Hey group. Long story semi-short had 6 rummynose and 8 cardinal tetras in a 75g. Tank was cycled. I qt'd the rummies in a 10g for 6 weeks. Two weeks into the qt period, one developed a few ich spots, I immediately treated and went away quickly. I kept them in qt for another month after last sign of the ich.. all were fine no reoccurences. I then transferred them to the 75 with the cardinals. All was good for maybe 2- 3 weeks. One cardinal died, then slowly one by one started dying, lost a total of 3 cardinals and 3 rummies in about a week. Fish were showing no signs of any obvious disease. Water always 0,0,5-10 tops... Maybe one or two them isolated themselves and died shortly after. Been a week since last death. All are eating and acting normally except one rummy and he is getting very thin. Any ideas whats happening? What to do,next? I did remove a piece of driftwood that had long white fungus/algae and it smelled eggy. After I removed that they stopped dying...not sure if that mattered...Thanks so much in advance and so sorry about long post.
Fish dying. Water levels perfect
- Thread starter Moshi78
- Start date
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When you say "0,0,5-10" I just want to clarify: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 5-10 nitrates? What is your pH like? Water hardness?
When I had a problem with perfect perimeters and unhealthy fish, it turned out to be my pH (it was rock bottom). I've heard some fish do fine outside of their suggested pH range, but I've found it depends on the fish and how far out of the range it is. Drift wood can lower pH also. Although tetras generally like lower pHs...
When I had a problem with perfect perimeters and unhealthy fish, it turned out to be my pH (it was rock bottom). I've heard some fish do fine outside of their suggested pH range, but I've found it depends on the fish and how far out of the range it is. Drift wood can lower pH also. Although tetras generally like lower pHs...
Blue jay thanks for the reply..yes on the parameters 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and 5-10 nitrates...ph is hard to read would have to say 7.5. Ish.. Its a little high, but the lfs has same ph...I have another group of fish in the quarantine tank and they have been in there for awhile, I don't want to add them to the main tank,until I know its safe. How many weeks should I wait to be sure the tank is safe? Also could it be a infection of some sort? Anything I should do? Would hate to medicate if I didnt know what was wrong.
That's a tough question. Hopefully we get more input on this thread. I can tell you what some options, and what I might do if it were me, but please know, that without knowing what exactly killed the fish, there is no guarantee 
Internal illness (as I recently discovered) is very tricky to treat because it's pretty much impossible to diagnose.
Also, just to check... I am assuming temp is consistent? I know here in CA, we are still getting the occasional triple digit heatwave and I end up on tank cooling duty when my swamp cooler cant keep up
If you have the option to move the rummy that is not feeling well into a hospital tank, that might help him. Even if he is not contagious, isolating him will ensure he does not have to compete for food and you can monitor weather he is pooping okay. When he seems to be gasping, is he at the near the water line? Resting on the bottom? Or just swimming normally?
The funky drift wood is definitely suspicious and glad it's removed. Better safe than sorry. Was it treated before being added? Was it from lfs? Or backyard/lake?
Sorry so many questions!
After removing rummy for observation. I would wait MINIMUM two weeks, to keep an eye on the main tank (sort of like qt observation), before adding more fish.
Hopefully some of this helps... and I agree about not medicating unnecessarily. I'm not a fan either. In which case, isolation and observation are your best bets I'd say
Internal illness (as I recently discovered) is very tricky to treat because it's pretty much impossible to diagnose.Also, just to check... I am assuming temp is consistent? I know here in CA, we are still getting the occasional triple digit heatwave and I end up on tank cooling duty when my swamp cooler cant keep up
If you have the option to move the rummy that is not feeling well into a hospital tank, that might help him. Even if he is not contagious, isolating him will ensure he does not have to compete for food and you can monitor weather he is pooping okay. When he seems to be gasping, is he at the near the water line? Resting on the bottom? Or just swimming normally?
The funky drift wood is definitely suspicious and glad it's removed. Better safe than sorry. Was it treated before being added? Was it from lfs? Or backyard/lake?
Sorry so many questions!
After removing rummy for observation. I would wait MINIMUM two weeks, to keep an eye on the main tank (sort of like qt observation), before adding more fish.
Hopefully some of this helps... and I agree about not medicating unnecessarily. I'm not a fan either. In which case, isolation and observation are your best bets I'd say
What is the temperature of the tank?
Autumnsky and blue jay thanks for replying... The water temp is Always right around 79 degrees. Temps been pretty warm here in chicago as well, but tanks are in finished basement where its cooler. Unfortunately don't have option to move him now, but hes not shy at all. He is Swimming normally and also still schooling while gasping. Driftwood was bought at lfs and sat in the empty tank for probably two months while fishless cycling.
Check your tap water. Maybe call the water company to see if anything has been done like work or flushing the pipes. If all seems well I would increase incremental pwc to refresh water in the tank for change over. Which is something like 2 times the tank volume over the next few weeks. And increase at least once to the maximum safe dose for Prime.
In the mean time maybe someone else has something else.
In the mean time maybe someone else has something else.
coralbandit
Aquarium Advice Addict
Quick deaths and fish looking good before[or shortly before] along with good water parameters indicate columnaris to me. I say this for a lot basically because if it is an external parasite,or bacterial issue the treatment for C will work on them also..
Links on columnaris here for you..I believe one member here I helped with this said the white fuzzy on wood or even tank could actually be columnaris not even on the fish..She got this from first link.The disease needs fish to host and thrive but has an exceptionally long life span it is believed as the agricultural fish industry now claims columnaris to be 'seasonal' and costing them millions...Most fish disease info is still out of date and claims columnaris has 32 day life span...
Fish Columnaris | Fungus & Saprolegnia | Treatment & Prevention
^^Best info ^^
http://www.myaquariumclub.com/colum...out-the-types-causes-and-treatments-1689.html
^^easy read and informational^^
Good luck..You have warm water fish [rummies and cards ] that want 80 plus but to hinder columnaris you need to lower the temp[the opposite of ich]...
Links on columnaris here for you..I believe one member here I helped with this said the white fuzzy on wood or even tank could actually be columnaris not even on the fish..She got this from first link.The disease needs fish to host and thrive but has an exceptionally long life span it is believed as the agricultural fish industry now claims columnaris to be 'seasonal' and costing them millions...Most fish disease info is still out of date and claims columnaris has 32 day life span...
Fish Columnaris | Fungus & Saprolegnia | Treatment & Prevention
^^Best info ^^
http://www.myaquariumclub.com/colum...out-the-types-causes-and-treatments-1689.html
^^easy read and informational^^
Good luck..You have warm water fish [rummies and cards ] that want 80 plus but to hinder columnaris you need to lower the temp[the opposite of ich]...
Wow. Very interesting. Guess ill just keep,my eyes on it. Thank you very much for replying. Interesting read. I guess the driftwood could of,been the culprit. The other piece in the tank didn't have anything growing on it. I threw out the piece with the white stuff. If after three weeks the rest of the fish are still eating and acting normal is it fairly safe to,say it should be fine? Thanks for all the help guys
The whitish growth on driftwood in 200% normal. It's a harmless fungus. Will go away on its own.
Your fish likely have columnaris. I lost 40 fish to this disease in like 2 weeks. I beat it though and saved another 30 from death. Kanaplex and furan 2. Very hard meds.
Lower the temp as high temps will excelerate the bacteria and make things worse.
Your fish likely have columnaris. I lost 40 fish to this disease in like 2 weeks. I beat it though and saved another 30 from death. Kanaplex and furan 2. Very hard meds.
Lower the temp as high temps will excelerate the bacteria and make things worse.
The fish that wouldn't eat died. The other fish that didn't eat for about a week finally started to eat. The 7 remaining fish I have seem to be doing fine. Would you recommend treating? None seem stressed and appear to swimming normal. If another couple weeks pass and they all stay how they are now, is it safe to say the tank is safe? Thanks a lot.
