Fish died all of a sudden!!! PLEASE HELP!!!

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alivinglegend

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
1
i have a 60 gallon tank.... 1 male betta 3 platies 3 tetras...its been up and running for about 3 weeks....every sat i do a 50% water change...i went to petsmart today and they suggested that i invest in a couple of bottom feeders...so i got 2 albino catfish.....put them in and 3 hrs later 1 tetra is dead at the bottom and another is swimming sideways and lying at the bottom looking like he's next...please help...everything was good until i added the cats....could it be the water that was in the bag with them or the cats themselves...
 
I don't add any of the water from my lfs in fear of situations like this usually. Sometimes is just a huge risk and you get things in your water that messes up your whole system. You do any tests on your water.
 
Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish. What are your water parameters Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates...? We suggest the API test master kit and then let us know the results so we can better help you.
 
Sorry to hear about your fish. However, when you acclimate your fish do you pour the original water into your aquarium? If so, this may be the problem. Chances are, your water and the store's water are completely different. A sudden change in water quality is not very good for the fish at all and can ultimately lead to death.
 
jcolon said:
Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish. What are your water parameters Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates...? We suggest the API test master kit and then let us know the results so we can better help you.

Yea that info is key to helping you.
 
It sounds like ammonia/nitrite poisoning. I've seen the setups that petsmart runs, and I doubt they'd have enough ammonia from a small baggie to poison an entire tank. It sounds like the 60 gallon is the first tank, and it's only been running for 3 weeks, so I'd imagine he/she is in the middle of the cycle. I think it was a coincidence that the tetras were swimming sideways within a few hours of adding the cats... but it's hard to make a good judgement without more information.

As was stated before, you want to go buy a liquid test kit (API is a good choice). The master kit is a good place to start, but if you're short on money, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and maybe pH are needed (only two short of the master test kit). A few hours is a bit quick for fish to catch something, unless they were already sick/stressed by something.

You dechlorinate your water right? (assuming you live off city water)
 
I think the Test kits u need more a ph ammonia nitrite! Nitrate isn't as important as ph, if u are short on money :p ph is more important initially than nitrate. IMO because u ain't sure if ur ph in ur tap and tank are the same or different.
 
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