i have 4 goldfish had 2 catfish and 2 algea eaters and the 2 catfish were dead when i came home whats wrong?

Question

my fish have been acting slugish and lazy and have been breathing really hard and have been laying on the botom of the tank its been happeneing after i got a new cat fish another algea eater put a new filter in a new bubble maker and a new plastic toy for them to swimm around and it is a fourty gallon tank

Answer 1

Too many pets.

Answer 2

It sounds like the ammonia levels in your tank are high and your fish are not getting enough oxygen.
Tomorrow is Saturday, so it is a good day to take a water sample to one of the 'big' pet stores (like PetsMart) and have them test your water for nitrates, ammonia, etc. It is a really simple stick test and it only takes a minute. (I would pick up some of the test strips while you are there, too so you can do more effective monitoring on your own and you don't have to go down to the store every week!)
While you are there, get an ammonia "alarm." It is a little plastic card you stick to the inside of the tank and it monitors the ammonia levels in the tank and it turns different colors.
You may need to do a water change to add more oxygen to the water (the bubbler isn't really going to do it).
Gold fish are, for the most part, "dirty fish." They produce a lot of waste, therefore ammonia. So they may actually be causing the problem.
The bottom dwelling fish would be effected first, since the oxygen levels on the bottom of the tank are the lowest.
A forty gallon tank shouldn't need two alge eaters, unless you already have a problem with alge and/or they are both pretty small.
If you don't have an alge problem, make sure you feed the alge eaters alge wafers or you may loose them too.

Answer 3

Hi Sham, these are classic signs of poor water quality-this is almost certainly due to you putting in a new filter as well as adding new fish & overstocking your task. Because you have put a new filter in the delicate eco-system in the old one has been destroyed & your tank will have to cycle all over again. Coupled to this by adding yet more fish you are increasing your bio-load so you are risking a toxic melt down.

Your old filter would have had a colony of good bugs in it's media, these eat the deadly toxins in your tank such as nitrite & ammonia. Now you have set the eco-system in your tank back to square one you will need to carefully monitor your water parameters on a daily basis & do regular partial water changes using same temperature treated water to dilute these toxins until your new filter has had a chance to grow a new colony of good bugs, this may well take several weeks.

A 40 gallon tank is only large enough to support 4 Goldfish so you are already way overstocked. Catfish & algae eaters are not good tank mates for Goldfish due to the very real danger of them attacking & sucking the slime coats off your Goldies at night leaving them vulnerable to all manner of infection.

I would recommend you only keep your Goldfish in the 40 gallon & either return the others to the shop, advertise them on your local Freecycle Group/Craig's List or get another 40 gallon tank exclusively for them. The first link below explain what the cycle is & how it affects your tank. The second one tells you all about managing a new tank & general maintenance thereafter.

Answer 4

Stress! Making too many changes to your tank at one time can kill fish. They don't like things being changed or moved around too often.

Another killer could be adding a new fish to the tank. Various reasons such as changes in water chemistry when you add the new fish, territory disputes, or sickness that the fish had could have affected your tank. I advise you to let the tank settle for a while and just watch the fish to see if any others look sluggish or die. Make sure they have the proper temperature and oxygen requirements and that they have enough space to swim and some places to hide if they like to. Get a water testing kit (you can probably pick them up at the local pet store or wal mart) and test your water to be sure it is safe. Algae can cause chemical changes in your water that can harm your fish.

Do not make any more changes to your tank unless the water needs replacement, and treat water with a chlorine eliminator before you add it to the tank. Hopefully your next new fish will live!

Answer 5

That's a little strange. Catfish are pretty hard to kill and them and algae eaters are both air breathers, so lack of dissolved oxygen isn't a problem. If the water is cold, it could be trouble. Goldfish like cold water but cats don't. Too much gunk in the gravel could be making toxins that could kill a bottom feeder too. It's best to have an undergravel filter to keep water circulating through the gravel.

Answer 6

Fish carry diseases too and this will also affect the other fish as well, it usually starts with unusual breathing, eyes may turn greyish or whitish, look for unusual spots on the fish, if you didn't notice any of these then, it could just be to much acid in the water. Goldfish are nasty fish, neat looking, but, they constantly poop and pee more than alot of tank fish do.

Answer 7

is your tank water chlorine free? is it clean? goldfish and catfish are not aggressive fishes so with the janitor fish. i think your catfish died because they were not able to adjust in their new environment/water, also as you said before the new fishes arrived the old ones are having a hard time breathing. your aquaruim maygbe dirty or lacked an oxygen.

Answer 8

I am no where near an expert, but I'll make a guess, catfish are bottom feeders, either it got too dirty on the bottom, or the algae eaters were too thorough. Like I said, just a guess.

Answer 9

goldfish have way to much uric acid for catfish to handle. I would get a few snails and that should keep the tank clean.

Answer 10

(A) Test your water, check the temperature, make any necissary adjustments
(B) I doubt they care about a plastic toy, they do however need hidey holes
(C) Goldfish will eat the algae eaters alive.

Answer 11

probably the new plastic toy plugged your water filter and it was too much for your poor kitty fish ha ha