HEEEEEELLLLPPPP!!!!!! Anyone! Over here!!!!!!

[KickArseQueen]

PLease someone help me!! We bought 5 fish from a pet shop 2 days ago they have been fine since they went in, fins up, happy, eating. Tonight 2 calico fantails went upsidedown, I thought it was just the buoyancy issue they often have, started thawing some peas for them, b4 I could give them the peas they were dead.

There were 2 goldfish and a pregnant danio in the tank too and literally withing minutes the 2 goldfish went sideways.

I dechlorinated a bucket of water at as close a temp as I could get it by feel and put the goldfish straight in, 1 I think was dead anyway, the other picked up a bit and now isn't reacting.

the danio is floating in a bag in another bucket of water from my hot tank 50/50 with cold fresh tap water and its been dechlorinated. do I put her in?? leave her?? help! my dd loves this fish we have been keping fish for nearly 20 years and I have never seen fish go this fast! help!

[EauRouge]

Morning.

Crikey, sounds like things aren't going too well. Is it a new tank? Did you do a fishless cycle?

Got a few questions-
How big is the tank?
How many fish and what kind?
What are the most recent water test results?
What are the symptoms the fish have, any red or black patches that weren't there before? Any excess body mucus?

Danios don't technically get pregnant , they are egg layers. If it's looking particularly fat then it may be an internal infection. If it's gravid then it should just be slightly plump.

If you don't have a spare mature filter or a hospital tank then I'd put the danio back in.

I've got to go out this morning but I'll check in again this afternoon. If your tank is new then this might be helpful, if it's been set up a while then does this sound familiar?

[KickArseQueen]

Hiya, Thanks for coming back to me, I'm sorry I didn't come back until now! :) I put the danio into the container of dechlorinated water after 40 mins floating, she was fine, stayed with her till 5.30am when I finally went to bed. At 7.30 she was still fine. I checked her every 20 mins or so at 9.10 she was fine, eating swimming normally, at 9.30 she was dead. :(

I've had the water tested and the nitrite levels etc are slightly high, but I'm told not enough to cause this type of reaction, they all went from swimming / eating to dead inside 20 mins. Very nice manager in petshop has said to clean tank out completely, start from scratch. He's given me a bottle of water treatment and a bottle of live bacteria to get the tank healthy and then I'm to go back, get the water checked and if its all ok he will replace the fish for free. Its not an old tank, the loss of so many fish in such a short space of time is ( to me ) just bizzare. Thanks for replying! :)

[EauRouge]

Make sure you do a fishless cycle (instructions in that first link I posted) before you get any new fish, those bottles of live bacteria are mostly expensive snake oil. I would suspect a pH crash or something for the fish to go that quickly. Do you live in a soft water area?

[KickArseQueen]

Hi Eau, I will check your link :) very very hard water here...

[EauRouge]

Hmm, I wonder what could have caused it then... If it was very sudden then there's a chance they may have been shocked by a piece of equipment like a filter or heater. I'm sure you do it anyway but be sure to turn off all the electrical stuff before you stick your hands in!