My fish are dying.

M

Mindy

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Jan 9, 2005
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Virginia
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My son got a 5 gallon tank for Christmas from my dad, and we bought an algae eater, a silver dollar, and 3 small sharks. We had them one week, one shark died, then 2 days later another shark died, and the silver dollar died today. The shark that died 2 days ago had ich, and the silver dollar had it also. I bought something to treat it, but it obviously didn't help. After the 1st fish died, I changed the water because it was brown and smelled real bad, but the water has been clear since then. I kept the water around 72 degrees, and I got a heater last night, and it has raised the temp to about 75. What am I doing wrong?

Mindy
 
Hey Mindy, nice of you to join us here at AC. :)

I agree with Mayree. Take back the fish ASAP, then come back here and glean some Newbie info from this forum on subjects like cycling, species selection, tank maintenance etc. and ask us anything you like in the meantime. Once you get the idea, fishkeeping is pretty simple and rewarding. Sorry about your fish, how is your son taking it?
 
They are all dead now, except one shark and an algae eater. When we bought the shark that is still alive, it said that it only grew to 4-5 inches long. We are going to get a bigger tank, a 55 gallon one, but we want to make sure we can actually take care of them first. What would have caused all of them to die so fast?

Mindy
 
My son is 3 and a half, and he actually took it very well. In about a month, we are going to get the larger tank, but we just wanted to start with these to make sure they will make it. We also bought them at Wal-Mart, so we can not take the two remaining fish back because they won't accept returns on fish after 3 days. The shark that we have left seems to be doing really good, the only thing that I find strange about it is that it likes to sit right beside the small heater we have, sometime it even lays on the heater, not sure why though.

Mindy
 
Sounds like you're going through a crash-course introduction to the hobby! A good place to start would be to read the sticky on the nitrogen cycle. You'll need to do daily water changes for the first while, because your tank isn't cycled - helpful bacteria that break down ammonia in the tank need time to build up in the filter. Until the bacterial colony develops, your fish are vulnerable to poisoning from their own wastes, and water changes are essential to dilute it during the 'breaking in' period.
Mayree's right, those fish will get too large for a 5.5g tank. Check out AC's fish profiles to find some fish that are more appropriate. Just to give you a couple examples, you could try a betta, a small group of neon tetras, a couple white cloud mountain minnows or a few small barbs - if you're new to the hobby it's probably best to understock the tank, there's less chance for things to go wrong.
Welcome to the hobby and to AC :D
[edit] ah, didn't see your latest post before I posted. If you're unable to return them, and you aren't able to get a larger tank right now, you may have to do an awful lot of water changes on the tank. It's commonly believed that smaller tanks are easier, but IMHO the 55g would be much easier - there's less margin for error with a larger volume of water. [/edit]
 
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You need to cycle the tank before its safe for fish. There are some stickies at the top of the Newbie forum that go into some detail. Google it and you'll find piles more.

The nutshell version is that the fish are producing ammonia as metabolic waste. It'll kill them at fairly low concentrations.

Over the first little bit that you have your tank a bacterial cycle will establish itself (usually takes 4-8 weeks). Beneficial Bacteria will colonize your tank and "eat" the ammonia, converting it to Nitrites, which are still toxic. Other Bacteria will move in and eat the Nitrites, converting them to Nitrates. Nitrates aren't especially toxic but should be kept at reasonably low levels using water changes. You can follow the whole process using test kits.

You can also do a fishless cycle that'll get the whole thing going without fish.

Deaths are unfortunately fairly common during a fishy cycle.

Keep us updated. Folks around here happy to help.

Edit: keep the amount of food light, keep the water a little on the cool side (like room temp 68-72 is fine for now) and do water changes with dechlorinated water. Try 50% daily until you can get some test kits. That'll help.
 
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Wow, our Wal-Mart has a 90 day guarantee on their live fish sales. Says so right on their baggies that they send them home in.
 
Mindy, welcome. When I first started out in October my 3 and 1/2 yr old son got his first fish for free. He even named him. About a month later, due to my lack of fish keeping knowledge, the goldfish, which he named Frank (don't ask me why) died.

At that age they are amazing, he took it very well. We now have a 2 1/2g w/a male betta and two dwarf spotted cories (soon to have a new home a 20g). He loves these fish too. He even named the Betta, Frank Jr.

Like everyone said read, read, read and then read again. I have learned so much here in the past 2 months it is amazing.

Good luck to you.
Take care
 
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