Hello,
I've been having trouble with my fish for some time now, originally I attributed it to cycling and poor stock on the suppliers end. But now I'm fairly certain that there's some bacterial/fungal/parasitic issue with my aquarium.
First off, the aquarium is:
50g
Tetra Whisper EX 70 filter
Air stone (for 40-60g)
Heater set on 79F
Gravel
Plastic Plants/Rocks (no live plants)
Peramiters:
Straight 0's with a PH of 6.0 (ph may be a little low)
40ish% water change weekly
Fish:
Well, yesterday it was 4 Raphael Catfish (2 Stripe 2 Spotted), 4 Angelfish, and a Red Tail Shark...Today its 4 Raphael and 3 angelfish.
Over the past few weeks I've lost a total of 6 angelfish, a RTS, and 3 tiger barbs. I started the aquarium with tiger barbs I moved form a 10g so I attribute their death to cycling, but after everything established I had no real problems when it contained 4 Tiger Barbs, a RTS, 2 Glass Barbs, and 2 Spotted Raphael Catfish. Well, there was a problem with aggression with the tiger barbs but besides that...I gave the barbs away and kept my Raphael Catfish (my favorite fish), and the RTS because he was always peaceful unless something attacked him first.
I went to a family owned pet store to get 3 Angelfish, they seemed to be doing okay so a week later I got 3 more. Within 2 weeks the original 3 angelfish died within 3 days of each other (water readings were normal, temp was normal, etc). I waited bout a week and a half to see if any other angelfish would die but they didn't so I got 3 more. This time withing a week 1 died, then the next week another died (the smallest of the 6 and the biggest of the 6). Then everything seemed to be normal until about a week ago, my RTS started to act strange, hiding in a log all day/night (still had a red tail) then yesterday 1 day after a water change he came out and was swimming (a bit slower than usual) then today he was dead with one of my Angelfish.
I noticed yesterday a "white fuzz" on my angelfish, at first I thought it was just their coloration, but now I'm fairly sure I was wrong. Its not exactly like what Ich is described as "salt granules" I would describe it as a very discrete mold like what it would look like just forming on bread or cheese.
Also my Raphael Catfish (striped) have 2 issues, one of them has excess slime which may be natural, I've seen Shovel Nose Catfish have a white film on them and its just shedding. But my other has a white eye since I first got him. I'm not sure if he was just stabbed in the eye by another Raphael's spikes during shipping or it may be eye cloud or some similar infection/bacteria/disease (NOTE: its only in one eye on one fish). It has become more white over the 2-3 months I have had them so a fungus sounds right to me.
Anyway, now that all the details (hopefully) are out of the way I can get to my questions.
What would be a good treatment I could use to cure my fish (something with broad coverage would be nice since I think its possibly fungus+bacteria+infection) but won't harm my catfish. I know my moms fish had Ich some time back (3 Black Skirt Tetras & 3 Cory Catfish). She treated with some medication that killed all of her Cory Catfish overnight (but the Tetras were cured).
I was looking on Petsmarts website and "Tetra® Lifeguard™ All-in-One Treatment" would cover the broad orray of possible problems, but it has the same thing I see on most medications "Not suitable for scaleless fish, invertebrates or newly set up tanks" which translates to may kill Catfish. Not to be cruel or anything I would rather losing my last 3 Angelfish than losing my Raphael's. Its uncommon for local pet stores to get them in, and my striped are up to about 5" long. And I'm getting tired of the problems that come along with angels.
And I don't think this is a major issue at the time, but can anyone tell me if the current from my filter could be to strong for angelfish? They have a rough time swimming by it, but I don't know if it would over-stress them or anything.
Anyway to recap the problem and question encase anyone skipped over them: White fuzz on angel fish, fish keep dieing, Raphael's have excess slime/shedding(?), and one Raphael has a white eye. I would like some sort of broad treatment that won't harm my catfish.
Thanks for any feedback, I'll try my best to provide any additional information.
Jason M
I've been having trouble with my fish for some time now, originally I attributed it to cycling and poor stock on the suppliers end. But now I'm fairly certain that there's some bacterial/fungal/parasitic issue with my aquarium.
First off, the aquarium is:
50g
Tetra Whisper EX 70 filter
Air stone (for 40-60g)
Heater set on 79F
Gravel
Plastic Plants/Rocks (no live plants)
Peramiters:
Straight 0's with a PH of 6.0 (ph may be a little low)
40ish% water change weekly
Fish:
Well, yesterday it was 4 Raphael Catfish (2 Stripe 2 Spotted), 4 Angelfish, and a Red Tail Shark...Today its 4 Raphael and 3 angelfish.
Over the past few weeks I've lost a total of 6 angelfish, a RTS, and 3 tiger barbs. I started the aquarium with tiger barbs I moved form a 10g so I attribute their death to cycling, but after everything established I had no real problems when it contained 4 Tiger Barbs, a RTS, 2 Glass Barbs, and 2 Spotted Raphael Catfish. Well, there was a problem with aggression with the tiger barbs but besides that...I gave the barbs away and kept my Raphael Catfish (my favorite fish), and the RTS because he was always peaceful unless something attacked him first.
I went to a family owned pet store to get 3 Angelfish, they seemed to be doing okay so a week later I got 3 more. Within 2 weeks the original 3 angelfish died within 3 days of each other (water readings were normal, temp was normal, etc). I waited bout a week and a half to see if any other angelfish would die but they didn't so I got 3 more. This time withing a week 1 died, then the next week another died (the smallest of the 6 and the biggest of the 6). Then everything seemed to be normal until about a week ago, my RTS started to act strange, hiding in a log all day/night (still had a red tail) then yesterday 1 day after a water change he came out and was swimming (a bit slower than usual) then today he was dead with one of my Angelfish.
I noticed yesterday a "white fuzz" on my angelfish, at first I thought it was just their coloration, but now I'm fairly sure I was wrong. Its not exactly like what Ich is described as "salt granules" I would describe it as a very discrete mold like what it would look like just forming on bread or cheese.
Also my Raphael Catfish (striped) have 2 issues, one of them has excess slime which may be natural, I've seen Shovel Nose Catfish have a white film on them and its just shedding. But my other has a white eye since I first got him. I'm not sure if he was just stabbed in the eye by another Raphael's spikes during shipping or it may be eye cloud or some similar infection/bacteria/disease (NOTE: its only in one eye on one fish). It has become more white over the 2-3 months I have had them so a fungus sounds right to me.
Anyway, now that all the details (hopefully) are out of the way I can get to my questions.
What would be a good treatment I could use to cure my fish (something with broad coverage would be nice since I think its possibly fungus+bacteria+infection) but won't harm my catfish. I know my moms fish had Ich some time back (3 Black Skirt Tetras & 3 Cory Catfish). She treated with some medication that killed all of her Cory Catfish overnight (but the Tetras were cured).
I was looking on Petsmarts website and "Tetra® Lifeguard™ All-in-One Treatment" would cover the broad orray of possible problems, but it has the same thing I see on most medications "Not suitable for scaleless fish, invertebrates or newly set up tanks" which translates to may kill Catfish. Not to be cruel or anything I would rather losing my last 3 Angelfish than losing my Raphael's. Its uncommon for local pet stores to get them in, and my striped are up to about 5" long. And I'm getting tired of the problems that come along with angels.
And I don't think this is a major issue at the time, but can anyone tell me if the current from my filter could be to strong for angelfish? They have a rough time swimming by it, but I don't know if it would over-stress them or anything.
Anyway to recap the problem and question encase anyone skipped over them: White fuzz on angel fish, fish keep dieing, Raphael's have excess slime/shedding(?), and one Raphael has a white eye. I would like some sort of broad treatment that won't harm my catfish.
Thanks for any feedback, I'll try my best to provide any additional information.
Jason M