Something happened to Elmer and Erik. They got sick and died in less than 24 hours and they died within 2 days of each other.
I think it was because I did two or three complete water changes without aging the water. I just used the drops to remove the chlorine and chloramines, or whatever. We got a notice from the water company about there being something in the water that wasn't supposed to be there, but it wasn't at a level that would affect humans. My feeling is, however, that it was something that would affect fish and that the aging of the water had eliminated it.
With both fish, they acted healthy and happy and were flaring and eating and acting normal in the morning, but began to act funny in the afternoon. Erik lay at the bottom of the tank and was gasping all evening and was dead come morning.
A couple of days later, Elmer seemed ok in the morning. He ate and swam around, but by early eving he was just hanging out at the top of the tank and sometimes at the bottom. He didn't seem to be gasping as much as Erik, but then, just like Erik, he was dead the next morning.
So, I have no idea, really, what it was. You would think they would have stayed sick longer if it were the water. I don't remember how long it was after the last water change when they died, but couldn't have been too long because I changed it every week.
I now have two new fish. Hagar & Atilla. I immediately got them after the other two died so I've had them about 3 weeks now. They seem to be doing great.
My question is, I had their tanks right together so they could see each other and chase back and forth. Then someone told me not to do that. To move the tanks apart or put something between the tanks so they couldn't see each other. Otherwise, they said, it would kill them because they expended all their energy getting ready to fight and it wasn't healthy.
(1) Is that true?
(2) Could that possibly be what killed my fish?
