Any dead fish should be removed, as its body will quickly rot in the warm, bacteria-laden water. A corpse will pollute water, risking the health of other fish in the tank. If it died from disease the last thing you want is other fish consuming its body parts, so remove immediately.
As soon as a fish dies, the other fish in the tank will begin feasting on their former friend. It's not personal; it's nature. Don't assume they murdered their former tank mate. They are just taking the opportunity to have a fresh meal.
You should do a water change after a fish dies in your tank, as this will help to minimize the risk of a spike in ammonia levels and other pollutants that can cause further harm to your fish.
Is the freshest fish always best? Common wisdom says yes. Seafood expert Jon Rowley says no. He says the perfect time to cook and eat a fish is as much as five to six days after it died.
After the fish dies there is no more DO being ingested and the air in the bladder starts to dissipate, causing the fish to sink to the bottom. After a few days, the internal organs of the dead fish decompose and a gas is formed. This gas causes the fish to once again float.
Neurobiologists have long recognized that fish have nervous systems that comprehend and respond to pain. Fish, like “higher vertebrates,” have neurotransmitters such as endorphins that relieve suffering—the only reason for their nervous systems to produce these painkillers is to alleviate pain.
A 50–60% water change should be conducted every 5–6 weeks to prevent any type of nitrate accumulations. If a fish dies or there is an outbreak of some disease, go for a 10% water change.
If your fish has been suffering from a severe illness and none of the treatment methods have been working, euthanasia might be the best choice. It may seem harsh to end your fish's life, but it might actually be the kindest thing you can do – especially if the fish is stressed and in pain.
Flushing fish down the toilet is never an option. Flushing a sick fish into the sewer is not only inhumane, but it can also allow disease-causing organisms to enter local waters, leading to outbreaks of disease amongst native fish.
Leaving it for a full seven days is best, as if others die within that time you'll know there's an underlying problem. Don't be tempted to restock and add lots of others, as this in itself can cause a water quality issue. Add a few fish each week and observe behaviour.
A fish should be removed from the tank immediately after death. Of course, you may notice the incident right away but it is important to remove the fish as soon as it is noticed. This is because a fish will start to decompose right away and will release harmful toxins into the tank.
Check the fish's eyes.
Look at the eye as a whole. If they're sunken, your fish is dead or near death. Look for cloudy pupils, which is also a sign of death in most aquarium fish. If your fish is a pufferfish, walleye, rabbit fish, or scorpionfish, occasional eye cloudiness might actually be normal.
Improper tank is the most common reason for fish death. Most of the time, when the fish tank is not prepared properly, all or a lot of the fish die. It majorly happened with the beginners. In really bad tank conditions, the fish may die overnight, but generally, it happens over a few days or a week.
There are many reasons why fish in your tank keep dying. A few reasons include stress, incorrect tank setup, overfeeding, diseases, and much more. To a beginner, it could look like your fish died for no reason whatsoever.
If the fish keep dying, but the water is fine, this points to illnesses, old age, poor feeding habits, poor tank conditions, toxins from external sources, and prior problems with the fish.
When Disease occurs: The most appropriate time to consider euthanasia, is when a disease occurs. In cases when diseases are highly contagious, or very hard to treat or even untreatable, then the old adage of one bad apple in the barrel, can be synonymous with one sick fish in the tank.
As experts were quick to point out following the movie's release, flushed fish typically die long before they reach the ocean, going into shock upon immersion in the toilet's cold water, succumbing to the noxious chemicals found in the sewage system, or—if they make it this far—finding themselves eliminated at a water ...
Treat your fish to a salt bath.
If possible, use natural sea salt with no additives, as it is high in minerals. Use a container that is clean and free of any contaminants. Add tank water to the container, as long as the tank water is safe to use, or add fresh water that has been de-chlorinated.
Tie it up in a bin bag and place it in the waste. You can bury fish in the garden although make sure you bury it deep enough to stop foxes digging it up, or cats. If your local fish store has asked to see the corpse keep it in the freezer as dead fish rot and smell very quickly.
The benefits of water changes must be balanced by the stress caused by a sudden change of your tank's water chemistry. If tank water has similar pH, GH and KH as tap water, changing 50% (or more) of the water at one time will not affect fish.
When a sudden, large water change occurs, it causes such a drastic shift in the water parameters that the fish often cannot tolerate it and they die. 2 Those that do not die immediately are stressed and may succumb to disease over the next few weeks.
Hook wounds may appear minor to anglers, but damage to the gills, eyes, or internal organs can be fatal. If the fish is hooked deep in the throat or gut, research shows that it is best to cut the leader at the hook and leave the hook in the fish. Prolonged attempts to remove the hook often do more harm than good.
Fish out of water are unable to breathe, and they slowly suffocate and die. Just as drowning is painful for humans, this experience is most likely painful for fish. Compounds like cortisol—the hormone associated with stress—can significantly increase during periods when fish are out of water.
Rose states that they "display robust nonconscious, neuroendocrine and physiological stress response to noxious stimuli". In short, if you need to touch a fish, you should remember that the fish may (or may not) experience pain the way you do, but it undoubtedly does suffer from stress.