freshwater aquarium fish dying ?

Question

well ive have this fish tank for about 7 months now. every week i check the ph levels in my fish tank there always at exacty 7.0 but for some reason in these past 3 days fish have been dying i have a 30 gallon tank with
1 pleco- died
2 gouramis-one died today
2 guppies-both died
1 platty
3- silver dollars
5 tetras
2 pangasius catfish - 1 died
3 mollies- all dissapeared

so far 5 fish died.

i haveent chaged anything in the tank alll the levels are perfect.i havent added anything to the fish tank why are all my fish dying the water is crystal clear. the last time i did a water change was about 3 weeks ago when cleaning the gravel . any answers appreciated thank you bye.

Answer 1

I am not condemning you because, apparently, someone is advising new fishkeepers (the chain pet stores?) that ph is the most important thing to check and completely ignoring the fact that it is pretty much the least important thing to check. Without question, the most important tests one must do on their aquarium water is ones for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. In fact, for all the times I have visited these types of stores, no one has ever advised me that I need these tests at all. Anyway, it is almost without doubt the reason your fish are dying is because you have toxic water quality because of high levels of ammonia, nitrites and/or nitrates. You need a liquid test kit for all three of these elements. You need to do an immediate 50% water change and then test your water every day and do 20% water changes every day or every other day until you can bring your readings down to 0. Poor water quality can be a result of failure to cycle the water initially, overfeeding, overstocking, improper cleaning, among other things. You have 9 fish remaining. Don't add any more fish until you get your water parameters under control. Once you do, given the size of the fish and the size of the tank you have, you could add enough more fish to equal no more than fifteen small fish similar to your remaining fish. You do not have room for a pleco. They grow far too large. If you choose gouramis, you need to reduce the total amount of fish to perhaps no more than 12. Read up on the nitrogen cycle and how to do water cycling as well as proper weekly water changes, tank cleaning and maintenance, fish-to-water ratios, and even proper feeding techniques and diseases. Good luck with your tank!

Answer 2

Fish Dying In Aquarium

Answer 3

Freshwater Fish Disease
Below you will find some of the more common freshwater fish disease along with their symptoms and treatment.
Before you use any medication on your tank be sure to properly diagnose the fish disease and try to figure out why your tropical fish have the disease. Many diseases are brought on by the tropical fish being stressed due to transport or water quality issues. If you've just set up your tank, please read about new tank syndrome.

It's a very good idea to have a small quarantine tank for new fish so that you may monitor the fish for a few weeks before adding the fish to your main tank. You can also use the quarantine tank for your fish that come down with a disease and can avoid adding chemicals to your main tank. Always practice good fish acclimation techniques and don't rush things.

Try to determine the underlying problem before medicating. Often times there are water quality issues that need to be remedied first. Get and use an aquarium test kit and take the appropriate measures to correct the water in your aquarium.

Whenever you use any type of medication on your tropical fish, first remove any carbon in your filtration system. If left in, the carbon will remove the medication from the water, doing you no good. Read the directions on the medication bottle very carefully! ...........

More from: http://www.fishlore.com/Disease.htm
More fish care:http://www.opentip.com/advanced_search_result.php?cPath=&keywords=fish+disease&x=12&y=9

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
freshwater aquarium fish dying ?
well ive have this fish tank for about 7 months now. every week i check the ph levels in my fish tank there always at exacty 7.0 but for some reason in these past 3 days fish have been dying i have a 30 gallon tank with
1 pleco- died
2 gouramis-one died today
2 guppies-both died
1 platty
3-...

Answer 5

Is there good water movement to ensure oxygen?

Did you test for ammonia and nitrite? How are the nitrates doing?

Is there anybody around the house that might have accidentally introduced something harmful into the water? Possible something was on your hands?

Are the fish acting normally until they die? Are they eating? Are they lethargic? Clamped fins? Anything?

The best way to keep a tank is to do a small water change and vacuum the tank every week, that way the tank doesn't degrade and get filthy as it does if you leave it for weeks on end, and keeps things fresh and clean and prevents the shock future overhauls might cause.

FYI, Pangasius get to over 3 feet long - you may want to consider a more suitable catfish for a 3 foot tank!

Answer 6

chances are good you have a mystery killer like nitrates and/or nitrites. try doing a gravel vacuum and 20-25% water change weekly. anytime there is a death in the tank try upping that to about 1/3 every 3 days or so. a clean tank is a happy tank -- and once every three weeks isn't very clean. when was the last time you introduced a new fish? fish have a host of mysterious diseases that don't show on the outside. if something has something internal it can get passed around pretty easily.

Answer 7

Yes ill have to agree with venice on the pH issue. very rarely is pH a leading factor in a fishes demise. Ill be sooner to assume ammonia or nitrite poison as well as insufficient ammount of disolved oxygen in the tank. Oxygen gets into the tank more so through the water surface so breaking the tension on the water surface will allow more oxygen in the tank. Those airstones i feel are only really good for adding fresh air under the hood of the tank allowing fresh oxygen to disolve into the water through the water surface. You have a pretty heavy bio load in that sized tank so you may need to be doing more frequent water changes to lessen the ammount of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in the tank. My advice to you would be
1. weekly water changes of 15%-25%
2. get a master test kit to test for ammonia nitrite and nitrate on top of pH wich you are already testing for.
3. use some method to break the water tension at the surface to allow more disolved oxygen in the tank

You can do #3 by simply using a fan to blow across the top of the tank or fill the tank maybe 1/4 inch below the filter return to cause a cascading effect to break the water tension. Power heads are also an option.

Ghappy made an excellent point as well. You may have accidentally introduced something in the tank that was on your hands or someone else may have.
Hope this helps and good luck with the tank.

Answer 8

Hi maribeth

Your fish are simply dying because of ammonia poisening, your water can be crystal clear, but ammonia is still present in there

you're suppose to do weekly partial waterchanges of 25% with a gravelsiphon, and not just once a month

Get an ammonia test kit in liquid form and check your ammonia levels, they're suppose to be at '0'

If they're not, do a 50% waterchange right away, and refill with conditioned water. After that do partial waterchanges every 3 days, until your ammonia in under control

Once it's under control, keep up with weekly partial waterchanges of 25%


Hope that helps
good luck


EB



feel free to email me for further help

Answer 9

I agree with checking other water parameters (nitrate, nitrite and amonia) and with doing a 25%-30% water change with a gravel cleaning.
When you do get levels under control wait before you add anything else.
Your tank was way overstocked as far as adult size fish go. For example, if it was a common pleco or one of the other easy to get, less expensive plecos, they can reach 14 inches as adults. This can stunt growth in young fish and cause, among other things, shorter live spans and even death.
Research what you want to put into the tank to see how big they get a adults, what they're requirements are as far as tank size and what make acceptable tankmates in a 30 gallon.
Good luck.

Answer 10

I would try cleaning the gravel. Is there enough oxygen for the need of your fish!