Fish are Dying...

[Wuzi]

My mom's tank is about 50cm by 15cm. Now she only had 6 fish in the tank and 3 died all today.

Now for the history. We placed a concerte crocodile into the tank a week ago that was fairly old out in the garden (only small) and placed sea shells (washed) in there 2 weeks ago.

She also had a newspaper sitting on top of the tank cos the top glass was broken and this morning she found it had fallen into the water. We also got a new filter yesterday and I was wondering if maybe the ink poisoned the fish? Because she's worried about buying more incase they die. Currently the white fantail has his gills out really far and seems to be breathing difficultly. We changed the water and everything. Does anyone have any insight to what maybe killing them?

Also, in my tank (2 ft by 1 ft) do Black Moors prefer swimming and sleeping at the bottom of the tank? Mine seem to always be there and I was wondering if they're sick or something.

 

[hondaman]

Well there are a few things going on that could be the cause. But before anyone here can give you an answer we need to know the following:

1) How old is the tank?
2) What are your water parameters?
3) New filter? What happened with the old one?
4) What did you do the concrete Crocodile before putting it into the tank?
5) What color is the water? Can you tell it's been "inked"?

Let us know this so we can help. I will however recommend an immediate water change.

 

[Wuzi]

Well there are a few things going on that could be the cause. But before anyone here can give you an answer we need to know the following:

1) How old is the tank?
2) What are your water parameters?
3) New filter? What happened with the old one?
4) What did you do the concrete Crocodile before putting it into the tank?
5) What color is the water? Can you tell it's been "inked"?

Let us know this so we can help. I will however recommend an immediate water change.

1. Around a month old.
2. As in the depth of the tank? About 45cms.
3. The old one was clogged cos one of our little angels called Stripe rips live plants to pieces for fun. So we had to buy a filter he couldn't clog lol.
4. Mom said she washed it in warm water.
5. Clear. No you can't.

We're stumped.

 

[BucJason]

1. Around a month old.
2. As in the depth of the tank? About 45cms.
3. The old one was clogged cos one of our little angels called Stripe rips live plants to pieces for fun. So we had to buy a filter he couldn't clog lol.
4. Mom said she washed it in warm water.
5. Clear. No you can't.

We're stumped.

Wuzi , 1st thing you need to do is go buy a Master Test kit, and test the water for high ammonia and nitrites...I'll bet that's the problem. Probably when you changed filters it sent your tank into another "Cycle " and you are seeing an ammonia spike....if that's the problem you need to do 50% water change to bring it down and save your other fish, but 1st you need to determine that really is the problem. So if you can , go buy a test kit, until then I wouldn't buy any new fish either.

 

[liv2padl]

your moms tank is about 8 gallons. you cannot maintain more than one small goldfish in 8 gallons of water ... and that's why your fish are dying. check your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels as well as your ph. i'm guessing you've got toxic levels.

 

[hondaman]

Well by parameters i mean your water conditions. Hardness, PH, Nitrate, Nitrites, Ammonia, and so on. Also how often do you change your water?

It sounds to me that you may have 3 things killing your fish. Here is my opinion in order of most likely to least.

1) You say your tank is 1 month old. Your tank may be cycling, to confirm this we need those water readings. I said before I would do an immediate 50%water change. Now did you replace the entire filter or just the filter media?

2) Concrete Leeching. Concrete has some bad stuff in it by nature that can leech into the tank. It is generally not recommended to add concrete to any tank. In this case especially since it was in a garden. I would assume that through time any fertilizers or chems could have been absorbed into the concrete. I would say, remove it.

3) Ink Leeching. This could also be contributing but probably not. I am in marketing and I do know that the EPA mandates all newspaper inks to be non-toxic to humans and animals. If anything I would think that the paper itself dissolved into the water would be more of a problem.

In any case, get us those water readings, remove the crocodile, and change your water.

 

[Wuzi]

Well by parameters i mean your water conditions. Hardness, PH, Nitrate, Nitrites, Ammonia, and so on. Also how often do you change your water?

It sounds to me that you may have 3 things killing your fish. Here is my opinion in order of most likely to least.

1) You say your tank is 1 month old. Your tank may be cycling, to confirm this we need those water readings. I said before I would do an immediate 50%water change. Now did you replace the entire filter or just the filter media?

2) Concrete Leeching. Concrete has some bad stuff in it by nature that can leech into the tank. It is generally not recommended to add concrete to any tank. In this case especially since it was in a garden. I would assume that through time any fertilizers or chems could have been absorbed into the concrete. I would say, remove it.

3) Ink Leeching. This could also be contributing but probably not. I am in marketing and I do know that the EPA mandates all newspaper inks to be non-toxic to humans and animals. If anything I would think that the paper itself dissolved into the water would be more of a problem.

In any case, get us those water readings, remove the crocodile, and change your water.

Alright. Taken out the Crocodile and cahnged the water! Thanks very much!