# Sticky  Common causes for death or illness of fish



## JanS

This was brought up in the welcome forum, and it's a very important topic, so here it goes.

I've put together a list of things off the top of my head, in no particular order, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

1. Trying to alter the pH, hardness or some other natural elements of your tap water. While these things can be done, it usually leads to huge swings, which is very hard on your fish.

2. Not adjusting the temp of your water when doing a water change. It needs to be as close as possible to the water in the tank.

3. Not putting newly acquired fish in a quarantine tank. Even the highest quality fish can bring new diseases or ailments into your tank.

4. Not adding dechlorinator to the tank (if you have municipal water).

5. Sticking contaminated hands into the tank. This can include a broad variety of things on your hands; including hand lotion, soap, nicotine, or many other toxins.

6. Adding too big a fish load. Even though they are small when you purchase them, you have to look at the adult size before bringing them into your home.

7. Over cleaning a newly set up tank. Bacteria needs a chance to build up on all of the tank surfaces, so if you keep scrubbing it down, it's not going to happen.

8. Over feeding. Add only as much as your fish can eat in a 5 minute period. Additional food is just adding more of a load to your tank.

9. Putting incompatible fish together. The tiny glass cube we keep our fish in are only a fraction of the space they have in the wild, and if they have issues, there's no where to run.

10. Exposure to airborne toxins. If someone sprays insecticides, cleaning solutions, or anything toxic, it can enter your tank and kill the inhabitants in an instant.

The nitrogen cycle is a whole issue in itself, so here a link about that.
Understanding the nitrogen cycle

I hope that everyone else will contribute to this list, and help make all of our tanks as fish/plant friendly as we can.


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## fish7days

Great post Jan !!

Where were you 30 years ago when I got my first aquarium and thought I was going to be dubbed the LFS Serial Killer !!! :axe: 

André


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## New 2 Fish

Not doing water changes once a week.....


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## hsteve

Here's another - Adding a ton of medication to your tank before addressing water quality. 
A lot of fish ailments, notably ich can be remedied by taking care of the water in your tank. If your tank is dirty, all the goo and tablets in the world won't help anything.


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## Laith

hsteve said:


> ...
> A lot of fish ailments, notably ich can be remedied by taking care of the water in your tank. If your tank is dirty, all the goo and tablets in the world won't help anything.


Yes definitely. But even better is to take good care of the plants. I concentrate my energies on making sure the plants are healthy and growing well as well as making sure there are enough of them.

I've found that healthy plants = healthy fish. I don't even have any fish medications  and haven't had a sick fish (outside of quarantine) in I don't know how long...


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## trenac

Jan, that's a great list... The only thing I can think of at the moment is: Do not impulse buy, do research first before purchasing fish. Make sure you know the fish needs: Environment, feeding, compatibility etc..


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## Cavan Allen

But what is the best way to get your hands clean before putting them into your tank? I've always just tried to rinse them off really well and have avoided getting in there when I know something's been on them that's potentially harmful.


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## MatPat

One more that is mainly an issue in planted tanks, CO2 overdose! 

A lot of new folks adjust their CO2 by bubble rate since that is what someone (LFS, Aquarist on the other side of the country, etc) told them to do. They do this without paying much attention to the KH of their water and can easily "gas" their fish to death. I've seen this a couple of times locally! 

It can also be an issue for those of us using CO2. New fish sometimes stay at the surface gasping for air after I acclimate them. It usually doesn't last very long but is another thing to keep an eye on when introducing new fish to a CO2 injected tank.


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## hsteve

Laith said:


> Yes definitely. But even better is to take good care of the plants. I concentrate my energies on making sure the plants are healthy and growing well as well as making sure there are enough of them.
> 
> I've found that healthy plants = healthy fish. I don't even have any fish medications  and haven't had a sick fish (outside of quarantine) in I don't know how long...


Excellent response... I guess my point is that if you are conscienous about water changes, testing, etc, that you are probably maintaining your water (and the organisms that live in your aquarium) well. Aquatic plants AND animals do best when the water is maintained at a high level. 
My main experience is with sealife, notably reef tanks. Most of the people I talk to in this aquatic genre complain and/or are ignorant of the fact that the pretty little pink spongy looking thing in their tank DOES NOT tolerate anything but the most optimum water conditions... I beleleive the same thing goes for planted tanks, reef tanks, or any tank for that matter. Quarantining procedures, testing, and monitoring probably would save the average aquarist a bunch of money on medications in the long term:idea:


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## jeff63851

Great list!!! I might as well contribute to the list since I made a huge major mistake....

-Not using an quarantine tank. I was stupid...I lost all of my 10 angelfish just because of one hardy new angelfish that had hexamita...


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## HydroBot

The back yard BBQ.





What!......... I was hungry!


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## Jimbo205

Which thread do I go to to find out why my Mollies are slowly kicking the bucket? 

The water tests at the LFS were good. I thought if my plants were doing well or very well the fish would be too. The fish I have look healthy. 

Can having too many plants in the tank stress the fish out? 

I notice my Mollies like to swim on top but not through my plants. 

My Betta at the office loves to rest on, beneath or swim among the plants from time to time. Only the new neons I recently got seem to enjoy this. 

How do you know what is going on if the water tests and plants are doing well?


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## dwalstad

Jimbo205 said:


> Which thread do I go to to find out why my Mollies are slowly kicking the bucket?
> 
> The water tests at the LFS were good. I thought if my plants were doing well or very well the fish would be too. The fish I have look healthy.
> 
> Can having too many plants in the tank stress the fish out?


I'd go to the Diseased Fish thread I started and read what I and others have written.

If the fish were diseased when you bought them, it won't matter how good their environment is or how many plants you have. The fish will just live a little longer before they die.

Many fish being sold in the aquarium hobby are carrying tuberculosis. Fish look fine until they just stop eating and die.


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## Jimbo205

The single mother to all of my mollies was a Silvertail Lyretail Mollie that I purchased about 1 - 2 years ago. 

I had only wanted one attractive fish in my tank when one day I found out that she was a mommy. 

My children loved it. 

I have been nanny to all offspring. 

I even purchased sponge filter to put over incoming water tube to protect the fry from being sucked up. 

I find that it helps with food also. Instead of sucking up the flake food, it gives the fish one last place to pick off the last flakes.


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## jaybird002

*low tech tank, quarantine tank*

For low tech planted tanks, we are advised not to change the water or siphon the gravel too often. Does this adversely affect water quality, which is so essential to fish health. How do I strike a balance? What signs do I look for regarding fish health?

Also, should I try to set up a quarantine tank without a heater? Or would the day to night temperature change guarantee a sick fish? What is the minimum container/heater setup for a quarantine tank? I have one 29 gallon community planted tank and do not want to expand to more tanks.


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## essabee

Three more common causes of death, 1) Contaminated food, 2) flow traps from filters, vacum etc. 3) Faulty live wires.


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## JanS

jaybird002 said:


> Also, should I try to set up a quarantine tank without a heater? Or would the day to night temperature change guarantee a sick fish? What is the minimum container/heater setup for a quarantine tank? I have one 29 gallon community planted tank and do not want to expand to more tanks.


Many people just use a 10 gallon tank that you can pick up for less than $10 at places like Wal-mart.
It doesn't have to be elaborate, or permanent. You can get by with the tank, some sort of filter (even a sponge filter) or something that will give you water movement in the tank, a heater, a few live plants, and some sort of cover for the fish so they feel more secure.

I would definitely use a heater and keep the temp set at the same as you'll have your main tank, or even perhaps a little higher. Things like ich will take much longer to run through the life cycle in cooler temps.
For a 10 gallon tank, a 50 watt heater would be about right.
You're also right that big swings would be very stressful to fish who are already stressed from being caught, bagged and transported, so to keep the temp consistent would help get them off to a much better start.


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## meredymae

Jimbo205 said:


> Which thread do I go to to find out why my Mollies are slowly kicking the bucket?
> 
> The water tests at the LFS were good. I thought if my plants were doing well or very well the fish would be too. The fish I have look healthy.
> 
> Can having too many plants in the tank stress the fish out?
> 
> I notice my Mollies like to swim on top but not through my plants.
> 
> My Betta at the office loves to rest on, beneath or swim among the plants from time to time. Only the new neons I recently got seem to enjoy this.
> 
> How do you know what is going on if the water tests and plants are doing well?


Mollies like a little added salt. I haven't ever kept them nicely without it.


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## nosoop4u246

*Re: low tech tank, quarantine tank*



jaybird002 said:


> For low tech planted tanks, we are advised not to change the water or siphon the gravel too often. Does this adversely affect water quality, which is so essential to fish health. How do I strike a balance? What signs do I look for regarding fish health?


Simply put, yes it affects the water quality, but not the common killers like ammonia and nitrite that people worry so much about. Going long periods of time without a water change in a well planted tank will lead to most of the dissolved minerals being removed as a result of plant and fish growth, meaning the water's buffer against pH change, the fish's ability to osmoregulate, respire, and fight off infections, and the plants' abilities to grow properly, will all be negated. Things like calcium, magnesium, carbonates, etc. in the water will be depleted rapidly, and unless you're removing the low-mineral water and replacing it with mineral-rich water (most tap water), or adding minerals straight to the tank (dosing epsom salt, putting some calcaerous material in the tank like coral, calcite, shells, limestone, marble, etc.), everything living in the tank will suffer. I doubt that you're being _advised_ to not change the water, just informed that your maintenance can be far more lax than in a fish-only tank.


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## dwalstad

I've just finished revising my Internet article "Mycobacteriosis: the Stealth Disease". It is a free PDF download from my book's website. Article has latest scientific information along with new practical suggestions for preventing and managing it.

Multiple, recent surveys indicate that about 40-50% of aquarium fish dying or debilitated (shrunken bellies, skin lesions, dropsy, etc) have this disease.

Here's website with the link to article:

http://www.atlasbooks.com/marktplc/00388.htm


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## bartoli

Diana, thank you for writing such an informative article backed by scientific study citations.

The linking of MB (mycobacteriosis) to fish stress reminded me of an observation that I have had over the years on neon tetra-only tanks. One day a neon tetra didn't look healthy while the rest were ok. I let that fish remained in the tank until finally s/he gave up, usually weeks or months later. Then another fish became ill within days. But when I immediately moved a sick fish to another tank, a second fish became sick within days while others remained healthy. When I moved that second fish, a third one became sick not long afterward. Unless the sick fish was getting very weak, s/he liked to stay within a group. 

I had observed the above phenomenon several times. It could be mere coincidence. But it appeared that something was causing one fish sick at a time. Sometimes I saw neon tetras (typically only two) engaging in a head-to-head fight. A fight could be so nasty that it lasted up to 20 seconds, despite other neon tetras trying unsuccessfully to break up the fight. It looked as if some strong personalities were not willing to back down and therefore decided to fight it out. I wonder whether the one-sick-at-a-time phenomenon was an indication of dominant fish(es) taking it out on an easy target. When that easy target was gone, another one became the target. Being a target stressed the fish and therefore came down with disease. But then it could be someone trying unsuccessfully to dominate the population, engaged in too many fights, and therefore being stressed out.

Another subjective observation, but on fish de-stressing. Sometimes, typically couple hours before the tank light went off at night, all the neon tetras in a tank spontaneously aligned themselves loosely in a procession and leisurely paraded down the length of the tank. Upon reaching one side of the tank, everyone turned around, with the leaders became the followers, and paraded to the other side of the tank. It was as if they were doing some kind of bonding ritual - taking turn to lead and follow. Very soothing to watch. That went on for sometime before the 'parade' broke off.


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## Greenthums

What great advice for beginners. I had one of those "duh" moments when I read the keep water temp close to tank temp on water changes. Mine have been close but no cigar. Thanks


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## GrandePippo

The last time a fish died in my tank the reason was too much carbon dioxide. I do not remeber exactly how much the Ph dropped and how much ppm CO2 I had in the tank. What was for sure is a group of 12 lemon tetras left this world that day.


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## JanS

Sorry to hear that GrandePippo. You're right, it does sometimes happen and if you see the fish gasping at the surface, you know it's time to either turn down the C02 or add an airstone to bring the conditions back to a more comfortable state for them.


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## Pookie Bear

I would say to quarantine both new fish and any sick fish.


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## JdE

*Blue Ram with white spots on the fins*

I just purchased a couple of blue rams from Petco that came with some white spots on the fins. I kept them in the hospital and used treated them with methylene blue, but the spots don't seem to be going away. 
I think is not itch, since it is limited to the fins, could still be columnaris, but there are no lesion on the back. They are otherwise doing well, eating and chasing each other. Any suggestions/experience treating this?


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## DishyFishy

trenac said:


> Jan, that's a great list... The only thing I can think of at the moment is: Do not impulse buy, do research first before purchasing fish. Make sure you know the fish needs: Environment, feeding, compatibility etc..


This is a great one.. if I see something (fish or plant) that I like at my LFS I take a pic of it with my phone; then I come home and research it to see if it will do well in my tank.


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## Pookie Bear

Most of my fish, when they have died died of Ick. I have always had either GBR or EBR and they seem prone to it. I always quarantine my new fish first though and if I see an Ick outbreak, I dose my tank and slowly raise the temperature.


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