Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
So my wife breaks down and buys the kids some cheap little goldfish with an aquarium to put them in. Problem is, first one is bottom's up within an hour of being brought home (and not even in tank yet). 4 hours later, all 5 fishes are history. Kids are devistated. Middle one cant stop crying.
3 day replacement gaurentee. Great - if something goes wrong three more days of trama for the kids.
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Sit down and tell them the story about Red5, Famous Cone Ruler of all time and how he lived in a little fish bowl and never knew what was beyond it. When Red5 leaves his bowl and moves onto the other life, no one will care much like the cheap goldfish.
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
I remember when I was a kid and found muratic acid in my parent's shed. Not good when you add it to goldfish bowl with goldfish in it. Little eye about popped out and turned them into orange mush. My sister always wondered what happened to her goldfish. Never told her.
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Were they feeder goldfish? If so, they are generally kept in bad conditions and don't live long.
If not, then you should already have a tank at home, setup for the fish to go in. The water usually dechlorinates pretty well itself, and usually won't kill the fish. You could get some stuff to squirt in though that makes it safe for fish immediately.
They probably died because...
1) There were contaminants in the water. If you just set this tank up, were there new ornaments and gravel in it? You ought to wash that stuff off THOROUGHLY before putting them in a tank
2) The pH was vastly different between the home tank and your new tank. Gotta check that!
3) The water temp was way off. Although goldfish are usually pretty tough in this regard. But let the bag with the fish float for a good 10-15 min before you release them. This slowly evens the water temperatures
4) There is no #4
I would say #1 is the most likely. If you got a tank that was sitting open at the store and didn't wash it out, god knows what residue was in there. Maybe they use bug spray at the store, or the residue from glue from stickers was in there - who knows.
Another tip is ask the folks at the fish store how long the fish have been there. If they just came in that day, you can expect maybe a 10% or 20% casualty rate over a few days... go towards the end of the cycle just before new fish come in - that way you get the strongest of the previous stock.
Finally, how big was the tank and the fish? If this is a 2 gallow bowl and you put 4 fish in there, they probably shit themselves to death. Fish crap and piss, and this creates ammonia which is toxic to the fish. Over time, bacteria builds up which eventually converts this ammonia to (mostly) harmless nitrates. But until that bacteria builds up, your fish are susceptible to it. The thing to do is start small - maybe a 10 gallon tank and one fish or a pair at most. Get hardy fish that will survive the spike in ammonia. Change maybe 20% of the water every other day - maybe MORE often. MAKE SURE the water you put in is roughly the same temperature. This water changing will provide fresh water and dilute the ammonia enough to keep the fish alive, but leave enough to let the bacteria build up.
Hope it helps! I've got 3 aquariums - an african cichlid tank, a big 92gal hexagon community tank in my office, and a small community tank with tigers and guppies at home.
Oh, and STAY AWAY FROM GUPPIES IF YOU DONT LIKE DEAD FISH. They die like nothing I've seen. Goldfish are usually pretty hardy, but you seem to have developed an efficient way to kill them [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Quote:
Originally Posted by packetjunkie
So my wife breaks down and buys the kids some cheap little goldfish with an aquarium to put them in. Problem is, first one is bottom's up within an hour of being brought home (and not even in tank yet). 4 hours later, all 5 fishes are history. Kids are devistated. Middle one cant stop crying.
3 day replacement gaurentee. Great - if something goes wrong three more days of trama for the kids.
Me too! Killed 3 $2 goldfish. The last one lasted 2 weeks. Did the bowl first. The next fish got the bowl with a little pump filter. The last one got the 5 gallon tank. $75 for $6 worth of fish...all named Dennis (from Stanley)...all dead. I'm hoping my daughter forgets all this. We did everything by the book; drops, cleaning..the whole nine yards. I hate fish...unless they're grilled red snapper! :thumb:
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CitySnake
Quote:
Originally Posted by packetjunkie
So my wife breaks down and buys the kids some cheap little goldfish with an aquarium to put them in. Problem is, first one is bottom's up within an hour of being brought home (and not even in tank yet). 4 hours later, all 5 fishes are history. Kids are devistated. Middle one cant stop crying.
3 day replacement gaurentee. Great - if something goes wrong three more days of trama for the kids.
Me too! Killed 3 $2 goldfish. The last one lasted 2 weeks. Did the bowl first. The next fish got the bowl with a little pump filter. The last one got the 5 gallon tank. $75 for $6 worth of fish...all named Dennis (from Stanley)...all dead. I'm hoping my daughter forgets all this. We did everything by the book; drops, cleaning..the whole nine yards. I hate fish...unless they're grilled red snapper! :thumb:
Get a product called "Bio-Spira". It contains the bacteria that does the ammonia->nitrate coversion. This "instantly cycles" your tank.
There are a LOT of products that claim to do this - ALL of them have been tested and debunked as marketing BS, but this one product BioSpira is new and many people have said it actually works - so if you ask for it get THAT stuff and not a substitute. You put it in the tank then add the fish, and you're good to go.
I would start maybe with some Rasboras or Gouramis or Paradise Fish. They are very hardy and should live fine and will add some color.
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
SRT mike has good advice.....
Something had to be wayyyyyy off for them to croak within hours.
Be glad they're just goldfish, feeders are cheap at .10-.25 cents each.
Try loosing $25-$40 average priced salt water fish, I've seen a $300 purple tang, or $50-$80 corals just because the temps went up 3-4 degrees above the normal 80-81 temps 85-87 can wipe out hundreds $$$$ of corals within hours.
Now THATS something to cry about! Heck, get them a stuffed fish.........mushrooms lemon and garlic add flavour too!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
Re: Wife broke down and bought some fish.... all died!
When I was in college - on Friday nights prior to hitting the bars - we'd all meet at a buddies house to have a couple to get primed before spending $5 a beer downtown...
He had 5 piranhas in this 50 gallon tank... Well, for amusement - each one of us would stop at a fish store and we'd buy the fastest or ugliest fish - and then we'd put them all in the tank with the piranhas...
Everytime your fish got a chunk taken out of it - you'd have to slam a beer (typically the piranahas would gang up - take half of it in one bite - then finish it off seconds later when it was wondering why no rotor was left to their bodies)... And then whomever had the last fish standing - did not have to do the shot with the rest...
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