i recently cleaned my fish tank and the next day one of my fish had died and the other 3 were at the bottom of the tank barely breathing. i dont know what happend
2007-12-22 14:28:43 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
use purified water next time faucet water has chlorine in it
also make sure the water you use is left out for several hours to make it room temp
a change in temp. of just a couple degrees can kill fish
and I usually change no more than 50% at the most at any one time.
also use something like stress coat next time it helps keep the fish from going into shock from all the stress
2007-12-22 14:32:46 · answer #1 · answered by Nick 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
How much of the water did you change? You should only be doing 10-20% once a week, and you should not remove the fish from the tank to do this.
Did you dechlorinate the water? If you didn't, the chlorine could have killed them. Letting the water sit for at least an hour gives the dechlorinator a chance to work, too.
When you did add new water, was it around the same temperature as the water in the tank? If it's much hotter or colder, that can shock them.
Is your tank brand new? New tanks go through a cycle that is very hard on fish. Doing huge water changes can make an old tank cycle all over, or can make a new tank's cycle start over. Read this http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html
Were the fish sick?
When you clean the water, do you use buckets or equipment that ever had soap or chemicals in them? Buy a bucket that you set aside for use ONLY on your aquarium. Also, be careful about spraying anything in the air near the aquarium.
Are you doing regular water changes once a week? If you let the tank go forever in between cleaning, poisonous ammonia builds up in there that can slowly kill the fish, and it's possible that a sudden big water change can just be too much of a shock to their weakened immune systems.
There are tons of possibilities, see if you can post any more information
2007-12-22 14:37:23 · answer #2 · answered by neoalanmi 4 · 4⤊ 2⤋
How much water are you taking out? What size is your tank? I have a 20 gal. and I only take out about 2 gal. a week. Sometimes I let it go 10 days. Are you dechlorinating the water first? Do you make the new water as close to the tank water tempature as you can? What kind of fish? Most take a PH of 7.0 but others can have a different PH.
I went threw about $200 in fish when Ifirst got started. It is a trial and error process. I have about 3 books that I use all the time when I don't know something. I have learned that the less I clean and use chemicals the better my fish seem to be. I used to change too much of the water and I would lose alot of fish that way. I have had my 4 African Cichlids now for about a year. They are getting big now and I am happy I haven't killed them yet.
Never use any kind of chemical or soap to clean your tank. This will definetly kill your fish.
2007-12-22 14:39:20 · answer #3 · answered by Rover Fan 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You should never clean your tank completely. Get a good filter system and only change 10 to 25% of the water weekly. Vacuum the gravel every month or so to remove excess waste. Either let water sit for at least 24hrs to allow the chlorine to evaporate or add a chlorine removing chemical before adding it to the tank. The new water going in needs to be close to the temperature that the rest of the tank is at.
The reason they die is because you are shocking them to death with the cleaning and water changes.
2007-12-22 14:36:11 · answer #4 · answered by Mokey41 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
You probably didn't let the tank water stabilize before you put the fish back in.
That is, there might have been too much clorine still in the water.
Not sure what you might have used to clean your tank, but their might have been some residual cleaner left in the tank.
When cleaning a tank - only replace half the tank water with fresh water.
2007-12-22 14:33:46 · answer #5 · answered by Prophet 1102 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Did you de-chlorinate the water? If you don't take the chlorine out of the water that could kill them. Of if you used something like soap to clean the tank, may not have gotten it all rinsed off. Sorry for your lost.
2007-12-22 14:33:12 · answer #6 · answered by ywroseoftx 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Go to the library or book store and pick up a beginners book to aquarium keeping.
Read a little more about keeping fish before you buy any more fish.
2007-12-22 18:19:48 · answer #7 · answered by GS 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You've got to get the chlorine out of the water.
2007-12-22 14:36:14 · answer #8 · answered by theantilib 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
your not supposed to change all your water....
go to google for info. on water changes.
and your supposed to use water conditioner every time you put in new tap water...
2007-12-22 14:32:35 · answer #9 · answered by PETER C 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
1st of all your not supposed 2 keep it there!2nd of all{answer}you need a filter.
2007-12-22 16:00:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋