Help!! My fishes are all dieing

[OrchidNow]

Since this morning, 3 of my platties have died.

And the rest are sitting at the bottom. What can I do?

A friend said I should put salt and garlic in the water. Yes?

[Laura]

No.
Can you give us a better idea of the tank, parameters, how long it's been set up, the results of any test kits, last water change, chemical treatments (dechlorinator), occupants?

Edit - I see the other post now - if your kids have been overfeeding and you haven't been doing waterchanges, this could be part of the problem.  Try a 30% waterchange with dechloramined water and see if they improve.

[OrchidNow]

I had changed the water (10%) a couple of days ago. I'm wondering if I did something and killing them. I'm so stress. But why are they sitting in the bottom like that?

And the platties that died have been in the tank for 3 weeks. And then I introduced another 4 10 days later. And they were all fine yesterday.

[beowulf]

AS Laura said, do a 30% water change and see what happens.

[KLKelly]

I agree on the water change.  Make sure to add the dechlorinator/dechloraminator also.

Do you know about the cycle that a tank goes through when its first set up?  Do you have water tests for ammonia and nitrite?  With over feeding and a new tank - odds are good your water is toxic.  Fish stores will test your water for free if you can't afford tests.  You will be doing partial water changes probably daily until water is non toxic.

There is lots of info on the web... this is how I learned: http://www.thegab.org/Articles/WaterQualityCycling.html

[OrchidNow]

They are all dead as of today. I'm so sad.

[MikeM]

Sorry to hear that   Your best bet now is to probably tear the tank down, give it a good sterile cleaning (I've heard of ammonia being used for this), and start again with a fishless cycle.  There's a great article on doing that here.  If you wait on adding fish until after your cycle has completed, I'm sure you will find your water quality is much more stable.  If I have learned nothing else in my fishy research, its that the key to success in fishkeeping is patience and frequent partial water changes

Don't let this set back discourage you.  You will finally get to a point where everything is balanced, and you can just sit back and watch your fish again.

[Laura]

I am so sorry.

As MikeM said, don't let it discourage you.  There are lots of folks here willing to help, and lots of info for you to help your pets live long and healthy, happy fishy lives.  We have all had a learning curve, and it is very possible that it was your new fish (platies or goldfish) that brought something into the tank.

Do lots of reading, use the 'search' option at the top, and please ask questions.  Mike mentioned the value of water changes - absolutely!  Especially when the kids love to feed fish.  He also mentioned cycling your tank - you can do a fishless cycle, or many of the members will cheerfully give you a filter sponge that already has the bacteria in it so you can jump-start your cycle.  For more info on cycling, there are many posts and articles here - my favourite is the post by luvfishies at this link http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=11389.0

There's also lots of info on good tankmates and what's a good size for the tank.  Do your research first and feel free to ask for opinions before picking up the fish. 

Stick around and don't be too disheartned - we all recognize how disappointing it is to lose fish.

[OrchidNow]

I brought some water to get it tested. They said everything look fine except maybe the ammonia might be a tad too high. It was borderline I guess. Anyway, I might give this a rest for a bit. I can't beleive I'm stressing out about this. It's supposed to be a relaxing hobby. 

[babblefish1960]

I wouldn't worry too much about being stressed during this, as with any companionship involving live creatures, we want the best for them. We don't know the language, so it is hard to sit back and watch all this death and feel so helpless about healing our fish.

It is human to become attached, and it is good to feel sad, try your best to understand what happened and move forward with new plans.  We have all been here.

[Soft1]

I'm so sorry about your fishy friends... 

I dunno if you've read, but we've been having some strange losses too.  It sucks to lose even 1 lil tetra!  When I found that we'd lost Flame (one of our Discus) I couldn't believe I sat and bawled like a baby...

Sometimes I wonder if perhaps we care too much and are trying so hard to make things perfect for our pets that we overdo it?

I'm like you and stressed over each loss and the helpless feeling... 

I'd go with starting fresh - as others said tear down the tank and clean it then start over.  Maybe make it a family project to get the water stable, and matured and fish ready?  Get your kids to help you plan the tank - what plants, rocks, fish, etc.  Once your tank is ready you will be too!     Good luck!

[OrchidNow]

Thanks. It was a new tank. It was sitting in water....got some bacteria started via water from another tank and this other stuff "Cycle". Waited 3 weeks before putting in the first 4 platys. Then added another 4 platys 2 weeks later. And then I did a 10% water change and they all died within days (2-3). Because I got 4 of the platys from Petcetera, I got 2 replacement. (This is before the other 2 died too). So since yesterday I had 2 new platys, another 30% water change and I found another dead one when I got home. And I got them to test the water again and they said everything look good.

My question is this. If the water is fine, what is killing them so quickly? They did not get sick, or look sick. They just died right off. THe store people convince me to get some zebra danios to condition the tank. So they are still swimming around but it's been only an afternoon. Will let you know if they will die by the next few days. Seems a real cruel way to test my water. But I'mm not even looking at them in case I get attached to them. 

[MikeM]

You are using a decloraminator, right?  What's the pH level of your tank water?  If it's too far off the pH of the fish store, the fish may be dying due to pH shock.  When you acclimate the new fish you purchased, do you let them float in the bag in the tank for 30 minutes to equalize the temperature, slowly adding a bit of tank water to the bag every few minutes?  This will help the fish go through the transition a little bit more smoothly.

Tank water doesn't make the best seed material for a new tank.  There's surprisingly little beneficial bacteria in the tank water.  Your best bet to rapid seed the tank is to get some filter media (or barring that gravel), from an established tank, and either put the media in the filter or hang the gravel in a nylon bag near your filter outflow.  This will get the bacteria colonies established.  If you let the tank sit for 3 weeks with no bio-load, any beneficial bacteria would probably have died-off from lack of food.  If putting fish through the harsh conditions of a tank which is starting up doesn't sit well with you (it certainly didn't with me), a fishless cycle is the way to go, but fresh cycled media from an established tank will go a long way.  Picking up test kits for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate will really help too.  They're good investments in piece of mind.

Good luck getting your tank re-established

[KLKelly]

4 things - your water may not be fine.  Next time you get your water tested come back and post the numbers not just ammonia is a tad high.  Depending on your ph and the temp of your tank ammonia can be toxic.  Nitrite also poisons fish.
Why don't you learn about fishless cycling?  It will be a lot less painful and less fish will die in the process.  Someone posted a link where you can learn more about this.  (fishless cycling soapbox sorry).

2.  You can't seed a tank with water and the cycle product doesn't work well.  Bacteria doesn't thrive in a bottle on a shelf.  In the states you can get a product called biospira but it needs to stay frozen if I recall correctly.  Using a sponge or filter media from another established tank can help.  I've seen lots of people offer theirs when someone asks.

3.  Are you using a product to dechlorinate and also removes chloramine?  Unconditioned tap water will kill fish.

4.  I hope you are taking your time to acclimatize your new fish to the tank.  Often the ph in the store and the ph in your tank will be enough to shock and weaken them.

There is a lot to learn in this hobby.  I did everything wrong when I got my first goldfish.  He got ammonia burn on all his fins and cycling with him in the tank was a nightmare.  There are amazing people on this forum that will help if you ask the questions - they will have the answers.

[MikeM]

Also, don't add the bag water to your tank when you add the fish.  Putting bag water in your tank puts any and all pathogens from the fish store tank into your tank.  Netting them from the bag takes some practice.  Ask the person getting the fish for you to use a larger bag so you can fit in the net, they never seem to have a problem with this.  Also, and this is just personal opinion from what I have observed, but you might reconsider where you are buying the fish.  I'm not sure what the protocol is for these kinds of discussion here, and I don't want this to be taken as bashing Petcetera, but I have seen some things there that I am not comfortable with.  I choose to vote with my wallet, and take my business to the other stores which seem to have a more active interest in the wellbeing of their livestock.

@KLKelly - beat you by 30 secs. 

[washefuzzy]

I've got some wonderful floss that is all full of great bacteria you can have. What are friends for.

[OrchidNow]

I'll take you up on that.

As for the fish, I've been buying them at different places; includign Big Al's. And they died off too but no exchange.

I'll get the numbers the next time I go to get the water tested. And I got the water tested again...from another store...and this time they said everything is good. But I didn't know about numbers.

I hate to say this. I used to have goldfish and angelfish(although the tank was established for me for this) and I just have to remember to feed them and clean the tank.

I feel like all my learning and doing all these stuff just killed off my fish.

As of this am, the danios are still swimming happily. Maybe I'm killing them with my water change? And yes, I do dechlorinate my water. And I forgot, but I put half the filter from the other tank to get the bacteria started...not just tank water.

[OrchidNow]

Argh!!! My other tank's goldfish is dieing too. Nad when they checked the water again - like 2 days later, the PH was way off. So they got me to buy some PH decreaser? Anyway, help!

[charlie]

the PH was way off. So they got me to buy some PH decreaser? Anyway, help!

(1)When you say the PH was way off , what was the reading ?
(2) when you added the PH decreser ( They made you buy), what did the PH drop to ?

[Dr. Ashtray]

I haven't checked my PH in years.  I do a 50% water change weekly(dechlorinating...) and siphon the gravel bi-weekly to monthly.  Whenever I purchase a tank I recycle the light that came with it and replace it one with growth spectrum, usually a power glo.  If you use Zeolite during the first month of your tank being set-up, your ammonia levels should not be a problem.  You can also eliminate Ammonia by using a plant substrate as your gravel bed.  I use Pondcare's planting media under my sand or just as the substrate by itself(it contains 20% zeolite).  My tanks cycle in three days, so I must be doing something right after all these years.  I have never purchased PH kit or any of the Extra purchases.  Buy a chunk of Malaysian Driftwood and you will have little issue with water problems as well.  This is what I do, and I have little problems with fish death other than stress from transport.  These are just guidelines, I don't guarantee anything.  They just work for me, and well, I might add.

Jeffrey...