My Fish Are Dying What Do I Do?
[ad#HTML]Recommended Treatment
Treatment for Fish Disease in Tropical Fish and Goldfish.
If your tropical fish or goldfish show Signs of Stress or Disease, give them the Recommended Treatment. It’s difficult to determine exactly what makes tropical fish and goldfish sick, but we always use the same 6-step treatment, and that treatment is given on this page.
Do the six steps listed below in order starting at Step 1 and ending at Step 6.
Clean Your Fish’s Home.
Clean Your Fish Bowl
Clean Your Cool Water Aquarium
Clean Your Warm Water Aquarium
Clean Your Fish Pond
The first step is to clean your fish’s home. Don’t overreact and completely tear it apart and scrub everything. Just follow the advice given at the appropriate link above.
Clean the Gravel. Fish Bowls should have a layer of gravel about 1/4 inch thick, but aquariums with an external power filter with a BIO-Wheel do not need gravel. In an aquarium with a BIO-Wheel the gravel is just ornamental. The fish don’t need the gravel. If you do have gravel, make sure it’s at most 1/4 inch thick. Click on one of the underlined items listed below to read more about how to clean gravel.
Cleaning the Gravel in Cool Water Aquariums
Cleaning the Gravel in Warm Water Aquariums
You can avoid many problems with your fish’s health by not having any gravel in your aquarium or by keeping a very thin layer of gravel.
Change Some Water. Remove and replace some of the water in your fish’s home.
Change Water in Fish Bowls
Change Water in Cool Water Aquariums
Change Water in Warm Water Aquariums
Change Water in Fish Ponds
Repeat water changes every day until the fish are no longer showing Sign of Stress or Disease. Remember don’t change more than 20% of the water in one day.
Add Quick Cure. The dosage on the package is 1 drop of Quick Cure for each gallon of aquarium water or 1 drop per two gallons for Tetra Fish. Elsewhere we’ve read advice to use only a half dose on delicate fish such as Clown Loaches and Elephant Noses, but we’ve found it’s safe to use a full dose on these fish. Your results may vary.
So, for example, a 10-gallon aquarium gets 10 drops of Quick Cure, or 5 drops if there are Tetra Fish.
“Use one drop per gallon daily on all fish except those of the Tetra Group. For Tetra – Use 1 drop for every 2 gallons daily.”
“Remove charcoal or carbon from filtration system during treatment.” But our tests show that leaving charcoal or carbon in the filtration system does not affect the treatment, so we recommend you leave the charcoal or carbon in your filtration system, and leave the filter turned on and pumping during the treatment.
Add Aquarium Salt. The dose recommended on the package label is one Tablespoon of Aquarium Salt per five gallons of aquarium water. So, for example, a 10-gallon aquarium gets 2 Tablespoons of Aquarium Salt. Do not repeat the salt and do not use iodized table salt. Aquarium Salt is available in many stores that sell pet fish.
Treating Ponds. You can also use Aquarium Salt and Quick Cure to treat the fish in your pond. The dosage is the same, but it may be more difficult to determine the volume of your pond. Click here for more information about measuring and calculating the volume of your aquarium or pond.
Increase the Temperature of the water.If the fish you’re treating are in a warm water aquarium with an aquarium heater, carefully increase the temperature of the water by 4 degrees to a maximum of 82 degrees F.
Even if your fish are coldwater fish such as Goldfish, it will probably help them to increase the water temperature by 4 degrees to a maximum of about 78 degrees. This is somewhat controversial, but I have tested it for many years. It often helps and rarely hurts.
After 3 or 4 days lower the temperature by 4 degrees, and continue every 3 or 4 days to adjust the temperature up and down by 4 degrees.
What not to Do.
Do not use other medications or treatments. Do not add more fish until all the Signs of Stress and Disease are gone, and your fish have recovered. Do not completely tear your fish’s home apart and clean it.
Read More on: How To Start a Fish Tank
