Fish that were OK before medication now sick

[ChileRelleno]

Over the past few months I've let a few fish go (I put them under) that had popeye in our 75 gal community aquarium.
Our ammonia has been up (<.5) a few times but lowers with water change. The pH is ALWAYS 6 (tap comes out 7), and the other tests- nitrite, nitrate, GH, and KH have always been normal.

Last week I lost several guppies and the rest were looking ill so I pulled them out. I figured the low pH is just too hard on the guppies (we've had tanks for about two years and the pH in all of them has always been 6.0 and guppies never lived more than 6 months) and I do not plan on replacing them. We'll stick to lower pH fishes.

With the guppy deaths the ammonia went up to .50 put lowered to 0 over night with a water change.

The next day I noticed the dwarf guorami had one popeye. I consulted with my husband (aka Chile) via telephone and he said to go ahead and treat the whole tank since we've had several cases of popeye in the past few months.

I started Maracyn (6 tablets to account for the water loss with gravel depth) yesterday morning and kept the tank lights off but left the canopy up so a little light from the ceiling fan would show on them.

I did a small feeding yesterday PM and turned on one light strip for a little while. They all seemed okay- guorami still had affected eye.

This morning I checked to make sure there were no fish bodies around and gave them the second dose. Again, I left the canopy up (glass hood still covering the tank) and the ceiling fan light on.

When I got home from work the tank was pretty cloudy with the medicine.
I turned on one light strip and checked them out.

At least one fish from each species is now visibly ill with the exception of the zebra danios, but they are acting skittish.
-the otos (4) are hanging on the walls and breathing rapidly, gills look reddish, two have whitish areas on fins
-two or more of each small tetra (neon/glowlight, 13 total) have small areas of white patches, either near mouth or on body and the same for the larger tetras (silver tip/lemon, 8 total)
- the platies (3 males, 3 females) are hiding and at least two of the females have white stuff on head/bodies
-the little ram looks to have the whitish areas on his upper fin, but he's hiding way in the back behind the log...
-gourami's eye still popped, possible white on head
-there are 3 corydoras but I could only see two well enough but they looked all right

The fish with the white on the fins looks more like "skin peeling" than fuzzy. But the ones with white around the mouth is thick/fungusy looking.

But WHY did they all get sick with medication?
Were they fighting something and it got worse with the medicine before the medicine will win?

Do I continue the directions on the medicine through the five days or do I need to switch/add something else, too?
(I have Pimafix and Melafix available, as well as Maracyn-two and medication for parasites.)

Should I add salt for the red gills on the otos?

Do I do water changes to clean-up the medicine cloud? (we do have a powerhead/quick filter I can use to help clean the water.)

Currently have 6 corys in my 10 gal QT tank- tomorrow will be their second week and they are doing well. I won't move them or add anyone to that tank.
I do have another (emptied) 10 gal available but since so many fish are ill, I think I should leave them in the 75.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

- Mrs. Chile

 

[jsoong]

What is your Ammonia & nitrite levels? Maracyn is an antibiotics & might have killed some of your good bacteria - giving you an ammonia or nitrite spike & stressing the fish. This might account for the secondary infections.

The white stuff - might be columnaris or if it is peeling off, might just be water quality problems. The fact that the otos are breathing fast with red gills makes me suspect the later, specifically nitrite posioning. I think we must start with measuring the levels. In the absence of a test kit, I would be tempted to do a largish water change.

The cloudy tank is worrysome too. Maracyn should dissolve & should be clear. The cloudiness isn't the medicine - something else is going on. Can you give some more details on what that looks like?

 

[Menagerie]

Salt is the best treatment for nitrite poisoning. PM Allivymar for help--I'm not sure how much salt to add. Definitely do a water change and get all filters going. If you did loss the beneficial bacteria, the tank will have to recycle. I'm not sure which of your fish are the most fragile, but you should identify them and put them in a QT tank so they don't go through cycling.

 

[ChileRelleno]

The ammonia and nitrite levels are both still "0" (same as they were before treatment) on a liquid/test tube test.

The cloudiness is foggy looking, that's why I thought it was due to the white tablets/medication. I can't see the back wall of the tank today- it's worse. But it doesn't look "dirty."

We are using 2 AquaCler 500s, both have two sponges and one has a mixed bag of carbon/ammo chips that's about a week and a half old. The sponges I rinse in tank water, one filter each week, during weekly vacuuming/water change.

Should I water change or just plug in the powerhead/quick filter?

Do I continue with medicine?

Is salt needed if there is no nitrite spikes?

 

[jsoong]

We are using 2 AquaCler 500s, both have two sponges and one has a mixed bag of carbon/ammo chips that's about a week and a half old.

I see one problem with running carbon - the carbon will absorb the meds, so you won't have any in the tank.

White foggy water? maybe a bacterial bloom? not sure why, but I'd be tempted to do a water change AND run the filter.

 

[ChileRelleno]

Just wanted to update...

I did a 50% water change and used the powerhead/quick filter for a day and a half. The water cleared up great. Haven't lost any fish!

Now using Mela/Pimafix and all the fish are looking good- just a few fish still have a touch of white-stuff on them- except the lone ram... He's still hiding. We've only had him since the beginning of March but we got him from a friend who moved out of state and she'd had him for a year, so he is "older". He's been having trouble eating since his feeding style is lower in the tank and the tetras would eat most before it got to him so he's probably just weaker all around.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
-Mrs. Chile

P.S. I have a post about allergies and product fumes on the general board. Any help over there would be appreciated.

 

[jsoong]

Glad to hear that all is well!

 

[jlindseyjr]

Here's an article I found about enhancing your fishes' immune systems. I stumbled onto it when I was searching for info on the relationship between antibiotic therapy and yeast infection.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/feature.htm