1 day 2 dead fish. brown scales THIS IS TOO MUCH

[Ringo]

what the heck hppened? i left today to go do some errands, before left i did a little water change in my crowntails tank. i came back home about 2-1/2/3hours later to find my crowntail dead, in a matter of only a few hours his scales turned a ugly brown, while his fins turned a very pretty light green. anyone know what the heck happened?

[rcomeau]

First guess is that it got very stressed by the "little water change". Perhaps it made the water conditions very different too fast. Please provide some more information.

How much water did you change? Did you dechlorinate the water before adding it? What is the PH of the water added?

What is the PH, temp, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate of the water? What kind of filter? How old is the tank?

If you don't have a test kit and don't want to buy one then you might want to take a bag of water to your LFS for them to test for you.

[JustOneMore20]

you might want to take a bag of water to your LFS for them to test for you

Make sure you ask for exact values if you take it to the LFS. Most will tell you its ok or its not ok. Ask them what the values are.

[Ringo]

alright its a bowl (i am ashamed, but i cant afford anything better, i mean they can live in bowls right?) i dont dechlorinate the water, BUT i do let the water sit a minimun of 4 days before i use it. the natural ph of my water is 7.3-.4 i know its a little high.

i need a test kit for ammoniya and nitrites, i was gonna get a nitrite kit today (truthfully, i had one right in my hand) but i already went over my spending money, and yes i know i need the kits before anything else.
i will take out a loan from my parents, i mea i only have a loan from them for 800 bucks, what is a little 10 dollar bill gonna do? lol
i have some mowing jobs/odd jobs tomorrow that i have to do, i should make about 30-50 bucks (depending on how long i can stay, i have 2 jobs to do, along with cutting tons off bushes down)

i did everything they way i always do. except i just did a little change 2 days ago. today i did about a 3 cup water change in a halfG tank (please dont scold me, i know its small)

nothing unuasal about the water change, nothing differant than what i always do.

any1 know what the fish died off? why did he turn brown?

[violet]

If your water has chloramine and not chlorine just sitting will take more than 4 days. The may also be toxins like heavy metals. Unless you have a well you may want to add a water conditioner like Prime or others. More and more towns are switching to chloramine.

Some fish change color when they are upset, breeding or dead. I doubt that means much.

violet

[JustOneMore20]

How often do you change the water? In unfiltered tanks, its best to do 100% water changes every few days or atleast weekly. You should be dechlorinating the water also. If you have not been doing that all along, then I don't think that would have killed him this time.

I am not sure about the brown. If it wasn't like that before he died, it may just be because he's dead. Not sure.

Do you know what the temperature is in the bowl?

It looks to me that it could have been anything. Not doing enough water changes will cause a build up of nitrates and possibly ammonia, which could have killed him if it was high enough. It could be a sudden temperature change or the water change. Its hard to tell.

[Christine]

If you are keeping in 1/2 gallon bowls, you need to be doing 100% change DAILY (same temp water) imo. I just dont see any way partial water changes every 3 days could be enough for a container that small.... and ditto what Violet said about chloramines.. if your county uses them, you need a remover that removes chloramines (and ammonia because removing chloramines produces ammonia) it wont just evaporate out.

[Ringo]

i shipon off about 70% of the water every few days

[Christine]

If I skip ONE day of water changes in my 1/2 gallons I inevitably have 2-3 fish that develop something funky... 70% every few days is not enough IMO especially since you plan to use these fish for breeders.

[Georgia Peach]

sorry about your fishie.. I cant really offer anything that has not already been said.

[Ringo]

so change water everyday, condition, and same temp.

the water is always 72-74 degrees

[violet]

Even if your town has used chlorine in the past, if they switched to choramine it could cause an unexpected problem. When my town changed I knew ahead of time and got chloramine/ammonia remover. But I think they were unsure of just how much would be enough and put extra (just speculation). I treated the new water per instructions but a couple of fish I had kept for at least a dozen years died, both within a week. It just seemed to be a little too much of a coincidence.

With your fish there are just too many possible causes. But having enjoyed much DPW tinkering with various water supplies I have become distrustful of municipal water supplies.

If you can locate unheated tanks/bowls in warmer locations the fish will also probably have better immunity to problems. Even a higher shelf might add a degree or two.

An advantage, other than water quality, of doing daily water changes is that the water the fish is in doesn't have chance to have a big pH change which will happen with a build up of waste.

violet

[TessaAndFishies]

I know why your fish turned brown... But that is because he DIED... Not from some diease. He may have turned brown from being stressed-- I would reccomend DECHLORINATING your water.