Why do my fish keep on dying ?

Question

My bf and i have a 20 gallon tank. We have had mainly tetras and barbs and the occasional shark or two. THIS TIME (because theres been a few times we've had to start over) we got 3 of each barb listed below (so nine in total) and we had the 2 sharks left over from the time before. Right now.. this is what we have:

3 green barbs

2 rainbow sharks (one is albino)

1 tiger barb

1 orange barb (one died today)

im so confused because every time we get fish - they get fin rot (well at least thats what it looks like.). no matter what we do or dont do!! it doesnt stop . the fish start to get sick immediatley. we have the temp at 80-82 -- sometimes we add salt-- we do water/filter changes... we feed them 3 times a day.... we have used maracyn... i mean what else!! why is this so freaking hard!! i just dont get it.. its only been a few weeks since we got the last batch and already... half are almost dead... they die slowly.. and some die with no symptoms prior. im so confused!!! HELP!!

Answer 1

I'm guessing the fin deterioration was from ammonia poisoning, not fin rot, which is EXTREMELY common in uncycled tanks.  For a tank to have any chance at normalcy, it must undergo the nitrogen cycle.  Ammonia is produced by fish respiration, waste, and left over food.  Bacteria oxidize this ammonia into nitrite.  Both ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish.  As the ammonia levels rise, these bacteria are able to multiply and colonize the bacteria, producing more nitrite.  Once the nitrite spikes, bacteria that oxidize it to nitrate (which is almost nontoxic) will develop.  As soon as there are 0 ppm ammonia and nitrite, the tank is cycled and you can safely add fish with little concern of them dying immediately.

Also, "green" and "orange barbs" are also Tiger Barbs, which NEED large schools to pacify them.  You should be looking at around 6+ of them (choose ONE color morph).  Rainbow Sharks are EXTREMELY territorial and will rarely (if ever) tolerate a second of their species.  I would strongly recommend getting rid of one, if not both.  For the Tiger Barbs and Rainbow Shark, you should be looking at a 30 gallon tank, as these fish NEED their room.  In a proper sized tank, weekly maintenance is necessary.  In smaller tanks, you'll be looking at twice or thrice weekly water changes to even keep them alive, and even then, their lives will be severely shortened.

Answer 2

Its a pain in the a** but maybe you should remove the fish and throughly scrub EVERYTHING in that tank and the tank itself with very very hot water, also i agree with that one answer and don't feed them so much. once MAYBE twice a day.

Answer 3

change 50% of the water then test it. just feed the fishes once or twice a day. check the fishes if they have other diseases too such as ick fungus cotton mouth, etc. i would use melafix to cure tail and fin rot.

Answer 4

Ask a local petstore they might have some disease.

Answer 5

try not feeding them so much.. have you tried cleanin the tank out.are you putting hot or cold water. dont put either mix the cold with the hot and pour it in the tank.if that dont work then try and get a differnet tank. good luck

Answer 6

well i like fish but don't have  a aquarium of them maybe you should set a goal to clean out their fish tank every 2 weeks to just a week or maybe when got them they were sick usually some fish can leave 6 months to 1 day so maybe its surroundings pof other fish are killing or sick and geting the other fish sick

Answer 7

Change 25 to 50% of the water. Then put in some universal disease medicine.

Good Luck.

Xander.

Answer 8

they might have ich or a disease

Answer 9

Go to your local fish store and ask for RO Water and do a complete water change.  the RO Water does not have the stuff that some tap water has in it.  your tap water might be killing your fish!

Answer 10

Empty and clean out the whole tank, ornaments and throw away any live plants. Give the gravel a really good wash. Then start a fishless cycle on your tank, get new filter material and everything. Go right back to scratch. Do as much water testing as possible. Make sure your tank is heated and maybe even try some new types of fish, possibly some hardy livebearers (guppies, swordtails, platties) and some cory cats. Just build up your collection slowly. Hope it all goes well.

Answer 11

When you clean the tank be sure you do NOT use any soap or other cleaners.  Are you using bottled water or at least water that has been treated to get rid of all of the chemicals that the water plants add to your water?   You might also check to make sure that your fish are compatible with each other, and that the pet store has healthy fish.  Wal-Mart use to have a reputation for selling unhealthy fish.  They seem to have corrected that problem, at least in some stores.

Hope this is of some help.