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i am not sure wat i should do i recently lost all but three fish in my 20 gallon tank last wensday 11/3 from a disease so i did a full water change on my tank and now the three fish remaining are doing fine i have nothing in there but two live plants right now but should i wait longer to get new fish or is my tank ready for new fish and the water parameters are good im just not sure if getting new fish will cause stress on my old fish if u can help me i appreciate it

Be careful! The answer obviously depends on what killed your fish.

I had a bacterial disease (entered the system on a plant) that wiped out the entire tank or close to the entire tank without effecting water parameters at all. A few fish would survive and look fine so I would restock and things would be great for a short period of time. But a water change or a stressful situation would reactivate the bacteria and the tank would die again. I used chemicals to kill the bacteria, changed the decor and water along with many other trials but the problem kept coming back until I nuked the entire system. I emptied the tank, threw away everything that was practical to replace, placed everything else in the tank and ran a bleach/water combo through it for hours at a time, multiple times. Then spent about a month cleaning and re-cleaning to make sure the bleach was gone, let it sit empty for a month and started from scratch. The tank has thrived since then.

Of course, there are many other possibilities. My best answer is move slowly and concentrate on finding out what caused the problem and how to correct it in the future instead of re-stocking. My ordeal was long and frustrating but the research followed by trial and error leading to discovery was a huge learning experience that greatly improved my fish keeping skills.

This is a great sight to start the research side of things. Some people here were very helpful to me. Start by providing as many details as you can. Tank size, stocking levels, any water parameters you have, events or additions before the deaths, cleaning schedule, whatever you can think of. It's amazing what little piece of information can lead to an answer. Good luck, hopefully its an easy fix.

thank you very much i will definatly take into consideration what you said because i did a full water change so maybe i got rid of wat ever the problem was so ill buy like a few new cheap fish to see how things go thanks alot

Be careful when doing a full water change. You got rid of the disease (hopefully) and also got rid of your beneficial bacteria! I recently bought some stress-zyme at my local department store and have had few problems with my fish. I have been dosing with Pima-Fix, which helps cure fungus and bacteria. Doing this will help clear up any remaining fungus/bacteria remaining in your tank.

I've got a fever... and the only prescription... is more cowbell!

As KM stated about the PrimaFix, but MelaFix is better. Try adding some Melafix as the directions state. The PrimaFix is more for the fungus stuff. If you can afford it, it is better if you use both for a while. They will work fine this way. If you read the print on the bottle of PrimaFix, it states works best when used together with the MelaFix.

HTH....

Last edited by ACIDRAIN at 14-Nov-2004 11:02

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