Mums Tank On Death Row

[soph_betta]

Right before i went away for the weekend my mums tank was crystal clear and everything was normal and now ive come home and its gone very mirky and all the fish (goldfish + black widow tetra + small tetras) have got red on the abdomens and seem to be staying up the top of the tank tho nothing in routine has changed in nearing two years!! only thing added in last month has been a plant!!
We have swaped out half the water and i added a few drops of metafix to hopefully help
the fish seem to be dropping by the hour so help asap!!!

 

[bae1994]

well for one gold fish are cold water and the tetras are tropical water so theres one also what size tank they in and how many of each

 

[soph_betta]

I have no idea of the size of the tank (its fairly large) and i know they are mixed but we have no heater in the tank but in our kitchen we have an aga so its fairly warm and the goldfish were given to us when they were bout an inch big and now are quite large and there was 5 black widows now 3 left and was 4 orange tetras now 2
Never had a problem with it ever !!

 

[WILDER]

Need to measure tank with a measuring tape.


How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
How often do you preform a gravel vac and water change.
You need a heater for tropical fish.
Goldfish are coldwater fish and massive waste producers.

 

[Curiosity101]

If absolutely nothing has changed in the routine, and no one has been around the tank with any chemicals.

Then my guess would be that your tap water has changed.
I know someone in my area who breeds various catfish. To get them to spawn they drop the water level really low and then refill the tank really quickly with cold tap water (run through a de-chlorinator).
Well one day they did this and lost £1000's worth of stock due to a phosphate spike in our tap water!

It's certainly worth a phone call to the water board if you have the time.

 

[indigoj]

Has there been a power cut at all? Is the filter working?

 

[WILDER]

If the red on the abdomen is beneath the skin it sounds like septicemia.

 

[dani*starfish]

it sounds like when you have been away one or two of you fish have popped off.. have you counted them are there any missing? if there are then they will have died for some reason and polluted the tank and the other fish will have picked at them.

If the other fish have red underskin/scale or streaks of red on fins then they have septicemia and it is only a matter of time for them. You can get medication for that (anti internal bacteria) but that is just a last ditch attempt at saving them,,if they survive then it is unlikley they will last long after that or if anything goes wrong with their water again they will prob be the first to pop off.

Check water levels of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph and do a 50% water change while hoovering the floor to try and remove any left over carcas debris. monitor levels daily and carry out frequent 20-25% changes until things have settled down...this is all you can do im afraid.

hope this helps you!