I've just killed my babies :(

[lynda66]

cleaned em out, put em back and an hour later they are nearly all dead, theres only 2 left alive ...... have no idea how it happened, but i'm now worrying about the tap water ...... if i'm not back tomorrow, someone send an ambulance

[BrideXIII]

fish? i hope so.

[kirsty b]

Is it the chicks? Or like Bride says, I hope its fish too.

Oh hun, I'm so sorry Could it be something they have eaten? have they got messy/smelly bums/nasty runny poos?
I've never had chicks as young. as yours so don't know what it could be.

[lynda66]

noooooo kirsty ....... fish ....... baby fish, that i rescued from the pond so the big fish didn't eat em

[bubblewrap]

Many years ago my father killed his fish off.
He did not rinse the tank out well enough after using bleach to clean it out.

[BrideXIII]

tap water is no good , its chlorinated, should let it stand for at least 24 hours to stabilise, or get special tablets from the pet shop.

likewise temperature is very important too, could have been too warm or cold.

best thing to do next time is actually collect water from the pond for them, rather than use tap water.

[lynda66]

i'm currently boiling the water for the chicks ...... tis the only thing i can think of that there's something wrong with it, they were dead healthy earlier

[kirsty b]

noooooo kirsty ....... fish ....... baby fish, that i rescued from the pond so the big fish didn't eat em

Thank god, nearly had a heart attack!! So far I've only heard the chicks referred to as babies. And the cats
P'raps it was the tap water

[lynda66]

Many years ago my father killed his fish off.
He did not rinse the tank out well enough after using bleach to clean it out.

only cleaned with a brand new sponge, no cleaner

tap water is no good , its chlorinated, should let it stand for at least 24 hours to stabilise, or get special tablets from the pet shop.

likewise temperature is very important too, could have been too warm or cold.

i've always used tap water, and yup i know it's not ideal, but i left it for 6 hours to reach room temp and for the chlorine to evaporate, whilst aerating it, it's never happened before

pond is far too cold ....... the big ones are still in the pond, so can't really mess with it this time of year.

[BrideXIII]

only cleaned with a brand new sponge, no cleaner



i've always used tap water, and yup i know it's not ideal, but i left it for 6 hours to reach room temp and for the chlorine to evaporate, whilst aerating it, it's never happened before

well sadly there is no guarantee on daily levels (within a certain ratio for health reasons), they do vary especially with changing temps

[lynda66]

Thank god, nearly had a heart attack!! So far I've only heard the chicks referred to as babies. And the cats
P'raps it was the tap water

sowwy ...... but then i nearly had one too when i looked at them and they were all floating

[tamsin]

You need to leave tap water 24hrs before using it. If you've got a pond they came out of them you could use water out of that.

When you say 'put them back' - does that mean you took them out of the tank and emptied it? You should only change 10-20% of the water at once and don't take the fish out of the tank. If you change all the water/empty the tank each time you destroy the 'ecosystem' its like putting them in a brand new tank instead of a mature one.

Tam

[lynda66]

well sadly there is no guarantee on daily levels (within a certain ratio for health reasons), they do vary especially with changing temps

oh well i've taken the live ones out now, and put em back in the little tank with the old water, thankfully i took 2 out for next doors kids, (they got a spongebob tank for xmas) ....... so have a tank full of the old water........ dunno what to do now though, don't want to put them back in the big tank, in case theres some bugs or something in it ........ have had fish for nearly 20 years, and i've never killed em by cleaning em out before

[lynda66]

You need to leave tap water 24hrs before using it. If you've got a pond they came out of them you could use water out of that.

When you say 'put them back' - does that mean you took them out of the tank and emptied it? You should only change 10-20% of the water at once and don't take the fish out of the tank. If you change all the water/empty the tank each time you destroy the 'ecosystem' its like putting them in a brand new tank instead of a mature one.

Tam

yeah i know, but the old water was really manky, no filter and no gravel, was only keeping em in till spring, till they grew bigger ..... might as well have left em in the pond ........ they've been in tap water since about july.

[BrideXIII]

oh well i've taken the live ones out now, and put em back in the little tank with the old water, thankfully i took 2 out for next doors kids, (they got a spongebob tank for xmas) ....... so have a tank full of the old water........ dunno what to do now though, don't want to put them back in the big tank, in case theres some bugs or something in it ........ have had fish for nearly 20 years, and i've never killed em by cleaning em out before

just top up the old tank water with water that's been left to stand 24 hours no more than 10%, they wont be any worse off than they would be in the pond.

and stop stressing hun, something odd has obviously occured this time, can't be helped.
i have to be honest for them to go that quick, it sounds more like tempareture than chlorine poisoning.