heartsongsinger

I've had a problem with my tank being very cloudy and we were left with one solution to try. Clean out the gravel. the problem with this is that my tank is 3ft tall and my dad's fingertips only touch the bottom. So we drained the tank. We caught all my fish and put them in pots and bowls. One fish was dead when we went to put the fish back, and the other is was found floating about 20 min later. could they have just been so stressed out that they died?

to make matters worse they were two of the three females that I know when to take them out so I can get the babies

Shawnie

im sorry you lost your fish

which tank is it? did you use a water conditioner when you changed out the water?

cloudyness is usually "new tank sydrome" and if so, the fish were stressed before and the moving of them could have did it...was the tank fully cycled?

COBettaCouple

It's possible, but it could have been water conditions too. When removing fish, I'd recommend catching them and moving them to a big container of removed tank water, then start cleaning.

sirdarksol

Yes. This could have killed them. Especially if the water was not from the tank, the shock of the sudden change (such as the total water change) can kill.

The cloudiness is often a sign of a bacterial bloom (or, if this is the tank that gets light from the window, it may be an algal bloom). It's a normal part of a tank's progression.

Also, cleaning the gravel is really easy, and there's no need to be able to reach the bottom. They make extra-long gravel vacs for tall tanks. These things operate on a siphon, so you are doing a partial water change while you're vacuuming the gravel.

Fishies-for-me

Another thing that could of killed them is that you say you placed them in " pots and bowls" ...if these are everyday dishes there could of been some soap residue on them as well and that is very toxic to fish!

heartsongsinger

Shawnie: It was my 47 gallon tank. I did use water conditioner. The tank sat for a bit with the filter running before I moved my fish.
COBettaCouple: that's basically what I did but I didn't have a big enough container so they were in two bowls and one pot
Fishies-for-me: that's possible but I've been using plastic container that you use for food for almost a year when I have to take them out or to take them to the fish store and ask whats wrong with my fish