the fish i catch by my house all die in a few hours any body no why? the water was bout 78-80 F and Ph was bout 7.2. did a water change waited a day tied again and still they died. i tried bass (2"), bluegill (1-1 1/2") and a small sunfish (1").
natives keep dying
- Thread starter lizardfishman
- Start date
lizardfishman said:
Try and turn the temp down a little, Also check amonia and nitrate's and if it help's maybe add a little marine salt.
Could be the tempurature. I lost almost all my natives when the temp reached the 80's. Lost darters, bullheads, crayfish...everyone except the creek chubs. That was room temp so I could not even turn it down. It may not have even been the temp itself but the lack of DO caused from the high temp. Add an air stone. I started over with a pumpkiseed and bullhead of larger sizes...had them all through August with no problems yet.
Is it only native guys in your tank, are you using water from where you catch them or water from the sink? If it is a new tank set up, there may not be enough natural bacteria in your tank water as there would be in the area where you got the fish. If this is the problem add some natural water from where you caught the fish or add some stciks or rocks to the tank from where you got the fish to put in teh necessary bacteria.
Sandtiger hit it on the head I think but I need to ask, did you use dechlorinated water? If so the problem is temperature and the fact that warm water holds less O2 than cool water does. I keep a blue gill in a five gallon pickle jar that I swap out for a new one every few weeks, the one in there now is a bit over 4" long and has been in there for 3 weeks or so. the water temp. is 74 degrees F. as is the air temp in the house, it gets cooler at night. The pickle jar contains a small box filter and an extra 3" airstone. The fish is getting round from eating crickets, earthworms, and gambusia. It was eating within an hour of me putting it in there. It was caught on a barbless circle hook and kept in a perforated pail set in the creek until I brought it home. the bigger they are the less delicate they are try some about twice as big as the ones you tried before after lowering the temp a little and adding air stone.
Did you catch them with a hook? That might be pretty hard on the fish. At night, some baby fish come close to shore in shallow water to avoid being eaten by larger nocturnal fish. You can usually walk along the shore of your fishing hole with a flashlight and spot lots of baby fish. And they are easy to grab with your bare hands. I use a method of scaring the fish in to shore by herding them with my hands. Just block of their escape route and they usually just jump on to land (or close enough to were they get stuck in shallow puddles.) I tried keeping bluegills for a while with no success, but I stopped using a hook and they stopped dying.
Another thing I do to cycle the tank for them is to grab some floating plant life or algea (from the same place were you plan on catching your fish) and put it in the tank. These mats of plants are filled with bacteria and small crustations. This will help to adjust water parameters and and also is a good food source for the new fish (crustations/bugs). I take the plants/algea out after a few weeks to prevent an over taking by algea. If you let it , it will spread rapidly.
I hope these personal experiences are of some help to you.
Softy
Another thing I do to cycle the tank for them is to grab some floating plant life or algea (from the same place were you plan on catching your fish) and put it in the tank. These mats of plants are filled with bacteria and small crustations. This will help to adjust water parameters and and also is a good food source for the new fish (crustations/bugs). I take the plants/algea out after a few weeks to prevent an over taking by algea. If you let it , it will spread rapidly.
I hope these personal experiences are of some help to you.
Softy
when i thought of going near that water at night the first thing that poped into my head was a water moccassin biting me. almost step on them during the day, amazing i haven't been bitten yet..... only a matter of time. i will lower the temp though and add an airstome. are there any quiet models because the tank's in my room and humming noises are annoying at night.
oh, and btw i dont use a hook the fish are too small
oh, and btw i dont use a hook the fish are too small
SWEET there are people like me!!! i usually wait till about 11pm to go out i go in out till about 3 am 
i caught 2 fry in the lake and im not sure what there are (only about 1 cm long or half an inch) ive had em in my fry keeping container for about a month cant wait till there large enough to identify i have the same keeping things alive to but its mainly with the more delicate species
i caught 2 fry in the lake and im not sure what there are (only about 1 cm long or half an inch) ive had em in my fry keeping container for about a month cant wait till there large enough to identify i have the same keeping things alive to but its mainly with the more delicate speciesI agree with guppy.... I just have lotta air running in the tank too. Lower the temp a hair initially and you can bring it back up. I've got a couple bluegill, perch and LM bass ranging from 2-3 in. Keep the light on overnight too so they don't decide to shut down....atleast that seems to be what happens sometimes, the lights go out and they slow down and give up or something. I don't recommend using the local water unless its river. I've had wayyyyy to many problems with parasites....hence my "stumper" thread. anchor worms and other things seem to happen more easily when I use the water. Natives seem to stress pretty easy since the water perameters are so diff. so just be gentle.