Help I've killed my fish...what did i do wrong??

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nacho

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 27, 2004
Messages
4
Location
Tennessee
I have a two gallon hex, and i got two fancy guppies yesterday. it took about an hour to get them to the tank (which has been set up for a week) and i let the bag sit about twenty minutes before I let them in. I fed them a little bit and they seemed to be fine. I fed them a little more before i went to bed, and when I got up this morning. I came back this afternoon to see half their tails missing, and one was unable to stay upright. It died and i took it out. The other one wasn't swimming as enthusiastically as before, and after going out and coming back, he too was dead. So, does anyone have any suggestions?
 
there are alot of things that seem wrong with what you are saying you did....

are you a newish fishkeeper? you can't just let fish out into a entirely new tank of water that have completely different chemical parameters between the bag water and tank water.....

you have to slowly acclimate them, then test the waters and make sure the parameters match, you also should not leave fish in the bags unopened due to no 02 getting in and co2 building up which then changes the pH levels dramatically..........the tank may not be completely cycled yet either.....and you shouldn't feed fish 24 hrs after being introduced to a new tank...they might also have some bacteriial disease which is a whole different world in itself...

you should read up on fishkeeping, or ask around..there is a plethora of info out there that may help you...no more unneccesary fish deaths! :(

good luck! and please do some research before you purchase anymore fish :)
 
Well, a lot of people keep a single betta in those, and a lot of people think it is too small even for a betta. It is extremely difficult to control the water parameters in a tank that small, since the tiniest change has a drastic effect. With a larger tank (20 gal and up) it is much easier to keep the water under control.

Read through some of the threads in the Getting Started forum and that will help you get an idea of how to proceed.

Good luck!
 
As Tankgirl mentioned bettas are the really only good fish for a 2 gallon. As for a tank mate you could add one of those big snails.

Make sure to float the bag as you did, but every 5-10 minutes scoop a little water out of the bag and replace it with tank water. Do this until you have replaced almost all the bag water. Then scoop the fish out and place him in the tank. That gives him a slow chance to adjust.

Also make sure to use water dechlorinator or the chlorine/chloramine might kill the fish as well.

As I assume the tank has no heater in it, try to place the tank in a spot that has the most stable air temp (ie not next to a window or furance duct).

You will need to do 50% weekly water changes or else twice weekly if you have no filter system.
 
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