# fish keep dying



## tae2610 (Sep 9, 2009)

Hello everyone
During these 2 week my fish keep dying every day or 2 days. I took water to Petsmart to take test and nothing wrong with it. Do you have idea what should i do next ?


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## obie (Mar 28, 2011)

Do you float the bags when you bring them home? What are you feeding them? Water temp? When you put them in, do you put the petsmart water in the tank too?


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## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

Which fish have died? what species? Are these newly introduced or fish you've had for a while? Have you changed anything whatsoever recently about your maintenance routine, or anything else that you think might possibly be a factor?

Are there species in the tank that aren't dying?


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## tae2610 (Sep 9, 2009)

not new fish my fish live with me in my tank like 4 months. but they just keep dying without reason. Cardinal / Neon Tetra I lost 6 of them so far. this picture of my tank

4 months
Hang on the side filter
E-co complete
light 60 W 7 hours/day

Only fish keep dying But cherry shrimps look very happy and keep spawn like nothing happen.


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## tae2610 (Sep 9, 2009)

One more thing petsmart told me use distribute water when I do water change.


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## Tex Guy (Nov 23, 2008)

Frequent water changes = chicken soup for fish.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

What is distribute water? Did you use any dechlorinator? Does it also neutralize chloramines?

When I have watched PetsMart test water they use the test strips. They are not accurate in their readings. Have you been doing any planting or re-arranging? Neons and cardinals are a little more sensitive than the others you have in your tank. Maybe you are having some ammonia spikes. Have you recently cleaned your filter or put a new sponge or anything in it?

Whenever my fish show any sort of problem I do a water change. It's dilute the pollute. Whatever may be the problem a water change can most often help. You always have to use a water conditioner like Prime. I try to match the water temperature by feel, I never actually measure it.


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## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

I've seen neon tetras react very badly to warmer water during water changes, but I've only seen this reaction soon after I've acquired a group of them. Once the weaker members die off, the ones that remain tend to be as hardy as any fish I have and don't show this same sensitivity.

For all the stress fish endure in transport and overcrowded and poorly managed store tanks, it may be likely that the fish that die off within the first few months of ownership do so through no fault of the owner or his/her routines. Yet, we like to blame ourselves and look for what is wrong. Nothing wrong with that, but you have to consider any changes you plan to make with some reason. If only some fish are affected, and they are less than 6 months in your care, consider that there's nothing you are doing that killed the fish. It is as likely a possibility as is some aspect of your maintenance or environment being the cause. It may just be old age. I've seen far more mature, adult fish for sale at Petsmart than juvenile fish. Making an outline of the die-off timeline can help you make an educated guess about the causes, as well. It may reveal that there is no pattern and the die offs are just chance. Fish do die.

I would start by outlining your entire maintenance routine, including all products you use, Prime, etc.; list your tank parameters (tank size, heater, filter, etc.); how much of each product you use and how often; how often you change water and how much; including an timeline of fish die off ... then post it here and let some of us look over it.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

Till you figure out the problem, I highly suggest throwing an air stone into the tank to eliminate oxygen levels being an issue till you solve your problem. 

Are you using compressed CO2?


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## tae2610 (Sep 9, 2009)

Frequent water changes = chicken soup for fish <-- i m not sure what is the meaning of this.

Yes I do water change every week. since I set up this tank.
and I have DIY CO2.
but I do not have any heater after Petsmart recalled. I think i ll get Aquaeon Pro Heater.


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## Markw78 (May 6, 2004)

tae2610 said:


> Frequent water changes = chicken soup for fish <-- i m not sure what is the meaning of this.
> 
> Yes I do water change every week. since I set up this tank.
> and I have DIY CO2.
> but I do not have any heater after Petsmart recalled. I think i ll get Aquaeon Pro Heater.


Chicken Soup fixes everything, is what that means... unless of course the chicken soup is bad. ie. bad source water.

Do you quarantine you fish at all? when you add them to the tank, do you add the LFS / PetSmart water to your tank as well?

I stopped buying fish at PetSmart cause of high mortality rates. We are blessed with a plethora of great LFS in the DFW area.

The fact that the shrimp are flourishing makes me think something disease/parasite related, as inverts are usually pretty sensitive to water conditions.


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## tae2610 (Sep 9, 2009)

well they are not newbies. they live in my tank like 4 months.
so far I keep du water change every 5 days let see it might help.


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## alta678 (Mar 24, 2009)

You may have said but I missed it, but what temperature is your tank? Cardinals do best at about 84 F, shrimp do best at temps in the 70s.


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## MacFan (Jul 30, 2006)

I think he means distilled water... if your tap water is suspect, then it's one way to go, but you need to reconstitute it by adding back calcium, magnesium and baking soda. Especially if you're using CO2 and not buffering the water, you will get wild pH swings. There are commercial products to reconstitute RO water which would probably be the best way to go in your case. Even without fish, your plants won't grow without Calcium and Magnesium and those aren't included in fertilizers since they're commonly found in tap water.


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

yes, calcium and magnesium is inportant. also water why are water changes inportant too, " carbon hardness". I'd age the water for 24, with prime, and a get the temp to 82, and see how you do it. ro/di strips everything out of the water. it's good for saltwater, but not sure why it's used in freshwater besides breeding...


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## Markw78 (May 6, 2004)

50% RODI / 50% Dallas tap water, has worked really well for me. Texas water is just so ridiculously hard. 

RO is good any time you don't like your source water or suspect it to be bad for some reason or another. With RODI you always know what your starting with. Albeit in PPB quantities, tap water has some really nasty stuff in it.


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

/\----- that's why i like ro/di use tap and prime for saltwater and see what happens. it could just bethe cardinals did you use any medication? did you just float the bag then throw them in the tank? ...


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Your plants look anemic. They look like they need potassium and calcium. If you have been using RO water then that is why.

If your fish have been in the tank for 4 months it's not floating them or chlorine or some such thing that is killing them, unless you are seeing them die within minutes after a water change. It could be high ammonia or nitrite. I would suspect that you might be killing the bacteria in your filter by rinsing it in chlorinated water or putting all new inserts in at one time. 

Since you say you use DIY CO2, do you ever see your fish gasping at the top? DIY sometimes comes out too much at the beginning and is too much for the fish.

It could also be that you got a bad batch of cardinals/neons and they are just dieing off slowly. If one should die and you not find him your tank ammonia could go through the roof as well.

Other than these things I don't know.


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## tae2610 (Sep 9, 2009)

thank you for all reply.
I just feel so bad when i see my fish keep dying but ill keep me eyes on them


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

do you need ferts?, I got some empty bottle i could mark them and put some n the bottles for you.... jut don't know when I will be in that part of the metro plex, I go down by 360 and great southwestern every now and then.


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## tae2610 (Sep 9, 2009)

fishyjoe24 said:


> do you need ferts?, I got some empty bottle i could mark them and put some n the bottles for you.... jut don't know when I will be in that part of the metro plex, I go down by 360 and great southwestern every now and then.


Thank you for asking I use Root tabs and I think it's ok for my tank ^^
Do you use heater joey ? what brand name & model ? after I return steal heater I dont get any heater yet


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

Visit True Percula and pickup a Jager heater. They are really good. That is what I like to use.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Most root tabs only have trace minerals in them. Your plants need macros as well. You might check to see what the ingredients are. They also don't usually have enough iron in them.


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

you're welcome. yes I use a heater in all my tank, even my reef(saltwater tank has one)... my 29g planted has a 100w all glass aquarium heater, and the 60g saltwater thank has a hagen 200w.

heaters 3-5w(watts) per a gallon is a good ideal... right now your tank is going to be the room temp. that the tank is in, and say you do a water change with cold water. your tank could drop from 74-50 and with out a heater the tank will stay cold and the fish will get sick.


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