all my fish are dead!

[thatsme]

No matter what kind of fish I have they die in my tank. I have properfiltration, a bubble wall for air, and the heater.

I often change the water (bi weekly) Yesterday I changed the water. I guess right before the make platy died he mated. The female platy died today. Now I have 3 baby platys and worried that they will die.

What am I doing wrong? Im not new to this, so I think Im doing everything righ. The only thing that I can think of is that I get my fish from PETCO and Petsmart

Brian-

[Gold]

Could the heater is too strong?

or

Maybe the Chlorin level is too high?

[monalu]

Hello...Please new fish owner. Don't change your tank water that often. Once a week is too often. If you have proper filtration...you just need to change half the water every month or so. What you do is stir up the water...drain one third to half of it...and put fresh water in to refill the tank. Try to get the fresh water to the same temp. Never change the entire thing unless you going to keep some original water in a bucket to add into the tank after a thorough cleansing. Fish need their environment pretty stable. The bacteria levels...slime levels...undisturbed. Fresh water has foreign chemicals in it to keep it sparkling clear. Fish can't handle that. Go to the petstore and buy a bottle of slime coating. Add one or two drops every time you change the water. But try to leave them alone. I know it's hard. GOOD LUCK!!!

[hausee]

I had the same problem as you before. My black mollies(about 9) were died after i change the water. I think you should not use the water directly come from pipette, and you also should place water under sun at least 2 days before use. To be safe, I also add CL- remover before use water.

good luck with you fish.

[LUCYMCCORKELL]

I do not recommend you purchase fish from petsmart i have just changed to a smaller shop and they are fine but when i buy from petsmart my fish always die.

[loonyeuny]

F.Y.I
Did you know that petco, petsmart and places like that and wal-mart have one big filter? So if you see a fish in one tank that is sick don't just move over to another tank at these stores go to another store. The best places to buy fish from are the ones that have one filter PER TANK not just per 2or3 tanks. If you do your chances of getting healthy and pretty fish are high. A store that takes the time and money to get one filter per tank cares about their fish and the fish they sell. Yes you may pay a little more for the fish but you will have them alot longer.

Eunice :angel6:

[dillydally6]

Have you ever tested for high levels of nitrites and nitrates or high levels of ammonia. Or the watts of power in your heater. Algae could also contribute to your problem. :stork-boy

[rubysoho]

umm... dillydally, you need to check the date on this post... the origional is from 2001! ;)


personally, I don't agree with the advice given above... but this is an old thread so it doesn't really matter

[Pippin]

LOL, once a week too often! That was one messed up reply :p

[rubysoho]

haha I know! I just hope no newbie read only that response and didn't do anymore research to see it was bad advice. Oh well...

[dillydally6]

Sorry, my bad. :D

[smartygirl]

Actually, he said he did water changes biweekly which means he does them every two weeks not weekly. That is still too often in my option. Once a month is good. You can always test your nitrate levels in the interim to make sure the levels do not get too high between water changes.

BTW, were these new fish that died or have you had them for a while?

Den :rose:

[Pippin]

This thread is about 4 years old, I wouldn't expect an answer.

It was monalu's post we were refering to...

Weekly water changes are ideal. Once a month might be ok for a couple small fish in a big tank with lots of plants. But if a tank is normally or ,as is comon, overstocked than it is not acceptable. Daily water changes with some large, messy fish such as oscars is a good idea. Water changes do no harm, there is no reason to skimp on them. Twice a week would be even better! And wouldn't it be better for the nitrate levels to never have a chance to rise?
The only time water changes could be potentially harmful is if the fish have been living in dirty water for a long time. In that case they could go into shock from the water, even though it is much better. But that shouldn't be a problem if you have been keeping up on frequent water changes.

[Tadams]

Correct me if i am wrong, but if you do large water changes frequently, dont you kill all of your good bacteria and thus never finish you tank cycling.

I am new at this but I have done A LOT of research on this and have asked a fish breeder (as i was doing large water changes often :eek: ) and actually not doing the water changes does allow the Nitrates to get too high. My breeder suggested a 2 inch water change weekly (i have a 20 gallon tank) when i vaccum gravel.

[lg5000]

Smartygirl, what size is the tank you have to only do a waterchange every month ???? O.O

Asking cause I have a 2ft tank and it gets a 1/4 waterchange weekly!

Is it that specific fish need less frequent changes? or that you were refering to major waterchanges like over 50%

[Pippin]

As long as the water is de-chlorinated (it should be done no matter what) then no, it will not kill the bacteria.

[smartygirl]

Ok.. . then I stand corrected then on people who overstock their tanks.. They should perform more frequent water changes. I have two 20 gallon tanks with two small common goldfish in each tank. The nitrate levels never get above 5.0 ppm. The fish are nice and healthy. I don't over feed them. I have live plants in the tanks, and I change the filter bags regularly. This is what works for me. People who over stock and over feed should do things differently.

Den :rose:

[smartygirl]

I didn't realize this was an old thread. My bad... I'll stop surfing through old messages when I have time to kill. LOL

Den :rose:

[lg5000]

So it would come back to the type of fish you're keeping, right?

Because as far as I know, I haven't overstocked, and my fish seem suprisingly healthy... considering the amount of waterchanges.

I take that back, currently, there are about 3 too many females in the tank, that's changing tomorrow :)

[Blue Merle]

On one of my tanks (a 55 gal), I do water changes every other week.. not HUGE water changes, just like 25%. On my 150 gal corner tank, I only do them like once a month.. if that.