Ok we have something that looks like oil on the top of the tank, our fish are dieing off one by one. We have changed some of the water, but thinking it needs a full change out. Can anyone tell me what i need to do as im not sure what to do when changing all the water and what to do with the fish while its being cleaned. Oh there tropical fish.

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lucifus@hotmail.com - feel free to add.

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oh dear... sorry to hear bout fish... but i am dumb when it comes to fish??? can u put them in a dif tank while u clean it??? have u recently added a new fish??

AS much as it pains me have yo spilt anything in the tank ?
either way drop the water down to as low as it will go and top up with water aprox the same temp ,its drastic but it might save a few of your fish

have you got surface movement or not ....is tank open top ......dont do full change as that will add to the stress ...also do a water test ...whats your normal tank maintenance ie water changes filter cleaning ...how often and how do you clean filter

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dont mess with the best cause the best dont mess

I agree with both of the above. Do a 50% water change, check nothing got in the tank. Add lots of surface agitation, and that should get rid of it.

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Agree, I owuld suggest moving the fish into another tank whilst you sort your tank out!
Are you treating the water when you do a water change?
could be something from tap water etc?

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You do get oily scums on the tops of tanks sometimes.

Sometimes its from teh food you're feeding and sometimes its cos stuff (like food and bits of dead plant) are rotting down in the tank.

You can remove the oily stuff with kitchen towel (plain), lay it on the surface of teh water and then lift it off. Might allow a bit more gas exchange, the main reason for fish suddenly dying is either other fish or low oxygen in my experience.

We lost half our pond fish this year cos of rotting apples in the pond, that left an oily scum too.

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I have no spiders (household ban on Ts)
other pets though:
Mammals
1.4.0 cats
2.0.0 dogs
1.0.0 guinea pig
1.0.0 Syrian hamster
1.0.0 Roberofski's hamster
[/option]
Birds
1.1.0 doves
0.4.0 chickens
[/option]
Inverts
0.0.21 Indian Moon Moth eggs
[/option]
fishies (pond and tropical)

As already said what is your water changing and filter cleaning regime?

High protein foods such as catfish pellets and granular high growth food will cause an oily scum if over fed.

Get your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tested for in your water.

Also what size tank and what fish do you have?

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1.0.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Spotted Python
1.1.0 Amazon Tree Boa's

^forgot about those... had a load of fish deaths years ago cos of too high nitrite

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I have no spiders (household ban on Ts)
other pets though:
Mammals
1.4.0 cats
2.0.0 dogs
1.0.0 guinea pig
1.0.0 Syrian hamster
1.0.0 Roberofski's hamster
[/option]
Birds
1.1.0 doves
0.4.0 chickens
[/option]
Inverts
0.0.21 Indian Moon Moth eggs
[/option]
fishies (pond and tropical)

Ace. Worked.

__________________



lucifus@hotmail.com - feel free to add.

Sign My Petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Preachers/