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FISH! also it died... but turtles!

RaneadosRaneados police apologistyou shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
edited September 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
so my roommate got a 5 gallon tank to keep his 2 pretty small turtles in (red-eared sliders)

and he got one of those sucker-fish dealies as well... can't find a picture of it but it's like 2 inches long and black/gray/brown patterned

kind of like this http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c397/Raneados/camoflage.png comoflage-like

he has

the tank
a filter
water
turtle food
the sucker fish's food


he's getting a light for the turtles soon, I think, but they're pretty content as it is.


problem is, about 4 hours after he bought the sucker fish, it's dead, he's taking it back to the store now while I do this... the guy at the store said the turtles and the fish share the same environment, so it'd be okay. The turtles didn't kill the thing, didn't even pay attention to it.

1) what happened?
2) what kind of fish was it?
3) are the turtles/fish missing anything to survive?

Raneados on

Posts

  • NateVaderNateVader Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Was the water treated to get rid of all the nasty chemicals in tap water? And did he let the fish get accustomed to the water temp in the bag it came in before he let it loose in the aquarium?

    NateVader on
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  • RaneadosRaneados police apologist you shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    NateVader wrote: »
    Was the water treated to get rid of all the nasty chemicals in tap water? And did he let the fish get accustomed to the water temp in the bag it came in before he let it loose in the aquarium?

    yes and yes

    Raneados on
  • RaneadosRaneados police apologist you shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    sorry, it's not a 5 gallon tank I think.... how do you find out the tank size by its measurements?

    Raneados on
  • RaneadosRaneados police apologist you shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    it's a 10 gallon, apparently

    also, they DID treat the water before they put the fish in, apparently

    they didn't float the bag, though

    plus when he was let into the tank, he swam fullspeed into one of the sides. Then kind of floated down to the bottom for a while.

    can fish get concussions?

    Raneados on
  • wrong_buttonwrong_button Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Wondering if maybe the fish was a plecostomus (wikipedia link, I'm sorry). Those are pretty common algae-eatin' sucker-type fish for freshwater aquariums.

    You do need to make sure you buy a water treatment rather than chucking it into tap water - chlorine and whatnot do not a happy fish make - the chemical shock could have very well killed it.

    Edit - well, if the water was treated, make sure the temperature wasn't too hot/cold. You probably want the water between 72-80ish. And float him in the bag to slowly let it adjust to the temperature. Good luck!

    wrong_button on
  • RaneadosRaneados police apologist you shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    that's the fish

    and they did treat the water

    Raneados on
  • supabeastsupabeast Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    The fish may very well have died of shock. Being moved around like that isn’t easy on fish, and if the bag the fish is in is not given 15+ minutes in the new water slowly shift temperatures, the added shock could very well have killed it.

    supabeast on
  • Liquid HellzLiquid Hellz Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Also turtles are very poopy, as in they poop alot.. I wonder if that could harm the fish being in such a contained enviroment as well.

    Liquid Hellz on
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  • RaneadosRaneados police apologist you shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    the turtles went in the same time as the fish

    I guess it was the shock of the new water

    D:

    Raneados on
  • RaneadosRaneados police apologist you shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2007
    any other final suggestions before this threads sinks horribly into the depths of H/A's unfinished business?

    Raneados on
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    The turtle food might have done it. I used to have a pet tortoise, and the kind of stuff it ate would probably gag a fish. I don't know if turtles eat the same stuff.

    MKR on
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  • starmanbrandstarmanbrand Registered User regular
    edited September 2007
    Unless it did injure itself against the glass, it was probably a combination of shock and nitrate poisoning.

    If you don't know anything about keeping fish, it's really hard to just start throwing stuff in a tank and hoping for survival.

    You have to buy a couple hearty fish and let them crap in the water for a while, while you keep doing the partial water change.

    This builds up beneficial bacteria that basically eat the crap and convert it from nitrates to nitrites, if I recall correctly.

    This makes the water much less lethal.

    Oh and if you didn't know the gallon of the tank, the chemicals you put it to remove to chlorination might have been too weak for it?

    starmanbrand on
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