Fish At Bottom Of Tank

[Priscilla]

I have a problem in one of my 2 tanks. Both are 20 gal & I do about a 20% change of water weekly if that much hasn't already evaporated.

I cleaned the filter about a week ago & noticed the fish in this tank were kind of skittish even then.
Today I found 2 dead fish, one of my 2 tiger barbs & a large rosy barb.
I got them out of the tank but noticed the remaining 5 fish were at the bottom of the tank & seem to be struggling...like they're breathing fast??? I took another net, caught them & put them in the tank above. Thank tank is already at a capacity it can safely hold.
The tiger & 1 rosy are still struggling after being in there a half hr or so but the others seem to be a bit better.
I don't understand what has happened. I haven't changed anything other than the filter media...no new fish or plants introduced.
I'm in process of emptying this tank but need to wait for my husband to help me. I had neck surgery & unable to lift the tank with or without stone in it. Once it's cleaned it will have to be re-filled but I have no way of settling 20 gallons of water before using it...At most I can fill a couple of 2.5 gal pails at a time so if the other fish survive it may be a week before I can return them to this tank.
I have a 5 gal tank set up in the other room that I've used for fry in the past but can't find the external filter for it nor even the small filter & pump I used ....my husband is always hiding my stuff!

This tank has always had algae growing on the sides of the tank which I though strange as it gets the least amount of daylight being on the bottom & very little light enters either one as they are on a south wall in my living room & we have the curtains closed 99% of the time.

Can someone tell me what happened & what I can or should do?
Thanks, Priscilla

 

[WILDER]

Do you have water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, how many fish in the tank, full list, any spots on them like they have been sprinkled in salt.

 

[Angel Lady]

Why are you going to empty the one tank out forThis will mess up your cycle..Also it would help if you post your readings nitrites and ammonia, ph, nitrates. This sounds to me like one of them are high..

 

[Priscilla]

Do you have water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph, how many fish in the tank, full list, any spots on them like they have been sprinkled in salt.

I went looking for the test kit....it's gone too! Probably buried in the garage along with my Christmas lights if I know my husband! He's not home yet. I'm also missing 2 or 3 pumps, 2 smaller tanks & all but 1 fish net.

There's no physical signs of anything on these fish. Other than being on the bottom of the tank & appearing to be struggling to breathe I saw nothing else. I doubt they will survive no matter what I do at this point but who knows?

As I had stated I cleaned the filter & changed charcoal & zeolite but did this again after I pulled out the 2 dead fish.
All I had in it were 2 tiger barbs & 5 rosy barbs....I went to feed them this morning & found the tiger floating at the top...it wasn't until I started to vaccuum that the dead rosy was found...probably had been stuck in the plants that were disturbed by my moving the siphon in the tank...

I should have investigated when I noticed they were acting strangely....I'm so tired all the time & really don't have the energy to do much of anything any longer. I take some pretty strong pain medicine for my spinal diseases.
I work a full time job over an hour's drive from home, I'm sick, I have a cat with thyroid disease who takes meds & we give IV fluids to.
I'm also in the process of having to switch medicine for another condition which will mean 2 hospital stays....my plate is pretty full at this time. If it were a matter of some 'normal' (whatever normal is!) infection I have or can get medicine to treat it.

When the last are gone that's it for me...the tanks will go to my oldest daughter.
Neither tank has been taken down for cleaning since 3/2001...1 month before I had 2 disks taken from my neck & was laid up unable to do anything for 14 months.
The bottom tank looks awful & I know I'll pay a high price (PAIN) for cleaning it but obviously there's something wrong in that tank & I believe the best thing at this point is to clean it & everything in it.

Hobbies like fish keeping are for people who have the time, health & energy to enjoy them...I did but don't any longer I guess. My older cat really enjoyed watching them but she died a year ago.
These tanks were originally set up so I could over-winter a few fish for my backyard ponds but they became a hunting ground for raccoons & stray cats so no more fish in them.
The barbs have been breeding for years. The pet shop up the street used to take them but it closed about 5 yrs ago...my stepdaughter worked at Walmart for awhile in the pet dept. & took them but she's not there any longer. I've no time to look around for another to take the excess fish + it was extra work I hadn't expected to have anyway...they multiply faster than guppies!
Priscilla

 

[Priscilla]

The remaining tiger is dying now...I suspect at least one other rosy will die too...maybe all that were in that tank will die. My guess at this point is that possibly bacteria has been building up since the other 2 died...I don't know what's wrong...I'm not a fish doctor! I do know both tigers were alive last night but not certain about the large rosy who may have been dead for a few days as I didn't see it until I was moving the plants today.
I pulled the tiger out of the tank & see nothing wrong externally...no spots, no white slime or tufts, no tail rot...nothing....I suppose I will lose all of them because I didn't put them in the other smaller tank but it wasn't ready (no filter & no heater)....it is now...I installed the filter that was in the 20 gal tank & the plugged in the heater. I know I had stated that tank was a 5 gal but it's a 10 gal.

I've had sick fish in years past but they had diseases I could see & I didn't lose all of them...mainly the tigers who harassed each other & biting until the others got infected. I segregated them, treated the tank & everything was fine.
Should I take the others out & put them in the small tank? If I do this is there something I should treat that tank with? Salt maybe?
I will miss the tigers although they are a real pain after they mature to deal with...their name really suits them well!
Priscilla

 

[WILDER]

Sorry for your problems, yes it a full time hobby, you do need to spend time on them, so i can see with your health problems that's it's hard for you, i would preform a water change, not good when they are heavy breathing, wan't to see if a water change will alter anything.

 

[Priscilla]

Sorry for your problems, yes it a full time hobby, you do need to spend time on them, so i can see with your health problems that's it's hard for you, i would preform a water change, not good when they are heavy breathing, wan't to see if a water change will alter anything.

The remaining tiger & another barb died within an hour of each other. This morning there were 2 more dead....one I had taken out of the tank last night & another one in the tank. I suspect the remaining 2 will die today....they aren't eating.
I think I will do a water change on that tank today. Because I've kept them in my ponds I know Rosy barbs are fairly tolerant of water temp changes so I'm not worried about using some water straight from the tap. We're on a well so chlorine isn't an issue. I have about 3 gallons or so sitting since yesterday.

I cleaned the other tank but I couldn't do as good a job as I had in the past. It had a lot of algea + lime from our hard water. I can still faintly smell the Lime Away & I don't think I will set it up again. I'm one of those who won't use something that has any unnatural odor. I've used this product in the past & had no problems returning fish to the tanks but I don't ever remember smelling it after I rinsed the tanks. I can't see real well but I can SMELL!

Now I have to find something to put the stone in after it dries. I used my 2 big pots to boil it so nothing can be cooked until it's off the stove.
My low & middle back are really hurting me today. I went in to try to finish cleaning the hood bent over & it feels like something is scratching me on my back (nerve damage).
Priscilla

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I think i know what killed your fish but first i need to know a couple of things about how you go about your tank cleaning regime;

a. Do you use dechlorinator of any form and do you wash your filters out in tap water or clean them out completely?
b. Have you removed more than 60% of the water recently and how often do you do water changes and how much on average?

I would not use your old test kits if they have been sitting in a garage for a long period of time, as they age they can go off and moisture can tamper with them as well.
Im sorry about the loss of your fish, do you have any left?

 

[Priscilla]

I think i know what killed your fish but first i need to know a couple of things about how you go about your tank cleaning regime;

a. Do you use dechlorinator of any form and do you wash your filters out in tap water or clean them out completely?
b. Have you removed more than 60% of the water recently and how often do you do water changes and how much on average?

I would not use your old test kits if they have been sitting in a garage for a long period of time, as they age they can go off and moisture can tamper with them as well.
Im sorry about the loss of your fish, do you have any left?

I have a well....no need to dechlorinate as there's no chlorine added to the water.
The bottom tank was thoroughly cleaned & all water replaced....this is the 1st time either tank has been taken down since 2001 & only because I lost most of the fish at one time. The fish in the upper tank were doing good until I moved some to the bottom tank.

I found my pond test kit...the caps are missing as is the the vial to check the ph...they were in the house & I used those to check after finding another fish dead today. As the caps are plastic, I used a plastic bag over the top of the vial.
No ammonia but the nitrite is about as high as it can get! Water turned dark immediately after adding drops.
WHY
The 2 vials are rinsed now but I would like to check the other tank's water too.....these tanks are identical as are the filters on them.
And I've never had this problem before.
I generally exchange 2.5 to 5 gal at a time depending if I have 2 buckets of water sitting. I admit I have been behind in schedule in doing this & cleaning the filters too but the bottom filter was cleaned about a week or so before the fish started dying. I have since cleaned the filter in the upper tank & those fish are still doing fine.

I bought a pelleted fish food ...maybe a month or less ago but they don't seem to like it. I was alternating between this & flake food. Could this be part of the problem? But then why aren't the fish in the upper tank dying???
I scooped out the few that were floating in the tank within a few minutes of feeding them last night as i could see they weren't going to eat it anyway.
These fish were some that were in the upper tank which I had thought was overcrowded.
I had lost all but 2 I think of the ones in the lower tank.
I also think I stressed them pretty badly while trying to catch them last week... one had a problem with it's eye. I put that fish by itself in the 10 gal tank in the other room but can't keep it there as I have no filter in it...only a pump supplying air. That fish is doing fine now....the swelling & redness is gone.

The fish now in the lower tank are acting the way all the others did that died.
I don't understand what's going on here at all & way too upset to even think.
I'm certainly glad I didn't go out & buy more tiger barbs.
Priscilla

 

[WILDER]

Iwould preform a water change with the high nitrite, i'm afraid high nitrites can kill fish fast, if there immune system has shut down and they have been weakened.

Not the writer of this information
Symptoms of nitrite poisoning include gasping and rapid gill movements, which could be mistaken for a shortage of oxygen. In extreme cases, fish can actually die of suffocation because nitrite binds to the oxygen-carrying component (haemoglobin) in the blood.

 

[Priscilla]

I think i know what killed your fish but first i need to know a couple of things about how you go about your tank cleaning regime;

a. Do you use dechlorinator of any form and do you wash your filters out in tap water or clean them out completely?

No, as I don't have chlorinated water.... Yes, I always wash the filters in tap water. No I do not get them really clean as I don't have anything that can really clean them well. I do have one spare filter I could use if I could find where my husband hid the motor for it!

b. Have you removed more than 60% of the water recently and how often do you do water changes and how much on average?

No & have never changed that much water at one time.

I would not use your old test kits if they have been sitting in a garage for a long period of time, as they age they can go off and moisture can tamper with them as well.
Im sorry about the loss of your fish, do you have any left?

I just came home with a 'fresh kit & I don't know if anything else can go wrong. I uncapped the bottle of the nitrite testing solution. It had no dropper part on it....not knowing this before I took the cap off I wasn't really concerned about spillage.... you can guess what happened....the bottle tipped over & spilled all over my sink counter. UGH! What a waste!
Anyway....I then pulled the dropper part from the old testing solution & put that on the new bottle.

Nitrite is giving same result as old pond test solution did...5.0.

Nitrate is 5.0.
What do I do.. change water? Add salt?

BTW... the only reason I let water set before using is to bring it up to room temp.
Priscilla

 

[Priscilla]

I changed about a third of the water yesterday....same test results today.
I also added abt 5 tsps of aquarium salt yesterday.
I don't know what else to do. The water in top tank tested fine but even those fish were hiding from me yesterday so I didn't feed. They seem to be better ....coming up to top of tank to be fed.
There's about 7 rosy barbs in each tank....I hate to stress those in the bottom tank trying to catch them but the alternative seems much worse.
Priscilla