Help! All my fish are dying, what do I do?

[thunderseed]

All my fish are dying, it's a terrible epidemic.

I just went out and bought a little 5 gallon tank so that I could quarantine my sick fish and separate the ones that still look healthy, but I don't know if that was a good idea!!!

Background info: It's a 30 gallon tank, I've had it going for a couple years. I got the water tested, and everything was fine, except for it was high in nitrates but it's always been high in nitrates and there's always been somewhat of a black algae growth but that is nothing new and never killed the fish before, and even doing more frequent water changes has not made things better.

Anyways, the only fish I have left are 6 neons, everything else in my tank has died, and my angel fish is in the process of dying right now, I don't think she's going to make it. So right now, I have put the neons in a the brand new little tank and I bought "life guard" tablets that are supposed to help with diseases.

I know I'm not supposed to put fish into a new tank right away, I literally just put the water in today, but I'm so worried about keeping them in with the angel fish and I didn't want to add water from the old tank just incase there is something wrong with it that's causing them to die. I put "cycle" and a "lifeguard" tablet and the tap water conditioner into the new water, so hopefully they will be okay, but I'm just not sure if it was a good idea or not. Do you think my neons will survive if I just do more frequent water changes until the water cycles in the new little tank?

Also, my angel fish is pretty much unable to move in the 30 gallon tank, on its side and looks like its having a hard time breathing, do you think I should put the tablets in her tank as well, or do you think it's already too late? She really doesn't look like she's going to make it.

 

[Matt68005]

Could you upload pictures or a video to youtube?
What are their symptoms?

 

[thunderseed]

She lays on her side, doesn't move and looks like she's breathing hard, she gets stuck in the corner or just floats on the bottom or top, and all the fish that died have done the same thing.

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[Dallascowboys16]

If I understand what your saying correctly, it Sounds like poisoning of some type. Have the fish all died within 24 hours of each other? Do a Large water change now.

 

[thunderseed]

I'm not good with time, but it's all been in the last couple of weeks, first the molly, so I thought it was random, but then the beta soon after, then the neons, maybe each day, then in the last while just getting worse and worse by the day, so maybe it is poisoning, I'm not sure.

The only things I've done differently than usual in the last couple of weeks are:
- adding new moss (i stuck it on with super glue, like the pet store guy told me to and he swore it wouldn't harm my fish)
- bought some baby neons
- put a glass cutting board in the tank to separate the neons from the angel fish. But it's glass, so it shouldn't have released toxins or poisons but you never know.

I did half a water change today, but I'll try taking some more out and see if that helps any, since my angel fish seems to be getting worse by the hour.

Edit: I meant crazy glue, he told me to use that crazy glue stuff that hardens really fast

 

[thunderseed]

So I just took another 20% out, since I already did a huge water change I didn't want to take out too much... but I'm not sure, maybe I should take out more?
I think the water changes are stressing her out even more.

 

[Matt68005]

Are there any symptoms you can see, behavior before death?
Activated carbon will remove harmful toxins from the water.
Im not sure crazy glue is safe... in the future use regular 100% silicone when you need to mount something in the tank.

 

[jessipanda]

I'm with Matt on this one...crazy glue has some pretty toxic stuff in it. Definitely add some activated carbon to remove any toxins, and remove the glued moss. When you want to secure moss to something, a lot of DIYers use GE Clear Silicone 1 for windows & doors. It's 100% silicone, and free of any harmful toxins. I used it to reseal my 55g and have never had an issue.

 

[thunderseed]

Thanks! Well that pisses me off that the pet store guy would have advised me to use crazy glue. I asked him 3 times if it was safe for my fish and he said it was. I was skeptical about it, but I saw a few youtube videos of people doing it so I thought, why not...

I did remove the moss stones yesterday thankfully.

Anyways, good news, my Angel fish is still alive, she's still not doing well and still can't move, but she's breathing less hard than she was yesterday. And my remaining 5 neons are doing great, they are healthy and energetic. If it was a poison it's gone by now since it's no longer effecting the neons.

But also, I noticed last night when I was looking at her close up that she has very tiny white speckles on her fins, I think it might be ich. The good thing is I started the medication yesterday before I knew that just in case they were sick, so I'm going to keep the medication doses going, I think between the medication and the water changes, things are getting better!

Also I'm going to try to find an API test kit tomorrow, and add in a water stone. I'm also going to start starving my tank of light to kill of the annoying algae problem I have. I'm going to use this unfortunate event as a time to kill two birds with one stone.
I think now that my angel fish is sick, she could probably benefit from having no light for awhile, to help her rest more if that even works. At least it sounds good in my mind. I don't even know if fish do rest when its gets dark.

Anyway, on another fish forum they helped me identify the alagae I have, which is actually blue green algae, which isn't an algae, it's a bacteria. I could use antibiotics to get rid of it, but I'm going to try turning the lights off for awhile and adding in an air stone to increase oxygen to see if that works. I'm going to work on getting my water balanced too.

 

[Fresh2o]

Not sure what the culprit is but Super glue should be fine. I use it to secure moss to driftwood and for attaching very small plants to stainless steel. Seachem even sells it. It is also popular in reef tanks for attaching frags.


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[thunderseed]

Ok, then it might be ich then. I've got medication going already just in case.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

By the way, the algae you have going is cyano. Sometimes called blue green algae. It is actually a Bacteria. You will kill it with a black out and you shouldn't have any other problems.

 

[jessipanda]

Super glue and crazy glue are different. A few drops of crazy glue shouldn't be a problem in a larger tank, but super glue is safer since it has different chemicals. I already have silicone from doing the reseal, plus it's really cheap...not much more than a tube of super glue for a heck of a lot more. Most likely, the crazy glue isn't the problem unless you used far too much, but it's possible and the symptoms could lean towards poison which is why I suggested it.

Hope your angel pulls through

 

[Matt68005]

Ya i mean no reason to use glue of any sort when you can easily mount something even to the aquarium glass itself with pure silicone. lol