All my fish died but...

pet_lover2370 · New member Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 8

All my fish died, but my Algae Eater. Another person told me my catfish was gasping for air. He was a three inch catfish in a five gallon tank. Also, I haven't asked about my goldfish. I got them at the fair and I had them for three weeks. They looked fine when I got them and all the three weeks, but it all turned when they started to not really swim alot. I had three goldfish in the five gallon tank. They were fine until the end of the third week. They started acting wierd. They stayed near the ground. Every morning they would wake up and almost get caught in the fake plants I have in there. 2 of them died on Friday the 20th. I was going to clean out the tank and I went back. The third one was leaning dead on it's side. What do you think they died from Question

Shineillusion · Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 10:33 pm Post subject:

Your fish died because you had way too many fish for your tank. Gold fish need a minimum of about 30 gallons each.

A five gallon tank isn't large enough for anything but maybe a Betta or a couple of guppies.

kc5gvn · Moderator Joined: 15 Mar 2004 Posts: 1147

Hi pet_lover2370, Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm guessing you origanally set up the tank when you got the 3 Goldfish, and as soon as they died you tried to put the Catfish in. At three weeks your tank would be in the middle of a cycle with high ammonia levels and increasing nitrite levels. Definately not a time to be adding any fish to a tank. Even so, as Shineillusion stated, your tank was way overstocked. Everyone of the fish in the tank, by themselves, need more than 5 gallons.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

I suggest you return all your current fish that are still alive to the LFS. Then read and make sure you fully understand the follow article on cycling a tank (especially using the fishless method). Then ask here (or at the very least do some serious research) for advice on what fish are actually appropriate for your size of tank (with a 5 gallon, there's not going to be many).

http://flippersandfins.net/Cycling.htm

-Chelle

pet_lover2370 · New member Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 8

Well, I just found black parasites inside the filter I just changed. Does that mean anything to you? Here is the Description.

Little Black Worms
Crawling Left and Right
All over the Filter

I never saw them on the fish... maybe they died from a disease, but my Algae Eater is still alive.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

Sounds more like planaria (a harmless worm). They're common in very dirty, overstocked, and over fed tanks.

Your fish are most likely dieing from poor water quality associated with being in a horribly overstock tank. I still suggest you return the algae eater before it dies too.

-Chelle