urgent need advice

Abz · Member Joined: 04 Apr 2004 Posts: 40

ok 1 of the 3 little fish just died.. I can't see any signs of illness in the other 2 or on the dead one. The water tested ok so I'm not sure what it could be.. they were in a little coldwater tank till the 12 gallon is done cycling and I was wondering maybe if they are in fact tropical, is this the temperature beginning to affect them??
The other 2 are really active although 1 is less brightly coloured than the other...
So can somebody please answer this: if you put a tropical fish into room temperature water, how long would it take to show signs of illness or die?
I need to know if this is whats happening so I know if I need to bring them to a pet store.. disgusting as the conditions there are, at least they'll have warm water..
Thanks Sad

tina1 · Senior Member Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 651

do you know the names of the fish? Or could you give a description or a picture? If they are indeed tropical fish it won't take them long to feel the effects of cold water. Once when our power was out for a few hours the water turned quite cold (for tropical standards) and the fish started dying just from that short of an exposure. Temperature swings are very stressful to fish. There are small aquarium heaters that wal-mart sells for about $6, I'd suggest getting one of those to go into the coldwater tank so at least you can keep your fish. Coldwater fish generally adjust better to warmer temperatures than tropicals do to coldwater.

Laura05 · Member Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 144 Location: USA

What kind of fish are they?

Abz · Member Joined: 04 Apr 2004 Posts: 40

thats a problem.. I posted here to try find out what they are but no luck Sad

I asked for white cloud minnows and the guy gave me these..
I'm not sure what they are because the shop keeps white clouds mixed with other fish in both tropical and coldwater tanks so these guys could have come from either temperature.
They are 1 inch long, orange coloured, green eyes, red in fins, and 1 has black specks on his body. they look like minnows but definately not white clouds.
I'v had them for over a week in the coldwater... so does that mean they are coldwater.. or like white clouds, can tolerate both temperatures?

I can't contact the shop because they don't have a phone and they are miles away, I only went there especially to get a bigger tank..
I'v looked at loads of sites but I can't find them anywhere.. nothing even similar Confused

Laura05 · Member Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 144 Location: USA

it may help some.. it has quite a few pics of different fish on there. And lots of other usefull info!

*edit* doh!! I forgot to put the link! Shocked

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/feedingfish/l/bldiets.htm

this is the same site... but it is where the pics are...
http://freshaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.petra-aq.comp.cz%2Fgallery.htm

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

Since you haven't been able to figure out what they are, and therefore don't know of any special care they may require, it might be best to just return them.

-Chelle

Hooben · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 1:40 pm Post subject:

Sounds like your little tank didn't have any filter, right? Sometimes I have to keep a fish out of a filtered tank, without a heater. This is sometimes necessary since I have 7 different tanks. When I have to do this, I use a 5 gallon bucket and place an airstone inside. Then I place the bucket in the warmest part of the house. Tropical fishes will live for quite a while in that setup if you don't feed them. Feeding will just worsen the water quality faster. It is never a good idea to hold fishes in this predicament, especially when waiting for a tank to cycle. This is just for emergencies or for fishes waiting to go somewhere else.

I agree, take the fishes back and buy from a reputable dealer. The LFS probably wont pay you for the fishes you take back, but leave them there anyways!

Good luck!

Abz · Member Joined: 04 Apr 2004 Posts: 40

well I had decided to bring them to a local fish store because the other one is just so far away there's no way I could get a lift (i'm still waiting for my license Mad

)
sigh but this morning the paler one was dead..
I took him out and checked for signs of anything wrong but I couldn't see anything.. so then I focused on the last one, he was swimming oddly , spinning, not in circes just spinning and when I stirred the water slightly, he allowed himself to be carried backwards instead of swimming..
so I did a 50% water change and had a closer look at the fish while he was in a clear jug.. I noticed a tiny little thing on his mouth that looked like the start of a fungus.. so I put in some anti fungus meds and a little bit of aquarium salt... but he died around an hour later..
There was no filter because i'm waiting for the main tank to cycle and I wanted to plant it before I put them in so they'd have shelter from the bigger fish. they were in a little 2 gallon but the water was fine because I redid the tests..
sigh well i'm not sure what caused the death but after researching a bit it seems unlikely it was the temp because if so they should have died ages ago.
hmm well on the bright side.. the purple fellow that came with them is perfect, he is swimming really fast with the minnows and his colour has becme really striking.. thats a good sign right? if you get a grey fish and he turns purple?? Smile

thanks for the advice anyways guys Sad