why do my fish keep dieing?

Question

ive had my fish in an aquarium for a month now. the original fish which were bought (5 of them) have all died within the first 2 or 3 weeks after buying them (actually, there is still 1 left- its a small reddish colored fish, not a goldfish) all of the neon tetras also died.

we did a water test at a pet store and it is fine. o- and we have freshwater, and all those fis are for freshwater, and our food seems to be OK- tropical flakes

i also have a new filter and an oxygen tube blowing bubbles.

so thats the problem??

Answer 1

Sunday and Andy have you on the right track on this. Your pet store told you the water is fine after 4 weeks with that population in there? Yeah and I can sell the brooklyn bridge too. They are feeding you a line of baloney. As some of the others have mentioned there are things needed to be done before you introduce fish to a new aquarium set up.

First thing you want to do after you have your things in place, (filter, gravel, plants ect...) you need to add water conditioner. This will remove any chlorine and chloramine that are present. These compounds are lethal to fish. Let the water heat and sit for about 24-48 hours. Test your PH. If you find it out of range, (high end 8.4 or higher low range 6.4 or lower) you may need to do some adjusting BEFORE YOU ADD FISH. Lets assume ph meets ok parameters to move on.

Depending on the size of your tank as the others indicated, you'll need/want to get what is known as hardy fish. I will go into that shortly. There are ways to perform the nitrogen cycle without fish, however I have never attempted this to effectively comment on that. Hardy fish are fish that can endure shifting in the water chemsitry that is going to occur over the next couple months. Such fish would include but not limited to, Danio zebras, guppies, mollies, platties, and white clouds. These fish have a stronger ability to adapt to the rise in ammonia and nitrite that is going to occur.

Once you have added the proper amount of fish, which will depend on your tank size, the cycle will begin. Due to fish waste, respiration, excess uneaten food, and any plant decay, ammonia will begin to build up in the water. As this ammonia begins to rise, a bacteria called Nitrosomma's will begin to form which will oxidize the ammonia into another compound called nitrite. It is very important you have a set of testing kits which measure your ammonia levels, nitrite, nitrate, and ph. Ph comes into play with ammonia becasue at readings of 7.8 and up, the toxicity of the ammonia becomes much more worse. If you see reading beginning to reach .5 ppm (parts per million) and higher, your fish may begin to exhibit signs of ammonia poisoning. Fish will stay near the surface of the water and appear to be gasping for air. This is because ammonia damages gill functions and irritates the scales. Ammonia going above 1.0 can begin to cause deaths depending on your ph. Either way, it is not safe for fish to be in waters of this condtion. If you see signs of distress or readings going past 1.0, you'll want to perform a small water change out of about 15-20%. Try to avoid doing this excessively because the bacteria need this ammonia as a fuel source to grow.

Nitrosommas and Nitrobaciters need a constant source of fuel in order to safely colonize the tank. Bacteria grow in your filter media and in your substrate. Bacteria generally takes about 24 hours or so to double in size so you need to be patient. Water changes will help your fish but the trade off is slightly longer times for your bacteria to grow to the size needed to keep the ammonia and nitrites reading at 0 in your water.

After about a week to 10 days, you should see a drop in your ammonia reading and your nitrites should begin to start showing readings. Nitrobaciters are the bacteria which oxidize nitrite into nitrate. Nitrobaciters take longer to colonize then Nitrosommas because they need nitrite to be present to develope. Until the Nitrosommas are stable and able to process all the ammonia as it's made, your Nitrobaciters will keep growing. This is why the nitrite readings take a little longer before they disappear. Nitrite going above 1.0 ppm will begin to effect your fish. Nitrite poisoning damages gills and the immune system, and causes fish to experience sypmtoms like smokers do. Nitrite binds itself to the blood cells and blocks oxygen transfer at that point.

Generally about 4-5 weeks of the cycle your ammonia should be reading a 0 and nitrites 0 as well. Shortly after your nitirtes begin to form, you should start seeing some readings on nitrate. Nitrate is the final oxidized product of ammonia in the nitrogen cycle. I'd like to point out here to Sunday, acceptable readings in nitrates are ok even at 40 ppm. At 40 ppm and higher you need to keep the levels lower with weekly water changes. This is how you maintain your nitrate levels. Nitrate in terms of toxicity to fish is much lower then ammonia and nitrite and until levels start going above 40 ppm your fish should be fine.

Your fish died because this cycle was not completed. Neon Tetra's are very very sensetive to water changes. That is why people say to use hardy fish first until the water stablizes then you slowly add your fish you want to keep long term. A couple fish every week or so, because new fish means more food, more waste therefore more ammonia and nitrite then is usually produced. By slowly adding new fish, you don't overtax your biofiltration system.

If you have any other questions feel free to email me.

JV

Answer 2

When starting a new tank, you really have to prep it correctly before adding any fish at all. There's a lot that happens to the water once it's in the tank. For one thing, if you're using tap water, the chlorine and other trace chemicals evaporate out. Another thing is any items you have in the tank will slowly 'bleed' the smell of plastic or salt (like rocks, diver guys, etc).

There's some water conditioning products out there that can help this process move faster, they all work pretty much the same way.

Additionally, you should get a small jar of aquarium salt and add a teaspoon or less per ten gallons. This will keep the color of your fish vibrant and also help their breathing organs. Yes, you can salt freshwater fish, it doesn't hurt them, you just don't use nearly the same amount as for saltwater fish.

After about three weeks of conditioning your tank, introduce some hardy species of fish. Tetras usually aren't very hardy, they tend to die off pretty quick. I started with Mollys and got good results.

With the starter fish, you're basically just making sure they eat and poop a lot to start the bacteria to grow. The bacteria will also keep the chlorine and chemical nasty stuff out of your water, thus making for a healthy tank.

Depending on the size of your tank, water changes need to be made frequently. Take out 25% of the water and refill with fresh water. Get a tank cleaning tube and 'suck up' the poop from the aquarium gravel in the bottom. If you leave the poop in solid form in the tank, your fish will get sick.

Best of luck to you!

Answer 3

Whats the size of the tank, whats the temperature, what fish are you putting in, what are the water parameters. Why did the LFS not replace your dead fish if all the parameters are being met? We could probably go on there's a multitude of things you've not told us that would give us further clues to why your fish died.

So I'm guessing.
The water was not heated to the correct temperature.
The tank was suffering from new tank syndrome.
You put 5 fish into a 1 gallon tank.
The advice given by the LFS suggests they re incompetent and sold you diseased fish.
You've placed your tiny fish bowl on the window sill and when you've gone out during the day the temperature in there has risen to 100c and boiled em.

you get the picture we need more information.

You need to get a book so you know how to look after the type of fish your buying.

Its not just a decoration you have the responsibility to supply a suitable environment for your charges.

AJ

Answer 4

we need to know a little more to help. What size tank are they in? How big is the goldfish? Whats the water parameters like? Ammonia? Nitrite? What kind of fish died? How often do you clean your tank? Goldfish create a lot of ammonia, if the tanks been set up for a while and doesnt have enough filtration or is too small or you dont clean the gravel or change the water or overfeed, chances are there was too much ammonia in the tank or they were eaten

Answer 5

You did not change enough water often enough while the tank was cycling. Fish died of new tank syndrome, caused by high ammonia and nitrites. To avoid next time change a lot of water often the first month to 6 weeks after setting up. Do not clean the filter at all during this time. (wait 6 weeks for first cleaning) Get water tested or buy your own test kits for the home. You need to know PH (keep it very constant) Ammonia (tank should have <1 ppm at any time, any higher and fish will get sick) Nitrite (Also <1 ppm for same reason) and NitrAte (under 20 ppm at all times) First ammonia will go up then start to go down as nitrite goes up then ammonia will go to zero. Then nitrite will go down eventually to zero as the last step in the cycling process happens the NitrAte shows up. Its time to change water ANYTIME the ammonia or nitrite gets to 1 ppm OR (after cycling) Nitrate gets to 20 ppm.
BTW flakes suck, most are crap, read the lable, don't buy any food with corn in it. Good luck.

Answer 6

What size tank? What was the temp? Where is the located, near a window? Could be that the fish had a disease.

Answer 7

most likely stress..................they don't like to be crowded
or you could feed them to much, on the directions they say
to feed 2 or 3 times a day, that could over feed them,
I feed my fish once a day, and had them since Dec 06
and I haven't lost any yet! knock on wood......

Answer 8

it may be the temp of the water or the amount of food feeding them or just THE FISH

Answer 9

it may be the amount of food you are feeding them, ask your vet or local pet store what the proper amount is.

Answer 10

are theay pond or tropical