Fish gasping and dying

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Mebbid

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
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Location
Michigan USA
Well there has been something in my tank slowly killing fish over the past 4 months or so of which I have been unsuccessful in eradicating. I thought it was finally gone except that over the past few weeks the symptoms have reappeared with an vengeance. I've tried multiple different treatments recently because of a sudden surge of sick fish and I am really out of ideas at this point.

Symptoms:
All of my guppies have inflamed gills and are gasping at the surface.
Rainbows are showing inflamed gills but not gasping at the surface.
All fish except gourami are breathing heavily.
No other visible issues.

Treatments to date:
Methylene blue dips on guppies
Salt dips on guppies and rainbows.
Full dosing of maracyn plus
Second round of Prazi Pro

Tank:
Heavily planted 55g
EI dosing of dry ferts
20ml glut daily
50% weekly water change
Last water change was yesterday

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
pH - 7.8

API master test kit. Tests were performed with 2 different kits just to check accuracy.

Eheim ecco canister filter and a powerhead both pointed at surface causing agitation. I just added venturi attachment putting in an absurd amount of bubbles for extra aeration.

As bad as their gills look I would expect large numbers of fish to be dying soon.

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions it would be wonderful.
 
Sorry to hear about that. Is it possible that the inflamed gills could be caused by a toxin or other chemical? Perhaps something aerosol or a type of cleaning product?
 
Sorry to hear about that. Is it possible that the inflamed gills could be caused by a toxin or other chemical? Perhaps something aerosol or a type of cleaning product?

Highly unlikely. There hasn't been any cleaning chemicals used within 10 feet of the tank and I don't own any pressurized cleaning sprays
 
Could it be nitrate poisoning? I believe methylene blue along with water changes is the trick for that. If not nitrate poisoning, perhaps a drug resistant bacteria? What antibiotics have you used and for how long?
 
I did a full course of maracyn plus for the antibiotic treatment. My nitrates never really rise above 40ppm. I've actually been needing to increase the amount of nitrates in my tank recently because of my plants.

So far today I've lost a Guppy and a swordtail although most of my fish seem to be doing a little better because of the increased aeration from the venturi. Their gills are still swollen so its a temporary thing at best.
 
How exactly did you use the Prazi (dose/days/etc)? It does not sound at all like a bacterial issue but a parasite issue. I can make some further suggestions with some more information.
 
I started with a 50% water change then dosed the recommended amount of prazi pro.

I then waited 5 days, did another 50% water change then added more of the prazi pro. The second dose was Monday night.

It seemed to help a little about 3 days after the first dose but then came back with a vengeance with almost all of my fish beginning to have breathing difficulties.
 
It sounds like gill flukes but there are a few oddball parasites out there. You basically have two options here. You can treat with prazi for a full course at proper doses or you can opt for something stronger. If you try the prazi method and it doesn't work, you then can opt for stronger stuff. Either way, fish with a lot of gill damage still may not survive.

For prazi, you should dose at 1tsp/5mls per 10g after a big wc. Every 3-5 days, do another big wc and redose. You will need to do this for atleast 3-4 weeks. Gill fluke life cycles range from 10-21 days (depending on temp & some other factors). I would also suggest increasing the salinity to .1% (assuming there are no scaleless fish) but with a planted tank, this is not a good idea. You can try increasing the salinity to .05% and see how your plants handle it if you want.

Your other option is to use Clout or Fluke Tabs. The active ingredient is an organophosphate insecticide (DTHP) which is very toxic but will kill pretty much any parasite. Some fish can not handle DTHP at all and some have severe reactions. It will kill any inverts and I do not know how it will affect plants or interact with other plant products you are using. Do your research if you opt for using this. Hope this helps a bit!
 
How long of a fallow period would be required to kill all the parasites in my tank? I was thinking this morning that I have a 40g tank just sitting around for a little while. I could pull the fish out, put them in the 40g and medicate that with copper while my tank goes fishless. I'm not sure how plecos handle copper but it's an option.
 
I would say atleast a month with higher temps to speed up the lifecycle. I honestly would not opt for copper if possible. Its difficult to accurately dose it and maintain proper levels unless you additional tests and it (same as DTHP) is quite toxic. If your going to move them, try prazi at suggested doses along with increasing the salinity. If there is not marked improvement within a week or so, then you are welcome to try a DTHP or copper. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the help. I absolutely loathe the use of copper and have been able to avoid it so far.
 
"Could it be nitrate poisoning? I believe methylene blue along with water changes is the trick for that."

I'm glad I came upon this thread. I have one Gourami acting like that in my 55 gal. I tested my Nitrates and they were 80+ so I did a 50% water change and tested them again today and they are still around 70-80.
I have about 12 more fish in there who are all acting normal. Some are swimming at the bottom, some middle swimmers. No one else seems to be gasping for air.
Could it still be Nitrate poisoning? And what is Methylene Blue? I haven't heard of that.
Thanks for any help on this.
 
Most fish handle copper ok, providing you dose as instructed. Dosing more is asking for trouble, and dosing less will only make whatever it is more likely to become resistant. Catfish are not quite a delicate as we sometimes believe them to be, though they are not the hardiest fish around, to be sure.

I read a study not long ago, on using salt to treat Ich in catfish, because it's thought they can't handle salt. But the study found the fish who recovered best were the ones getting a full dose of salt, compared to the other treatments used. It appears salt is a problem for them in the long term, rather than the shorter term needed to treat ich, assuming they are not so ridden with parasites they would die anyway.

And you might also consider using that pesticide mentioned in the earlier post, after the fish are moved, it would no doubt wipe out whatever is there. If it isn't sure to kill eggs, might have to repeat a time or two.. without knowing for certain what you are trying to wipe out, overkill is perhaps the better option, so long as fish are not in there.

I'd test it with a few stems or leaves of whatever you grow, to see if it affects them adversely. Dipping is usually not too bad, though it can melt some things, like Vals. They usually return from the crowns though, given time.

If it was me, I would leave your main tank without any livestock for a minimum of one month. I'd also boil the substrate and decor, dip the plants in bleach or hydrogen peroxide and water.

I had an infestation of fresh water leeches once, and I never did succeed in getting rid of them. This was decades ago, no treatments were available, and even boiling and bleaching everything did not kill their eggs. So they soon reappeared and I ended up tossing everything in that tank but the fish. No plants to speak of, and rocks were ok once scrubbed, but substrate and a piece of wood got tossed out.

So there are some parasites capable of producing eggs that can survive truly terrible conditions. Not unlike the ones brine shrimp or daphnia can produce. These will hatch as soon as good conditions return, so you also might wish to consider replacing the substrate, which is where such eggs are most likely to be.

If you don't want to use the pesticide, I'd keep the tank fairly warm, 80 +, which usually hastens life cycles. Most of the common parasites should be wiped out in a month, lacking any hosts. You might also want to boil and or bleach or both, the substrate and decor.

You'd have to maintain circulation with something, air stone or pump, if you are concerned the filter may harbour anything and didn't want to risk them surviving in there. If so, sanitize it, and either start over with fresh media, or thoroughly boil ceramic or sponges, which are tough enough to take it, and reuse. I doubt many eggs would be in a filter but if you don't know what the critter is, how can you be sure ? That's what would be making me crazy

Wish you luck.
 
"Could it be nitrate poisoning? I believe methylene blue along with water changes is the trick for that."

I'm glad I came upon this thread. I have one Gourami acting like that in my 55 gal. I tested my Nitrates and they were 80+ so I did a 50% water change and tested them again today and they are still around 70-80.
I have about 12 more fish in there who are all acting normal. Some are swimming at the bottom, some middle swimmers. No one else seems to be gasping for air.
Could it still be Nitrate poisoning? And what is Methylene Blue? I haven't heard of that.
Thanks for any help on this.

You will need to do water changes an hour or two apart till you get them below 20ppm. From then on, set a pwc schedule that will keep your levels below 20ppm (lower if your tank isn't planted). You can work out the schedule by daily testing to see at what rate your nitrates increase.
 
"Could it be nitrate poisoning? I believe methylene blue along with water changes is the trick for that."

I'm glad I came upon this thread. I have one Gourami acting like that in my 55 gal. I tested my Nitrates and they were 80+ so I did a 50% water change and tested them again today and they are still around 70-80.
I have about 12 more fish in there who are all acting normal. Some are swimming at the bottom, some middle swimmers. No one else seems to be gasping for air.
Could it still be Nitrate poisoning? And what is Methylene Blue? I haven't heard of that.
Thanks for any help on this.

Its a stain for dying cells for looking at them under a microscope. It kills microbes and is effective against fungus. It's sold in some of the larger fish stores but it can be hard to find. I had to drive an hour away to get mine. It's also cheap as dirt.
 
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