Why is my tank dying!!??

My 3rd fish died today, in the past 3 days one has died each day.

I have 4 fishies left!
I cleaned the water about a week and a half ago, i just dont understand why they are dying all of a sudden??
Theyve lasted for a good year, 2 of them are still going strong after a year and a half!

Awww Fran i'm sorry I wonder if they've caught some kind of fungus that fish can get?!.

If they all die this week im throwing this tank away

Have you tested the water Ph? It may be that your filter isn't working properly. Too much food and fish waste can change the Ph balance of the water and kill the fish. If you don't have a Ph test kit at home, take a sample of the tank water to the pet store, and they can test it for ou there for free.

I was also thinking the PH might be off. Aww Fwan I hope your fishies make it!

i scrubbed off the algea off the tank a while ago, and since then it looks like my tank is dying!
I am going to change the water tonight and see what happens.

Try going over to http://wetwebfotos.com/talk/

They are very helpful over there and have given me a ton of great advice on my tanks - everything from diagnosing fin rot to helping me plan a setup for a 120gal FW tank (but they also do SW if that's what your tank is).

Great people and they seem to know everything

Originally Posted by fwan

i scrubbed off the algea off the tank a while ago, and since then it looks like my tank is dying!
I am going to change the water tonight and see what happens.

Click to expand...

Fwan, scrubbing the algae off will not change the water quality, but depending on what you used to do the scrubbing, you may have introduced a foreign bacteria to the tank.

Changing the water completely can stress the fish and cause them all to die off - you HAVE to maintain the proper Ph in your tank if you want to keep fish alive.

You mentioned that you changed the water not long ago - if you put new water in all at once, that could be the reason all your fish are dying. Fish can get very stressed out really quickly and easily, and there are products that are sold to keep their slime coats intact and prevent them from stressing so badly.

Again, I urge you to take a water sample to your local pet store to have the water tested, please do not do a complete water change unless you want to guarantee that your fish will die.

I had freshwater aquariums for many years, and it can become very expensive to maintain them properly. If you are not prepared to go through the processes needed to maintain a good tank environment, then maybe you should reconsider having one.

I never change the water fully, only about half of it.

I bought new products not even two months ago to smoothen out my fish tank.
I bought a second hand tank from ebay, and i think its a problem because noticed my fish are unhappy.
I might set my old tank back up but its so small

ITs been very hot here, yesterday I touched the water adn it was boiling so i added ice cubes to cool it down.

The store is already closed i hope i can do it tomorrow morning

Poor little fishies! I'm so sorry Fran, I have no idea what could be killing them.

Fran hon, most fish like hotter water. putting ice in the tank isn't a good idea.
We have heaters in our tanks 24/7 365 days a year. They only go on if they need to. The average temp of a fish tank should be around 70 degrees, depending of the fish. If you are changing the water, it should be done in small increments, not half like you are talking about, that stresses the fish and makes them suseptable to disease. Do you "vacum" the bottom of the tank to get all the gunk out of it? What kind of fish are they and how many did you start with? Also how big is the tank? Some fish stress if they are in to small of a tank and have no room to grow. Fish are not easy to raise. Trust me. Hubby and I have lots of tanks. 5 as of today. Two are saltwater, the other three are fresh water.
We've gone through lots of heartaches with the bigger saltwater tanks we used to have. Infact we lost thousands of $$ in both fish and live rock when a filter stopped working and we didn't catch it in time. Needless to say, that tank is history. But the other tanks give us a run for our money too. We got what the store called a "true goramai" (I think that's spelled wrong) and my hubby said we need a BIG tanks for him, when I asked why ( he was an inch long) Brad told me that this fish gets to be 2 feet long. True to that, within a couple of months, he was huge! He is now in a 260 gln tank and is rapidly growing out of that.
I hope that your fish rearing days aren't over. Maybe you just need a different fish to start out with. Mollies are a colorful fish and they are fairly easy to raise. I used to breed them. But be careful with them too, they breed and have babies like rabbits! Good luck girl! Don't give up! We are all here for you if you need advice!

I have white cloud tetras?

i started out with 10 white cloud tetras last year
i switched tank when i moved back to my parents, but that was after christmas, so about 7 months.
In febuary when i went away for a few days, 3 of my fish died from the plastic trees i put in.
I'm not giving up!
Maybe i will get another tank! a brand new one atleast that wont give me as much complications because i dont know the history of this second hand tank! I am sad, because T&K love to watch the tank and chase the gold algae eater!
If they dont make it, then i will put off having more fish, because i dont know when i will be leaving germany and i dont want any more heartache as it is!!


By the time i put the ice cubes in 2 of the fish had died! The water was literally boiling!

Originally Posted by fwan

I have white cloud tetras?

i started out with 10 white cloud tetras last year
i switched tank when i moved back to my parents, but that was after christmas, so about 7 months.
In febuary when i went away for a few days, 3 of my fish died from the plastic trees i put in.
I'm not giving up!
Maybe i will get another tank! a brand new one atleast that wont give me as much complications because i dont know the history of this second hand tank! I am sad, because T&K love to watch the tank and chase the gold algae eater!
If they dont make it, then i will put off having more fish, because i dont know when i will be leaving germany and i dont want any more heartache as it is!!


By the time i put the ice cubes in 2 of the fish had died! The water was literally boiling!

Click to expand...

What size tank is it? White cloud tetras should be fine in a smaller tank.
When you get a new plant, you should rinse it off before you put it in your tank that way any yuckies won't be on it to hurt your fish.
Brad got a second hand tank once but he cleaned it out really well and let the water cycle in the tank for a week before putting any fish in it to make sure that the tank was ok to sustain them. Maybe if these all die, you should scrub the tank down ( no soap, just hot water ) and let it dry for a few days, then try again.
Do you have the tank in a hot place? It shouldn't be boiling like that. You could cook your fish, but severe drops in temp, could hurt them too. Just reduce the temp gradually.
I have a mantis shrimp I'd love to show you. She's called a thumb splitter, and is considered dangerous. I bought her from a Pet store that we frequent. I love dangerous animals. I had a dwarf lion fish but she jumped out of the tank and died. There was $50.00 well spent. I miss her. I also want a blue ringed octipus and an moray eel but honey won't let me have either. (especially since the octipus is highly toxic and there is no antivenom for it, and the moray eel is dangerous as well.) Someday maybe? Nah probably not. I have my limits and even though I'd love one of each, I doubt that I'd ever be crazy to actually own one.

Originally Posted by jugen

What size tank is it? White cloud tetras should be fine in a smaller tank.
When you get a new plant, you should rinse it off before you put it in your tank that way any yuckies won't be on it to hurt your fish.
Brad got a second hand tank once but he cleaned it out really well and let the water cycle in the tank for a week before putting any fish in it to make sure that the tank was ok to sustain them. Maybe if these all die, you should scrub the tank down ( no soap, just hot water ) and let it dry for a few days, then try again.
Do you have the tank in a hot place? It shouldn't be boiling like that. You could cook your fish, but severe drops in temp, could hurt them too. Just reduce the temp gradually.
I have a mantis shrimp I'd love to show you. She's called a thumb splitter, and is considered dangerous. I bought her from a Pet store that we frequent. I love dangerous animals. I had a dwarf lion fish but she jumped out of the tank and died. There was $50.00 well spent.

I miss her. I also want a blue ringed octipus and an moray eel but honey won't let me have either. (especially since the octipus is highly toxic and there is no antivenom for it, and the moray eel is dangerous as well.) Someday maybe? Nah probably not. I have my limits and even though I'd love one of each, I doubt that I'd ever be crazy to actually own one.

Click to expand...

haha! well my supposedly algae eater has grown alot so he is way to big for the old tank. Ive had him for about a year and a half now and the kitties love him the best! they pounce at the tank when ever he swims!

These are the ones i had/still have


and these are the ones i want


and this is my algae eater!


I want to get a snail! my friend has loads of them in her tank, she told me she will give me one or two

So you want to get neons? Those are pretty. I have three of them in a 20 gln tank. I like your algae eater too, he's pretty. Be careful with snails. They multiply fast and can choke off a tanks air supply. Your best bet if you want a snail is an apple snail. They don't usually reproduce in a tank and they grow pretty large. The only thing is, they need algae to sustain them. If not some sort of algae pellets. Apple snails (well the ones I've had) have a yellow shell, and they are really fun to be honest. I could take mine out and hand feed him as long as he wasn't out of the water long.
I'll have to upload some photos to photobucket so you can see the fish we have. But it might be later in the night.

Did the fish look sick or act differently before dying?

It's usually pretty hard to tell why fish are dying... there are so many things going on in a fish tank that can affect them.

Do you have a test kit?
If you don't, I would suggest getting tests for pH, Ammonia and Nitrites. Your pH should stay stable and there should be no ammonia or nitrites in the tank. Some fish store might actually be able to test the water for you.
Ammonia is the worst for the fish and if you have some, you can get water conditioners that will make it harmless (I think they work for nitrites too). If you have ammonia and/or nittrite, you should change the water more frequently for a while (until it all goes back down to 0) and vacuum the gravel. But DON'T clean the filter. That's where the bacterias are that will eat the ammonia and nitrites.

If you're thinking of setting up a new tank, do you know how to cycle it before introducing the fish?

By the way, neons are really pretty. Especially if you have quite a few of them.

Yes, i know how to cycle it when i buy a new one, i even cycled this second hand tank when i got it for about 3 weeks long

I think that your Chinese algae eater may be your culprit in this case.
They are a little too aggressive to be kept with fish that small.

Get an Octocinclus instead, you should also have bottom cleaning fish, like Kuli loach or Corydoras catfish to help clean up the waste in the gravel.

STAY AWAY from snails!
Snails are true hermaphrodites and do not need a partner in order to breed, and you'll end up having so many snails, your fish will be deprived of oxygen.
I only keep snails with goldfish, because goldfish are expert at finding egg masses and devouring them.