Mercy
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2015
- Messages
- 5
This is long because it's been a battle, and I want to be thurough for the most accurate answers. Alright here it goes...
I had a 10 gallon tank with a well established family of guppies (about 5 males and 10 females) and 2 young albino bristenose plecos. I had them all for over a month with no issue.
They were all fine and dandy while I set up my 33 long tank, fully planted with the good plant-feeding gravel... some already established wood, ect. I let this tank cycle for about two and a half weeks (with some healthy bacteria cultures from my 10 gallon in the filter as well as bacteria drops). Once it was stable and all my parameters safe, I moved them over, and life was good.I was even able to add my crippled half moon betta with a back problem, because he couldnt catch the guppies to hurt them! It was lovely!
The horror began when I purchased some more guppies and 3 rams from a very nice fish store in Vancouver.
I checked all my parameters, and got all the levels right before putting these guys in the old 10 gallon. The intent was to use it as a hospital tank before introducing them to my 33long. Well, by the next night, some fish were gasping and sitting on the bottom acting as if they simply couldn't handle the quality of the water. I was afraid there was some out of balance chemical I was missing (toxins from something on my hands, the outside of the bag I floated them in, ect) so I just threw in the towel and transferred them to the 33 long because I knew the water was 100% fine there... I didnt want to waste all the money I had just spent and kill these fish. Hindsight's 20-20 though. :{
Everyone was good for about two weeks, and then all of a sudden, little white dots on the rams. Very clearly Ich. I panicked, searching the internet for the best answer. My pleco's were my babies, so I didn't want to risk them and my plants by adding salt, and many people had said heating the tank killed off all their fish anyways. I took a gamble and used the Mardel Coppersafe I had. There is no carbon in my filter.
Everyone seemed fine and unaffected by it. No plant death, no fish death. I kept my tank at about 78 to keep the lifecycle of the ich fast so I could see if the copper was working right away. However, about 7 days passed, and the ich only got worse. Way worse. New outbreaks, it started appearing on all my guppies and my 2 sweet plecos... they were all soon covered. I could tell the copper simply was not affecting it for some reason.
I decided I needed to go more drastic, because some of the guppies had begun dying off, and more were growing lethargic. I cleaned out my 10 gallon with all new water and rinsed out my gravel, and such. I have a massive airstone in there, and got it up to temperature and moved all the fish over. In this tank I added 1tsp of aquarium salt to every gallon. I check the ph, ammonia, No2 and No3 regularly, and just did a 35% water change (2 days later). As soon as I moved them though, things took a really nasty turn. Guppies started dying, the living ones are clamping fins, darting all over, and cramming themselves on one another in the bottom corner of the tank. The rams are gasping and clamping fins...
I checked on them this morning, went out for the day, and came back to find not only my poor betta dead, but one of my sweet little pleco's as well. Many tears later, and a water quality check that revealed nothing bad (7.4 ph, 0 amonia, 0 NO2, 0 NO3) I noticed my other albino bristlenose was beginning to turn red down by his tail... It looked like a patch of irritation, or internal bleeding. (keep in mind the first one had no such signs). I slowly increased the temperature by about 1 degree every 2 hours (I'm planning to get it to 86 by the morning). Every time I checked on my pleco though, he looked worse and worse, and the red was spreading. When he finally died, he was covered in red across about half of his body (under the skin. 99% sure its internal bleeding of some kind). I have yet to find any information on this issue or why it would occur. It broke my heart. This has been an incredibly stressful day.
The fish all have a healthy apetite and come up to eat, but their fins are starting to tatter, and they are constantly darting and rubbing against the bottom or darting into the wake of the airstone.
As for my 33 long, I am doing water changes, raised the temperature to near 90, and put carbon in my filter to help get rid of the copper... but I saw a snail in there today... so I think the copper never actually worked!
So my questions are:
Why would the copper not have worked in the first place?
Is it too late to save these guys? Should I expect they will all die?
Is the lethargic-tattered fin state caused by the ich as well (totally opposite symptoms to darting and rubbing), or do I have a mix of diseases?
What on earth happened to my pleco that caused him to... bleed internally like that? Was it the salt? Could I have saved him once it started, or is it one of those things that's too late once you notice it? I would have gotten a picture but he has been put to rest...
It's a hot mess. Help. ;-;
I had a 10 gallon tank with a well established family of guppies (about 5 males and 10 females) and 2 young albino bristenose plecos. I had them all for over a month with no issue.
They were all fine and dandy while I set up my 33 long tank, fully planted with the good plant-feeding gravel... some already established wood, ect. I let this tank cycle for about two and a half weeks (with some healthy bacteria cultures from my 10 gallon in the filter as well as bacteria drops). Once it was stable and all my parameters safe, I moved them over, and life was good.I was even able to add my crippled half moon betta with a back problem, because he couldnt catch the guppies to hurt them! It was lovely!
The horror began when I purchased some more guppies and 3 rams from a very nice fish store in Vancouver.
I checked all my parameters, and got all the levels right before putting these guys in the old 10 gallon. The intent was to use it as a hospital tank before introducing them to my 33long. Well, by the next night, some fish were gasping and sitting on the bottom acting as if they simply couldn't handle the quality of the water. I was afraid there was some out of balance chemical I was missing (toxins from something on my hands, the outside of the bag I floated them in, ect) so I just threw in the towel and transferred them to the 33 long because I knew the water was 100% fine there... I didnt want to waste all the money I had just spent and kill these fish. Hindsight's 20-20 though. :{
Everyone was good for about two weeks, and then all of a sudden, little white dots on the rams. Very clearly Ich. I panicked, searching the internet for the best answer. My pleco's were my babies, so I didn't want to risk them and my plants by adding salt, and many people had said heating the tank killed off all their fish anyways. I took a gamble and used the Mardel Coppersafe I had. There is no carbon in my filter.
Everyone seemed fine and unaffected by it. No plant death, no fish death. I kept my tank at about 78 to keep the lifecycle of the ich fast so I could see if the copper was working right away. However, about 7 days passed, and the ich only got worse. Way worse. New outbreaks, it started appearing on all my guppies and my 2 sweet plecos... they were all soon covered. I could tell the copper simply was not affecting it for some reason.
I decided I needed to go more drastic, because some of the guppies had begun dying off, and more were growing lethargic. I cleaned out my 10 gallon with all new water and rinsed out my gravel, and such. I have a massive airstone in there, and got it up to temperature and moved all the fish over. In this tank I added 1tsp of aquarium salt to every gallon. I check the ph, ammonia, No2 and No3 regularly, and just did a 35% water change (2 days later). As soon as I moved them though, things took a really nasty turn. Guppies started dying, the living ones are clamping fins, darting all over, and cramming themselves on one another in the bottom corner of the tank. The rams are gasping and clamping fins...
I checked on them this morning, went out for the day, and came back to find not only my poor betta dead, but one of my sweet little pleco's as well. Many tears later, and a water quality check that revealed nothing bad (7.4 ph, 0 amonia, 0 NO2, 0 NO3) I noticed my other albino bristlenose was beginning to turn red down by his tail... It looked like a patch of irritation, or internal bleeding. (keep in mind the first one had no such signs). I slowly increased the temperature by about 1 degree every 2 hours (I'm planning to get it to 86 by the morning). Every time I checked on my pleco though, he looked worse and worse, and the red was spreading. When he finally died, he was covered in red across about half of his body (under the skin. 99% sure its internal bleeding of some kind). I have yet to find any information on this issue or why it would occur. It broke my heart. This has been an incredibly stressful day.
The fish all have a healthy apetite and come up to eat, but their fins are starting to tatter, and they are constantly darting and rubbing against the bottom or darting into the wake of the airstone.
As for my 33 long, I am doing water changes, raised the temperature to near 90, and put carbon in my filter to help get rid of the copper... but I saw a snail in there today... so I think the copper never actually worked!
So my questions are:
Why would the copper not have worked in the first place?
Is it too late to save these guys? Should I expect they will all die?
Is the lethargic-tattered fin state caused by the ich as well (totally opposite symptoms to darting and rubbing), or do I have a mix of diseases?
What on earth happened to my pleco that caused him to... bleed internally like that? Was it the salt? Could I have saved him once it started, or is it one of those things that's too late once you notice it? I would have gotten a picture but he has been put to rest...
It's a hot mess. Help. ;-;
).
