# Devastated!! All fish are dying, I feel so sad



## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

Hello, 

I decided to buy a 60L fish tank about 6 months ago. I had absolutely no idea how to look after tropical fish, but they are so beautiful I wanted to learn. I cycled my tank, went to the aquatic centre weekly to get water tested (I don't know how to do it myself) and everything was great. I built the community up gradually to about 20 fish. A few fish had died over the months so I went and bought some more, but I wish I hadn't. They all died within a week and actually thinking back now they had looked pretty sorry for themselves in the shop. 2 weekends ago I noticed my catfish had a White lump on it's side. Aquatic centre gave me some medicine for the ulcer and told me I was changing too much water. Medicine didn't work. Last night discovered all my neon tetras are covered in White spots and catfish has now hit like red blisters around it's fins. all fish look really poorly, appear to be dying. I'm so upset and couldn't stop crying, it's all my fault. I have to wait til sat to go and get some help. I do everything people advise but I get lots of conflicting info.

I can't tell you right now what water quality is. It will be tested on sat. I wad changing 25% water fortnightly but have since started doing just 10%. I put the chlorine stuff in it and feed fish every other day.


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## Dally Banjo (Oct 22, 2009)

Sorry I dont know anything about fish  but I hope you get things sorted soon x


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Sorry to hear about you fish 

Exactly what kinds of fish do you have and how many of each? What type of catfish is it you have? Maybe put up some pics if you're not sure 

I can understand how confusing it is when you get conflicting advice, but personally I'd say that you need to change more water, not less, especially as you don't know what your water quality is like. Most fishkeepers tend to change about 25% of the water on a weekly basis, and thats when everything is running smoothly. As you're having problems, I'd be doing small, daily water changes.

Ideally it would be good if you could get your own test kit so you can check your water quality whenever you need to. If possible, get one of the liquid drop tests, like the API master kit, don't buy the cardboard strips as they are useless. Failing that, get the shop to write down the results when they test your water, don't let them just tell you that it's 'okay' or 'not okay' as some aquatic places frankly don't know the difference. And as yours told you that you were changing too much water, I'd be very suspicious of anything they tell you!

Try not to panic and don't beat yourself up about it. It sounds like you've had some bad advice, but I'll try to help as best as I can and see if we can save your fish


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

Hello,

Thank you for your post. I'm at work til 3pm but when I get home I'll take some photos. I've just looked online for the API kit at the pets at home shop has some in stock so I'm going there after work. Can I ask how often I need to change the filter. The shop said every 6 weeks but then I read you should never change it! Confused!! Just need to know if I should buy a new one today. 

Off the top of my head I have 10 neon tetras, 2 pangasius catfish(this is the really poorly one) 2 ghost widow tetras, 3 zebra danios, 2tetra with red stripes, 1 brown catfish which after googling I think is called corydoras melanistius and a bristle nosed catfish.

Thanks for your help


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## Clare7435 (Dec 17, 2009)

Do they have black bits on their fins? kind of like they've shrunk a little? I've lost 2 this last 2 months due to white spot/fin rot, fingers crossed since the half water change the rest are ok


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2011)

I'll keep checking this thread for pics and do my best. Zebra danios are tropical? Nobody told shadow, Ghost and Phantom that. They are doing just fine in a cold water tank with a goldfish other danios and a pleco I have had for nearly 2 years. Nobody told him he is meant to be tropical either. My pleco and danios have proved they can live with cold water fish n a cold water tank. Also when you can check your water quality.


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

The danios seem to be the hardiest of then all, they don't appear to be doing too badly despite the chaos going on around them. There isn't any black spots anywhere, just lots of White ones and red blisters. 

I took the fake plant out this morning so when I post the pics the tank might look a bit empty!!


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## Jugsmalone (Apr 11, 2011)

Clare7435 said:


> Do they have black bits on their fins? kind of like they've shrunk a little? I've lost 2 this last 2 months due to *white spot/fin rot*, fingers crossed since the half water change the rest are ok


What is white spot/fin rot? The resaon I ask is, the OH bought me a tank with fish a few years ago and they had this and they all died. I felt that bad that the fish died that I have not set the tank back up again.


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## Quinzell (Mar 14, 2011)

Awwwwww, I'm sorry  Don't beat yourself up. Honestly, almost everyone goes through something like this.

One thing I would strongly recommend is that when you get new fish, firstly observe them carefully at the LFS to make sure they don't have anything suspicious on them and then when you get them home put them into a quarantine tank (this doesn't have to be very big and can have just a sponge filter, as long as you do frequent changes). This will allow you to check the fish over a week or two to make sure that it doesn't show signs of sickness. Unfortunately, once you've added a sick fish to your display tank it can very quickly infect all the others. 

Not many fish shops tell people to QT, which kind of makes me angry as it can save people a lot of heartache in the long run.

How are you preparing and treating the water before adding it to the tank?


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

White spot seems to be a parasitic disease from what I've read. You need to watch the cycle of the parasite because they can only be killed when they are in the water. If my fish do die I'm going to get some more because I want to learn how to look after them properly. It will be rewarding being able to help other people.


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## Quinzell (Mar 14, 2011)

Jugsmalone said:


> What is white spot/fin rot? The resaon I ask is, the OH bought me a tank with fish a few years ago and they had this and they all died. I felt that bad that the fish died that I have not set the tank back up again.


White spots are often parasites that are living on the host fish. Usually, if caught early, these can be treated quite simply and effectively.

One thing that is worth pointing out is that a lot of the medications used to treat fish deplete the water of oxygen, so its always a good idea that you add an extra airline or two to a hospital tank when medicating.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Your filter contains the bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, thats the reason you cycled it to start with. If you change all the media you effectively have a new uncycled tank.
The Pangasius will eventually eat every other fish you have. They grow quite large


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

I started off letting the water stand in a bucket for 24 hours with the chlorine (and there is one other thing I put in but can't remember what it's called). Letting it stand wasn't going so well because the cats kept getting to it and putting fur in it. I now just put the water in a bucket with the chlorine and other thing, stir it around and then put it in.


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

I read that about the pangasius catfish after I bought them. They had a community sticker on at the shop I bought them from. I also told them exactly what else I had and they said it was fine. Should I put them in a separate tank? Can they live with anything else or do they need to just be with their own species? Thanks for the advice. This forum is really good!


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Are you heating the water before you put it in?


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

kelassa said:


> I read that about the pangasius catfish after I bought them. They had a community sticker on at the shop I bought them from. I also told them exactly what else I had and they said it was fine. Should I put them in a separate tank? Can they live with anything else or do they need to just be with their own species? Thanks for the advice. This forum is really good!


If you had a big enough tank you could keep them with something like tin foil barbs but the tank needs to be huge. I would take them back and never go back to a shop that was giving advise of that quality


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## Jugsmalone (Apr 11, 2011)

LouiseH said:


> White spots are often parasites that are living on the host fish. Usually, if caught early, these can be treated quite simply and effectively.
> 
> One thing that is worth pointing out is that a lot of the *medications used to treat fish deplete the water of oxygen, so its always a good idea that you add an extra airline or two to a hospital tank when medicating*.


Well I wished I'd known that at the time. The fish shop gave me the medication and didnt mention anything about depleating the water of oxygen, no wonder all my fish died 

ETA thanks for the info.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Your filter can be cleaned (in old tank water, never under the tap) either every couple of months or more often if it gets gunked up quickly. The sponges don't need to be changed until they are literally falling apart, which can take years! Even then, never change the whole lot all at once as you'll chuck out all your good bacteria. 

I think the catfish you probably need to either return to the shop or rehome. They grow several feet long so you'd need a massive tank to keep them.


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

I use water from the bath taps. I have a mixer tap and hand test the temp so it feels warm and then put it in.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

I would never use water from the hot tap that has been sat in a copper tank.
I would get myself a bucket with a lid, something like those sold for home brewing, a small heater and a small air pump. Fill the bucket from the cold tap and then leave it for a couple of days with the heater and an airstone before using it and forget about the chemical chlorine removers


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

^ I thought you had to use dechlorinator to get rid of the chloramine in tap water??


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

magpie said:


> ^ I thought you had to use dechlorinator to get rid of the chloramine in tap water??


You're right, I didn't realise all the water companies had switched to chloromine. I use an ro unit


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

I don't know if all of them have, but if yours has kelassa I think you'll need to keep using dechlorinator 

I do my water changes the same way that you do, using a mix of hot and cold water from the tap, but I have a combi boiler. I have heard that if you have an older style boiler then you shouldn't use the hot water from the tap, and will have to warm the water up with a heater before adding it to your tank.


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

I've bought the water test kit and it has come out as: (ive uploaded a photo)

pH - 7.6
Amonia - somewhere between 0 and 0.25
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - around 80ppm i think

I also bought some treatment for white spot, which I haven't put in yet just in case it isn't the right thing to do.

Sorry that the photo of the fish isn't very good - it was hard to get a good pic with them swimming about.

You can see the white spots on the Neon Tetras, and the catfish has what looks like a big hole in its side! it started off like a white bump. Around its fins / gills are red and puffy and looks really sore. 

This morning I did a 25% water change and didn't put any of the chemicals in. I also cleaned out the stones using a net.


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2011)

kelassa said:


> I've bought the water test kit and it has come out as: (ive uploaded a photo)
> 
> pH - 7.6
> Amonia - somewhere between 0 and 0.25
> ...


The White spots to me look a bit too big to b White spot (ich) pronounced ick. Are they cotton wool like the spots. I can see them but can't tell if they are cotton wool like.


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

They don't look like cotton wool. Not fluffy at all. Any ideas what else it might be?


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2011)

kelassa said:


> They don't look like cotton wool. Not fluffy at all. Any ideas what else it might be?


Hmmm might just be me how big are these spots on the smaller fish.


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## Clare7435 (Dec 17, 2009)

Jugsmalone said:


> Well I wished I'd known that at the time. The fish shop gave me the medication and didnt mention anything about depleating the water of oxygen, no wonder all my fish died
> 
> ETA thanks for the info.


I have never successful treat it with shop bought products but like many I did try the first time because i didn't know any other so I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. Catching it in early stages and removing the fish with the problem then doing a part tank change is the only way I have done it since that first time and it's been successful. Don't like taking the fish out but getting rid of one to save the rest is the best way imo


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## kelassa (Sep 13, 2011)

I think I'm going to do daily water changes for a week. I put the medicine in today but I'm not holding out much hope. I just want to make life as painless as possible for them now. Would welcome any thoughts on my water test readings.


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