death tank

[BeannytheRipper]

when i first set up my fish tank, it went through it's normal cycling, and i had fish pretty much on and off, not too much wrong or anything, for about 2 years. Recently about 4/5 months ago i had a "Death Tank", all my fish died in a little under a week. Now i can't seem to keep any fish for more than a few days. My latest really small batch died in a record 2 days. The fish i had that started the original deaths were all over 6 mo. The tank has been cycled, cleaned, more bacteria put in it, everything you're supposed to do. I cleaned it completely, boiled everything. I let the tank do a fishless cycle, which worked wonderfully for the bacteria and such, but all my fish still just don't last. I have no clue what's wrong. I've been thinking it might actually be strange chemicals in the water since i live here but im not sure if it could also be something else. if anybody has any ideas i would appreciate them! thanx!

 

[BeannytheRipper]

oh yes, i forgot to add that it's a 10g. tank, and i cycle it w/ every test showing normal for the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate before i put the new "Victims" as my family calls them, in. The only thing that i've noticed is that my pH is really high, like not on the charts, i'd say like 8, and it doesn't go down, but everyone in the area has pH that high.
Hope some of this info helps. Thanx again!

 

[kgrehm]

Hmm, I am pretty sure that you are right about your water. If everything is ok, and the fish store that you are getting from are healthy, I would have to say the water.

What fish are you trying to keep?

Whats water temp?

If i were you try to do water changes or a med to get ph down(anything but ph down).

 

[nirvanarama]

most fishes prefered ph is 6.8-7.5 so you need to get your ph down. but like the above said, DONT use any specialsed ph adjusting products.

 

[LIVEBait]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

wow...it Could be anything...

Hmmm....fish dying from PH shock? possibly.

Is your PH that high coming off the tap, or does the tank water have high PH?
Some rock such as Texas holey, or Lace rock, and coral substrates can cause an increase in PH.

Most fish can adapt to a higher PH, When I buy new fish, I usually test the PH of the water from the bag, and compare it to my tank water. It sort of gives me a picture of how long I should take to acclimate my fish.

I wouldnt mess too much with chemicals to lower your PH, I would rather do it the natural way by adding driftwood, or peat in your filter media.

Some types of silicone glue can be dangerous to fish, espically if the sealant contains mildew inhibitors...was there any repair made to the tank?

One occasion, I noticed my water temperature kept fluctuating. Then one day, temp. shot up to 90F before I even noticed my fish had passed on. Could be a bad heater.


Also, what type of fish are you trying to keep?

 

[BeannytheRipper]

i haven't really tried to make the pH go down at all besides doing water changes, i've also used water my father brought home from the office, which has a low pH coming out of the tap. The fish store pH, my fiancee's pH, and his mother's pH all register the same as mine, at least the same dark blue color. I've tried to keep just about everything except for groupers b/c my tank is too small and my fiancee already has those, and gold fish, i hate those things. I always make sure the temp. stays steady and try to keep it in the green area on the thermometer. I just think it might be the fact that the chemical spill is confirmed one street over from us, but everybody else i know lives higher up in the hills. I'm thinking that might be the main prob.
Right now, i had ghost shrimp that survived the death tank, but we moved them to my fiancee's smaller tank that he usually keeps his feeders in, while i try to figure out what's wrong w/ my tank.
Thanx for the info and advice!

 

[BeannytheRipper]

this must be a really lame question cuz nobody has ne thing to say, i think i might just give up for now, wait to do my tank when we move
thanx everybody for ur suggestions.

 

[thellama]

why dont use ph down? ive used it without problems

 

[Phantom Thief]

Well, if you say the lfs pH is the same, then it must be something to do with your tank. Do you put any chemicals in? Do you float the bag of fish in the tank before letting them in? Do you use dechlorinator?

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

P.T.

 

[tstenback]

Please give the readings for all your water parameters. Also do the same for your tap water and post them for us. Also what are you using chemical wise in the water? What is the temp? What is your routine for adding fish to your tank? What are the symptoms of the fish before they die? THe answers will allow us try to help you solve this very difficult problem. Keep us posted

P.S. Definitely NOT a lame question.

 

[Angel Lady]

why dont you try to keep cichlids they like the high ph see if you can keep them...But where the tank is only ten gallon you can only keep a few and I have learned from keeping them the more that you keep it sorta keeps the fighting down....The rule of theumb is a inch of fish per gallon of water....

 

[BeannytheRipper]

Let’s see, um I tested the water, pH was extremely high, off the chart so im not quite sure what it’s at, ammonia, and nitrite were both at zero, my dad tested nitrate it’s about 5ppm. For some reason they were the same coming out of the tap except the nitrates were at 10ppm. Temp I try to keep at like 70-75 F. I usually float my fish for a while and slowly add them to the tank.
Symptoms for fish before they die: NONE! I have no clue what happens, I go out about 3:30 pm most days and they will look great, but when I come home they’ll be dead. Usually it’s only one at a time, but last time it was 4 at once. I can never tell they are going to die. I usually don’t have time to even think about ne thing before they go.
When I do water changes I add tap water conditioner, but I make sure that it doesn’t remove the ammonia, just the chlorine and chloramines. There is no ammonia in the tap water ne ways so that doesn’t really matter. I didn’t want to use pH down at all until I knew more b/c the other times we have used it in different tanks it never did ne thing. The fish didn’t die or anything but the pH didn’t go down either.
HTH. Thanx!

 

[BeannytheRipper]

ok, i don't know if im gonna check this that often ne more, cuz im REALLY discouraged, and i don't have anything in the tank ne more, i might just take it all apart and put it away, cuz when we move it's a possibility of being like 5,000 miles away.
Thanx for ur answers anyway, they could help in the long run.

 

[Sasha]

I know exactly how you feel. That's what happened to me in February! All of a sudden the fish in my 29 gallon were dying with no symptoms. The water was perfectly normal too. Over a two week period, I lost more than half of my fish which was about 15 fish. My tank looked so empty afterwards, but I never discovered the cause of the problem. My dad often called my tank the "Death Tank." When I started losing fish in March again, I was not going to go through another tank crisis! I moved the remaining fish into my 46 gallon and took everything out of the 29 gallon tank. I cycled it again and now I haven't lost any fish for an uncertain reason. Good luck with the tank and fish!

 

[BeannytheRipper]

Thanx Sasha, it makes me feel like there's a little bit of hope. We're actually thinking it might be our chemically contaminated water, so im not sure what we should do about it, i'm running out of money to buy fish.

Fish keeper, what type of cichlids would u suggest i keep. i've only ever really had experience w/ small community fish, and my baby, Jack, who lives at my fiancee's.

oh yeah and i have taken all the shrimp out, so it's an empty tank so if one of the moderators felt like moving this, since it's not an emergency, that wouldn't be a prob. lol.

ok thanx