[Thepoweranga]

Hello I am a new member here but i have been browsing the forums for quite awhile.

I recently set up a new 6x2x2 680L tank. everything was going great but about 2 weeks ago ive started to have alot of fish deaths. It all started when i added some swordtails without quarantining them . I added about 10 of them to my tank and the next day i noticed a a female that had a sort of growth on her side with some scales peeling off i put her in a hospital tank with melafix thinking it was a bacterial infection and in the meantime no other fish died.

3 days later i checked on her and she was barely swimming and she had lost alot of scales but the growth itself was the same she died about an hour later. ever since then i have had fish dying left right and centre. I checked my water parameters with a API master test kit and the only thing out of the ordinary was a slightly raised ammonia which i quickly corrected with a water change. I then got my water tested at my LFS and explained my situation to them they said my water was perfect and i was told to raise my temp to 28C+, double dose API Stress Zyme+ to help with any stressed fish and do a 50% water change. all went well for about 4 days and then fish started dying.... again.

Sooooo Long story short i just lost 4 more fish today when i got home from work and once again NONE of the fish showed any signs of illness or stress except my female betta lost her colour yesterday and then died today. I am pulling my hair out i cant figure out whats wrong!!! :BIGweepy:

My water perimeters are...
Nitrates/ammonia/nitrites 0ppm
ph 7.8 (thats my native PH)
I normally do a 30% water change weekly and dose Seachem excel and seachem iron. I have a gravel substrate with SERA florenette A root tabs (have ferts because it is a planted tank obviously)
filtration 600lph internal filter with carbon sponge media and a 2000lph canister filter bottom tray: filter floss next tray: 1ltr seachem matrix next tray: 1.5kilo mini ceramic noodles top tray: filter pads
Lighting:1x 10000k t5ho fluorescent fitting 2x36w tubes and 1 12000k Epistar HO led fitting both on a timer for 10hours a day.

My current survivours are:

4 angels: 3 medium 1 small
1 6-7cm albino bristlenose catfish
3 otos
4 orange buffalo barbs
2 platys
5 swordtails
1 honey dwarf gourami
1 true Siamese algae eater
1 peppered corydoras


I know its a big post but any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!! :thankyou::thankyou::thankyou:

 

[Sylverclaws]

Let's see. Wow. Yeah, not QTing new fish usually bites you in the butt, happened to me last year, took forever to get rid of the parasite a baby BN pleco brought in because I couldn't figure out what it was...in fact still not sure if it was a parasite or some sort of nasty virus or bacteria he came in with, mixing an antibacterial, salt and an anti-parasitic seems to have thrashed it(I got desperate after a few months of UGH MY POOR FISH). x.x You can try that since it could be bacterial, or it could be a parasite at this point, melafix and General cure or another anti-parasitic, not sure your fish will like salt though. I also added some aquarium salt to their food, which they freakin loved and that could have done it.

Anyway, the only things -I- know of that causes a fishes scales to fall off like that is an infection, usually caused by stress, dirty water conditions(this is the MOST common one, but you seem to have it covered according to your parameters...). Parasites can sometimes cause damage to where infections happen under the scales and they fall off. Try treating the tank with an anti-parasitic medicine. Also keep in mind that melafix is best for smaller things, like a little damage or light infections...it's good stuff, but it has its limits and will be out-done by heavy infections, sometimes using salt with it can help with bigger issues...though most of your fish will not like that.

How is your Siamese algae eater? Often they will feed on other fish and this can cause the scales to rot off when the slime coat is damaged, it will eventually kill them as it opens them up to massive infections and parasites...basically they eat the protective coats of fish, and become addicted to it, which in the end of course, takes away the fishes ability to fight off said infections and parasites. At this point though...I doubt he's the culprit, they don't always go that way, but it is a possibility.

 

[Thepoweranga]

Thanks for the advice i will try and get a anti-parasite medicine tomorrow afternoon and I have never seen him doing that. i've had him for about a year and a half. Should i just go by the instruction on each medicine or do you have some magical measurements? haha. I have some aquarium salt laying around and a full bottle of melafix, good idea to dose it now or wait until i get the anti-parasite aswell??? also any particular anti parasite meds i should grab?

 

[Thepoweranga]

PS. this is the first time that not QTing my fish has turned out bad so lesson learned haha

 

[rsskylight04]

For parasites or fungus I would add 1tsp. Of salt per gallon and raise the temp to 86°F. Be carefull though that it IS parasites. Bacteria will grow faster at high temp and make things worse

 

[Ogre44]

Before adding salt verify that it won't be more deadly to your stock than whatever's in your tank.
I like this site for helping to diagnose issues: Physical Changes

 

[Sylverclaws]

Try treating for one or the other first. Keep in mind it's stressful for the fish to be medicated too! I should have mentioned I have mollies, so mine are more than fine with salt whereas many fish are not, mollies like brackish water.
Salt with those fish should also be a last resort, it can hurt them. Like another said, check if your other fish can even handle it, it may do more damage. Cories, BN plecos and otos don't do well with salt especially, and I don't know about the rest of your fish(platies and swords should be able to handle it). It is likely a parasite, and also likely it caused an infection under the scale making them fall off, so use Melafix with General Cure. That often works well. Clean the tank good first, don't over-clean and hurt your beneficial bacteria though.

 

[Thepoweranga]

Yeah i know meds are stressful for the fish aswel, that's why i am so hesitant to use any but i think the situation has no alternative. thank you ogre44 for the link to the diagnosis website it was very helpful although i still cant pin down excatly what the issue is. but i did notice one of my fish has a white puffy bit on its top lip similar to mouth fungus. i think maybe the female beta had fin rot because i just remebered that on the day that she died, her and the other 3 fish were mising most/all there fins but i didnt notice anything the day before so it would of had to be very rapid... so still not sure weather to treat for fungus, bacteria or parasite..... I just remebered i have a UV steriliser built in on my canister filter. is it worth using? I have been told they are only useful for ich and others have told me that they are a waste of time.....

Anyway for the moment i only added a small amount of salt. 6 tablespoons to be excat which is waaaaaaay lower then anything that would cause any extra undue stress on the otos or BN.


Thanks again for all your help everybody!!!:yourock:

 

[Thepoweranga]

PS. I just noticed one of my otos is missing its dorsal fin! and has a white patch around the base of it

 

[Thepoweranga]

photo of the oto in question oto damage | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I just got back for my LFS and they didnt have very much to choose from as far as meds go but outr of the few they had this seemed like my best bet seeing as i STILL have no clue what is going on, the product in question is Wardley "Promethyasul" it says it treats bacterial, fungal and parasitic diseases. I'm about to do a 30% water change and does the meds. hopefully all goes well!!!

 

[Sylverclaws]

Someone else would have to tell you about the medicine. Often mix meds that say they take care of it all don't do much if anything, but there are a couple that do. That particular one I've never heard of, so another can probably tell you.


Is it possible to get up photos of all your fish? It looks POSSIBLY, not for sure since I can't see well, that it might be Chilodonella, or maybe velvet, but it's hard to tell and might be even with proper photos.

 

[Thepoweranga]

Unfortunately its very hard to get decent photos of all my fish even using my DSLR, my fish dont seem to like the paparazzi too much haha. anyway i had a feeling that an ''all in one'' wasnt going to my best option but living in australia and a semi-rural town makes things quite tricky plus its not helping not know what to treat for, ohwell can only do what i can do.

I managed to get a better photo (i think) of the oto oto damage002 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! keep in mind this is CURRENTLY the only fish with any signs of illness. but everything is going well so far no more deaths today!

I had a chat with the other LFS (the one where i purchased my swordtails from and he said he has no deaths or illness in any of the stock that came in with the swordtail or the other swords i didnt get and i have been checking his tanks and i havent noticed anything either so maybe i just very unlucky and stupid (stupid for not QTing) hopefully i can resolve this soon!

thanks for all the replies guys :-D

 

[willow]

i just had a guppy go like that,nothing else in my tank has been effected
thank goodness.
subscribing to see how things turn out for you,
good luck and welcome to TFK.

 

[Thepoweranga]

OK. well firsly, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

secondly, my sick oto died this morning . when i pulled it out of the tank i noticed that alot of the fish had already decayed but it didnt look like it had been eaten by a fish it was also covered in stringy, white filaments which i thought were some kind of fungus. when i was putting him in the bin i put him on something black and decided to watch a little while to double check what the white string was and it started moving!

So. i feel pretty confident that its a parasite problem in my tank because when the betta dies she looked very similar and had white stuff on her although I didnt take much notice at the time, i was a little distracted at the time because of the other 3 dead fish although they didnt have the same white stuff on them.


Now the big question remains, what should i do? remove the current meds and dose a parasite one? or leave it and continue with my current meds? the other fish are fine, active and eating well.

I know I've been posting a lot but thank you to everyone who has posted a reply!

 

[willow]

i don't have advise on the fish…just to say don't worry about posting,
and asking questions,we'll all help where we can. :-D
good luck i sincerely hope it sorts it's self out.

 

[Sylverclaws]

Are the meds you're using for parasites? If not, they wont work. If I recall correctly you're using something for both...I think you should stick to that over doing a bunch of different meds and switching. However, I also suggest you risk it and use Aquarium Salt combined and turn up the temp to 80(I'd say higher, but for now you have enough stress and that will still slap the parasites a bit). Most of your fish wont like the salt at all, but put some in for at least a couple days. About half the required dose first day, wait two days and do another half dose. After another two days or so, clean the tank about 50% and add in another half dose if things haven't improved. If they have improved but not much, still might be a good idea to keep some salt in there so it doesn't rebound. If your fish handle it ok it should be fine. May be better to start out with a quarter dose and add in another quarter daily instead if you have any really sensitive, and I think otos might me.

 

[Thepoweranga]

Well i haven't had a chance to observe my fish today as i have been out all day at my mother in laws but i am happy to report that there hasnt been any more deaths today and from what i did see there isnt any more sign of illness but if its an internal parasite i suppose it might not be visible until the fish gives in. The medicine i have does cover parasites so i'll just stick with that for now and i have run out of salt but if i get a chance i might grab some more. thanks everybody

 

[Thepoweranga]

I have the temp at 28.8C which is 83.84F so the temp is all good

 

[Sylverclaws]

Good, I hope it stays well. Better safe than sorry, so run the meds as you would if there were signs.

Some End of the Year Luck to you!

 

[Thepoweranga]

Just a quick update guys. No more deaths and no more signs of illness. Treatment is complete and all fish are happy!