All My Fish Are Dead And I Don't Know What From!

[WILDER]

Yours tanks severely overstocked and that's why the fish are dying of bad water quality and desease.

The lumps on the fins do they look like a cluster of berries or a cauliflower. Or soft like fillled with puss. Any redness to the lumps.
Sticking out scales is dropsy.
Dried skin is parasites, bad water quality, columnairs.
Red patches bad water quality, septicemia.
Excess slime bad water quality, parasites, bacterial.
Darting toxins, bad water qaulity, parasites.

I doubt water quality is good with all those fish in the tank.

 

[Amunet]

Seems like another case of bad LFS advice.
If you come to these forums, expect to get answers and advice that you may not want to hear. I know it's hard to hear that you did something wrong, but take it and learn from the mistakes you made.
We're all here b/c we enjoy the fish hobby, SOME LFS employees are the same, but they are a rare bunch to come upon.
Don't get upset at us when we tell you that you've stocked fish unsuitable for your tank... get mad at the LFS for selling you unsuitable SICK fish and for giving you the wrong information.

You can't rely on the LFS employees to give you good advice, you need to do your own research or come to forums such as these and ask if you aren't sure about something.

Anyways... def sounds like the fish you added were sick and quickly got all of the others sick as well. They were probably all stressed due to cramped conditions & bad water quality so something like this occuring was inevitable.

 

[Melman]

Agree with everyone else, all your fish died cos you didnt do any research and got it completly wrong. Only start again if your going to do it the right way

 

[mylittlemuffy]

Well ph is 7, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all at 0, I tested them myself and had it tested at 2 fish shops! the hardness was perfect I was told.. as I don't have a test for that myself. I don't think it's over stocking though because I have since added in 4 new fish and one of them is now floating upside down and all the water parameters are still the same! I even added in more oxygen!

 

[Amunet]

What fish do you currently have in the tank?
I would STOP buying new fish until you are certain that whatever killed the other ones isn't going to kill anything else.
Also, a 0 nitrate reading is rare in a cycled tank, so something is not right with your water readings. What kind of tests are you using? Dip stick or liquid?
Dip stick tests are no good. Liquid tests are much better and highly recommended.
How often do you do water changes?
Do you use dechlorinator?
Do you replace your filter media? Or do you just clean it out? In tank water or tap?
When you add new fish, how long are you acclimating them? How do you acclimate them?

I'm sure there are some other questions I'm missing, but any and all info you can give will allow everyone to try to help you as best as possible. Just please listen to the advice given. These people know what they're talking about.

 

[mylittlemuffy]

What fish do you currently have in the tank?
I would STOP buying new fish until you are certain that whatever killed the other ones isn't going to kill anything else.
Also, a 0 nitrate reading is rare in a cycled tank, so something is not right with your water readings. What kind of tests are you using? Dip stick or liquid?
Dip stick tests are no good. Liquid tests are much better and highly recommended.
How often do you do water changes?
Do you use dechlorinator?
Do you replace your filter media? Or do you just clean it out? In tank water or tap?
When you add new fish, how long are you acclimating them? How do you acclimate them?

I'm sure there are some other questions I'm missing, but any and all info you can give will allow everyone to try to help you as best as possible. Just please listen to the advice given. These people know what they're talking about.

Well I've been using a liquid test for ph, ammonia, and nitrite. I got the nitrate reading from my 2 LFS and they said it was just slightly above 0, so they said it was very good. I've been doing water changes every few days, I did a 50% today because I usually only do 25%-30%. I used stress coat and bio booster which both de-chlorinate the water. Um what else? I acclimate them by putting the bag in the water for about 10 minutes, then adding a bit of my tank water into the bag and close it off and leave it there for another 10 minutes, then I repeat this again, sometimes a third time before adding the new fish, always using my net, I never add any of the water to my tank! I know not too! I haven't replaced my media filter though, no one told me too! And I only just realised today that I needed too. Bad on the place that sold it to me! I have an under gravel filter and a mini internal filter, which was fine for the past year, but I'm thinking now it's just not enough so I'm going to upgrade from the Aqua one to a fluval. I didn't clean it much either as it wasn't very dirty, I think this could be one of the things done wrong? Although why has it taken a whole year to take effect?

 

[lily-rae]

WOW!!! what a heated conversation it seems as tho we need a ring and some hefty gloves. i know its frustrating when some one messes up big time i mean i truely know as a friend of ours keeps complaining that all her fish keep dying and she even had the gaul to take the dead ones in the shop and demand an explination LOL but we told her its not the shop its you..she dose a 75% or full water change every two or three days and then says WOW!! look how clear my water is but my fish are still dying and she is very contradictive in that she says WELL IV ALWAYS WASHED MY FILTER MEDIA UNDER THE TAP AND MY WATERS FINE...flameing nora your killing your own fish. but she has asked me to look after them while she is on holiday and im going to make sure that not one dies. see we all make mistakes and some people dont learn by them and some just have selective hearing and refuse to take the right advice..its good that mylittlemuffy is asking for help. and its crazy whats happened in her aquarium fingers crossed some of the advice given is followed and helps.....kind regards..lily-rae

 

[Richard22b]

I've got a Blue whale, Great white shark and a apple snale in my 20ltr tank. Are my stocking levels ok

No seriously I stick to the 1 inch rule per littre. Works every time. Well thats what I tell the mrs

 

[pippoodle]

take a water test NOW and post the results as they are right now
is the tank heavilly planted ?

 

[lily-rae]

I've got a Blue whale, Great white shark and a apple snale in my 20ltr tank. Are my stocking levels ok

No seriously I stick to the 1 inch rule per littre. Works every time. Well thats what I tell the mrs

so just how big is your house coz im gettin the same from the local fish shop

 

[K-Holed]

Hello and welcome to the TTF

I don't think I've seen such heated debate in a long time. I'll just put forward my advice and questions (as if there weren't enough of those flying around already!). When it comes to fish keeping there are no rights and wrongs, merely opinions. However, you will often find that many people have opinions that are the same and these are then backed up by a certian amount of scientific logic. Noone can profess to know everything there is to know about keeping fish. Much of what people know is made up of their own experience (and largely from mistakes they have made!). The people that end up knowing most are often those who get it wrong.

When you go to your LFS you get an opinion, nothing more. If you're lucky, that opinion will be one that they genuinly believe and comes from their own experience. If you're unlucky, you get an opinion based on how they think they can get the most money out of you. You might be smart and think "Okay, that's one opinion I'll try another LFS and see what they say" ... which you did do (several in fact). So now you have three or four opinions all tell you that this or that is correct. At this stage the chances are that a)They genuinely hold the same opinion based on their individual experience or b) They're all trying to get as much money out of you as possible.

Now lets look at a forum such as the TFF. Someone answers your post and gives advice. Now, they have just given you their opinion. That opinion is likely to be one that they beleive to be true (unless they're deliberately posting false information). Now it's quite possible that that person is misinformed ... then another person posts backing up the first post ... ok ... so two people could be wrong ... then a third person posts backing up the previous two posts ... could three people be wrong? Possibly. You then look over similar posts in the boards history and find hundreds of posts by different people all backing up the initail response to your post. Now ... it's possible that the whole thing is a conspiracy and everyone is giving misinformation on purpose or that everyone is wrong (they're certainly not giving the advice for financial gain) but maybe, just maybe they're on to something.

Everything on a forum is automatically peer reviewed (just like in any reputable scientific journals). Okaym so it might not be being done by nobel prize winning scientists but I think it's safe to say that if any member was to give advice that was totally out of order then someone would say something and then they would be backed up by many other people. So on a forum like this, you're even safeguarded from people giving bad information.

Okay, lastly ...

How long have fish been dying?
What substrate do you have?
Do you vaccum your substrate when you do a water change? (there's a slim chance that some unwanted gasses have formed in your UGF.

Kind regards and all the best

Jimi

 

[Rediahs]

I haven't replaced my media filter though, no one told me too! And I only just realised today that I needed too. Bad on the place that sold it to me! I have an under gravel filter and a mini internal filter, which was fine for the past year, but I'm thinking now it's just not enough so I'm going to upgrade from the Aqua one to a fluval. I didn't clean it much either as it wasn't very dirty, I think this could be one of the things done wrong? Although why has it taken a whole year to take effect?

Don't clean your filter media (except briefly in aquarium water to remove the debris). Don't buy new filter media. Just use the one you already have. Do you know about the nitrogen cycle that happens in a fish tank and is necessary for the health of the fish? There is a lot of information about "fishless cycling" on these forums, in the stickys, check out the "New to the hobby" section and find the info on "fishless cycling". If you learn the nitrogen cycle and do fishless cycling on your tank (I assume you don't have fish in there anymore since they died? If you've still got fish you'll have to do fish-in cycling, or take them back to the shop) and this will, more than anything, ensure healthy water for your fish, more than your test can tell you at any one point in time.

It's not that tests are useless, it's just that testing your water at any moment means practically nothing, you need to see the trend.

 

[saz326]

Well I've been using a liquid test for ph, ammonia, and nitrite. I got the nitrate reading from my 2 LFS and they said it was just slightly above 0, so they said it was very good. I've been doing water changes every few days, I did a 50% today because I usually only do 25%-30%. I used stress coat and bio booster which both de-chlorinate the water. Um what else? I acclimate them by putting the bag in the water for about 10 minutes, then adding a bit of my tank water into the bag and close it off and leave it there for another 10 minutes, then I repeat this again, sometimes a third time before adding the new fish, always using my net, I never add any of the water to my tank! I know not too! I haven't replaced my media filter though, no one told me too! And I only just realised today that I needed too. Bad on the place that sold it to me! I have an under gravel filter and a mini internal filter, which was fine for the past year, but I'm thinking now it's just not enough so I'm going to upgrade from the Aqua one to a fluval. I didn't clean it much either as it wasn't very dirty, I think this could be one of the things done wrong? Although why has it taken a whole year to take effect?

Good news that you're using the liquid test as those strips really aren't worth a penny. You've done well there

Nitrate is the one chemical that you should expect to see. All the nasties in the aquarium get converted into nitrAte by the bacteria in the filter - which is why the filter needs to stay in top notch condition.

Undergravel filters are very good but do eventually build up a lot of fish waste that can suddenly get into the water and poison your fish - maybe this has been happening. Before you buy anything else like a different filter - it would be worth cleaning out your old one. I would be happy to make a step by step guide you can follow for the undergravel filter if you would like. Just ask and I will post it here.

Could you please tell us what fish are still in the tank at the moment and tell us if they look unwell or are happy swimmers. We can then try to help you save any fish you have left, and advise where to go from here.

But right now - dont buy anything. No medications, no new devices, and no more fish. You may have an empty looking tank for a while but it really is worth the wait to get it all set up and running without problems.

hope you're still smiling!!

saz

 

[mylittlemuffy]

I've got a Blue whale, Great white shark and a apple snale in my 20ltr tank. Are my stocking levels ok

No seriously I stick to the 1 inch rule per littre. Works every time. Well thats what I tell the mrs

I've been told it's one inch per the gallon and one centimeter per the liter.. so I can have up to 60cms worth of fish or so, that's adult size of course.

 

[mylittlemuffy]

I haven't replaced my media filter though, no one told me too! And I only just realised today that I needed too. Bad on the place that sold it to me! I have an under gravel filter and a mini internal filter, which was fine for the past year, but I'm thinking now it's just not enough so I'm going to upgrade from the Aqua one to a fluval. I didn't clean it much either as it wasn't very dirty, I think this could be one of the things done wrong? Although why has it taken a whole year to take effect?

Don't clean your filter media (except briefly in aquarium water to remove the debris). Don't buy new filter media. Just use the one you already have. Do you know about the nitrogen cycle that happens in a fish tank and is necessary for the health of the fish? There is a lot of information about "fishless cycling" on these forums, in the stickys, check out the "New to the hobby" section and find the info on "fishless cycling". If you learn the nitrogen cycle and do fishless cycling on your tank (I assume you don't have fish in there anymore since they died? If you've still got fish you'll have to do fish-in cycling, or take them back to the shop) and this will, more than anything, ensure healthy water for your fish, more than your test can tell you at any one point in time.

It's not that tests are useless, it's just that testing your water at any moment means practically nothing, you need to see the trend.

As already mentioned I know what cycling is! I've had the tank for a year now and it's already been cycled and all the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are excellent, as well as the ph and hardness! So it kind of leaves me dumbfounded. Well I've had to buy a new filter because the one I had was for a 10L tank and stupid me listened to a friend who is a fish keeper and they said it would be fine because I have a gravel filter. I just took their word for it. But yeah, my tank has already been cycled, I did it with fish a year ago and had no victims I've been doing my water tests daily and I just keep getting the same result that the water is fine!