How do I clean out fish tank from disease, but keep my frog alive?

Question

I had a goldfish, and bought more fish to keep him company (one molly, two tetras, a plecostamos, and two frogs)... one by one, all of my fish died, even my goldfish... The goldfish got bright red spots (like blood) on him, and his fins were either eaten or disintegrated and he had high amounts of energy to being totally lethargic. I'm not sure if it was disease that killed all my fish, but I was stupid and left the last two fish in my tank for about four days... but I didn't know one of my frogs was still alive. The little guy is so full of energy and seems healthy.... but how do I keep him healthy but get rid of the disease/death in my tank?? Thanks!

I asked the salesperson good types of fish to keep with a goldfish and he told me mollys and tetras. I don't know the type of frog I have, but he is an aquatic frog... They kept them in the aquariums at the pet store (petco is where I went), so I'm guessing that he can't live out of the water.

Wouldn't a full water change kill my frog due to the chlorine, etc. in the water?? I'm not getting anymore fish anytime soon. I just want to keep my little frog alive.

Answer 1

The symptoms you're describing can fit either ammonia poisoning or septicemia.

You may have tried to add to many fish at one time to the tank. Fish produce wastes, and part of the waste is ammonia, which is toxic to the fish. If you've had the tank with your goldfish for quite some time, you may have had enough bacteria to convert his wates into less harmful products, but not enough for all the added fish. It takes about 3-6 weeks to get the amount of bacteria in a new tank, but it may still take a week or more whenever you add fish for the amount to increase sufficiently.

Septicemia is a bacterial infection of the blood, and is usually related to poor water quality.

In all, the combination of animals wasn't a good one. Goldfish are a coldwater fish which should be kept at temperatures below 72o. The frogs and other fish are tropicals, so their temperature should be over 76o. Goldfish, plecos, and frogs are big wastes producers (meaning all put out a lot of ammonia). I'm not sure what size tank you have, but common goldfish (types with a single tail) and common plecos can each get up to 18 inches long in an aquarium. Each should have 20 gallons to itself as an adult fish. The tetras are schooling fish, and these should be kept in groups of 5+, or they become nervous and nip the fins of other fish in the tank. Aquatic frogs should have about 5 gallons each. If these were African dwarf frogs, they would be okay to keep with fish, but if they were African clawed frogs, these get about the size of a baseball and eat fish.

In all, I don't think you have any diseases to worry about, but you should do a 100% water change before adding new fish. If you start the tank again, consider cycling your tank beforehand, and only add 2-3 small fish to start, and only add 1-2 more each week. And make sure you have a heater (if needed by the type of fish you have), a filter, and that all the fish are compatible as far as environmental requirements (find this out for yourself, rather than trusting what salespeople will tell you).

Answer 2

If you're talking about an African dwarf frog that is still alive, you can put him in a small tank without filtering the water.
Those little guys prefer stagnant water anyway.

Just dump out your tank and clean it and the filter system really well.
Don't use dish soap or bleach. It would take forever for the residue of those chemicals to break down.
If anything, clean the tank with a strong dose of aquarium salt and a clean (right out of the package) scrub pad. Rinse down the tank really well.

Goldfish are slimy so if you're going to give them tank mates, how about other goldfish, or fish in the goldfish species like barbs.

Answer 3

Do a 50% water change, because your ammonia levels are going to be very high due to the decomposing bodies left in the tank. If you have a water test kit, test your water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates. (If you do not have a test kit, take a sample to your nearest pet store that offers free water testing) Keep up with small water changes (20% a day) until you get your levels to <5.Once you achieve this, you can think about adding more fish. (My recommendation anytime to add new fish - treat with melafix and test water often to monitor your nitrifying bacteria) DO NOT CHANGE ALL THE WATER!

A few important things to know:

Goldfish are not compatible with mollies or tetras.
If you have a heater on your tank, you can have tropical fish (tetras, mollies, platys, etc) but if not, you are mainly limited to goldfish.

It sounds like your fish died of ammonia poisoning. This is often due to overcrowding/overfeeding/poor water quality. You can avoid this by taking the time to cycle your tank, adding only one or two fish at a time, and adding the right amount of fish for your size of tank.

Keeping up with water changes and treating with melafix should irradicate any problems you might have. If you ever notice something wrong with your fish, the best course of action is a water change (25%)

Good Luck, if you need any more help, feel free to message me.

Answer 4

If all the fish have died, I would take the frog out and break down the tank and do a full water change. Clean everything.

And plecos, tetras, and mollies are tropical, goldfish are not. They should not be together as one needs warm water and the other cold.

And next time your fish start to show signs of illness maybe you should take action to cure them rather then letting them all die.

Answer 5

First you can not mix goldfish with aquarium fish. The goldfish has a slime on their bodies that is not good for fish. Second You would probably need to talk to someone in a pet store that has alot of knowledge about fish and frogs to figure out if its a disease or something from mixing them with the goldfish

Answer 6

Put Kermit in another bowl or very clean tupperware (clean without soap) while you do a deep clean on your tank. Treat the water and fill the tank halfway. Stack a lot of rocks on one side of your tank so Kermit can get some relaxation time on the rocks. Next decide if you want an amphibian tank or a fish tank. African Dwarfs will not survive without resting spots and fish water cannot usually be filtered enopugh in a half water tank.

Answer 7

It sounds like the problems started from not doing partial water changes to begin with.

Answer 8

i dont need your life story