A bit dramatic, but it can happen, as stress makes fish vulnerable to diseases and premature deaths. If you started questioning why the fish in your tank keeps dying after having some gorgeous, gentle giants dying in your tank for no apparent reason, there are two quick measures you can take:. Having a new fish die soon after you introduce it into your tank can be the result of an unsuccessful transfer. Along with the stress of being put in a bag and going on a wild ride, there are plenty of things that can go wrong during a transfer.
Small or fancy fish with long flowy fins are incredibly sensitive to transfers. Unfortunately, they can easily get injured even when trying to get them into a fishnet. This can easily happen with smaller fish species, not just large and messy ones. Overcrowding and fish never having refuge areas to hide in when stressed can be a recipe for disaster and a big reason why your fish keep dying. This type of excessive water change can send your tank into shock.
In a well-established tank that gets regular water changes, fish will rarely be faced with unstable water parameters. As the water in your aquarium is the enclosed environment that sustains your fish, you can only imagine how important maintaining optimal water quality is to keeping fish disease-free and, well, alive! There are plenty of factors that can cause water quality to drop, and most of them have more to do with unstable water parameters than anything else. Most aquarium fish have a pretty set range of water parameters they prefer and need to survive!
Some fish species are hardier than others, but most fish can only tolerate a narrow range of temperature water. Quick temperature swings can put fish at risk for diseases, stress-overload, and death.
Water temperature changes inside an aquarium can occur fairly easily:. Use the images and descriptions below to determine what's wrong, then click through for treatment advice. How to treat unexplained fish death in an aquarium. What does it look like?
What are the fish doing? What should I do? Why does this happen and how do I prevent it? Some other issues that could cause unexplained fish death are: De-oxygenation — in this case often only the larger fish will have died because they have a higher oxygen requirement. Acute systemic bacterial infection — fish die before exhibiting many physical symptoms.
What treatment should I use? Easy Test Master Test Kit The secret of trouble free aquarium fishkeeping is ensuring your fish live in ideal water conditions. Unfortunately the key toxins and pH are invisible to the naked eye. Find out more Where to buy. Found this useful? Share this through social media.
It is the most frequently asked question about aquarium fish. Each year, people buy millions of aquarium fish. Most of the fish species have a natural lifespan of at least several years. Some of them can live up to a decade or more in the wild. Somehow most of the fish died within weeks after purchase. Many of them died within days, or even within hours. They are the most mistreated pet animal in the world. For sure, fish are fragile creatures compare to us.
It does not mean they died for no reason at all. There is always a cause. Majority fish deaths are due to some beginner mistakes we can identify and avoid. Some of the errors are more common than others. For example, A lot of the fish deaths occurred soon after new fish are introduced. Also, a lot of fish deaths took place after a massive water change. Some other fish died after a large feeding. Anyway, the majority of them died in the first month.
In the following, we will discuss the top 13 most common causes of aquarium fish deaths and how to avoid them. They are not necessarily in any order. Some of them are closely related. Fish died in shock because there is a sudden large change in water temperature, PH, hardness, etc.
Since fishes have no body heat, they are sensitive to sudden changes in water temperature. Water PH and water hardness can also affect them if there is a sudden large swing. When you brought the fish home from a pet shop, or from elsewhere, it is usually in a plastic bag of water. It is most likely the water in the plastic bag is very different from the water in your home aquarium. If the fish are in severe shock, they usually die within hours, if not by the next day or two.
Most of the quick deaths of fish are due to shock. Tap water is perfectly fine for aquarium fish as long as you have used an aquarium water conditioner.
Without the aquarium water conditioner, the chlorine and chloramine in the tap water can kill the fish. Solution : Just buy a bottle of aquarium water conditioner. They are available everywhere. A single bottle can last for a very long time. And it works almost immediately when you add it to the tap water. Since the majority of the fish in aquarium fish trade are tropical fish, they are more sensitive to the water temperature.
Solution : We must use an aquarium heater in a tropical fish aquarium, or the fish will freeze to death. Fish needs dissolved oxygen in the water. They will die if the dissolved oxygen in the fish tank runs out. Several things can cause it to happen. The fish tank is too small. Less water means less dissolved air. Overstocked the aquarium with too many fish. The more fish you have, the more oxygen they need. The water temperature is too high. The higher the water temperature, the less dissolved oxygen.
There is no air pump. Solution: Get an aquarium air pump. It can greatly increase the rate of gas exchange between the water and atmosphere. An aquarium filter is mandatory. It is for biological filtration. As a result, toxic ammonia will build up and kill the fish. Fish produce ammonia as a waste product. Their poop along with leftover fish food will rot and produce more ammonia.
Ammonia is toxic to fish. The concentration of ammonia must stay at 0ppm part per million to be safe for the fish. A new aquarium filter must be fully cycled to maintain the aquarium nitrogen cycle.
During which time, ammonia and nitrite will build up. Both will increase to a very high concentration before they decrease.
Most if not all fish will die before you can fully cycle the filter in a new aquarium. Solution : Do fishless cycling before adding any fish. Or get a bottle of live bacteria products such as Tetra SafeStart to jump-start the aquarium nitrogen cycle. Overfeed fish can cause a digestive problem and kill the fish directly. More food than it is needed can also cause water pollution and create more toxic ammonia and nitrite which will kill the fish too. Solution : Feed the fish only once a day, with no more food than they can eat in less than a minute.
In this case, less is better. A small fish tank has very little water.
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