Thursday, July 30, 2009

New tropical fish prob?

so i got 4 little platy for my new tank. Im a begginer but followed al the rules. 2 of the 4 fish i got have died on the first day. A hoping it was shock and nothing els. When i first put the fish in they all had a kind of light white stingy fluff wen u look realy close. Could it be fungi?
Answers:
your fish died, because your tank is not cycled yet, and you might have an ammonia spike in there already
and the white stringy stuff is the slime coat coming off of them
check your ammonia and nitrite levels, and tell as what the readings are

EB
Did you allow the tank to cycle before adding your fish? Shock is a probability...something called "new tank syndrome" could be the problem.
Those white things could be worms OR fungi, though.
New tank syndrome. Did you cycle the tank first? They probably died of ammonia or nitrite poisoning, but shock may have had something to do with it.
When buying fish always look, watch them swim, check out to make sure the don't have any diseases. (Get a good book on aquarium fishes.)
Pick out the exact fish you want and make sure that is the one they net. Don't be afraid to say "hey, that's not the one I want".
I suspect the fish were sick when you purchased them. Doesn't matter if buying from a good pet shop or Wal Mart. If the person in charge of fish doesn't know beans, then you will get bad quality fish. Educate yourself to see which ones are healthy or not.
When adding any New fish or New water, always put in a product such as Start Right. Follow directions on the container. Another tip is to use bottled water, either spring or drinking. Doesn't have all the crap in it that alot of tap water does.
White, stringy "fluff" is either fungus or columnaris. Either is a disease and you do need to look closely at fish before you buy them to be very, very certain you buy disease-free fish. Not just fungus or columnaris, but there are also a variety of other diseases that you need to be familiar with. If they had this disease when you bought them, they were already sick and being a new fishkeeper, there was probably nothing you could do to save them. This is why it is best to do your research and learn about types of fish and their individual requirements, fish-to-water ratios, water cycling, proper water changes and tank maintenance, feeding and learning to identify and treat diseases before you get your fish. So, I would say, before you replace these fish, learn about all of these things so that you go into round two much more prepared. Good luck!
the disease could be 'ick' you can get medicine for it at any pet store. they are probably dying before of the cyle a new tank has to go through. if the other fish die, you may just want to get a pleco or something durable to help start your tank. a new tank has to go through a bacteria cyle before is it in good shape for fish, but you need a starter fish like a pleco to help the cycle get moving. many pet stores have pamphlets on how to get a new tank started
I would say that the fish were already sick and the shock of a new tank did it! Most petstores will refund...especially since they died the first day! Good luck...I hope the other 2 are okay.

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