Archived message board.
Dying fish
Badmans Tropical Fish Message Center:
Tank health and maintenance: Dying fish
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Mondie V.
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Saturday,
January 19, 2002 - 07:33 pm
Hello,
I have a problem with my tank- It's a 55 gallon, fresh
water tank. I Started tank out with all new water, used
chlorine remover, and some other chemical to remove harmful
stuff from the water. Every week I changed about 8 gallons
of water in the tank. Have had no problems with nitrates,
ammonia, or any other thing harmful. Since the PH at the
fish store is high (About 8) that's what I kept
my tank at. For months, all of the fish in the tank were
fine, healthy appetite, swam around, and seemed in good
health. One day, I come home to find 4 angel fish, 2 Raphael
catfish, 2 black mollys, and 3 other catfish(don't
remember the type) all dead. (Within an 8 hour period.)The
rest of the fish have been dying off by the day since. I
have had this problem a couple of times with this tank,
each time getting frustrated when all the fish die, and
eventually starting up the tank again at a later date. I
have tested my water and have taken it to Petsmart to be
tested- and each time, it appears to be ok. There is something
that is killing these fish! Can anyone offer any suggestions
as to what is killing these fish?
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Kick
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Sunday,
January 20, 2002 - 12:29 am
Mondie, very sorry to hear of your troubles. If you are
absolutely positive that your water quality didn't abruptly
change, such as a large jump or decline of the pH, and you
are certain that you didn't have a spike in your ammonia/nitrIte
levels, it may be very hard for us to determine what might
have caused this. Were there any visible signs on the fish,
such as ich or flukes? Has your water company added something
else to the water to make is safe for drinking that might
have caused the problem? You might call them to ask. Also,
do you have a water softener? If you do, maybe it has malfunctioned
at one point adding excessive amounts of sodium or other
chemicals that you use for softening the water.
Jeff might be able to better give you possible causes for
this mass death, but to have them all expire at the same
time, I would still tend to lean towards a water quality
issue. I cannot think of any disease that would wipe out
this many fish so quickly, especially if there were no visible
signs on the fish beforehand.
I do know of a friend that had this happen to once. We never
did quite determine the cause, but after leaving the tank
empty of fish for about a month (and using the same
water, etc....she did not break her tank down completely)
and keeping a close eye on her water, she tried again, adding
fish very slowly with successful results. The more details
you can give us the better to maybe come up with a reason
this happened.
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Jennifer
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Sunday,
January 20, 2002 - 12:23 pm
What about tank decorations it could be a bad rock, shell,
ect.
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joycedonley
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Sunday,
January 20, 2002 - 12:26 pm
If all the fish died suddenly I would almost suspect chemical
posioning. Did you paint the room recently or use any kind
of chemical aerasol that could have been sucked into your
filtration? Bug sprays and paint fumes will affect the tank,
but will not show up in any of your water tests.
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Ronnie-Sue
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Monday,
January 21, 2002 - 12:12 am
Also, what about metal poisoning? Metal clips on the lights,
with condensation dripping into the tank from them, over
time could cause heavy metal poisoning...or other exposure
to metal. Just another possibility to look for..
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Pandora
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Monday,
January 21, 2002 - 11:57 am
Mondie, do you change the pH of your tank water just to
match Petsmart's?
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