New Tropical Fish dead ??

Question

I have been keeping tropical fish for a few years i have a 3 foot by 1 foot tank , all the fish had died of old age over a period , which is fine , i had 3 gurami fish left in there that i had kept in there for about six months , i decided to get some more fish i brought 8 more fish from the pet shop , all friendly communal fish , and did a partial water change and cleaned the rocks and washed the filter out , since then all my fish are dead , they have been dying at 3 a day , the last one died today , have had the water tested and the shops says its fine amonia is a bit high but thats dew to the dead fish but not deadly.. whats gone wrong if the water is ok why are they all dead ??

Answer 1

If you bought a new fish, it's always hard to spot if they have a disease, but if one of the new fish did have a disease, it could of easily spread, and killed off all of your fish. It happened to us a couple of years ago.

Answer 2

where did you go to buy your fish walmart? if you did you're an idiot but it is hard to spot ich on one of the fish so it probably spread and ammonia will kill fish, if they died 3 at a time and the guy said the water level was too high they died when the fish died cuz of ammonia but since you got your water tested, you probably bought your fish at a pet store or something.

Answer 3

ammonia should be zero and yes it is deadly

Answer 4

how did you clean your filter? if you used tap water not dirty tank water you have killed all the bacteria. living fish produce ammonia as do dead ones, and if your filter has no good bacteria in it it will not break down the ammonia. ammonia is highly toxic and most fish will not tolerate it and die quickly. my advice is do not get any more fish for at least 6 weeks but keep your ank running as normal doing weekly ten to twenty percent water changes with a gravel vacume, when you clean the filter wash the filter media with old tank water so as not to kill the good bacteria. after 6-8 weeks your tank should have completed the nitrogen cycle and will be safe for fish. make sure you test the water every week and record the levels especially ammonia and nitrates until they are both at a safe level. you should add a lot of plants to your tank to absorb the nitrates. good luck!!

Answer 5

What!? they've been taken from the sea, natural food source taken away, man handled,put in a dinky tank-and they are dead!?..the mind truly boggles.....

Answer 6

When you put your fish in the tank, did you just throw them directly in?

You are supposed to put the bag (that they come in) inside the water, and let the water temperature change slowly, then take them out of the bag and put them into the tank.

If you just throw them in, they could go into a "shock" and die.

Answer 7

Could have been stress related, or disease. Sometimes new and resident fish don't like each other. However, as they all died relatively quickly I would say it is either disease or water problem.

Answer 8

"cleaned the rocks and washed the filter out"

depending on how you cleaned the filter and rocks (under the tap?) you may have killed alot of your friendly bacteria... this, plus the added bio-load of 8 new fish may have caused the tank to start the "nitrogen cycle" again.

Answer 9

....i agre with Leroy and Lorrz

....if you cleaned the filter too good, the bacteria died off and ammonia spiked along with nitrites (those are even more poisonous to fish)...the fish were pro'lly started dying nearly instantly.....sorry, but those things do hapen when we keep a small enclosed envorment that creates it's own pollution

....so, keep up 25% water changes every 2 to 3 days and use a dechlorinator product called 'Prime'....this product also works to bind ammonia from harming fish while it allows small bacteria colonies to eat the ammonia

.....think about using live plants too

....live plants absorb ammonia as well as nitrates as food

they also release CO2 that nourishes the aerobic bacteria in the filter that eat nitrites and ammonia

....with the filter, live plants and regular water changes we control the pollution levels in our tanks and keep the fish and snails happy and healthy

Answer 10

sounds like you got rid off most of your beneficial bacteria when you cleaned the rocks and filter,after all this is where most of your bacteria live then you added 8 fish on top of that- Hello..bioload??? sounds to me like you had a ammonia spike that your fish couldnt take. next time dont clean the rocks and gravel before you add new fish and you should add them more gradually!

Answer 11

Hi,sounds like one had a disease or they could have been stressed.I have kept fish for about 10 years & still learning.It

is awful when your  fish die especially without reason.When you decide to stock your tank buy a couple at a time.Wait a couple of days then buy a couple more untill your tank is stocked.Maybe 8 was too many at once.Also put in tank stress coat.

Good Luck