Tropical Freshwater Fish Crisis! Fish Mouth Stuck Open? Not Moving

Toxicoid

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I moved my bedroom to the basement, and to do so I had to empty my 40 gallon aquarium to transport it down the stairs.
I removed my fish; 2 angel fish, 3 green barbs, 2 comet goldish, 1 pleco, 2 silver gouramis
Yes, they all get along and I have never had any problems.

Anyways, I seperated in three separate bowls (temporarily for a few hours like I re-fill the tank etc)
Bowl 1: 2 angels
Bowl 2: 2 gouramis and pleco
Bowl 3: 2 goldfish and 3 barbs
All water in the bowls are from the original water in the tank before I emptied it.

I've had a series of problems.
First, one of my silver gouramis jumped out of its bowl (I saved it in time - it's fine now)
Then a green barb dies, literally, RANDOMLY! I come to check on him, he's dead.
Then in the same tank as the green barb, ANOTHER barb jumps out!
I noticed right away (I'm paranoid and check my fish every 10 minutes)and put him back in. I didn't think he was alive, but then he started to move his mouth and his fins. But it didn't last long. Soon his jaw locked open, he stopped moving, and I thought he was dead but noticed his fins are moving - and twitching. But it's like he's frozen (water temp is good).
Then, like 5 minutes after that, the goldfish (in the same tank) starts to go belly up. But his gills are still moving, fins are moving, eyes, etc. But he's like, paralyzed - but I don't know what happened! It was a matter of minutes I was gone!


It's like a freakin' freak show in the bowls, and I don't understand what's going on.
Will my barb and goldfish survive?
What's wrong with them?
 
Are there filters in these bowls?

No.
They weren't living in the bowls.
I just had them there temporarily for a few hours (maybe 3 or 4 hours)while I re-filled the tank.
I just finished and put the fish back in my aquarium.
One of my barbs died in the fish bowl, and the other bard which jumped out of the tank and now has a locked jaw seems to be dying as well.
I don't think he'll make it through the night.
The goldfish is still acting strange. Alive, surely, moving, yes, but it's like half of his body is paralyzed, so he's on his side.
The rest of my fish are perfectly fine.
The bowls were very large.

This has not been a good fish day. D;
 
Sorry to hear about your losses.
Did you match the tap water temp with your bowls/old tank water?
Was there any difference in pH from your old tank water and the tap water you replaced it with?

Keith.
 
Sorry to hear about your losses.
Did you match the tap water temp with your bowls/old tank water?
Was there any difference in pH from your old tank water and the tap water you replaced it with?

Keith.

I didn't change the water when keeping them in the bowls.
I used the original tank water in order to avoid any ph and bacterial problems from new tap water.
I had my problems before I put them back in the tank (tap water has been ph treated and is bacteria-free)

PS. He passed away. :(
But it's very strange, he's blown up like a balloon and is completely albino. He sunk to the bottom, mouth wide open, staring at the top.
I've never seen a dead fish react so weirdly as him. Perhaps he had an allergic reaction to the floor when he jumped out? LOL

PSS. Just came back from purchasing an air filter with air-rocks for some bubbles. I think the tank is lacking oxygen since the fish always come up to the surface for air. Got that all set up and running.


PSSS. My goldfish is perfectly fine. Don't know why she was acting so funny. I think she might have been cold, perhaps... But anyways, she's all good now. :S Such a strange day I've been having... I think my fish are playing tricks on me.
 
How small were the bowls in comparison to the fish? All I can think is that if they were relatively large compared to the bowls and had had a decent feed not too long ago the ammonia levels rocketed and this led to them trying to escape... it was also explain the random deaths. However having said that, fish manage overnight shipping fine so...

Is there any chance there could've been something in the bowls? Maybe they'd been cleaned with bleach?
 
I would say there was something toxic in bowl 3 as it was the fish in that bowl that were in trouble.
 

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