is this what killed all of my fish in a matter of days??

Question

I had a 29 gallon tank with beautiful koi fish, and different types of goldfish. Most of the fish, I'd had for years. They were all huge fish so I decided to start feeding them pellets, instead of flakes. I went to the local pet store and bought a bag of koi pellets. Within days, my tank turned cloudy, my orange and white fish developed big black dots, and my black fish developed white dots, and pretty soon, they died. I didnt even think of the food I bought. I thought it was ick but my mother said it didnt look anything like ick. Thats when I noticed that the food I bought was expired. Would that have had such a dramatic effect on my tank? Or do you think it was something else. 2 of my fish managed to survive it and I got them out and into a new tank right away, but im still puzzled as to what caused this. Im still upset by it because I'd had them for so long.

Answer 1

Ick would present as white flakey patches on any color fish - it is basically exema for fish. Clouding of the tank is most likely as a result of uneaten pellets dissolving in the water promoting bacterial growth. This is most likely the cause. I understand your distress, as I had a bluegill that my daughter caught in a little stream behind our house. It was just a little bitty fish when she caught it at age 4. She wanted to keep it, and I had a 55 gallon tank sitting empty, so we filled it up, let it season, and put the bluegill (which we named Vince blueGill) in. He thrived -reaching a robust 1.2 lbs before my wife put a "petrified clam shell" as she called it that she found on the beach in the tank without letting me know. It was full of dried ocean minerals. Once it hit my freshwater tank it turned the whole tank so green that you could not see the fish, the bottom, or even your hand in the water. I took vince out of the tank and put him in a temp tank while I fixed it, but it was too late. Vince died after 6 years of living in our tank.

Answer 2

Expired food would not have had that effect on your tank. Whenthe food expires it simply means it's not as healthy as it once was and many of the vitamins have broken down in the food.

What you are describing is classic ammonia problems. A 29 gallon tank is too small for even one Koi and more than two adult goldfish. The cloudiness in the water and black dots on the fish are both signs of high ammonia in the tank and high enough to have killed the fish. It's possible the high ammonia was related to the change in food as even a few extra pieces could cause a problem in such a densely populated tank.


The fact that you had them there for years says they were stunted and damaged internally from the stunting. This could have contributed to the early death of your fish.

MM

Answer 3

The store should not have been selling out of date food, I would take it back along with your proof of purchase and ask for a refund. If that does not work get on to the manufacture and ask their advice.
Maybe a change of diet has affected your fish. They might not have seen the new pellets as food and not eaten them causing them to rott and increase the ammonia and nitrates in the water.
This is more likely to have happened if the tank was heavily stocked.
The water turning cloudy points to too much ammonia. The colour change on the fish also points to ammonia burns. If the gills had been burnt by the surplus ammonia the fish would have died very quickly from suffocation. It could also be a fungal infection introduced in the out of date food which would have started fermenting.

Answer 4

It's possible that expired food made them ill, but cloudiness in such a small tank (most koi hobbyists recommend, at minimum, a 2,000-gallon pond, and goldfish should have no less than ten gallons per fish) is pretty bad. Even if the food didn't kill them, they likely were suffocating and having their growth stunted.

Answer 5

it's not that you're not good at it, it's just that you didn't do any research.... no one just automatically knows how to care for fish, we all had to learn. 2 fancy gold fish - need at LEAST a 20gallon tank 2 plecos - need at least a 55gallon tank all 4 are high waste producing ish, adding just one at a time is a lot for an uncylced tank and will cause huge ammonia spikes... adding all 4 probably put your ammonia off the charts. tetras need to be kept in groups of 5 of each kind or else they get stressed... so you would need at least 5 black skirts, at least 5 colored skirts, ect. 30c goldfish - are common goldfish, need at east 55gallons and produce a TON of waste. are usually weak/sick from poor breeding and poor living conditions. soooo... what killed the black skirt? high ammonia and stress from being kept alone. what killed the 3 goldfish? high ammonia and high water temp. PLEEEEEASE, save yourself some trouble. do NOT buy any more fish and do a little research!

Answer 6

I would suspect water quality before food. Water quality may have been fouled when the koi food was uneaten, resulting in a bacterial outbreak. Its not necessary to ditch the whole tank though. Try changing 100% of the water out.

Answer 7

It could be led holding the oxygen weed as its infects. It could be what you said. There are anti biotic s for fish as well. Sounds like the food must of had a germ, or the fish just had a chemical in balance which can take them. Good oxygen and clean water every four weeks. They love it.

Answer 8

Absolutely! Mold on the food could've contaminated the tank or the excess food could've sent the ph levels through the roof. Either way, I'd complain to the food company and the store that sold you the food.

Answer 9

Sounds like white spot which can be treated, did you add anything new to the tank like plants, fish etc.??? It is easily transfered into new tanks

Answer 10

im so sorry to tell you....but .....your fish died?