what is the best thing to keep fish in when cleaning the tank?

Question

I have just cleaned it and gone to put the fish back and they are all motionless at the bottom of the tub! I thought fish floated when they were dead!

Answer 1

You did what???

The best thing for fish to be in is the tank itself!
You don't change out all the water when you clean the tank. You want to change at the max 50% of the water. You do the cleaning of the sides and top at the same time. Your gravel gets cleaned while you are taking out the water. Generally people clean thier tanks when they are doing routine water changes. Please tell me you didn't fill your bath tub up with tap water and put them in there. The same place you clean yourself that would have all kinds of soap scum and other chemicals??

Answer 2

The best thing to keep them in is their tank. You shouldn't remove all the water at one time, unless the fish are in an unfiltered bowl (which they shouldn't be!). You should change only about 25% of the water each week. Too much of a change can cause them too much stress because the conditions change too quickly.

Did you add a water conditioner to the water when you moved the fish? And was the water the same temperature? If the tub wasn't rinsed out first, it may have had something in it that harmed the fish. If they're showing any movement around the gills, they're still alive, and you may be able to correct whatever happened by adding the conditioner or moving them to new water if done quickly.

Fish float only after the bacteria inside them start to decompose the fish and produce gases that make the lighter than the water.

Answer 3

Hiya, The best place to keep the fish in when cleaning the tank is the tank! You should never change more than 50 % of the water at any one time, but a usual amount would be about a third of the water volume.
If you have an internal filter you'd best be carrying out about a third of the water at least once a fortnight, ideally once a week. This is because these types of filters mainly contain just sponges with little or no biomedia for the (friendly) bacteria to live on. This means that when the sponge gets blocked up with muck and waste from the tank (after about 6 days) the bacteria cannot function properly as they wouldn't be getting enough oxygen to process the wastes.
However, if you have an external filter, you only have to change about a third of the water about once a month, because these filters have a much larger biomedia area for the bacteria to live as well as sponges which collect the main lumps of 'muck' enabling the bacteria to remain 'unclogged'!
In both cases, be sure to wash the sponges/bio media each time you do a water change, but NEVER USE TAP WATER, always rinse them in dirty tank water, this keeps the bacteria alive, whereas chlorine in the tap water will kill off the friendly bacteria needed to keep your tank healthy!
When you replace this water, always add some TAP WATER CONDITIONER before using tap water as this neutralises the chlorine and chloramines, which can cause your fish stress.

Answer 4

when cleaning your aquarium you should avoid removing all the water, half is a safe amount ,also the fish don't need to be removed unless you haven't been taking care of the tank in the first place. change you filter packs more often along with the water ,and get plecos or some other algae eater to help keep the glass and rocks clean ,even crayfish can help with solids as can snails but be careful with the kind you get some can be sexed and some are hermaphrodites. last but not least, some fish when exposed to colder or even warmer temperatures will often go into shock and lay on their sides on the bottom, its also a defensive strategy for some (piranhas) so if they didn't actually die that's why if they did the explanation for that is above too, oh yea try nitrate removers if the smell is what prompted you to clean the tank

Answer 5

When I clean my fish tank all I do is put some of the water from the tank and poor it into a new 5 gallon bucket. At the bottom i attach a bubble stone so that the fish can breath. The most important thing to remember is that you should not over crowd to many fish in a bucket and when you put the fish back into the fresh water make sure they are the same temperature and that the PH is not off to much. Otherwise, the fish might go into alot of shock and that wouldnt be good.

Answer 6

they sound traumatised, put them back in gently and wait. Ideally the best thing is another tank but if you don't have one put them in a clean bucket or similar with some of the water that is in the aquarium ( this is important, don't use water from the tap) and if it's going to be a long process I usually fill a glass bottle with warm to hot water and stick it in the bucket to keep the tempreture from getting too cold.

Answer 7

Put them in something no bigger or smaller then their tank and make sure it a clear of any dirt or cleaning supples. On the bottom of the tub their could have been some shampoo or soap that killed them!

Answer 8

the fish are gone into shock.

when cleaning out an aquarium, you should only remove 2/3 of water, and leave rest in it! water should be at room temperuture, i usually just barely take the cold out of it. make sure you pour it in slowly.. i find that if i just throw it in they dont stay calm,

im sure they will be ok.. but do it this way
next time

Answer 9

keep them in the fish tank. they don't have to be removed when cleaning. do the gravel vac, and replace the water. use a plate to pour the water on so as not to disturbed the bottom too much

Answer 10

Try putting them in water, works a treat every time.