fishes died overnight in 2 days' time

[yaroopig]

hi all... i dunno what happened but my fishes died overnight within 2 days' time!!! []

those who died are:
Day 1 - neon tetras & some ther dunno what type of breeds
Day 2 - guppies & some other dunno what type of breeds

mine is a 3ft tank, no plants, a lot of different types of small fishes (some dunno the name), and 2 huge algae-eaters, 4 medium size dunno what fish (orangy color - bought by parents).

this never happened b4 so i suspect it's the canned blood worm i just bought on sunday... i never feed them on this b4, just happened to come across & want to give it a try... we changed water every weekend, use external filter

can anybody help know what happen from the above "description"?

[budak]

the following info would be helpful:

- exactly how many fish you had
- how long has the tank been setup/how long have you had the fish
- are your larger fish attacking the small ones
- how much worms did you feed them
- describe your water change method
- your filter type/model?

[AroDon]

Hi
Just wondering if it is new tank?...If it is not then the concern will be of areas like proper tank cycling, qurantine of new fishes, water parameter, ... water conditioner added during the water change?

Hope this helps.

[yaroopig]

I'm having this tank for 1 year + liao. The fishes that died - some just bought on Monday evening, some are existing ones but they are the smaller scale (size of neon tetras), only the bigger fishes are not affected. I too suspect the bigger fishes attacked them, because sometimes can't even find their bodies...

the worms i fed are the dried type (in a can one), about 2 spoonful (spoon in the can).

filter is external filter, cannot remember the model but is something like GenerationII 600.

water change method:
1) remove 1/3 of water
2) add anti-chorine to remaining 2/3 of water
3) wait for 1/2 hr
4) pour in 1/3 of new water

no. of fishes i have:
2 algae eater - huge in size
1 sucker fish - small size, 1 died
5 orangy fish - medium size
3 guppies - 2 died, 1 is old, 1 just bought on Monday
7 neon tetras - all died, 1 is old, 6 bought on Monday
and some other small ones also died... can't really remember how many because just bought on Monday evening... and was not bought by me.

thanks.

[]

[Earth]

For changing of water, the anti-chlorine should be poured into the "new" water to make it safe for refilling the tank. Anti-chlorine should not be added directly into the existing water in the tank.

The new fishes that you bought might have been carriers of diseases. They could have been a outbreak of bacteria/diseases which killed all your fishes. By the way, are there any obvious signs on the dead fishes which could explain the death eg. body rot, fin rot, bloated stomache, raised scales?

[hoppinghippo]

I think you can't conclude its the big fish that attacked the small ones cuz sometimes what happs is your small ones die then the big ones come and eat them up, at least thats what always happens in my tank.

[yaroopig]

Hi Earth

All the while I've been pouring anti-chlorine to the new water. The method of pouring into the existing water was actually taught by one of the fish shop owners, and he sounded so sure so I decided to give it a try

As for the bodies of the fishes, on Day 1 can't even find a single body and today (Day 2) those who are dead are lying on the sand, but whether or not they are rotten or not I don't know because b4 I could see them, they are being thrown away already...

BTW, can somebody tell me how to qurantine new fishes? And any tips on taking photos since they are always swimming around, very difficult to capture nice ones...

Thanks again.

[chia2k]

yaroopig , well not so sure about that method . but i always fill up a pail of water , pour in the anti-chlorine , then leave it alone for 24 hrs before i our it into my tank (no casulty this way so far)

as for small fish disappearing , some times when the fish die , the scavengers of your tank will feast on em. i mean, thats wat they are for

[vinz]

Read somewhere that anti-chlorine works almost instantaneously.

[joe]

Yes, antichlorine works almost instantly. Either you put the antichlorine in the pail of new water, or you pour in the new water and then add the antichlorine into the tank.

[ek]

chia2k,

if u are ageing your fresh water overnight, then there is no need use anti-chlorine. They will eventually evaporate. Save the $$$

[Allen_1971]

unless of course your water has chloramine... which is stable and isn't gonna dissapear from your aged water.

[ek]

Allen,

was wondering whether the plants can help to remove those chloramine in the fresh water. Understand there are some water chemical solution that helps remove chloramine besides chlorine. But this solution are quite ex.

[bclee]

Normal anti-chlorine will remove chloramines, but will leave amonia behind. Those that claim to treat water with chloramine probably will take care of the amonia too.

I think the chloramine level in our tap is not too high, the amonia level should be taken care of by the plants.

BC

[zmzfam]

I believe there are some anti-chlorine solution that are also able to get rid of the chloramine and able to bind heavy metals from the tap water. unless of course there are nothing inside the solution but just a marketing gimmick??

[Goondoo]

----------------
On 2/27/2003 9:14:26 AM

Yes, antichlorine works almost instantly. Either you put the antichlorine in the pail of new water, or you pour in the new water and then add the antichlorine into the tank.
----------------

I strongly discourage getting fresh water into the tank before adding anti-chlorine. The available chlorine is enough to kill large amount of your existing bacteria and any living organism in both filter and tank. I would advise using what Chan had taught me, adding both same time, mixed in pail then top up or adding to the tank before the fresh tap water.

[hoppinghippo]

just to share my own experiences, I started off adding anti-chlorine when I first started this hobby, later I changed to simply leaving a pail of water for a day or two without antichlorine. later I changed to simply adding water water direct from my tap using a hose. the difference is that it's much less of a hassle and nothing more, my tank inhabitants, plants and fishes didn't seem affected by any of the above changes. I think there're lots of pple here with huge tanks (mine's just a tiny 2ft tank) who add water direct from taps too. point being maybe it isn't really neccessary to worry too much about the chlorine?