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

[mylittlemuffy]

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

I loved the guide in how to clean the gravel filter. I did take the box off once and clean out inside the box when I was cleaning my gravel, but I don't know about the rest of it. Definitely won't buy any new fish though! I did buy a new filter though and it's working pretty good, it's clearing out all the medications I had in there, maybe I was putting in too much. I did as per the label but perhaps the fish were already stressed and didn't take to it well? I only have a gold gourami left who is still eating, quite a pig actually, but he likes to hover down near the bottom of the tank, sometimes resting on it. He'll do a dash to the top and grab some air and then go back down. Otherwise he is at the top and swimming around. Another few gourami's that I had always swam up the top too. He/she looks ok, not any thinner. He does look dead when I see him laying near the bottom or sleeping but once I come near he's full of life. And I have a cory which sometimes does and doesn't move around much but is always eating!