# dead fish!!!



## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

ok for some reason i came home from school and my female red wag was dead but before she died i did notice her hideing alot and the other fish bite her why did she die? heres a pic


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

As always, how often do you change water?


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

Along with water change schedule, when she gave birth, did you seperate her from the rest of the fish like we said you should? Often times when fish give birth, just live humans, they are really tired and succeptable to all sorts of diseases and stress.

We need more information than that she died. Like every time you post a question, I feel bad because we can never help you because we don't have enough information.

You should be doing a 25-30% water change every week, do not over feed, and get a test kit if you havnt already. It is money that will be well spent and make the hobby a lot more enjoyable for you, and it will be able to help us help you.


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

trashion said:


> As always, how often do you change water?


im sure its not on water change


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

justintrask said:


> Along with water change schedule, when she gave birth, did you seperate her from the rest of the fish like we said you should? Often times when fish give birth, just live humans, they are really tired and succeptable to all sorts of diseases and stress.
> 
> We need more information than that she died. Like every time you post a question, I feel bad because we can never help you because we don't have enough information.
> 
> You should be doing a 25-30% water change every week, do not over feed, and get a test kit if you havnt already. It is money that will be well spent and make the hobby a lot more enjoyable for you, and it will be able to help us help you.


she never gave birth the other one did


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

What does that mean? I asked you how often you change water...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The three main causes of fish death are poor water quality, aggression from other fish and disease. You can always change more water to improve the water quality. You should watch your fish to check for aggression. You need to see symptons in a live fish to diagnose and treat for a specific disease. Its very hard to tell from a corpse what killed the fish. And its very hard to cure a disease without knowing what it is.


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

trashion said:


> What does that mean? I asked you how often you change water...


monthly


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

but all my other fish are fine


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## Buggy (Oct 17, 2006)

They may seem fine for now but that doesn't necessarily mean they will continue to be fine. You need to do the water changes every week. 
Do you have a test kit?


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

We tell you every time you post a question like this that you need to do a water change once a week, and get a test kit. You keep doing them once a month, which honestly i don't think you do, but that's besides the point. You really NEED to start doing weekly changes.


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

i do change the water 1 a month but if i do it weekly i need to give it time to establish the good bacteria


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

no, the bacteria is in the filter. You do have a filter, right?


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## Buggy (Oct 17, 2006)

PARTIAL water changes won't deplete your good bacteria. By "partial" we mean 20% - 30% or about 3 gallons. Just sipon the old water out and put fresh, dechlorinated water back in. Do this once a week, say..every Saturday afternoon...and you will hopfully see a decrease in fish death and an improvement in your fishes health. You are still avoiding our most asked question....
Do You Have A Test Kit???


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

i did buy one that you could you use it 25 times but it ran out 3 months ago and i did not have time to buy another on but i will and ok i will take away 3 gallons of water every week


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## fishboy23 (Feb 18, 2006)

Buggy said:


> PARTIAL water changes won't deplete your good bacteria. By "partial" we mean 20% - 30% or about 3 gallons. Just sipon the old water out and put fresh, dechlorinated water back in. Do this once a week, say..every Saturday afternoon...and you will hopfully see a decrease in fish death and an improvement in your fishes health. You are still avoiding our most asked question....
> Do You Have A Test Kit???


Psst...20-30% of 20 gallons is 4-6 gallons...not 3...
And as for the test kit...see "is this ok?" posts...



elvis332 said:


> i did buy one that you could you use it 25 times but it ran out 3 months ago and i did not have time to buy another on but i will and ok i will take away 3 gallons of water every week


Do this and your tank will be empty in approximately a month and a half...I suggest you replace the water with fresh.  
I'll be honest here, though, I'd be surprised if you had to do weekly changes in your relatively lightly stocked 20...you could easily get by with every 2 weeks. However, do like a lot of people do and shoot for once a week, if you miss one, oh well...I highly doubt you'll lose fish if it goes without a change for 14 days...provided you have a filter on the tank...
Aside: have you thought of adding plants? Nothing special needed, just some java moss or anubias...I find just a few work wonders on making a tank a more friendly place for it's inhabitants. Just a thought. (helps with bacteria too)


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## Suess00 (Sep 5, 2008)

I do water changes every 7-10 days and I got a big tank. I usually change around 6-7 gallons per cleaning and if you have life plants that helps out alot also with toxic waste and water conditions.

Also i agree with everyone else with over feeding watch it, fish can survive a long time with no food so just take it easy when feeding. 

You dont have a big tank but a pretty good amount of fish. So think about the waste all your fish deposit on a daily basis and then multiply that by 30 to 35 days that is alot of fish waste (poop). That will spike your ammonia level which in turn raises your Nitrate and Nitrite levels (which can be reduced if you purchase plants)

Once you start to do weekley water changes you can tell almost instantly when there is something wrong with your tank, I know I can tell pretty quick if something is up with mine. I got my tank down so good I only do monthly water tests which the last 4 months have came back perfect. Which in turn gives me 0 ZERO fish deaths since i had my tank and that includes Shrimp lol.


Just try it


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

ok so i should do 4-5 gallon water change each week


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## Buggy (Oct 17, 2006)

Ok, so I miscalculated. lol 
Go with 6 gallons and you should be good.


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

ok ill go with 6 gallons each week


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## Fishfrenz (Jul 22, 2011)

that same thing happened to me but i had a sunburst platy. did the fish hide towards the gravel???


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## GloFish1999 (May 14, 2011)

I had a Red wag platy and when she died she looked like that. See how it sorta looks like her scales are coming off? I asked a person at PetSmart what it was, she said it was from a severe case of velvet. :'( I miss Berry...


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

GloFish1999 said:


> I had a Red wag platy and when she died she looked like that. See how it sorta looks like her scales are coming off? I asked a person at PetSmart what it was, she said it was from a severe case of velvet. :'( I miss Berry...


9/10 times, never listen to anyone at petsmart.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

This thread is 3 years old now. Be careful about how old the posts you are bringing back are. It's okay to bring them back sometimes, but make sure it's something worthy of the topic and that you have solid advice/information to add.


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## elvis332 (Dec 29, 2007)

Yeah its pretty old.I just came back after a long time.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Plant the tank as heavy as you can and you wont need to do water changes at all, just top it off once in a while. We know you aren't going to keep with a w/c schedule so just plant the tank.


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## PostShawn (Dec 22, 2009)

I have a 20g too. I got one of those 5 gallon buckets at Home Depot for like $3. I basically fill that bucket once a week with tank water and replace. That's 25%. 20-30% of a 20gallon is 4-6 gallons.


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