Why can't I keep fish alive...

jgoldsney · #1 03-13-2007, 05:58 PM

I have had the worst luck lately with keeping fish alive.....I am taking more care now than I ever have to acclimatize the fish but frankly I had better luck when I followed the not so good advice of a former LFS that reccomended just dumping the fish in the tank.

All my parameters seem to be normal but fish seem to be fine one day and gone the next.

Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

I am honnestly thinking of saying to heck with it and getting a tank full of bright blue damsels, they are cheap, they look good and they are tough.

bubblepuffer · #2 03-13-2007, 06:11 PM

I am not expert myself, but if all kind of fish end up dead in your tank.. I am thinking some kind of poison in the water or bacteria and also make sure there is no Real Dead Decorative of coral, starfish or anything in the tank that from a craft store.. those thing will leach poison or chemical into tank water

Justusfish · #3 03-13-2007, 06:25 PM

What parameters are you measuring?

Do you have any plastic or metal items in there that might be leaching chemicals into the tank?

Are you treating your water with buffers or using reverse osmosis?

On the other hand, you can get some wicked damsels and there is a fair variety of them.

findingnemo1 · #4 03-13-2007, 07:06 PM

What about your oxygen levels? Do you have enough powerheads and water movement at the top of the water? Maybe youare not getting enough gas exchange and they are suffocating. When do they die? At night or day?

kwirky · #5 03-13-2007, 08:49 PM

I'd recommend seeing if the LFS will allow you to place a deposit on the fish, then let them stay at the store for a week before you bring them home for quarantine. Sometimes the brand new arivals at the LFS are experiencing lots of trauma from shipping and need a bit of extra time to recover before they're shipped a second time to a tank at your house.

Plus, it's better for it to die a day later at the LFS, than a tank at your house. Takes yourself out of the equation in it's death, and saves you money. Most places will let you re-apply the deposit to another fish.

Black Phantom · #6 03-13-2007, 09:56 PM

You need to give us a bit more information. And don't always trust a test kit. Borrow or buy a different brand for ammonia and try that. What kind of water are you using. What sort of symptoms do the fish show before they die.
Check your RO filters. Are they clogged and letting chlorine and other chemicals in.
Do a chlorine test.
Hope some of this helps