Hello,
I have a 45 gallon fresh water planted tank. I've got Mollies and Platties, a few cherry red shrimp (no, the fish don't bother them), a leopard pleco, about 30 fish in all. It's hard to keep an exact number as they are live bearers, and we're only talking about 15 adults here and 15 fry. I get rid of fish as they grow to avoid over crowding.
I keep the temperature at 82F. I use a canister filter.
Water parameters are pristine. I use a master test kit, and have 0 readings on Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia. PH is 8.2, and has been that way for as long as I've had the fish, with the exception of the initial tank set up almost 3 years ago.
Had a nasty battle with Callamanus worms about a year ago, got my hands on levamisole, and everything has been great since.
I replaced some fish 3 months after the worms were gone and added some shrimp as I lost my ghost shrimp with the levamisole. This was about 9 months ago.
Everything was good until about a month ago.
I started to see the fish hanging out at the top of the aquarium. I did a thorough cleaning, 50% water change, vacuuming, and added an air stone. This worked for a day or two, but then the fish were up at the top again. I gave away a few fish in case this was an over-crowding issue. Nothing was better.
Then they started dying. All kinds of symptoms. Clamped fin, dropsy, wasting. Loss of colour, And it seems to strike one or a couple of fish at a time. Each fish can have different symptoms. I'm worried about fish TB, but symptoms are so varied. I don't want to give up hope yet. Also surprised that the fish just started showing symptoms out of the blue with no introduction of new fish. Maybe the vacuuming stirred up something that was there all along? I don't know, but I do vacuum at least once a month, so you would think this would have been a problem in the past if this were the case.
Also none of them loses its appetite. They will eat at their evening feeding, be dead in the morning.
I've now got one with dropsy, one seeming to have wasting and pop eye and 3 that are hanging out at the surface, and have lost at least 10 in the past month- a new batch of fry was born about a week ago, bringing the numbers back up. I will get rid of more fish as they grow, but are afraid at this point to give anymore away in case they infect other tanks with whatever is making them sick.
I feel like I'm doing everything right....what is going wrong????
I have some left over API Cure All from when I was trying anything to kill those nasty worms (obviously that didn't work, but I was desperate until I found levamisole) which I could try but am worried about killing the fry.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Update-Just checked on my tank since it occurred to me that my Pleco hadn't been spotted in a day or two. Found it lying on the bottom of the tank. Thought it was dead, as it usually is either on the glass or drift wood. Got it to move by poking it with the net, but it's not looking so good either. :'( What is going on???
I have a 45 gallon fresh water planted tank. I've got Mollies and Platties, a few cherry red shrimp (no, the fish don't bother them), a leopard pleco, about 30 fish in all. It's hard to keep an exact number as they are live bearers, and we're only talking about 15 adults here and 15 fry. I get rid of fish as they grow to avoid over crowding.
I keep the temperature at 82F. I use a canister filter.
Water parameters are pristine. I use a master test kit, and have 0 readings on Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia. PH is 8.2, and has been that way for as long as I've had the fish, with the exception of the initial tank set up almost 3 years ago.
Had a nasty battle with Callamanus worms about a year ago, got my hands on levamisole, and everything has been great since.
I replaced some fish 3 months after the worms were gone and added some shrimp as I lost my ghost shrimp with the levamisole. This was about 9 months ago.
Everything was good until about a month ago.
I started to see the fish hanging out at the top of the aquarium. I did a thorough cleaning, 50% water change, vacuuming, and added an air stone. This worked for a day or two, but then the fish were up at the top again. I gave away a few fish in case this was an over-crowding issue. Nothing was better.
Then they started dying. All kinds of symptoms. Clamped fin, dropsy, wasting. Loss of colour, And it seems to strike one or a couple of fish at a time. Each fish can have different symptoms. I'm worried about fish TB, but symptoms are so varied. I don't want to give up hope yet. Also surprised that the fish just started showing symptoms out of the blue with no introduction of new fish. Maybe the vacuuming stirred up something that was there all along? I don't know, but I do vacuum at least once a month, so you would think this would have been a problem in the past if this were the case.
Also none of them loses its appetite. They will eat at their evening feeding, be dead in the morning.
I've now got one with dropsy, one seeming to have wasting and pop eye and 3 that are hanging out at the surface, and have lost at least 10 in the past month- a new batch of fry was born about a week ago, bringing the numbers back up. I will get rid of more fish as they grow, but are afraid at this point to give anymore away in case they infect other tanks with whatever is making them sick.
I feel like I'm doing everything right....what is going wrong????
I have some left over API Cure All from when I was trying anything to kill those nasty worms (obviously that didn't work, but I was desperate until I found levamisole) which I could try but am worried about killing the fry.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Update-Just checked on my tank since it occurred to me that my Pleco hadn't been spotted in a day or two. Found it lying on the bottom of the tank. Thought it was dead, as it usually is either on the glass or drift wood. Got it to move by poking it with the net, but it's not looking so good either. :'( What is going on???
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