what could i be doing wrong

[smooth_cannibal]

i have now three fm in a 55 gallon tank and i have been just a battling fish disease after another.

3 out of 4 came down with ich within about 24 hrs after getting them home. did heat and salt for ten days.

spent two days getting their temp back down and within 24 hrs the one that didn't get ich came down with hith.

can't think of anything else than water quality as i didn't realize that my water switched to chloramine. was already using microbe lift super dechlorinator + water conditioner but went and had the water tested at the lfs

no abnormality and no spikes as i had been doing a water change because of the ich 3 times a week. picked up a big bottle of paraguard and started dosing all three of my tanks. i seeded the filters on the 10, 55 gallon off my 30 gallon.

on the 3rd day of using paraguard the hith had already started to heal up and things were looking up for the little guys.

but then **** the 4th day. the smallest male (i htink) started slightly breathing rapidly and i thought it was the meds was just stressing him out so i did about a 50 percent water change and within a day he died.

i peeked up under his gills and they looked patchy.

now a few days later the big male that never got ich but got hith now has the look of death like the other one did. ate fine yesterday and yeah not today and is just hiding out.

what else can i do.

 

[Bbush]

Quarantine tank? I am pretty sure that is my problem. I will get one soon. Until then I guess we just have to treat the main tank with whatever comes our way. I do have a sick tank which helps a little. Just a thought as it sounds like you are doing everything right.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

yeah in the next week i should be able to get my 20 gallon going. i need a filter still for it. i decided to make that into a quarantine.

the sick one has actually stopped just hiding but isn't really doing much swimming. his fins aren't clamped down but more clamped out but he's gasping and still has the look of death.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

well i just saw the sick one poop and its a white string coming out of him

 

[aquandrew]

well i just saw the sick one poop and its a white string coming out of him

white stringy poop is a sign of internal parasites

 

[smooth_cannibal]

well i've been using paraguard and i am about out now. i did 50 percent water change added salt then dosed the paraguard.

what's something else i could try that isn't as expensive as paraguard?

 

[Bbush]

I used metro & prazipro but by no means cheap.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

well i ended up losing the fish within about a day of last looking at this.

within 2 days of the fish dying now another one is effin sick!!!

behind the eye is a white lump that looks like a zit and fish now not looking so hot. he did eat a little but appetite is less and less.

i rehomed my betta into a 2 gallon bowl and turned his tank into a hospital tank (10g). i have about 5 doses of paraguard left. i'm pretty sure i am just going to lose the fish but i got to try.

out of the 4 fish it looks like i ended up 3 males and 1 female. and its only the males that are getting sick. the one girl only got ich and has never had another problem. i got the ich gone within a couple days.

if i was to lose the third fish, should i put the other one in the 10g and just sanitize my cichlid tank and start over? seems its just a lake of death.

 

[Berylla]

I would start over by bleaching the main tank. Talk to your fish supplier and see if they can give you a refund. Use a 10G QT tank for 1 month before placing new fish in an established tank. If your fish get sick, you use less meds and water changes are easy.

 

[Bbush]

Tough luck. Sorry to hear that. Losing fish is tough. Stick w/ it. It will get better.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello smooth...

Most, if not all fish diseases are the result of poor water conditions. If you get a handle on the water chemistry, the fish and plants will take care of themselves. I would recommend adding some hardy, fast growing, floating plants that will help filter the water. Common waterweed (Anacharis) and Pennywort are best. You can get those very cheaply at the pet store where you get fish. Just drop some sprigs of these two into the tank.

Large, frequent water changes are critical to a healthy tank. Change half of it every week and do a good job of vacuuming the gravel. If there are parasites in the tank, they'll be living in the substrate. I'd recommend adding a bit of standard aquarium salt to the new water. A teaspoon in every 5 gallons will do wonders for the health of the fish, even those that are salt sensitive, like Corydoras and this small amount won't damage plants. I've used it for years in my large, planted tanks and have never had a disease issue.

B

 

[BBradbury]

Hello again smooth...

I failed to add another important point. Keep the chemicals out of the tank water. Those are "bad news". Medications are seldom the answer. Your fish and plants can have severe reactions to them and combinations of meds can kill off the good bacteria needed to remove the toxic nitrogens in the tank from the fish waste. They'll likely mess with the tank chemistry. Just flush a lot pure, treated tap water through the tank every week. By doing this, there's no time for toxins to build up in the water before the next, large water change. These will guarantee a stable water chemistry.

B

 

[smooth_cannibal]

update on mr sicky. - the lump hasn't gone away but it doesn't look worse. around the white lump was really red and irritated looking. as of today the redness seems to have gone away. fish is starting to gasp but his breathing seems shallow. the others were deep heavy and more labored. he is starting to not just hide. i've seen him explore the tank a little but not a lot.




Berylla - i think that is probably what i am going to do. annoyng because i ran the canister filter for over a month on my 30 gallon to seed it.


BBradbury - water quality is what i looked at first. i have been out of keeping fish for a number of years but fish keeping used to be my jam. i was almost born in a lfs where moms used to work and i kind of grew up in it.

i know meds can be bad for the bacteria and all but the paraguard says filter safe. and i didn't see any improvement in the fish til i dosed with the paraguard. didn't save them but it helped. it did get rid of the hole in the head. water changes aren't helping the fish imo.

i have lots of duckweed in all my tanks and i've always added salt. the paraguard isn't affecting plant life that i can tell.

 

[Berylla]

update on mr sicky. - the lump hasn't gone away but it doesn't look worse. around the white lump was really red and irritated looking. as of today the redness seems to have gone away. fish is starting to gasp but his breathing seems shallow. the others were deep heavy and more labored. he is starting to not just hide. i've seen him explore the tank a little but not a lot.




Berylla - i think that is probably what i am going to do. annoyng because i ran the canister filter for over a month on my 30 gallon to seed it.


BBradbury - water quality is what i looked at first. i have been out of keeping fish for a number of years but fish keeping used to be my jam. i was almost born in a lfs where moms used to work and i kind of grew up in it.

i know meds can be bad for the bacteria and all but the paraguard says filter safe. and i didn't see any improvement in the fish til i dosed with the paraguard. didn't save them but it helped. it did get rid of the hole in the head. water changes aren't helping the fish imo.

i have lots of duckweed in all my tanks and i've always added salt. the paraguard isn't affecting plant life that i can tell.

If you fish is sick, you should put him into a bare bottom Qt tank with methylene blue. It will help with his breathing and infection. Just run an unseeded sponge filter since meth blue kills good bacteria. Change water out 50% a day until the infection is gone. If you have plants in your tank, just run it without any fish for a couple of a month. Parasites will die off without hosts.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

okay i'll give that a try. its been ages but i've used it before.

this is as best a picture as i could get.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

 

[Berylla]

Meth blue should help him and it's cheap . Just search for it in Amazon. for now, put him in a QT tank with sponge filter nice fresh water, change out 50% a day until the meth arrives. Stop feeding too. Cichlids can live a long time without any food. Food just messes up the QT tank.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

i put him in my bettas tank and rehomed the betta for now.

this is just going to be my hospital/quarantine tank from now on. i have two more tanks still in my garage that i want to get going once i sort all this out.

if the firemouth makes it that tank is getting restarted anyways so it really doesn't matter much to me if it kills off bacteria

 

[dwayne.aycock]

The problems are related to your water source. I would start there. Make sure anything you are using to handle your fish (nets, filters etc) are sterile. Formalin 37% is a handy little remedy to have on hand. Most of what I am reading from your posts sounds like both external and internal parasites. I use frozen blood worms that I soak for about 5 minuutes in Prazi. The fish love blood worms, and having treated them with Prazi, I am sure that the meds made it into the digestive tract of the fish. If there are internal parasites, they run from the Prasi. Prazi is also beneficial for external problems as well. Formalin is a good fix for your water source as it will kill anything. Maybe a combination of the two will help you. In any case, you will need to increase your tank temp and O2 if you have any hope of brating this thing. Salt is a good temporary intervention, but salt increased conductivity, PH and TDS, which in turn stress an already sick fish even more. Increase water changes and keep your tanks clean.
Good luck!
D

 

[smooth_cannibal]

so you are saying that my tap water has the parasites?

i have 2 other tanks and never had sick fish.

the tank i am having problems in is the 55. its only had the fm in it. there weren't fish in it previously leaving me to believe its from the lfs i purchased them at 4th of july weekend.

are you saying instead of tearing down and starting from scratch to just run the formalin through it?