# Help! Fish Deaths!



## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Hello all.
I've had endless problems with my aquarium. A few months ago I set it up and ran it for a few weeks before adding fish. Once I added fish they died within almost a week, one fish at a time. The symptoms being cotton wool like growths around the fish and eroded tails, so I added fin rot and fungus medicine but to no avail. The only survivor was a plec.

I had the water tested and the water was slightly alkali but fine in other areas.

I then replaced the water and it's been running for 6 weeks now, I added fish on tues and I've lost one guppy and some of my neon tetras tails have started eroding again. I've had the water tested today and again the water is slightly alkali (ph 7.5) so I've added a neutraliser block and some fin rot medicine. I've also upped the temperature from 26 to 28. 

Please can someone advise me on what else to do? If this keeps on I'm going to get a goldfish!


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## pingu1985 (Apr 14, 2010)

I know this sounds like a silly question but you did add water conditioner into the water before putting it in the tank didnt you?


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

hmmm, that sounds like poor water, but you say it's fine...

Where did you get the water tested? what were the other results? did you do a proper fish-less cycle with ammonia added to feed the bacteria?

If the answer to the rest of them is that the water is fine and you properly cycled then I would suggest going down the route of adding aquarium salt to try and kill whatever it is that's infecting your fish. In the unfortunant event that they all pass, strip the tank and wash everything down with hot bleach solution, the tank, lid, nets, filters.. everything!

Where are the fish from as well, just to check that it isnt an attrocious shop?


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Nickg91 said:


> Hello all.
> I've had endless problems with my aquarium. A few months ago I set it up and ran it for a few weeks before adding fish. Once I added fish they died within almost a week, one fish at a time. The symptoms being cotton wool like growths around the fish and eroded tails, so I added fin rot and fungus medicine but to no avail. The only survivor was a plec.
> 
> I had the water tested and the water was slightly alkali but fine in other areas.
> ...


 
replace the bulb in your ultraviolet sterilizer...


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

No I didn't, I thought you only needed water conditioner if you weren't running the tank before adding fish? I'm so confused!


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## Doodle (Aug 7, 2008)

Nickg91 said:


> No I didn't, I thought you only needed water conditioner if you weren't running the tank before adding fish? I'm so confused!


You need to dechlorinate the water, so make sure decholorinater is being used. 'Easy start' conditioning stuff with bacterial colonies in them are a lil bit gimmicky, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Personally, i feel that is too much of a risk when the fish are added.

What filtration do you have?

Ideally you would post you're exact tank specs with how many of which fish, and water params. This will make any advice much better


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

HABU said:


> replace the bulb in your ultraviolet sterilizer...


Er....assuming he even has one, why?


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Ultraviolet steriliser?! I don't have one of those. The fish are from Swan Street Pets, they tested the water and said everything was fine apart from pH. The water was in the tank for a long time at the correct temperature, with the filter running to aerate the water. after the first lot of deaths I washed out the tank and started anew, the only difference second time around being that the pleco was in there from the first stock as I had nowhere else to keep him.

The tank is 3 ft x 1 x 1.5, holding around 120 litres, I have live plants in there and a normal sponge type filter, along with a big heater. 

I currently have 2 guppies, 8 tetras, 2 gourami and a plec...


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Edit ^


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Is it too late to add a water conditioner? Will adding it now harm the fish?


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## gexy2611 (Oct 30, 2010)

honestly ive never used any chemical solutions in any of my cichlid aquariums ive left it for a week for the chlorine to evaporate add a hardy fish or two so the friendly bacteria in your tank starts to introduce itself add as much tonic salts as needed to help prevent disease and then built up from there ive never had a problem with doing it like that and i only have only had one disease go through one of my tanks but neon tetras are a pain in the backside like that lol


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Well thats what I thought, if I left it long enough the chlorine would dissipate, and my plec would help With the friendly bacteria, but it would appear not!


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Morgan Freeman said:


> Er....assuming he even has one, why?


haha!!

see?... threads like this concerning fish that have no description of the setup... "i have an aquarium and the fish are sick"....

he probably doesn't have a uv sterilizer... so the bulb can't be old... he may not have a filter either for all i know...


"...Hello all.
I've had endless problems with my aquarium. A few months ago I set it up and ran it for a few weeks before adding fish. Once I added fish they died within almost a week, one fish at a time. The symptoms being cotton wool like growths around the fish and eroded tails, so I added fin rot and fungus medicine but to no avail. The only survivor was a plec.

I had the water tested and the water was slightly alkali but fine in other areas.

I then replaced the water and it's been running for 6 weeks now, I added fish on tues and I've lost one guppy and some of my neon tetras tails have started eroding again. I've had the water tested today and again the water is slightly alkali (ph 7.5) so I've added a neutraliser block and some fin rot medicine. I've also upped the temperature from 26 to 28. 

Please can someone advise me on what else to do? If this keeps on I'm going to get a goldfish!..."

how big is the tank?... what fish are in it?... what kind of filtration are you running?... what are the water parameters?... do you have a heater?... do you do regular water changes?... how much and how often?... on and on...


people should always describe in as much detail as they can what their aquarium situation is... 


it's not 20 questions...


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

The details are in the thread.


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## gexy2611 (Oct 30, 2010)

Nickg91 said:


> Well thats what I thought, if I left it long enough the chlorine would dissipate, and my plec would help With the friendly bacteria, but it would appear not!


sometimes it just happens matey it might be worth going to your local pet store and asking for some tonic salts/aquarium tonic ive always used this and it works a treat against infections and diseases heres some information on it but for further research on it google it


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

good filtration... good water volume per fish... regular water changes... proper feeding... proper temperature... proper water/Ph/hardness...

Freshwater-Aquarium-Fish.com - Aquarium Water Chemistry


it's all about water chemistry...


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## gexy2611 (Oct 30, 2010)

HABU said:


> good filtration... good water volume per fish... regular water changes... proper feeding... proper temperature... proper water/Ph/hardness...
> 
> Freshwater-Aquarium-Fish.com - Aquarium Water Chemistry
> 
> ...


i completely agree


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## colinbradbury (Nov 16, 2008)

chlorine evaperates out of water in 24hours so that is not an issue here. and even then is extreamly unlikley to cause fungus.

there are a couple of things i would suggest. firstly if your keeping things that prefer a neutral or less ph then add some bog wood to your aquarium , it will help keep the ph stable and lower.

when doing a water change ,which with a sponge filter ( to be honest i would advise this for any filter except in the cases of some specalised fish or setups) leave a max of one week between water changes of at least 25% and if poss use water that has been taken from the tap the previous day and allowed to stand inside so the temp is not a massive diferance to your tank water (it doesnt need to match it) 


feed only very small amounts a few times a day , any uneaten food and waste will quickly accumalate in a smallish tank with a sponge filter.

buy your fish from somewhere else if poss next time so that you can be sure that the problem is not being transmitted to your tank from the shops tank, and never put any shop tank water into your tank.

for now until the problem has gone i would take the temp up slighly more to 29-30 and add a small amount of aquarium salt , this should sort out your fungus problem. when its sorted reduce your temp back to where you have it now. i would also consider popping a bag of carbon in the tank in an area with the highest flow (probably above the sponge filter.

also consider the type of fish you are buying. where most shops will point you in the genral direction of guppys and neons as a good starter comunity fish , these fish are no longer considered easy to keep as they are of mass production and are mainly of very poor quality in a shop. guppies more so than most at the moment. if possable have a look on here or aquarist classified for local breeder of the fish your interested in . 9/10 they will be a lot cheaper and a hell of a lot hardier fish than the ones from the lfs on your common fish.


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Thank you very much, that's very helpful


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

It wasnt necessrily the best advise, you certainly dont want to run the tank at 29-30 degrees, the fish you are keeping will be much happier at 26.

People saying chlorine evapourates so that water doesnt need treating... *bashes head on a brick wall* yes...years ago when it was only chlorine in the water that might have been ok. Chlorine will evapourate.... but Chloramine doesnt...

Tap water is really harsh, there are trace metals that he fish wont like, the values will be different to yur tank water and add in the chloramine, the dechlorinators you buy also remove chloramine and heavy metals from the tap water too. And because water changes also effect the fish and cause stress, the dechlorinators for the most part have stuff like aloe vera in them too to minimise stress and damage.

Because you never cycled your tank, i would assume its a water quality problem, it might not have been too bad, but bad enough to effect the immune system of your fish which left them open to fungal and bacterial infections.

I would buy a bottle of dechlorinator and a bottle of bacteria (cycle, stress zyme, filter start etc) as you cant very well use ammonia now without killing your fish.

I would also get your water retested and get them to write down the results, pH doesnt matter, 6.5-8.5 is absolutely fine and yours is near enough perfect. You need to know Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Get those results and we can help you more.


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## littlefoot (Dec 6, 2007)

Moogloo said:


> It wasnt necessrily the best advise, you certainly dont want to run the tank at 29-30 degrees, the fish you are keeping will be much happier at 26.
> 
> People saying chlorine evapourates so that water doesnt need treating... *bashes head on a brick wall* yes...years ago when it was only chlorine in the water that might have been ok. Chlorine will evapourate.... but Chloramine doesnt...
> 
> ...


Absolutely perfect advice and answer,i take my hat off to you Moo :no1: 

Note to the O.P. If you follow this advice you won't go wrong,please take it on board.


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Brilliant. Thanks for the advice. I've upped the temperature in the tank slightly as I'm not sure how accurate the thermometer I have is. I've had no more deaths touchwood. I'm going to get some of the reccommended products too then reduce the temp. Does that sound sensible? I'm also going to get a test kit so I can test the water myself. Thank you very much for the advice guys


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## Viva (Apr 19, 2010)

The thermostat on the heater should maintain the temperature that you set it at, if not, get a new heater as well!

I would never not use some sort of 'Safe Water' type stuff as they put loads of chemicals in the water.

Are you sure you haven't used anything with lime in it, like the sand, ornaments or anything?


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

Littlefoot, why thankies!! 

Viva, why with the lime? the pH values are fine, nothing needing doing to them, messing with something like that is risky business and if the fish are fine in those values then leave them b I say, far more damage can be done by adding things to soften r harden water.

I am all for cycling a tank with ammonia (though tbh itssuch a faffing way of doing it, i'd not bother myself, handfull of fishfood, bacteria supplement if im being impatient and a good test kit never fails)...however... with fish already in there... you can hardly use ammonia....

These companies would be allowed to produce the chemicals if they didnt do what it said on the label, just because they require exact paramaters to work (you should see their small print) and therefor might not work for everyone, it doesnt mean they arent good, dont work or that no one should use them. Things are improving all the time.

OP- Good luck! Sounds like you are on a roll now!


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## colinbradbury (Nov 16, 2008)

why is it bad advise ? if you had even bothered to read the reply i advised raising the temp to 29 - 30 until sorted and then putting back to normal - this is to avoid further problems with ick as it struggles to take hold at higher temps, but i suppose you would advise dumping meds in there

the question on chlorine was just that (does it evaporate out of the water), no one mentioned choramine. not all areas have this anyway , you can find out if your local supply has it by contacting your local water provider and asking for a water quality report which they must provide to you. 

cycle , filter start are very diferant things to stress zyme, and both have amonia in them which you have already rightly advised not useing. the stress zyme will help but with raised temp and salt is highly unlikley to be any benifit. there is already a plec in there so if in your opinion the tank is still cycling ( even though he states his test results are clear) then the best cause of action now would be to do a cycle useing the plec

sadly a little info can make people very dangerous and think they know everything . what you fail to realise is i am a professional breeder of 30 years have run snakeheads uk myself , have run the other monster fish section at monsterfishkeepers.com myself , have wrote articles for practical fishkeeping , have diplomas in several areas of fishkeeping ,have bred everything from guppys to rays, i could go on , yeah talk about banging head on wall , i take 4 mins of of my day to come on and help a few people and a muppet then goes to the threads ive posted on and trys put my advise down . well ill leave the advise to you from now on. god help the people on here



Moogloo said:


> It wasnt necessrily the best advise, you certainly dont want to run the tank at 29-30 degrees, the fish you are keeping will be much happier at 26.
> 
> People saying chlorine evapourates so that water doesnt need treating... *bashes head on a brick wall* yes...years ago when it was only chlorine in the water that might have been ok. Chlorine will evapourate.... but Chloramine doesnt...
> 
> ...


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## Viva (Apr 19, 2010)

I was just asking about lime as it might raise the pH, not dangerously in this case, but may as remove all other variables whilst sorting out the tank.

It is a nightmare when you have tank problems but once you have got it all sussed it is worth it, good luck!


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## Moogloo (Mar 15, 2010)

True viva, was just curious  seen so many people advising to use a buffer to get ph down recently lol. Had one guy with a pH of about 8.5 and he had come online and was told his ph was WAY too high so he went to a certain unnamed shop and bough "pH down". Wondered why his fish kept dying each time... came in asking me if his fish were allergic to the treatment! >.<

He was dropping the pH from 8.5 down to 6 in one go and then over the week it buffered back up (he had ocean rock i suspect from his description) to 8.5, in which case he dropped it back down to 6. Poor fish all died from pH shock.

So easy to read something and not take it all in 

Colin, seems i missread what you said about the tempratures, i did think it was a bit odd  

I dont know whats more worrying tbh, the fact that you need to come here with


> what you fail to realise is i am a professional breeder of 30 years have run snakeheads uk myself , have run the other monster fish section at monsterfishkeepers.com myself , have wrote articles for practical fishkeeping , have diplomas in several areas of fishkeeping ,have bred everything from guppys to rays, i could go on


I cant decide which annoyed or amused me more, the arrogance in the reply, listing all these 'amazing' things you have done like it had any relevance, like i had asked to know these things... or the fact that you needed to so desperately prove you were better than everyone else?

I wasnt questioning your knowledge, i just disagree with some of what you said (and misread some of it). I dont doubt you have managed all sorts of amazing things but i am seriously not going to dote on everything you say and worship you for it.


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Erm, back on topic please?


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## colinbradbury (Nov 16, 2008)

Moogloo said:


> True viva, was just curious  seen so many people advising to use a buffer to get ph down recently lol. Had one guy with a pH of about 8.5 and he had come online and was told his ph was WAY too high so he went to a certain unnamed shop and bough "pH down". Wondered why his fish kept dying each time... came in asking me if his fish were allergic to the treatment! >.<
> 
> He was dropping the pH from 8.5 down to 6 in one go and then over the week it buffered back up (he had ocean rock i suspect from his description) to 8.5, in which case he dropped it back down to 6. Poor fish all died from pH shock.
> 
> ...


never asked for worship , just anoying when someone who is care less enough to handle liverock with bare hands then comes along and says you have given bad advise.

anyway ill leave it , appolagies for derailing thread


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Right update, there have been no more deaths. So whoop whoop! I also went to viper and vine today who offered some sound advice, I've bought some water conditioner for when I'm changing over water in the future, and I've added some to the tank. I also had a browse around viper and vines fish stocks and they look so much healthier than the place I've been getting my previous stuff so I'm probably going to stock there in future. Thank you for all the help, watch this space...


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## Viva (Apr 19, 2010)

That's good news then! I hope you can get everything really cleared up.


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## Nickg91 (Mar 24, 2007)

Success! All is well! Thank you all for your advice.
Nick


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