I bought a fish tank and my fish keep dying/ what do i do?

Add a bottle of aqua-safe dechlorinator (this will remove the harmful chemicals) to the water and follow the instructions exactly. Your tank should be ready for some new fish in about seven days. Make sure that before you add the fish you put the bag in the water to let the water temp acclimate for 15 mins.(this will prevent your fish from going into shock). Do you have a heater for your tank. Heaters are a must for tropical fish. They keep the temperature balanced. It sounds like you put your fish in the tank too early, you sould always allow at least a week to let the water "age" before you add your fish. The cloudiness you are experiencing is normal. This is a good sign that the healthy bacteria the fish need is growing in the water. All you can do for them now is to wait.I wish you and your new aquatic friends the best and happy fishkeeping.

For my tap water, chlorine is added by the water company to keep the water germ-free. The chlorine can kill your fish (like it kills germs). Use the correct amount of de-chlorine chemical -- per your pet store adviser. Make sure the water is the correct temperature and pH. Some pet fish tolerate harsh water and some are extremely intolerant to harsh water.

fry them and then eat them

BIOLOGICAL CYCLE EXPLAINED. After tank has been set up/water is added plus a water conditioner(de-clorinator), Heater (if needed) is hooked up, and filter is running properly. Once the mechanicals have been established as working properly, and the tank has had at a min. 24-48 hours to de-clorinate, you can then add fish. First you must decide on what kind of fish you plan to keep, then (with help of petstore) pick out a hardy species of "starter fish" a fish compatable with the ones your planing on keeping. BIOLOGICAL CYCLE- when you first introduce your "starter fish" to your tank they will introduce fishy waste. Fishy waste is Ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to fish, But as this is happening there are good bacterias starting to form/colonize in your gravel called "benefical bacteria" They like to eat ammonia. So the fish and the bacteria have a relationship of sorts, fish do not die from ammonia and bacteria can live on it. As the bacteria eats it breaks the ammn. down into nitrite. This nitrite is Usually only present during your first month, then the bacteria breaks it down to nitrates. Nitrates can be harmfull after a period of time as the levels will eventually begin to "build up" in the tank. This is when you as the owner of the tank will need to step in and do a water change. This is also will tell you when to do a water change. Anyways, in your first day of having fish, and since the bacteria just got started it will only be able to support a small amount of fish to begin with. This is why you want hardy starter fish and they need to be the only fish in there for the first month. As your tank cycle you will have Spikes in your water chemistry that is very hard on your fish. These spikes will happen every seven days for the first month. THere are supplements you can add to the water to help with this (cycle,or stress zyme) are good products. As your tank cycles your water might get hazy. This process not unusuall. RECAP .... remember to feed your fish small amounts of food during the month of cycling, fish will not eat as much food due to the chemical shifts/spikes. Pick out hardy species, and do not add to many, any fish in excess of what the bacteria can support will die. IF you ever have any doubt or concern about your tank at anytime your first step will always be Test your water. From the test you can with help fiqure out what problems might be going on in your fishes enviroment. Also certain fish should not be used for cycling i will list some incase the petstore you go to is ignorant. NEver use any type of Molly, Platy, Guppy, or Swordtail they are livebearers and very sensitive to the water peramiters. No scaless fish, that includes algae eaters, cory cats/catfish species. Although most tetras are hardy fish the exceptions are neon tetras and cardinal tetras who are sensitive to water. Good luck

well me and my friend won 11 fish at our school picnic and they all died every thing was fine. I found out that some breeds of fish don't live that long try a dffrent area and... research a lot of fish then pick on and buy one

My fish were doing the same thing. This last fish I got has lived for a long time now. Instead of using tap water with the drops buy some spring water by the gallon at walmart. U may come out spending more depending on how big your tank is but if u want ur fish to live this is the best way good luck

Go ask the people that sold it to you.

Buy some cloudy water drops and put it in the water. Dont put to much of anything. Then i would recamend AquaSafe to keep the Chlorine and other stuff dangerous to fish.

you feed them to much dont feed them as much i had mt fish for 3 years i dont clean out the tank but once a year you should not feed them alot it make water cloudy

sorry to hear that but you must put water in the tank

Chances are your tank also smells like a kitty litter box, or smells of ammonia. What is happening is that the ammonia levels in your tank have spiked due to not having enough bacteria in the water to consume all of the available ammonia and nitrites that are in your tank because the nitrogen cycle has not completed. The average nitrogen cycle takes anywhere from 4-6 weeks. There are several ways to cycle your tank: Fishless cycling: you'll have to research it on the web, I'm not very familiar with it. It involves not adding any fish into your aquarium for a period of several weeks and building up the bacteria that consume the excess ammonia by adding household ammonia to the water at a specified rate.The old fashioned way: waiting it out, testing the ammonia and nitrogen levels in your tank on a daily basis and preforming water changes to try to keep the fish that you have in the tank alive. You need to keep the fish alive because they are helping to build the bio-load of the tank by producing ammonia through their waste and from the left over food. If this is the option that you choose, I would recommend a cheap and hardy fish that can stand extreme conditions. I have used zebra danios in the past, you can usually find the common ones on sale for around 3 for a $1. Lastly, here is a new product on the market called Bio-Spira. It is typically available at most pet stores (I know that Petland carries it) and costs between $10-20, a small packet is enough to cycle a 30 gallon tank. This is a refrigerated product that has been developed to essentially fast forward the nitrogen cycle. Pet stores will try to sell you Cycle and Stress Coat in place of Bio Spira-- these are NOT the same and DO NOT do the same thing. Bio Spira contains the bacteria that consume ammonia and other toxins in the water. This product is refrigerated so that the bacteria stay dormant. I have used this product with much success. About 6 months ago, I started a 30 gallon tank using Bio Spira and added angelfish and neon tetras that day. All have survived. When using this product, fish have to be added within 24 hours and I would recommend adding fish when you add the Bio Spira, otherwise the bacteria will die off because they have no ammonia or nitrites to feed on. You cannot overdose an aquarium on Bio-Spira. This is easiest way to cycle a tank provided that you can find the Bio-Spira.Since you already have fish in the aquarium, if you choose to use the Bio-Spira, I would place the fish in a empty butter bowl or some other container until you can preform a complete water change of the aquarium, adding both a de-chlorinator to remove the chlorine, and the Bio-Spira. Once these are added you can immediately re-introduce the fish to the aquarium. As others have said you also want to make sure that gravel has been washed thoroughly. If you are using carbon filtration you also want to make sure that the water is running through the carbon is clear otherwise the carbon particles in the water can become trapped in the fishes gills as well.

Your fish are dieng because the tank isn't ready for them. Fish need bacteria to survive this is called a biological filter (B.F). It does all the work in your tank. You don't have one yet.The B.F takes all of the poop your fish make and then turns it into a harmless substance. Without the B.F. your water becomes cloudy your ammonia goes up and your fish die.To build a B.F. you need patience. The most difficult thing someone can ask for. Essentially let your tank run- everything on- without fish in it for a couple of days. The fish that were in there left some waste behind. This will grow some microscopic bacteria. Then you can add ONE fish. He will produce waste increasing the amount of bacteria. After a week or so you can add another fish. If you put a whole lot of fish in at the same time your ecosystem is slammed. Nature kills some of the fish off to balance it out.This is often referred to as cycling your tank, the Nitrogen cycle and New Tank Syndrome.When you do water changes never remove more then 1/3 of the water and never remove the gravel(buy a gravel vacuum). This is where the bacteria live. Really "cleaning" your tank is actually just killing the B.F. Then you have to start the cycle over and you will probably lose a lot of fish again.Good Luck!!!