Help fish deaths?

[sharky&george]

I completley changed my tank water today, as I was putting in new gravel, the gravel was white and I washed it over and over it was slightly cloudy in the water but not too bad. Obviously the tank has now had a complete water change. I already had a fish which wasnt too well before which is now swimming with its head pointing up, and a guppy lost all balance and died upside down. This happened within 4 hours of putting them back into the water. I am not too good with all the ph things my tank has been fine for the past three years. Any one help me with this one, I am keeping a close eye on the rest, they we're in a bucket whilst this tank change took place could the moving of them have stressed it out? Or maybe the cloudy water from the gravel(which was brought from a pet store) Thanks for any advice

 

[BettaMomma]

Do you know about tank cycling?
Unfortunately with having done a complete water change and washing your gravel over and over, all the good bacteria were destroyed.

Did you dechlorinate before putting the fish in?

Someone more knowledgable about tank cycling will be along to give you advice on how to proceed, but my guess is that the fish are in bad shape because of the shock of the new water.

 

[sharky&george]

I had to wash the gravel over and over as it was new and very cloudy, also i added dechlorinator to the water before it entered the tank. No more fish look unwell very worried though thanks for your advice

 

[BettaMomma]

Oh - okay, I missed the "new" up above, sorry

How long had your tank been set up prior to the new gravel?
Was the new gravel in addition to existing, or just brand new all around?

 

[sharky&george]

I had the tank set up 3 years the last gravel change was about a year ago, I used all new gravel this time!

 

[BettaMomma]

Aha.
You lost all your good bacteria then.
You will need to go through a tank cycle then.
There is a pinned post about cycling.
And, as I said before - someone else will probably come along and give you some advice on how to go about it.

Good luck...

 

[sharky&george]

Thank you for the help, felt i was going mad my partner thinks im mad getting upset about it, but we do get quite attached to our fish dont we (or do i speak for myself ) I will have a look at the cycle thing cheers

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, everyone in my family and my coworkers think I'm comletely crazy.

Best of luck with your fish - make sure you look at the topic on cycling with fish.
And be prepared for hard times for your fish for a bit - it'll be kind of hard on them. you might even consider seeing if you can get a scoop of gravel from someone to seed your tank with to help things along...

Just read the topic and come on back for help if you need it.

Most of us are ALWAYS here

 

[sharky&george]

Sorry where is this pinned post about cycling??

 

[BigFishSmallPond]

In the beginner q's section =]
here ya go:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

 

[sharky&george]

Thanks, today they seem ok but I will test the water nosigns of anything wrong with the other fish. Fingers crossed.