Why are my fish dying?

Question

I recently got a fish tank and got it all set up only to realize a few days later that my fish all died? Why are my fish dying? With a new tank I thought that there wouldn’t be any reason to have dead fish. However, my fish are still dying. Anybody help?

Answer 1

Most fish owners think that when their fish get sick and die that they need to put medication in the tank. However, this is usually far from the truth and if a lot of fish have died there is probably a more serious issue that needs to be addressed. Most often, water quality of the tank is what will kill fish the fastest. There are a variety of issues from poor water quality such as uncycled tanks, insufficient filtration, not enough waste removal, and too many fish for the tank. There are also other issues such as too many decorative items in the tank or new items put in the tank that were not properly cleaned before being place. It is almost always necessary to balance the water in a tank before fish can even be added. Balancing out ammonia and nitrate levels are an absolute must so that your fish will thrive in a healthy environment.

Answer 2

Most people who have never owned an aquarium are excited to take the tank home, fill it with water, and immediately put their fish in. The next question that new tank owners almost always have is why are my fish dying? One of the most common rookie mistakes of new tank owners is not allowing the fish tank to cycle. A cycle is something that helps establish healthy tank bacteria, which breaks down ammonia from fish waste. Without having the bacteria in place the ammonia is essentially poisonous to the fish. Overfeeding is also a common problem that happens with new tank owners because the fish food with create too much ammonia for the fish to survive in when it sits on the bottom of the tank and rots away. Let your tank run for at least a week before adding new fish so that you don’t have to wonder why all of them are dying.

Answer 3

I recently was given a 55 gallon fish tank when I bought my house. The tank already had fish in it but it hadn’t been maintained that well. There were two very large fish in the bottle of the tank that seemed to be thriving. So I set to the task of getting the entire tank cleaned up and set out to purchase new fish. I bought smaller fish to put in the tank because I wanted a little bit of variety and figured that I would add more fish as I got the tank established.

After a day a few of the small fish had died. I figured it was because the tank needed some extra time to cycle through the cleaning that I had just given it. There were still four or five fish of the new ones that I bought that were still alive. A few more days went by and then they died as well. I checked the temperature, I checked my water chemical levels, and everything seemed normal. I bought two goldfish thinking that if they died I wouldn’t be out much money. That day they were perfectly fine. The next morning, one of them was dead. What the heck was going on? That night I was sitting in the living room and was up late when out of no where one of the bigger fish that was in the tank swam up and attacked the goldfish, killing it instantly. Apparently, that particular type of fish was only active at night. While they weren’t typically aggressive, since this fish had been in the tank with only other bigger fish it was being territorial. I immediately removed the fish and took it to my local pet store so that someone who had a large tank and only wanted big fish. Needless to say this stopped my fish from dying and I was careful to always check with my pet store to make sure I could mix my fish together so they would all stay alive.