tank apocalypse - starting over

Aquarius Keeper

Within 4 days of adding those petco fish, almost all of the fish in my 30g are dead - only a small 1/2 beak and 1-2 kuhli loaches (hard to keep track of) are still alive and seem unaffected. I quarantined the sick fish once it started, and treated for ich and added stress coat, but it was too late. I was able to identify ich, fungus, and Neon Tetra Disease, the latter taking out the tetras and the guppies rather gruesomely. However, it's possible other diseases were present, as I still can't identify what killed the upside-down catfish.

So ... I guess it's time to start over.

But I'm a little paranoid now. Is the tank still able to support life? Is it just a death trap full of pathogens? I did a 90% water change when I quarantined the sick fish, but had more fish die in the 30g anyway. How long should I wait/ what can I do to ensure the tank isn't a death trap?

Thanks,

Jonathan

Kim

If you have ick you will have to treat the entire tank because the parasites will be everywhere, not just on the fish.

Aquarius Keeper

I treated the entire tank for ich for three days, but in the course of that I noticed the other problems, at which point I quarantined the visibly sick fish and did a 90% water change in the main tank. After the water change I still had a gourmami die, only visible problem was what looked like fungus around the anus.

Kim

Oh man, doesn't seem like you have a good situation there. Do you have live plants in the tank? You may just need to treat the entire tank for whatever diseases you notice as all the fish may be affected, just some aren't showing signs yet. Also, treating the entire tank would guarantee that no pathogens are left for when you do get to add new fish. I'm not an expert, this is just my reasoning and what I would do if it were me. That is, after I pulled out all my hair !

okiemavis

You'll want to treat for another 10 days or so, as the parasites are only effected by medication in one stage of their life cycle. There's a lot of things that could contribute to the deaths, such as a 90% water change, which can be very stressful to fish if the ph, temperature, etc are different. I'd keep medication steady and hope for the best. I would up the temp to at least 82 and not add any fish for at least 3 weeks. I also wouldn't shop at that fish store again :/

onefish2fish

you said you moved all fish to a QT tank correct?

if theres nothing living in the tank, id raise the temp and keep it up as this will speed up the life span of diseases.