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Fish Crisis!! Please Help, why are my Fish dying??

7K views 45 replies 9 participants last post by  iamntbatman 
#1 ·
Hi, I have had 4 of my fish die today, 2 gold dust mollies, 1 neon tetra, and 1 swordtail. There are several others that dont look good at all. They were happy and swimming and healthy just a day ago. The only symptom I can report right now is that the water is getting, sort of greyish, not really green but its definatly cloudy. Please Help! I would like the rest of my fish to live!
 
#30 ·
Thanks for the advice guys. I just did what kymmie said and I did about a 75% water change. I am going to hold off on the medication and Start testing like you say and see how that goes. Oh and I made a small discovery, When I went to start the syphon to start the water change, the water was very cold. I look at the thermometer and it read a little below 70. Not good. I followed the line from the heater to the outlet and of course it was unplugged. Now would that have maybe killed any other bacteria in the tank?
 
#31 ·
I look at the thermometer and it read a little below 70. Not good. I followed the line from the heater to the outlet and of course it was unplugged. Now would that have maybe killed any other bacteria in the tank?

I'm not sure about the bacteria, but I bet that was adding to the stress your fish were under! Good catch, sounds like you're on the road to recovery!
 
#32 ·
how bout i was reading this thread and saw what happened with your heater being unplugged so i checked mine. sure enough mine was unplugged also. my tank was at 72 degrees it is usually at 80. im sorry to hear about your fish but thank you for reminding me about my heater. my fish thank you also.
 
#33 ·
hello all! I did a follow up nitrite and nitrate test the morning after the water change and when the filters were put back in. And I have good news, the nitrite level went down to 0 mg/L! I'm pleased about that. However, the Nitrate levels did go down, but they are now somewhere between the levels of 20 mg/L and 40 mg/L. Also, the tank has started to clear up dramatically. Most of the fish are happy and look pretty healthy. The water temperature is about up to 80 where it should be. I'm hoping to report more good news soon!
 
#35 ·
thats cool, i have a few larger tanks myself (46, 55, and 90), so I've transitioned to using plastic containers from Lowes... I've got a couple 24 gallon "boxes", and some 30 gallon brute trashcans. That makes it easy to drain the water quick in one fell swoop, then I use a 5 gallon bucket to refill the tanks (so I can lift it up tank-height!).

If your tank is right by a window, beware of whether or not it gets significant sunlight, direct or indirect (direct being worse). That can cause algae problems in a bad way. But if you've had your tank set up for 2 years, and haven't constantly battled algae, then it's probably OK. Just thought I'd toss that little tip in (I have one of my tanks near a window, but I put up a thick curtain to block any sunlight from coming in... my other tanks are far away from any window/outside light).
 
#37 ·
The pH tolerance will depend on the fish, I bet the "anything above 7" you saw was a general guideline as lots of freshwater fish like a pH in the range of 6-7. But for example, 8.5 would be just fine for African cichlids. You must be like me, the city water supply here in NM has a pretty high pH too so if I don't do anything, my tanks sit at about 8.

I'd first read up on the specific species of fish you have, and find out what their pH preferences range, then seek to find a common or close match if they are different. If you need to alter the pH of your water, the only fairly easy way I know to do it is with pH buffer tablets or supplements, the only downside is that it can get a bit tedious as every time you do a water change, it will tend to push the pH back to where it sits naturally for you (8.5). So you might find yourself continuously buffering the water over time (not a big deal, but wouldn't it be nice to set it and forget it?).

You can get pH buffer at pretty much any fish store, and you should be able to get stuff that keeps the pH at a variety of different levels... just determine what pH you want based on the fish you keep, then get a buffer that will do that.

Maybe someone else will chime in with better advice, I'm not extremely experienced/knowledgable in all the ways and tricks that one can use to manage pH.
 
#38 ·
thanks for posting those pictures,that was great.:-D
well things will pick up for you now,keep your water changes regular,
and like conger said test regular as well.
i'm really glad that you'll be able to finally enjoy your tank,and fish.
 
#40 · (Edited)
water changes might not alter your pH at all from where it is, it depends on what the pH of your city's water supply is (assuming you use treated/conditioned tap water for your water changes). If it's at 8.5, then doing water changes won't change your pH at all :-(. Buffer is the only way I know to alter pH, or use a different water supply ($$$... not recommended, just saying its possible :)). But again, I have never really researched ways to manage pH, so hopefully someone else will have better info!

The buffer I am used to seeing is either a liquid that you dose (e.g. 5 mL for every 10 gallons or whatever the directions on the bottle say), or tablets like cold medicine or something that fizz and dissolve in the water. But you may have to periodically buffer, because even after adjusting the pH, the water might have a tendency to rise back/fall back to its original pH. And after a water change with water at a different pH, it will very likely swing a little bit. Testing the pH every so often will allow you to know when you need to add more buffer!
 
#41 ·
My tap water also comes out high. 8.0. I don't try to mess around with or alter the ph because I think that a stable ph is better than an *ideal* ph. It would be too much maintenance for me to constantly be adding buffers, etc. I did add a large amount of driftwood at tank set up and I know that helped lower the ph some. I slowly acclimated my fish and the ph does not seem to bother them in the slightest. I'm also not keeping fish that *must* have a lower ph. Of course, mine is 8.0 and not 8.5. If I had 8.5 I'd go for cool cichlid tank! Just my .02 cents...
 
#43 ·
Hello Everyone! I have good news to bring, the fish massacre has stopped and fish are returning back to their previous health. I did a follow up nitrate test and it read 20 mg/L! A huge improvment and from what I am hearing that is pretty good. The tank has cleared up hugely. And all the fish have their top fin(I dont know what its called) up in the air which I know means that they are happy! Here is a picture of the tank currently. I am hoping to put the plants and such back in tonight. Thanks so much to everyone who helped me through this and help put my tank back together.

 
#46 ·
Phew! Glad to hear things are working out for you. I wish I could have jumped on this thread earlier, but it's finals season and all so I haven't been on the forum as much as I normally am. Anyway...

Those filters are Marineland Bio-wheel filters. Very good filters, in my opinion. The actual Bio-wheels should never be replaced. As far as the filter cartridges - those shouldn't be replaced until they start to physically fall apart. If they get gunked up, you can swish them around in some water you remove during a water change. As for the carbon, definitely keep it out of your tank while you're medicating or it'll suck the medication right out of the water. If you want to run carbon on your tank on a regular basis, take a sharp knife and slice open that blue sponge along the top edge of the cartridge. Then, buy yourself a big jug of carbon from the LFS. This will allow you to replace the carbon however often you'd like without having to replace the entire filter cartridge and thus compromise your bacteria colonies.

I would guess that you lost fish due to both the stress of adding more fish as well as the water being so cold. Also, I didn't see any evidence of ich in any of your pictures. Ich looks exactly like someone poured salt on your fish. Some ich medications can be very harsh on certain types of fish, like your tetras, so that could be causing problems.

I would add those fake plants back to the tank - the fish will be a lot more comfortable if there are plenty of hiding spaces and stuff to break up lines of site in the tank.

Glad things are back on track, though!
 
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