be between 72 to 80 degrees
Tap water is fine but make sure you test it for PH, Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia. There are test strip kits you can buy
You should always net your fish into the tank after they sit in the bag in the tank for 30 minutes. Never use the water they put it in the bag with.
What size tank do you have because if you only have a 10 gallon tank 14 fish are too much - and the ammonia could be killing them off.

Answer 7

goldfish are cold water fish, tetras are meant to be in heated water, you seem to have mixed the wrong fish, my guess is that you are losing the fish that need a heated aquarium, or the goldfish is eating them. you need to get some proper research done on keeping fish, try looking on the internet for some help

Answer 8

fish need clean frsh water. you never clean the tank and the pump. if you have a pump clean that one time and clean the tank another. never the same time.

You see when fish poo, this builds up the nitrate in the water which is severly toxic to all fish. You need to build up the tanks bacteria to eat the nitrate and this turns it into niterite which is harmelss. If you clean all of the tank and pump you get rid of your tanks bateria and the niterate builds up and kills the fish.

you can buy a treatment for tap water, but again, you dont need to, ny advise is to measure how much water you need and take it out of the tap the night before, leave it to stand and the chlorine in the tap water will disperse and it will be fine.
any problems just mail me, i have loads of fish
[e-mail]
always here to help o)))

Answer 9

You need filtered water for some. It has clorine if it comes from out of the tap. It kills fish. also u need to change the water every 2-2.5 weeks.

Answer 10

1)i go to the store and just get fish that arent aggresive....
2)change it about every month
3)you should add water conditioner to the Water and make sure the pH is as close to seven as possible...to raise the pH you can jsut use baking soda but to decrease it you need to buy stuff.
4)if you dont have a heater you have to get one. i also reccomend a thermometer just so you can monitor the heat that is probly the reason your fish are dieing...because the water is to chilly for them