Fish Died, Possible Illness, How To Prepare For A New One?

[Zirallan]

My betta fish died today. I've had him roughly 6 months. He started out in a 10 gallon and was downgraded to a 5 gallon (used media from the other tank to cycle) a couple weeks ago. From start to finish, whatever killed him took 12 hours. He was literally acting perfectly normal at 9.30am when I got up, listless and acting weird at 11.30 when I went to feed him. He didn't eat (I fished the food back out somewhere in the afternoon). He spent most of the day either laying at the bottom of the tank (sometimes on his side, sometimes not) or pointed straight up at the surface of the water. At 1, I had to turn the filter off because even a very gentle current was whipping him around the tank. Every now and then he'd have these little convulsions.. It looked remarkably similar to my cat having a seizure. Then he'd zoom around the tank and resume either his head straight up position at the water line or laying on the bottom of the tank. I added some salt and turned up the heat hoping it would help cause I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Obviously, it didn't. He DID come in contact with some other fish just before he moved to his new 5 gallon tank but they all seem fine. I'm watching them like a hawk now..

When a fish dies from weird causes and is the sole occupant of a tank, what should I do to prepare the tank for a new occupant? Tear it down, clean it, and re-cycle? What should I do with the plants? No matter what I do with the tank, it's going to be a couple weeks to a month before I can even think of getting a new betta to put in there. I'd like my plants to survive but I don't want to just stick them in my other tank in case whatever killed him was infectious.. Can I just keep the tank running and feed it fish food to keep it cycled? Would that be enough to keep the plants healthy? It's fairly sparsely planted at the moment. And if I can do that, how much is the cycle going to be harmed by being off for several hours? I can take media out of my other filter but I'm not sure there's a point if there's no fish in the tank...

I'm at a loss here.. And the only thing the person who normaly helps me with my fish can think of is that he caught something from one of the other fish.. But if that were the case, wouldn't they be sick too? The water paramaters have always been good. No ammonia or nitrites and always low nitrates on both tanks. Partial water changes and a good gravel vac every week, sometimes twice a week, how much I change varies depending on when I last did it and how well I'm feeling (I have chronic health issues) but never less than 10%. The last one was Sunday and then I did about a gallon this afternoon in hopes that I just wasn't seeing something and it might help. I'm frustrated. I was really attached to that fish.

 

[HayzH]

My betta fish died today. I've had him roughly 6 months. He started out in a 10 gallon and was downgraded to a 5 gallon (used media from the other tank to cycle) a couple weeks ago. From start to finish, whatever killed him took 12 hours. He was literally acting perfectly normal at 9.30am when I got up, listless and acting weird at 11.30 when I went to feed him. He didn't eat (I fished the food back out somewhere in the afternoon). He spent most of the day either laying at the bottom of the tank (sometimes on his side, sometimes not) or pointed straight up at the surface of the water. At 1, I had to turn the filter off because even a very gentle current was whipping him around the tank. Every now and then he'd have these little convulsions.. It looked remarkably similar to my cat having a seizure. Then he'd zoom around the tank and resume either his head straight up position at the water line or laying on the bottom of the tank. I added some salt and turned up the heat hoping it would help cause I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Obviously, it didn't. He DID come in contact with some other fish just before he moved to his new 5 gallon tank but they all seem fine. I'm watching them like a hawk now..

When a fish dies from weird causes and is the sole occupant of a tank, what should I do to prepare the tank for a new occupant? Tear it down, clean it, and re-cycle? What should I do with the plants? No matter what I do with the tank, it's going to be a couple weeks to a month before I can even think of getting a new betta to put in there. I'd like my plants to survive but I don't want to just stick them in my other tank in case whatever killed him was infectious.. Can I just keep the tank running and feed it fish food to keep it cycled? Would that be enough to keep the plants healthy? It's fairly sparsely planted at the moment. And if I can do that, how much is the cycle going to be harmed by being off for several hours? I can take media out of my other filter but I'm not sure there's a point if there's no fish in the tank...

I'm at a loss here.. And the only thing the person who normaly helps me with my fish can think of is that he caught something from one of the other fish.. But if that were the case, wouldn't they be sick too? The water paramaters have always been good. No ammonia or nitrites and always low nitrates on both tanks. Partial water changes and a good gravel vac every week, sometimes twice a week, how much I change varies depending on when I last did it and how well I'm feeling (I have chronic health issues) but never less than 10%. The last one was Sunday and then I did about a gallon this afternoon in hopes that I just wasn't seeing something and it might help. I'm frustrated. I was really attached to that fish.

oh RIP betta xx poor fishie x

 

[LilyRose Tank]

hi, you may want to ask this question in the emergency section
I personally would let the tank continue to run for 6 weeks....put ammonia in the tank, dose it once a day, with a 4ppm dose, to keep the bacteria happy....turn the temp up to 29 degrees to get rid of anyu contaminents..and airate it with a pump/ bubble stone if you havnt already got one in it, as bacs need oxygen more at high temps.... take out all decor from tank, including gravel, and replace with new, at the end of the 6 weeks...this way any illness that spreads via decor in its life cycle...eg Ich (white spot) and velvet is irradicated from the tank...they cant survive without a host fish, so will die off within the 6 weeks...sooner usually, but 6 weeks for safe side

A 5 gallon tank wont be to expensive to replace plants etc, and bleach all other decor, with 100's of rinses

if i am wrong here, I am sure someone else will jump in and say so...would be interested to find out if my methods are right though

 

[micko]

You'd be best asking this question in the "emergencies" area, to find the cause of death. I cannot help you on this.
If I were you I'd strip the tank and give everything a very hot salt bath, maybe a few times, and rinse well before adding any other fish. Whether you run that filter again without cycling is another one for someone else.

 

[Miles_hot]

Was there a pH difference between the tanks? How did you transfer the fish?

 

[Zirallan]

Was there a pH difference between the tanks? How did you transfer the fish?

No PH difference. No temp difference. No differences at all between the two tanks that I'm aware of. I moved him by bagging him, floating him, and gradually introducing new water to his bag over the period of about an hour before releasing him into the new tank. He was stressed by being bagged, but calmed down once the bag was floating in the new tank. Everything in the new tank came from the old one.. Plants, gravel, decor, filter media..

I'll repost in the emergencies section.

 

[Miles_hot]

sounds like you did it all right - maybe he was just old and it was all a coincidence...??

 

[Caprichoso]

Fish can merely die from stress. Maybe going into a smaller tank wasn't ideal either but there's no way to prove that. There could have been something wrong with him already and the stress moving him to the new tank killed him off. It's very probable actually. Sorry about your loss