Having some issues lately

[goofyboots13]

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
Hopefully not all of them, but right now my pictus cats. I've had them for around six months, and woke up to a dead one this morning. The last couple days they have been swimming near the top of the tank, and look as if they have ich. I also had introduced a couple bala sharks and a small pleco about two weeks ago, and after about four days, one started kind of floating around the tank like he was on his way out, and the other had developed small white spots, and the pleco died, so I took them out and gave them back to the store. They gave me credit so I figured I'd try a couple different fish, and got two red tail sharks, a new pleco, and a couple small chinese algae eaters. I also got two new juvenile angels. I had two that were doing great for the last six months or so, but the larger of the two started messing with the other one and had him hiding up in the corner where he just layed on his side for a couple weeks. I took the big angel out also, before I added the above mentioned new fish. They said the other one may come back to normal after taking out the bully, but sadly he died the other day. Now, about a week later, my two pictus started developing white spots (ich?), and I found one dead this morning.

2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
This, I'm not sure of. I am going in to the store with my sick pictus to show them, and have them test my water, and will report back here. They don't open till 11 today, so figured I would do this while I wait, instead of watching the clock.


3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
60 gallon hexagon. Its been set up for about a year or so. It's in the corner of my living room, not next to any windows. It was neglected being in our back computer room, and when I moved it out to the living room, I lost everybody, and started over. Used to keep cichlids with pretty good success over the years, but have been having trouble lately with trying to establish a good community tank. Loved my cichlids, but when I moved the tank and decided to start over, figured I would try something new and go for a comunity style tank.

4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
Magnum 250. I've had it for almost ten years now, and its still working like a champ.

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
Right now, this is what I have, and besides the pictus cats, they are all pretty much juveniles.
2 medium pictus (well, one now)
2 dalmation mollies (male and female)
2 red tail sharks (not sure on sex but they are about 1-1.5"and one is not as black as the other)
2 tiger barbs (about 1.5", not sure of sex)
1 common pleco (about 5")
2 chinese algae eaters (maybe 3")
2 angels (probably only 1" they are little guys)



6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
About a week ago, probably 30-40%. This is probably where I'm going wrong. I used to do small five gallon or so changes weekly for a few years, then when we moved and I finally set my tank up again, I got really lazy with it and went a couple months without changes at times with my cichlids. That was before I move the tank to the living room where I had to look at it everyday. Since that time, about a year total now (There was a few month period I let it cycle before adding fish), I have been doing a monthly change at about 30-40% as mentioned above.

7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
Well, you know by now, that most of the fish are new, within the last couple weeks, besides the cats and mollies. As far as acclimating them, I just floated them in their bags for a half hour or so before dumping them is, as I have done for years. And yes, I know its considered bad, but I have been dumping them in with the water from the bag as well, but never had a problem till recently. My local store has always been really good, so I never worried about dumping their water into my tank. After all, all of my fish are from there.


8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
Besides the fish, I did add in a bunch of rocks I used to use, and a couple of plastic plants. I kept it pretty simple, and empty for a while cause I only had a couple fish. For a while, it was just one of the dalmation mollies, the two pictus cats, and my two original angels. I have noticed over the last few months, that green algae grows on the glass and rocks, far more than I have ever seen. I was with out a pleco for a few months, so I thought that may be why. I never realized how much cleaner they kept it till I didn't have one anymore...lol


9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
Generally I only use spectrum pellets, but have, on occasion, used frozen food. I'll get the freshwater variety pack that has the blood worms, brine shrimp, emerald entre, and freshwater frenzie in it. I'll usually only use a couple cubes a week, and most of the time its the spectrum pellets.

Thank you all in advance, for your time and help.

 

[goofyboots13]

Ok, so I'm back from the fish store. Took my remaining, sick pictus cat up there, and had them test my water.

The water parameters were perfect! I don't remember the numbers, but he showed me the little charts, and they were all right where they need to be. Color wise, one was yellow, one was an aqua blue color, and the other was a little lighter like a teal color.

The cat does have a fungus, but not ich.

The guy sold me a bottle of Mardel Maracyn Plus Antibacteria, and said to treat with two cap fulls per ten gallons, for about five days.

 

[GNarnian]

You need to he changing your water more than once a month. In my opinion that's where your problem is. Usually you want to be doing weekly water changes.

Test strips are very inaccurate. Lfs use them because they are cheap and they don't waste as much money to use them, but I suspect that the readings you received were probably not all that accurate. Was your fish in the bag of water you tested, or was it a separate container?

 

[goofyboots13]

Well, he didn't use test strips. Took the water from the bag Ihad the fish in. He used little container things and dropped the tests liquids into them. Not sure exactly what type of fungus, but said he could see it kind of peeling off of him.

I am going to keep up on the water changes like I used to though.

 

[Wiggles24]

Weekly water changes really work well if your fish are sick I would probably even up it to a couple times a week for now. Btw you are probably going to have issues having two red tailed sharks in the same tank. They are very territorial and will likely become quite aggressive with each other as they age.

 

[Candiceg]

They are right. He shouldn't have tested the water the fish was in. You probably stressed it more by bagging him up. Order yourself an API master freshwater test kit. Change your water a lot. Think of it this way it's essentially a toilet bowl. You are going to have problem with the types of fish you put together. Red tail sharks, pictus cats and tiger barbs are semi aggressive. They will bully mollies to death.

 

[goofyboots13]

Funny thing is the mollies swam around with the two pictus.

I wondered that about having two red tails. They looked cool so I bought two. I'll keep an eye on them though as they grow. Hopefully what's left will make it through.

Today was a horrible day, as I lost both my little angels, the pleco, and the other pictus. It's like the plague in there today.

So, what's left are, two tiger barbs, one Chinese algae eater, two red tails, and the two dalmation mollies. Besides maybe taking one of the reds out, what else would you guys recommend for stocking a 60 gallon hex? (Once I get this fungus cleared up of course)

I have a sinking feeling that I may have to start over again.

Maybe I'll go back to African cichlids. They seemed to be a lot less sensitive to water conditions, and changes in the tank. Was just never to sure on how many I could put in a hex. That, and I always ended up with a mostly male tank cause they usually have all the color. After a while, I guess I just got bored with them, cause they mostly all the same shape, just in different colors. Had electric blue haps, deep water haps, various mbunas, peacocks, etc over the years. Even went south American for a while with a Texas, green terror (still a favorite), and a couple others I can't remember. They just get to big for the hex I think.