- Products
- Help & Advice
- Blog
- 10 things to avoid with your new fishBringing home a new fish is exciting, but there’s also lots to think about. To help you out, we’ve listed 10 things to avoid with your new fish.
- How to maintain good water quality in your fish tankTop tips on maintaining good water quality in your fish tank
- Why is water quality such a big issue when it comes to fishkeeping?Why is water quality such a big issue when it comes to fishkeeping?
- All Blog Entries
- 10 things to avoid with your new fishBringing home a new fish is exciting, but there’s also lots to think about. To help you out, we’ve listed 10 things to avoid with your new fish.
- Store Finder
- Trade Enquiries
- Contact Us
- Products
- Help & Advice
- Blog
- 10 things to avoid with your new fishBringing home a new fish is exciting, but there’s also lots to think about. To help you out, we’ve listed 10 things to avoid with your new fish.
- How to maintain good water quality in your fish tankTop tips on maintaining good water quality in your fish tank
- Why is water quality such a big issue when it comes to fishkeeping?Why is water quality such a big issue when it comes to fishkeeping?
- All Blog Entries
- 10 things to avoid with your new fishBringing home a new fish is exciting, but there’s also lots to think about. To help you out, we’ve listed 10 things to avoid with your new fish.
- Store Finder
- Trade Enquiries
- Contact Us
Previous Questions
- Fish Care
- Aquarium - Maintenance and Care
- Set Up & Maintenance
- Does my aquarium need gravel or substrate?
- How long should I leave my aquarium lights on for?
- What maintenance should I do on my aquarium?
- What is a biological filter?
- How do I calculate the volume of water in my aquarium / pond?
- When can I add new fish to my tank?
- Can I add tap water directly to my aquarium?
- Water Quality
- How often should I change the aquarium water?
- How often should I clean my aquarium?
- How can I eradicate algae from my aquarium?
- Why are nitrite levels slowly creeping up in my new tank set up?
- Why does my aquarium water have a pale yellow tinge to it?
- What causes cloudy water in my aquarium?
- What is Water Hardness?
- How can I test the water in my aquarium?
- Set Up & Maintenance
- Fishkeeping Myth Busting
Several of my fish have died. What's killed them?
There are many reasons why some of your fish have died. You need to review everything that may have occurred in your aquarium
in the last 3 weeks or so.
There are some basic questions that you can ask yourself that will help you to understand what has happened:
- Check the water quality – are there any unusual results? Are the ammonia and nitrite at a safe level? You can use King British 6 in 1 Test Strips to test your water quality.
- Check the dead fish and your remaining fish for any signs of infection or disease. Are there any unusual marks, wounds, spots or growths on them?
- Have you recently used a water treatment or medicine? If so, how much did you put in? Did you follow all the instructions correctly?
- Have you recently changed the water or carried out any tank maintenance?
- Have you recently added any new fish or plants?
- Have you recently changed foods, or added any live foods?
The most common cause of fish health problems is poor water quality, so this might be the initial problem. However, poor
water quality may have caused poor health indirectly, by making the fish more susceptible to a disease. You need to check
for any signs of disease on the fish, because any surviving fish may need to be treated. This may give you the answer
to what killed them. There are a large number of infections, diseases and parasites that can be fatal to fish and it
is very important that you find out what it is so that you can treat the tank.
A good starting point is using King British Disease Clear - this a broad spectrum treatment that is helpful against most bacterial or fungal infections, and ideal for use when the root cuase of a problem is unknown.