Half my fish died after 2 years of health
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nirbhao
Aquarium Advice Addict
What were their symptoms?
That was the problem. They all seemed to get something different. I posted a week ago in an attempt to save them since I the 2 years we've had a tank haven't had illness so really didn't know what to do. Our gold barbs got red right at the base of their fin. Tried malafix. Then our angel just died with No outside marks. The gold gourami had a white clump on his fin that we thought was ich so treated with salt and heat. No change. Tried ich guard. No change. Then our gold barbs got large open Wounds In front of dorsal fins that looked fluffy around the ridge of the red open. The lamp eye gill started to almost lift from his face and looked deformed. This happened over a week period. We had added a neon tetra About 2 weeks prior and it had randomly died for no reason we could figure. Thinking that's the root of our problem. There aren't any fish stores around so the best we had was Wal-Mart for meds so after doing a partial change added jungle fungus treatment. After that it just went down hill seriously. The black skirt tetra I'm thinking died of dropsy as. It looked bloated and ruffled but supposedly this anti fungal did dropsy too. Totally probably accidentally killed our fish trying to make them better. Feel very sad. Put our rainbow shark. Long tailed red minor. Cory catfish and neon tetras in quarantine to try to clean the large tank. We lost an angel dwarf guorami. Gold guorami. Gold barb. Black skirt tetra. Bn plecco. Red lamp eye. Feel very sad and want to know better when we start over and hopefully save the ones inn quarantine. Any advice on how to clean our 40 gal tank to for sure rid it of illness and how to treat remaining fish.
And what to mail order that covers most disease fit future encounters. Looking into paraguard by seechem as it doesn't require filter to be removed. Inn sure the filter being taken out for 4 days. Per instructions for the anti fungal was a terrible idea.
nirbhao
Aquarium Advice Addict
Did the white clump on the gourami look like a haystack?
I just got through fighting columnaris, and a lot of what you're describing is what we went through.
If it is columnaris, you have a journey. This article was a good resource for me. @CoralBandit was also a huge help.
Here's what I did:
Lower the heat and add salt. Dose Furan-2 and KanaPlex fully following instructions. Spot treat visible "haystacks" with hydrogen peroxide. Toss the substrate. Bleach the ef out of everything. Immediately euthanize any fish that look sick. Treat the entire tank (both of them) with potassium permanganate. Putting it back together, because I destroyed every single bit of nitrifying bacteria, I got an Angels Plus active filter.
It SUCKED, but we're on the other side now. We're waiting until the 22nd to replace fish (okay we're *mostly* waiting), but the fish who survived are doing well.
If you have any questions, I'm absolutely willing to answer. I read everything I could find on the topic.
It's good to trust your gut about getting rid of whatever is toxic in the tank. You can do it!
I just got through fighting columnaris, and a lot of what you're describing is what we went through.
If it is columnaris, you have a journey. This article was a good resource for me. @CoralBandit was also a huge help.
Here's what I did:
Lower the heat and add salt. Dose Furan-2 and KanaPlex fully following instructions. Spot treat visible "haystacks" with hydrogen peroxide. Toss the substrate. Bleach the ef out of everything. Immediately euthanize any fish that look sick. Treat the entire tank (both of them) with potassium permanganate. Putting it back together, because I destroyed every single bit of nitrifying bacteria, I got an Angels Plus active filter.
It SUCKED, but we're on the other side now. We're waiting until the 22nd to replace fish (okay we're *mostly* waiting), but the fish who survived are doing well.
If you have any questions, I'm absolutely willing to answer. I read everything I could find on the topic.
It's good to trust your gut about getting rid of whatever is toxic in the tank. You can do it!
Are you concerned about the fish who lived still having trace es of it and recontaminating your new fish? I noticed my cory has some red along his body but i don't know if that's because the transfer to quarantine was crazy stressful as it wasn't an established tank. How long would it take to know i my remaining fish are ill? Did you toss all your gravel? We have nice pebbley river rock stuff id hate to throw out
Sorry like i said were really new to fish illness. Will those medications treat pretty much everything? I'm trying to decide which to buy and need a fairly versatile combo as i don't want to spend more on meds than the less expensive fish we buy. Its just a small 40 gal tank for a hobby that our kids and us enjoy
nirbhao
Aquarium Advice Addict
Columnaris kills pretty quickly once a fish is infected. There are people who choose to euthanize all exposed fish just to be safe, however.
Different medications treat different things, so nothing will really be a catch all. The two I recommended are very effective, though.
You will want to sterilize your gravel if you don't get rid of it. We started bleaching our sand, but- have you ever bleached sand? It seems like gravel would be easier to treat. Just be sure to rinse very well and let it soak in a dechlorinator like Prime for at least a few hours.
We had moon sand and replaced it with pool filter sand. It's not as nice looking, but it works.
I understand this stuff being expensive. There are people who leave the hobby over this pathogen. I hope you don't.
I've used medicated food for parasites. That's not what you're dealing with.
Different medications treat different things, so nothing will really be a catch all. The two I recommended are very effective, though.
You will want to sterilize your gravel if you don't get rid of it. We started bleaching our sand, but- have you ever bleached sand? It seems like gravel would be easier to treat. Just be sure to rinse very well and let it soak in a dechlorinator like Prime for at least a few hours.
We had moon sand and replaced it with pool filter sand. It's not as nice looking, but it works.
I understand this stuff being expensive. There are people who leave the hobby over this pathogen. I hope you don't.
I've used medicated food for parasites. That's not what you're dealing with.
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Thanks so much it's so confusing to try to understand ask the ins and outs when there are so many chemicals!!! Have you ever used paragaurd by secheem? That's the med i was thinking about getting for the quarantine of new fish or would you just start with the ones you mentioned. I liked that it didn't need the filter out
nirbhao
Aquarium Advice Addict
Oh you're going to kill all of your nitrifying bacteria with this treatment. You're killing as much bacteria as you can.
I've never used ParaGuard. I use Herbtana Microbe Lift for new fish.
I've never used ParaGuard. I use Herbtana Microbe Lift for new fish.
coralbandit
Aquarium Advice Addict
Many on TPT use paraguard I believe.
How many fish are left alive now and who looks bad?
How many fish are left alive now and who looks bad?
nirbhao
Aquarium Advice Addict
I bought Angels Plus Live Sponges. They aren't that expensive, and fish-in cycles are miserable.
We have 2 neon tetra rainbow shark long tail red minor tetra. Cory catfish They look super stressed but no peeling gills. The catfish looks a little pink. The minor tetra is kind of gray and translucent. Shark is super pale. To be honest we really have no clue. I think we lucked out for 2 years. Is there a book or something that teaches about the different bacteria and corresponding meds. We did general water changes checked ph and ammonia but really that was it. Im not really sure what it means to know that your tank is still cycling. Ive spent hours on many forums but get quite confused because each one has a different method or uses different chemicals. I need freshwater tanks for dummies lol
We are in the process of cleaning and starting the main tank over but have probably already messed that up. Some forum said to use vinegar so everything has soaked in vinegar now it's diluted vinegar water going through the filter. Then well drain and refill a couple times. I'm super worried that if we did have columnarius that we won't have gotten everything or that some how if our other fish live they will still have traces and all the fish will die again. It was terrible andi cried last night as we disposed of the obviously past coming back to health fish and i don't even know how to identify what we truly had so can't really treat intelligently.
Also what's the best way to lower ph i know it was a bit high but the ph drops never seemed to drop it far enough. Do bubble stones really increase ph? ( some other fact picked up on a forum) whoever said fish were the easiest pet for kids totally LIED. Our dog is definitely not this difficult! I have read about drift wood and found a nice peice on a hike but not sure if it needs to be specially treated wood.
nirbhao
Aquarium Advice Addict
How hard is your water?
And I agree about fish not being easy. We have a rescued Airedale who is easier- and he's not easy!
Going through columnaris was really terrible for us, too. It was surreal to see these fish just suddenly dead. Our dwarf gourami was fine when my husband went into the bathroom. When he came out, the fish had wedged himself into a piece of decor and was completely rigid. No previous signs of problems.
Vinegar is good for cleaning but not sterilizing. This is a situation where bleach is appropriate.
And I agree about fish not being easy. We have a rescued Airedale who is easier- and he's not easy!
Going through columnaris was really terrible for us, too. It was surreal to see these fish just suddenly dead. Our dwarf gourami was fine when my husband went into the bathroom. When he came out, the fish had wedged himself into a piece of decor and was completely rigid. No previous signs of problems.
Vinegar is good for cleaning but not sterilizing. This is a situation where bleach is appropriate.
coralbandit
Aquarium Advice Addict
Vinnegar is not going to cut it.
Bleach usually works ,but even some pathogens survive it!
Pool shock is stronger chlorine then bleach and some use it.
This is the best disease book hands down.
https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Fish-Diseases-G-Untergasser/dp/0866227032
For the used price everyone should have 2!
So you have no fish from before left ?
If so let it soak with the bleach a day or two ...
I know it is tough but keeping an old fish can be keeping the disease...
They are called 'sub clinical carriers' and often will never show a sign or be effected. they will however unleash the disease on all weak enough fish that happen to show up.
Bleach usually works ,but even some pathogens survive it!
Pool shock is stronger chlorine then bleach and some use it.
This is the best disease book hands down.
https://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Fish-Diseases-G-Untergasser/dp/0866227032
For the used price everyone should have 2!
So you have no fish from before left ?
If so let it soak with the bleach a day or two ...
I know it is tough but keeping an old fish can be keeping the disease...
They are called 'sub clinical carriers' and often will never show a sign or be effected. they will however unleash the disease on all weak enough fish that happen to show up.
