ALL MY FISH ARE DYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Satsumas]

In the last 2 weeks i have lost 1 Neon dwarf gourami, 1 albino tiger barb and 1 bala shark!

I am starting to get very P***ed off with keeping fish and sometimes i dont know why i bother!

Recently i have spent most of my tiny amount of money on fish treatments etc.. and put a lot of work into trying to save these fish and none of it has been worth it cus there all dying!

Yesterday after i removed my dead neon dwarf. I de-clogged my filter and done a massive water change about 80%. I thought doing this would get rid of any disease in the water. After about 3 hours when the water had settled i added some Fungus and fin rot treatment which has done nothing apart from drag out the death of my fish even if that.
Its showed no signs of working what so ever! a total waste of money!!!


My neon dwarf had blotches all over his body, had fin rot and his feelers had frayed at the tip. i knew he would die cus the treatment did F**K all and he was getting worse and worse!

My Bala shark had been slowy but constantly getting thinner and thinner, ever since i bought my 2nd bala he seemed to loose weight. When i got him out of the tank he was so thin! 1 of my danio's is probably fatter!

I'd like to know what the hell is going on with my tank cus i am seriously considering not keeping fish and selling my tank to some other sucker
cus its more trouble than its worth!

 

[JohnPaul]

Satsumas, the odds are 98% we will be able to successfully help you if you can answer all of the following questions for us. These are taken from the thread stickied at the top of this forum entitled, "Before posting about unhealthy fish, read this!":

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the beset of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are there current sizes?
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?

Virtually all cases of fish disease and death are a result of one or more water parameters being out-of-whack. In essence, bad water = stressed fish = fish less able to fight off disease = fish getting disease = fish dying of disease. While sometimes medicines help, and in some cases may even be needed to cure a certain disease, almost always the same disease (or a different one) will return if the underlying water problems are not solved.

Help us help you...and you'll be on your way to a healthy, happy tank.

 

[RoK]

The questions JohnPaul mentioned would really allow us to help you better.
Are you even using a dechlorinator for your tap water you put into the tank? If it's not tap water what kind of water do you use?
Even though doing large water changes and cleaning everything sounds like it will help the fish a lot, it can actually do they opposite. A 80% water change is way too much, the fish has to get used to almost all new water in little time which is very stressful for them.
After you answer JohnPaul's questions and mine we'll be able to help much more.

 

[Satsumas]

(I posted this when i asked for advice on my sick neon dwarf's)

My tank is 80-85 litres, not sure about gallons of the top of my head. i work in litres anyway.

The Temp is 23-24 degrees c. i dont work in fahrenheit either, sorry.

Umm, my filter is internal and thats all i know really. Its been set up for 2 1/2 months now. With no problems at all apart from 2 danios 1 died early on, ever since everything has been fine apart from now!

I last did a water change 6 days ago. I cant do 1 now as i have nothing to make tap water safe. I will do 2moro though.

The level of Nitrates/Nitrates: There are actually slightly more of the bad than the good (i must sound like such a bad aquarist im not honest!) last time i checked it was more bad than good. I can never really get more good than bad, only very slightly. Although every other fish in the tank is brimming with health there all full of colour and life! especially my danios but they are quite hardy.

I last vaccumed the gravel 5 days ago, it never gets that bad, they always eat all of there food. The excrement lol, is never that bad, when theres dead plant or noticeable amount of poop in the tank i shyphon it out.

The 2 neon dwarf's have been in there about a month maybe a month and a few weeks. I havent added any new decor or new fish in about a month.

 

[RoK]

The tank is either still cycling or has to re-cycle. It is cycling if it hasn't been running long, re-cycling possibly from that huge water change. Do not add any more fish! When the tank is cycling you should start with only 1, or 2 if they are in a large enough tank. The tank is cycled when there is no ammonia and no nitrite, there will be nitrate though. Nitrate is lowered by partial water changes. Nitrate should stay under 40 ppm and NEVER go above 50.
It seems you have a 20 gal tank if it's about 80 liters. A bala shark is not a good fish for a new tank. Also, when full grown can get to a foot long, you will either have to get a larger tank or just not get any balas. An adult bala needs at least a 75 gal tank.

 

[Satsumas]

i've been told all that b4 lol

bala's dont do very well on their own either maybe u should get a few more?

I got my tank in mid november and i dont think its re-cycling cus of how long its been set-up it will be re-cycling from the massive water change if it is at all.

Im not gonna add any more fish that will be stupid. Im not gonna bring more fish into a "dodgy" tank thats just murder! literally

 

[unicorn2tears]

Is the list of fish at the bottom for this tank?

"Fish: 2 Neon Dwarf Gouramis, 4 Black Neons, 2 Silver Sharks, 2 Red Honey Gouramis, 2 Botia Loach, 2 Leopard Danios, 2 Zebra Danios, 1 Pleo (dwarf type unaware real name) 6 Tiger barbs (2 Green, 2 Gold/Albino, 2 Black striped)"

If so that seems like too much for 80 liters (~20 gal). Are they adults or juveniles? Even if they are juveniles, it still is a bit of a heavy bioload with 23 individuals. You said you haven't bought any in a month, well that's a month for them to grow and crowd one another to the point where some are starting to become ill due to stress. If that's it, then you could try to get rid of a few (return or sell to a shop or give to a friend). If that's not an option, then try getting a small tank to set a few of them up in.

 

[Satsumas]

I looked at my neon dwarf gourami this morning and i know that if i still use this useless king british fin rot & fungus control then he's gonna die aswell cus he's slowly deteriating like the other 1 did.

I need something thats really quite strong. Although i think i've heard that really strong treatments can kill off the good bacteria. I that right?

Yeah is all the fish but minus 1 albino tiger barb, i bala shark and a neon dwarf gourami

I know the tank is a bit overfull i was so keen to put all the fish i wanted into my tank so i just did it without seriously thinking about overfilling it.

My brother has a tank that he might set up so i'll let him have some of mine.

 

[Nippyfish]

Curing your sick fish comes down to fixing your water quality problem. All the medicine in the world (no matter how strong) will not help your fish if the cause of the problem remains. It's sort of hard to tell exactly what is going on without actual numbers (i.e. nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, pH, etc)

Can you retest your water and provide numbers. That may help us.

Also, if it means anything at all, many of us have been through this. I spent my first 6 months of fish keeping just trying to understand water parameters and cure sick fish. It does get easier and is well worth it later on. Hang in there.

 

[RoK]

i've been told all that b4 lol

bala's dont do very well on their own either maybe u should get a few more?

I got my tank in mid november and i dont think its re-cycling cus of how long its been set-up it will be re-cycling from the massive water change if it is at all.

Im not gonna add any more fish that will be stupid. Im not gonna bring more fish into a "dodgy" tank thats just murder! literally

Balas will do fine by themselves in a large tank with fish of similar size. My bala lived through a case of ich and a hit to the floor (mom put him/her in a cup to transfer to the 10 gal, it jumped out of the cup). It's fully healed now, still a tiny bit less than 3" but eats a lot, showing off it's beautiful dark colors, and looks pretty happy to me.

The tank must be re-cycling because if it wasn't, there would be no ammonia or nitrite. If you can get the actual numbers for your water parameters it would really help us, help you.

 

[Satsumas]

Sorry yeah i had ran out of water testing kits.

I have one now and my ph is about 9. I know this is a bit high i should be aiming for around 7 right? But i cant do a water change cus i dont have any treatment to make tap water safe!

I just looked at my tank and 1 of my red honey's was lying on the bottom and he looked as if he was finding it hard to breathe!! I picked him up, all his fins were moving quite quickly so i let him go but kept my hand about 3 inches underneath him so he didnt just fall to the bottom, he kept falling back to my hand. I put my hand over my compressor to get some oxygen to his gills, then i gave him some oxygen from the surface, let him go and he was swimming ok. he's swimming slow and staying close to the top.

 

[RoK]

You should test your tap water to see what it's parameters are. Can't you go to the store and get some dechlorinator? If the pH is really that high and if it comes from the tap water that high, I really don't know what you can do besides maybe using some peat in the filter and driftwood to get the pH down. Test the pH again, I have never heard of anyone having a pH that high.

 

[Nippyfish]

Most fish can adapt to a range of pH levels as long as they are stable but that is pretty extreme. If there are any toxins in the water (ammonia, nitrite, etc) they would be even more deadly in such alkaline water.

I would run to the store for some dechlorinator and test kits. Not to be dramatic, but it sounds like their lives could depend on it.