# dying fish



## kev747 (May 2, 2006)

Hi,
I have had 4 of my comet fish die in my aquarium over the last week after stupidly introducing 3 new fish,one of which died in excactly the same way.They appear to breath heavily on the bottom of the tank and within a few hours are dead,lying on their side.They water quality appears ok and there are no marks whatsoever on the fish.Is this likely to be internal bacteria infection? 

What angers me the most is that all the resident fish are over 10 years old and have been wiped out within a week.Out of 6,there are only 2 left which may be infected already.The two remaining new fish look fine though.Thanks for any replies.I'am really angry about this and am planning to go back to the shop and see if there are any dead fish in the tank I got them from.:x


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

How big is the tank you have them in and what size are all the fish?

Unfortunally you seemed to have learned the hard way, as to why you need a tank for new or sick fish. (hospital/isolation tank) Fish in any store will be stressed. They were usually just spent days in a small bag in the dark getting moved around in a truck. Then they get dropped in a overcrowded tank until moving into a smaller bag then getting driven to their perminant home. That creates alot of stress on any fish and several environmental situations that can cause stress and disease. You would be luckey to find a fish store with nodead fish. Although the better stores tend to pull them as soon as they see them.


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## jwddboy (Apr 29, 2006)

Yeh... could be bacterial. Could also be a huge number of other things brought in on the new fish. How is oxygen in the tank? Did adding the extra fish depleat oxygen capacity in the tank by a sifficient ammount do you think?


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## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

Since you had the fish for 10 years, I am not going to ask the obvious questions of tank size, water values, etc. Looks to me tlike the new fish brought something into your aquarium, i.e. bacterial infection, parasites etc.
I never quarantine my new fish either and that is a nightmare I am always afraid of facing.
The rapid breathing could be an early sign of ich. I had 2 fish die of that recently in one of my tanks (one of them was a newly bought fish) right after that the entire tank got ich and I just barely managed to safe the remaining fish.


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## kev747 (May 2, 2006)

Thanks for replies,my two remaining 12 years olds are hanging on in there and I have changed much of the water over the last two days to be safe.
The place I got the new fish from is one of those pet store supermarket jobs due to an absense of any decent fish shops in the area.Its run my kids on minimum wage so I guess its no surprise they dont care.Last year when I went the whole coldwater section was not for sale as every tank had diseased fish.

I'll try and find a more reputable shop for next time.


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## IrishKittenOWar (Mar 19, 2006)

im sorry and good luck with your fish i hope that they make it just fine.. i know it is hard to loose fish especially since you have had them ad long as you have and grown attached to them


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## kev747 (May 2, 2006)

Thanks Irishkitten
The biggest of the two older fish now has popeye and reddy pink around the gills.Its still breathing fast although the other fish are OK.I think all I can do is try a medication from the shop.


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## Alin10123 (May 22, 2005)

fish_doc said:


> How big is the tank you have them in and what size are all the fish?
> 
> Unfortunally you seemed to have learned the hard way, as to why you need a tank for new or sick fish. (hospital/isolation tank) Fish in any store will be stressed. They were usually just spent days in a small bag in the dark getting moved around in a truck. Then they get dropped in a overcrowded tank until moving into a smaller bag then getting driven to their perminant home. That creates alot of stress on any fish and several environmental situations that can cause stress and disease. You would be luckey to find a fish store with nodead fish. Although the better stores tend to pull them as soon as they see them.


Agreed! All of those fishtanks in the stores are connected via a central filtration system. So basically... if one fish has an internal parasite, chances are that it's all over. It's almost certain that your new fish you just brought home have some soft of bacteria or parasite that's looming around. A quarantine tank isn't all that expensive, nor does it have to be really big. You could get one that's just a few gallons since like one of those kits they have. You wouldn't even need the gravel. It would just have to be cycled. No need to worry about future size of the fish either since it'll only be in there 2 weeks before it goes into the main tank.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

The biggest goldfish in a system will usually be the first to die when something goes wrong, since they're the ones that need the most oxygen.


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