My Fish always die!?

Question

Whenever i clean the tank the fish always die after like a half hour. I don't know what the problem is and i've tried to figure out what the problem is, but i can't. So does any 1 know what to do?

Answer 1

Maybe you were putting chemicals in the tank that were too strong for the fish. I would clean the tank with a 3% dish soap,97% water solution. THen use special drops that they have at pet stores that remove chlorine and other chemicals.

Answer 2

The problem might be in how you're cleaning. You should only change 25% of the water at any time, and you should do a cleaning and partial water change every week. If you wait too long between cleanings, then try to change all the water at once, the sudden change from bad water quality to good may be too much of a shock.

You should also make sure that you're replacing water with new water that's about the same temperature, and use whatever product you need to remove the chlorine/chloramine from your water.

You should also call your water supplier to find out which of these is used to treat your water. If your product doesn't treat the correct chemical, this couls be what's killing the fish. And be sure your product says it will "remove" or "neutralize" chloramine (if this is what they use) NOT that it will "break the chlorine bond". Chloramine is made of both chlorine and ammonia, so if all it does is break the bond, you still have two chemicals that are toxic to your fish in the tank. Some products will treat both, but you need to use different dosages.

Answer 3

how big is your tank? how many fish do you have and what type of fish? how old if your tank? and how do you clean the tank?

with a good filter set up with your tank, you should do a 25% weekly water change. the new water must be dechlorine before adding to the tank. never change a large quantity of water because that will cause the water to cycle again and will be a big headache.

now, when you change the water, it's important that you vacuum the gravel or bottom of the tank with a siphon hose as this will clean up a lot of uneaten food and fish waste.

also test the water frequent for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. if the level gets to high then perform a partial water change to remove the ammonia.

not sure how you clean the tank, but you shouldn't use any detergent to clean your tank or filter.

Answer 4

As others have pointed out, it's hard to know what's going wrong without knowing how you clean your tank. But maybe if I tell you how it SHOULD be done, it will help you figure out where the problem lies.

Preparation:

First, get out the equipment you use to clean your tank. Some people use buckets. If you do, I recommend two, one for dirty water coming out of the tank, and one for clean water going in. An easier way to do it is use a Python, which is a long hose with a plastic tube on one end and an attachment at the other that lets you hook it up to your tap. This spares you all the bucket hauling.

Second, get your dechlorinator. I use Prime - it is excellent because you don't need a lot to prepare your water. If you use a bucket, you only need to add enough dechlorinator to treat the water in the bucket - so if the bucket is a 5 gallon, and you use Prime, which requires 1 ml per 10 gallons of water, you would only need 1/2 a ml. I use a syringe (like for shots, only without the needle - you can get them at Walgreens, and they make it easy to precisely measure and draw the stuff out of the bottle). If you use a Python, you will want enough dechlorinator to treat the entire tank - so if your tank is 50 gallons, then you want 5 ml of Prime. I measure it into a cup so it's ready to go.

Third, wash your hands and arms thoroughly. Get rid of any lotion, soap, perfume, anything that is on your hands and arms so that you don't contaminate your tank with that stuff.

Fourth, take a toothbrush (one that's never been used -the stuff in toothpaste wouldn't be good for your fish) or scraper as needed to remove algae from the sides of your tank. I actually leave the algae on the back wall of mine. I think it looks cool. But I scrape the front so the glass is clear. You can also brush algae off surfaces in the tank, like decorations.

Now it's time to change the water. If you use buckets, fill one bucket with water that is the same temp as the water in your tank. You will only want to change 20-30% of the water - not all of it. Treat the water with dechlorinator.

Use a siphon (or the Python) to remove about 20-30% of the water that's in your fish tank. You should have a gravel vac, or use the tube on the Python to suck some of the crud out from the gravel while you're removing the water.

Add the new water (make sure you've added the dechlorinator ) from the bucket, slowly, taking care not to stir things up badly. If you use a Python, reverse the flow, so that water comes out from the tap. Make sure it's the right temperature, and add your dechlorinator (enough for the whole tank) as you're adding the new water.

Then unplug and pull out your filter, and use a toothbrush or pipe cleaners to clean out the intake tubes and whatever you can clean. If you change the filter medium (the floss, often filled with carbon, that goes inside the filter), take care to cut some of the old floss off the old medium and put that back in your filter. The reason you do this is that there are helpful bacteria that help your tank water quality stay good, and they nest in the filter media, so you don't want to remove it all. For the same reason, don't get too scrupulous about scrubbing every inch of the aquarium filter perfectly clean - just make sure it's not clogged with algae and that everything runs pretty well. If you remove all the bacteria, then the tank will cycle again, and that can kill your fish.

When you're done, put the filter back together, making sure everything is fitted tightly (I have missed something a time or two and the tube came apart in the tank, and some smaller fish got sucked up the intake and killed by the motor, so be careful to make sure everything is put together right!). Start your filter again, and everything should be good to go!

It sounds like a massive chore, but with a Python, I can get my two tanks done in 20 minutes max. My tanks are densely planted and lightly stocked, so I only need to do this every 3-4 weeks. If your tank is unplanted (plants help keep water quality good, but they require extra care) and especially if your tank is well-stocked, you should do yours every week or two, so that the change isn't too dramatic. Fish like their water quality stable, no huge drops in temps or changes in the chemistry.

I hope this helps!

Answer 5

Daisy,
What kind of fish do you keep? Has the tank been fully cycled? Are you using a good dechlorinator when you add clean water? I keep African Cichlids over 230 gallons and counting and the only fish that died on me got ammonia poising because the tank was still fairly new and I didn't use some old media from another tank. Needless to say I learned the hard way that you have to cycle the tank for the fish to live.

So you can do a fish-less cycle that takes weeks and test the water everyday.

You can buy a bottle of Quick cycle.

Or if you know someone who keeps fish and trust that they don't have any fish disease you can get some gravel or one of their old filters and your good to go.

Answer 6

Fish at the carnival are typically kept in pretty bad, crowded conditions up until the time you get them. So they are in pretty poor condition by the time you get them home. To avoid having them die the next day, get better quality fish from a good pet store, not the carnival. However, they don't *all* die right away. Some people have had carnival goldfish live for many years. If you give yours a big tank with clean water, and good fish food, and don't overfeed it (never feed more than the fish will completely eat in three minutes), you will give it the best possible chance of surviving and growing.

Answer 7

What size tank? What kind of fish? You should always use stress coat or stress zyme. Prime is also good, on removing ammonia and detoxifying nitrate and nitrites. Do you leave your lights on all the time, or is it the tank by a window? Leave your lights on no more than 8 hours a day. When you are not there to watch your fish, turn the light off. Over feeding can kill them also.

Answer 8

did you use dechlorinator and let the water sit for 24 hours first?

if you used any soap or cleaning products that is what kills them.

how big is the tank?

you may be changing too much water and making the tank recycle each time causing ammonia spikes and getting rid of the good bacteria your tank needs.

make sure the new water temperature is close the same temp the tank was at.

Answer 9

there are several things that could be going wrong in your tank. You might want to check the chemistry levels in your tank, if something is to high or to low, it could kill them. Also if you use tap water, it might have chlorine in it which could also kill your fish.

Best thing to do is get some water treatments for your tank. I personally use tetra

another thing is make sure you have an air filter.

here is a website you can go to that has products, maybe you can find the best product for you problem. They sell these things at petsmart. Good luck!

http://www.tetra-fish.com/TetraFish.home

Answer 10

make sure you always put some kind of stress reliever in the water when you clean the tank.

also, float your fish in plastic bags in the tank before you release them for about 15-20 minutes.

Answer 11

Same thing used to happen to my fish after I changed the water. I was told that fish go into shock if their environment changes (ph level of water, exposure to water chemicals, or just an altered environment) . I don't know for sure though.