why are my fish dying?

Solar Bus Driver · Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 2

please help if you can...

i've had this 20 gallon freshwater tank for about 8 years. some of the fish
have been there that long. I just have blackskirt tetras, neons, a couple
plecos and a couple catfish. everything has been great until now.

for some reason the tetras have all been dying for the last few days. there
were 4 black skirts and 6 neons a week ago, now there are one of each.

the only thing I can think of is that about 2 weeks ago I cleaned the tank
out. I vacuumed the bottom, took out about 40% of the water and replaced
it, along with coppersafe medicine and some of that aloe conditioner.
that's it. i've done that exact same thing before many times with no
problem.

but this time it looks like something is wrong. it was about 2 weeks ago
but today we lost another fish. maybe it's unrelated to the cleaning I did.
I don't know. But I'm worried that more are going to die. the plecos and
catfish I've had as long as the tank. I will be really bummed if they die,
especially if it was something I did.

please give me some ideas or things to check or fix or do.

thanks

Archived from group: alt>aquaria

Bill Stock · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 217

"Solar Bus Driver" wrote in message @comcast.com...
> please help if you can...
>
> i've had this 20 gallon freshwater tank for about 8 years. some of the
> fish have been there that long. I just have blackskirt tetras, neons, a
> couple plecos and a couple catfish. everything has been great until now.
>
> for some reason the tetras have all been dying for the last few days.
> there were 4 black skirts and 6 neons a week ago, now there are one of
> each.
>
> the only thing I can think of is that about 2 weeks ago I cleaned the tank
> out. I vacuumed the bottom, took out about 40% of the water and replaced
> it, along with coppersafe medicine and some of that aloe conditioner.
> that's it. i've done that exact same thing before many times with no
> problem.
>
> but this time it looks like something is wrong. it was about 2 weeks ago
> but today we lost another fish. maybe it's unrelated to the cleaning I
> did. I don't know. But I'm worried that more are going to die. the
> plecos and catfish I've had as long as the tank. I will be really bummed
> if they die, especially if it was something I did.
>
> please give me some ideas or things to check or fix or do.
>
> thanks

That's a tough one, nothing obvious jumps out. I probably wouldn't add
medecine on a therapeutic basis (Coppersafe), but it's been working for you
previously. Does your water have Chlorine/Chloramines? I gather the Aloe
conditioner has dechlorinator included? Maybe your city started adding
Chloramines without your knowledge.

A few obvious things to check are your PH, Ammonia and Nitrites. Did you
match the water temperature when you added the replacement water? Was the
Coppersafe or the Aloe a fresh bottle, maybe one of them was contaminated?

Tynk · Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 41

On Dec 24, 2:34 pm, "Bill Stock" wrote:
> "Solar Bus Driver" wrote in message@comcast.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > please help if you can...
>
> > i've had this 20 gallon freshwater tank for about 8 years. some of the
> > fish have been there that long. I just have blackskirt tetras, neons, a
> > couple plecos and a couple catfish. everything has been great until now.
>
> > for some reason the tetras have all been dying for the last few days.
> > there were 4 black skirts and 6 neons a week ago, now there are one of
> > each.
>
> > the only thing I can think of is that about 2 weeks ago I cleaned the tank
> > out. I vacuumed the bottom, took out about 40% of the water and replaced
> > it, along with coppersafe medicine and some of that aloe conditioner.
> > that's it. i've done that exact same thing before many times with no
> > problem.
>
> > but this time it looks like something is wrong. it was about 2 weeks ago
> > but today we lost another fish. maybe it's unrelated to the cleaning I
> > did. I don't know. But I'm worried that more are going to die. the
> > plecos and catfish I've had as long as the tank. I will be really bummed
> > if they die, especially if it was something I did.
>
> > please give me some ideas or things to check or fix or do.
>
> > thanks
>
> That's a tough one, nothing obvious jumps out. I probably wouldn't add
> medecine on a therapeutic basis (Coppersafe), but it's been working for you
> previously. Does your water have Chlorine/Chloramines? I gather the Aloe
> conditioner has dechlorinator included? Maybe your city started adding
> Chloramines without your knowledge.
>
> A few obvious things to check are your PH, Ammonia and Nitrites. Did you
> match the water temperature when you added the replacement water? Was the
> Coppersafe or the Aloe a fresh bottle, maybe one of them was contaminated?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

The blind leading the blind................give it up Bill, this is a
dead group with a bunch of dead posters like your self looking for a
soap box where they can pretend to be somebody like Gill and
Jan.......Toss the freaking fish and buy a pet gerbil
dude..............it will do you more good..........

Tynk · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 200

On Dec 26, 9:04ï¿½pm, Tynk ROY H. IMPERSONATING me
still.

Solar Bus Driver · Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 2

"Bill Stock" wrote in message @mid.individual.net...
>
>>
>> thanks
>
> That's a tough one, nothing obvious jumps out. I probably wouldn't add
> medecine on a therapeutic basis (Coppersafe), but it's been working for
> you previously. Does your water have Chlorine/Chloramines? I gather the
> Aloe conditioner has dechlorinator included? Maybe your city started
> adding Chloramines without your knowledge.
>
> A few obvious things to check are your PH, Ammonia and Nitrites. Did you
> match the water temperature when you added the replacement water? Was the
> Coppersafe or the Aloe a fresh bottle, maybe one of them was contaminated?
>

thanks Bill, I appreciate it.

my water is from a well. I have a water softener. Sometimes I take
softened water from the tap, just to add when the level is getting low.

when I remove water and refill like I did this time, I always turn off the
water softener first and let the water run for a few minutes before I get
water for the tank.

i've done it so many times I just use my hand to set the temperature. I
don't think it was the temperature that caused the problem because it took
several days for the fish to die.

luckily no more have died since posted the question. but I'm worried about
putting more fish in there.

I don't think anything is contaminated; it's not that old. I didn't do any
tests on PH but I have a tester. I'll try to test the tank and the tap and
see if I can find anything suspicious.

one thing I didn't mention I think. in addition to the aloe conditioner I
added a little of that enzyme/organisms stuff that is supposed to give a
boost to help the bugs that eat the fish poop.

i guess for now since it appears they stopped dying, I'm going to just keep
moving along like i have been. i'll reply here if I find anything strange
in the water testing.

thanks again
gary in vermont

Gordon James · Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Posts: 2

google "old tank syndrome"

http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=old+tank+syndrome&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 16:34:16 -0400, Bill Stock wrote:

>
> "Solar Bus Driver" wrote in message
> @comcast.com...
>> please help if you can...
>>
>> i've had this 20 gallon freshwater tank for about 8 years. some of the
>> fish have been there that long. I just have blackskirt tetras, neons, a
>> couple plecos and a couple catfish. everything has been great until
>> now.
>>
>> for some reason the tetras have all been dying for the last few days.
>> there were 4 black skirts and 6 neons a week ago, now there are one of
>> each.
>>
>> the only thing I can think of is that about 2 weeks ago I cleaned the
>> tank
>> out. I vacuumed the bottom, took out about 40% of the water and
>> replaced
>> it, along with coppersafe medicine and some of that aloe conditioner.
>> that's it. i've done that exact same thing before many times with no
>> problem.
>>
>> but this time it looks like something is wrong. it was about 2 weeks
>> ago
>> but today we lost another fish. maybe it's unrelated to the cleaning I
>> did. I don't know. But I'm worried that more are going to die. the
>> plecos and catfish I've had as long as the tank. I will be really
>> bummed
>> if they die, especially if it was something I did.
>>
>> please give me some ideas or things to check or fix or do.
>>
>> thanks
>
> That's a tough one, nothing obvious jumps out. I probably wouldn't add
> medecine on a therapeutic basis (Coppersafe), but it's been working for
> you
> previously. Does your water have Chlorine/Chloramines? I gather the Aloe
> conditioner has dechlorinator included? Maybe your city started adding
> Chloramines without your knowledge.
>
> A few obvious things to check are your PH, Ammonia and Nitrites. Did you
> match the water temperature when you added the replacement water? Was the
> Coppersafe or the Aloe a fresh bottle, maybe one of them was
> contaminated?
>
>
>

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