****Freshwater Fish Emergency****

lmblocker

lmblocker

New Member
My dad had a 29 gal tank with a large number of freshwater fish. Overnight, he lost approx. 3/4 of his tank. Remaining fish are breathing rapidly with rapid fin movement but aren't swimming anywhere; they're just hovering. Any tips on what to immediately do would be appreciated. Also, tank is emmiting a strong odor.
 
lmblocker

lmblocker

New Member
many different mixed fish; i dont know the names off hand- I am a saltwater guy, i know nothing about freshwater fish names. How do you tell about the filter? filter wasnt totally clogged but was pretty full
 
lmblocker

lmblocker

New Member
Did the 3/4 tank change and the fishs' breathing level is back down from rapid to about normal. I checked the ammonia level and it came back extremely high so that seems to be the problem. Also, his pH was a little high. I told him to monitor it more and not put so many fish in there. The problem was that a neighbor was nice enough to bring over a lot of fish, too many, and my dad put them in the aquarium. This brought the fish level way too high for a 29 gal and the ammonia level went crazy. But all seems to be well now.
I am doing a water change and "all-systems-check" on my saltwater aquarium right now since I am a little freaked out about him losing almost the whole aquarium.
 
ophiura

ophiura

Active Member
The questions would be the same for a freshwater tank as salt:
Age
Filtration
Water parameters
Recent water changes
etc. A very common thing is for people to have established FW tanks with a lot of fish, don't do lots of water changes, and then decide to "clean things up." Well over time the pH has fallen and ammonia has risen, but the low pH makes it less toxic. A water change is done, bounces the pH back up, and bam...everything dies.
 
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