why r my fish dying like hell?

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somethingisfish

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Jul 18, 2007
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hi, i am new to the whole thing about tropical fish tanks and i dont know why my fish are dying like hell. the temperature is constantly in the mid-seventies and the fish are getting fed every other day, like i was told and there is tons of room for the fish to swin around, becasue its a pretty big tank (almost 36 gallons). so hopefully if i tell u the entire story maybe u could help me coz i really, really dont want my fish to die coz i spent tons of money on them.
really, i never had a fish tank before, but i had purchased my fish from Big Al's, which is a speaclist aquariam shop, for a science project. the entire point of the project was to create a closed ecosystem, which would work, for ten days.i purchased some epodilla plants (something like that) and 3 great white clould mountian minnows, and the guy said that they would be adaptable and woul survive up to a couple of weeks. the minnows, of course, survived, and so i had the idea to buy a fish tank and keep them and the plants. i decided to start a tropical tank, and i did do some resreach on the fish to see if the would survive and things.
soon, i bought a used tank, which had been used by an experienced fish owner and he gave me some tips about the tank. i cleaned everythign up, with biodigradable soap and made sure it was spik and span and than set it up and added the water into it. i didn't imdeitamately put the fish into the tank because the guy had told me that i had to let the tank set for a few days.
after the minnows had been put into the tank, a coupls days later, i purchased some more fish, so the minnows would have friends. the bid al's staff directed me towards swordfish, platys and mollies, claimin they were hardy fish and good for new set ups. i bought 2 assorted srowfish, 2 red wag platys and 2 dalmation mollies, just so they could start up the tank. soon,about a month later i got the nitrogen checked.the guy said it was fine and i should just keep maintinging the tank and cleaning it, which i did.
my brother was looking at the tank and he had noticed that there was soething floating on the top of the tank- which ended up to be a babby fish. so wat it meant was that either, my mollies, or the swordfish are going to have babies or have already had some. soon, we noticed, a couple more baby fish, so we didn't buy any fish, cause we wanted to give them a chance to live. when we went to the fish shop and asked about the baby fish, the guy said that it should be okay to add more fish as long as there is tons of hiding places- which there was. we than bought some more fish, not to many, 2 angel medium fish, 2 male guppies and 3 assorted small tropical fish.
soon, a couple of days later, after the new fish arrived in the tank, my black swordfish died. we're not sure, but i think that it possibly could be preganat and wasn't able to deliver becasue it kept going in and out of the shell. we also found it on the bottom of the tank, which perhaps also suggest that. so i cleaned the tank and than, agian, got the nitrogen checked. the guy said it was fine and to remeber cleaning it every so often.
soon, i had left for florida, for a week. bit before i left i made sure and cleadned the tank and rearranged the settings, to keep the fish interested. i also spotted a couple of baby fish. the respoinsiblity of feeding the fish i gave to my grandma, as she stayed home.
when i came back, i found two dead fish on the bottom, and my mom, who didn't come, said perivously a couple of days ago, one of the mollies had been removed coz it had died. the fish that had died, was a guppie and a red wag platy, which is believed to be preganat. we removed the fish and cleaned up the tank. the thing though, that is really irrating is that none of the minnows have died, which is really making me believe that the fish aren't able to deliver.
but i really need to know why the fish are constantly dying, becasue the tank is getting cleaned often, the fish are being fed, the filratering system is really good, the temparture is staying constant and the water is being irrated.i am not putting any chemicals in the water, currently, as i have well water and i am also checking the pH level every cleaning period. i realy would liek some some help and information about this situation. i would realld appreicatie and thanx for the help.
 

Aphotic Phoenix

Graver Girl
Jun 5, 2007
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Virginia, USA
Do you have exact numbers for:
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Ph

That info can really help us diagnose your problem better...

Also...
What kind of filter are you using?
What kind of "biodegradable soap" did you use?
What exactly do you do when you clean the tank?
 

Omega

Clowning Around
Dec 29, 2005
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You can't do a closed-ecosystem fish tank, especially not in ten days.

The reason your fish are dying is because the system can't support them, and ammonia is too high. Fish produce ammonia as waste and it's very toxic to them.

You need a cycled filter to support fish.
 

Coler

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Jan 30, 2007
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really, i never had a fish tank before, but i had purchased my fish from Big Al's, which is a speaclist aquariam shop, for a science project. the entire point of the project was to create a closed ecosystem, which would work, for ten days.
I don't understand the project. By closed do you mean it is self-sustaining and doesn't have to be externally influenced (fed/cleaned?)...clearly not as you are feeding etc.

If by closed you mean a tank of inhabitants which live healthily and happily you're describing most all of our objectives :)

In any event your tank is probably not cycled. Read that link up there in an earlier reply and see what you think.

Ph is not your problem here, its ammonia/nitrite. You need a good liquid drop test kit for these, and nitrates.

You also need a water conditioner (Seachem Prime - highly reccomended) and you likely need to be doing minimum 25% changes daily. You won't know how much changing you need until you get the test kit.
 

somethingisfish

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Jul 18, 2007
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Because i had got my nitrate and ammonia checked at a specilist aquarium shop, Big Al's, i really never had an exact number for the nitrate and anomina, but agian, all he said was that it was fine and to keep cleanign the tank. But next time when i get it checked, i will remember to get numbers for it. Also when i bought the tank, i had also receieved a pH kit, in which when i check it, it most of the time shows aklality and so i put in some sodium biphosphate, which is directed. i used a soap thats called ps, and i did consult someone, about it and they said it was fine to use when cleaning the tank, when i had purchased it. i am also using a large filter, which contains the regular filter, as well as a carbon filter and amonia filter, which i had purchased from big al's. lastly, i returned home today, july 18th, and when i got i home, i cleaned the tank up. And also i cleaned up the tank the day before i left, july 11th.
 

somethingisfish

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Jul 18, 2007
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i had my minnows in a jar, which was a ecosystem that provided the essentials and basics to them for the 10 days. than i opened the jar, after the ten days and put the fish into a new jar that was clean and everything, temporayliy, until i found them a tank. And then after a couple day i moved them into the tank, after it had settled. also, i had made sure that both jars, provided the fish enough room to swim freely.
 

somethingisfish

AC Members
Jul 18, 2007
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yep, it had to be a self-sustaining ecosystem, and there was food-plants, in there so i didn't have to feed them. i only started to feed them when i moved them into a new container, after the project had sucessfully been done, without any deaths.
anywho, thanx for the advice, and i check into the water conditioning kit.
 

Lupin

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Sep 21, 2006
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you used soap. thats whats killing off all of the fish. the residue is still hanging around the tank.

plus, you need to cycle the tank. ammoina and nitrite are deadly to fish and rise to very high levels during the cycle if they are not kept in check.
:iagree:

Soap is not recommended for cleaning the tanks. I would recommend you buy your own liquid test kit so you will be able to monitor your tank as it goes through the cycling phase.
 
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