courtnee
Aquarium Advice Freak
I am completely heart broken. I am this thread in this area because it is beyond "help me" it is more of just telling my story. If someone does have a suggestion by all means let me know.
Sorry so long but it has been a LONG week!
My 55gl has been running since Oct 2006 with out a problem. Water has been stable, I have been on a wonderful schedule and have had such healthy fish. Until this last week. I will tell it how it was.....
Friday May 4th - It all started last Friday I saw a Clown Loach flashing. I saw a few specks on 1 bleeding heart tetra and that is it. Hmm start of ich, raise temp add salt. I add 1 tbsp per 10 gallons...
Saturday May 5th - come home from work raise the temp a little more. 2 bleeding heart tetra are looking awful.
Sunday May 6th - can't get my temp over 85F, at least it is up there. Bleeding hearts are looking very sick, two serpae are looking ill, clown loaches are looking more sick.
Monday May 7th - I am confused at this point. I am not seeing results but keep plugging away. I do a big water change and vac the gravel. I add a ratio of 1tbsp of salt to per 5gls of what water I changed out.
I am even more confused how selective this is all is. Some fish are awful, some are so so and some are fine.
Tuesday May 8th - Fish still looking worse, a spotted pictus comes out and is "stressing" they always hide and dont come out. I see bumps on it's stomach. I check my fourlines by forcing them to come out. I move their hiding spots. They look good. Add a second heater and get the head to 88F
Clown Loaches are awful looking too.
I break down and buy some Ich Guard II at this point. The heat/salt is NOT working. I felt I had to step it up after seeing how bad the spotted pictus were. I toss my apple snail into with the betta in the 10gl, I had to get him out. Cross my fingers he doesnt get my betta sick!
Late that night I got these images. *disturbing*
2 spotted pictus - can see on the top one the skin having serious problems. the second one you can see some ich on the gill area.
You can see how massive the ich is on this spotted pictus. This made me sick to my stomach. I was so upset. I thought about putting them out of their misery, they were still active, stressing but not acting like near death. I thought we still had a chance.
Pranzer my fourline pictus comes out. I get a good look at him. His stomach is clear, his skin is clear, his gills are clear. He looks really good and acting normal. This is a picture of him. Later my other fourline pictus Tankboss comes out and she looks just as good as Pranzer. These two are my "babies" I love all my fish, but these are my babies. I am feeling good at least they are doing so good.
Wed May 9th - I wake up to 4 dead spotted pictus - actually 3 are dead the 4th the smallest one I have is laying on the bottom looking me. swims just fine. Freaks out and dies as I watch. I am so heart broken at this point and feel so helpless!!!! test my water right away and get .5 ammonia. A little less. Do a pwc and a good gravel vac to clean it up and drop the ammonia. Add more ich guard II.
Before I go to work I lose a bleeding heart tetra, a serpae tetra. This is an update on a site I posted
Tetra are dealing fine. Except the sick ones.
Four Line Pictus at this time both seem to be doing very well.
Clown Loaches - All of them are out today, they are stressed. Full of ich but not as bad as my spotted pictus were hit for sure. They are still active. 1 Clown Loach though is worse then all the others and starting to have stringy stuff come off him.
Pleco shows no signs of problems
I stop in to my LFS were I always buy from. He said to watch my water close and make sure they ammonia etc doesnt get high and make them more sick. He doesnt agree with my water temp. agrees that I keep the tank clean, no feeding and keep up with the ich guard II.
I add fungus tabs. What do I have to lose..... more fish? gonna die anyways at this rate. I do less then half due to the scaleless fish and them being so sick.
Thursday May 10th - I come home to 2 dead clown loaches, a few tetra... ammonia is back to .5 the fish were dead in there for sometime because I am gone over 15hrs working. Do a PWC smaller one and knocking it down. I feel the last thing they need is bad water. Add the ich guard II again. No salt. I take out the sickest ones and toss them in a bucket with fresh water, meds and figure I rather they die and rot in there then in my 55g while I am gone for so long.
Wake up before work, another dead tetra, another clown loach.
On the way to work I call the LFS and talk to the fish guy again. He is shocked when I tell him my death count at this point. He says there has to be something else that brought on the ich and the underlying problem is probably to blame. I tell him I am thinking bacterial or something because the fishes fins are looking rough.
At this point I am losing fish that show no signs of ich and look okay. Tetra like the serpae. Their bright orange the ich sticks out. After death I look close at them and see no spots at all. Could be there I know but it was strange. I checked the gills well knowing that ich on the gills is fatal.
I ask him about putting my 2 fourlines in the 10gl tank. I could take my betta out toss him into a 5gl bucket and add the fourlines in the tank. I just worry at 5-6" their size in there. The bioload is use to some snails and a betta not two larger fish. They are still healthy and I am worried sick about them. He says go for it and said they should be fine as it is not long term and as he said "they wont be happy going in there but they will enjoy the better water" and I agreed. I knew they would be mad at me for it.
I designed the 10gl with just a betta to be used as a hospital tank. I can take the betta out easy enough. I have a lot of small fish. I never thought I would have my large fourlines BOTH in there or need to house a pleco at the SAME time. One at a time it would work. Lesson learned.
I plan to go home after work and attempt to catch pranzer and tankboss the fourlines. I have no place to stick the pleco.
The plan is for me to go in the next evening and talk to the fish guy and get a stronger medication.
Go to work
Today - Two dead clown loaches, all fish I pulled out dead.. a dead serpae in the 55gl too. I have at this point lost all clown loaches none are left out of 5.
My tank stinks of fish death. It was awful. At this point I figure I have nothing left really to lose but my last 3 fish that mean a lot to me. My fourlines and my pleco. I adore the tetra but I am more worried about the other 3.
I take out all hiding spots from the tank and most of the fake plants. I plan to just leave them out to dry out and also make it easier for me to catch the fourlines.
I get a good look at the pleco and he actually looks better. He is very active, freaking out I took the hiding places but his color is back to normal. He doesnt have light brown swirls anymore and is all back to dark brown.
His top fin does have some "rot" going on.
I get 75% of the water out, all decorations and hiding spots out except for a few fake plants I left in there for "comfort" for my pleco and tetra that are left.
Take the betta out and stick him in a 5gl bucket with some of his plants to comfort him. He is sulking but he ate in the bucket so that was good.
I finally catch the fourlines and get them to the 10gl. I avoid adding the bad water from my 55gl to the 10gl. The fourlines are "barking" LOL that made me giggle. I mean I felt bad they were that stressed but man it vibrated my hands while I had them in a small bucket. It was so LOUD. I get them in the 10gl and they are still barking and just lay there still, cuddled together. Tankboss is laying over Pranzer. I feel so bad for them.
I put ONE small log back in the 55gl for the pleco, he needs it. I fill the tank back up, no salt, left the temp and added just ich guard II.
No fish looking ill in there right now. I gave them some food. They have not ate since this last weekend. I give them just a little. I give the pleco half a algae waffer.
My fourlines have not ate for several days too. I added in two pellets for them, not sure if they ate them. If they didnt I will remove them and will not feed them much while in there. Want to avoid a huge load on that 10gl with them in there.
As of right now the fourlines in the 10gl are swimming here and there and seem less stressed, they are sticking together and I feel bad they have no hiding place really. There are some floating plants in the water at least. I may cover the tank with a towel for them. The light is off and I wont turn it on today. They HATE being out in the tank with the light on. I felt it would comfort them more with no light not having a hiding spot. I cant really put anything in there for them, dont have anything not even a glass that isnt clear. May go get some pvc pipe later. Do I have to do anything to it to make it fish safe?
I got a really good look at them putting them in the 10gl and watching them with out them hiding. No signs of anything on them. Skin looks great, gills appear clear, breathing went back to normal after they settled down from the move. Fins look good, except one tiny spot on pranzer.
So yeah I have lost so much fish in the last few days it is hard. I am thankful for what I have left.
This evening I will go get the pvc pipe for the fourlines in the 10gl.
Another medication for the 55gl, not sure yet, see what the fish guy suggests. I know I am going to have to treat the fourlines in the 10gl too. That one spot on Pranzer I cant ignore.
Sorry so long but it has been a LONG week!
My 55gl has been running since Oct 2006 with out a problem. Water has been stable, I have been on a wonderful schedule and have had such healthy fish. Until this last week. I will tell it how it was.....
Friday May 4th - It all started last Friday I saw a Clown Loach flashing. I saw a few specks on 1 bleeding heart tetra and that is it. Hmm start of ich, raise temp add salt. I add 1 tbsp per 10 gallons...
Saturday May 5th - come home from work raise the temp a little more. 2 bleeding heart tetra are looking awful.
Sunday May 6th - can't get my temp over 85F, at least it is up there. Bleeding hearts are looking very sick, two serpae are looking ill, clown loaches are looking more sick.
Monday May 7th - I am confused at this point. I am not seeing results but keep plugging away. I do a big water change and vac the gravel. I add a ratio of 1tbsp of salt to per 5gls of what water I changed out.
I am even more confused how selective this is all is. Some fish are awful, some are so so and some are fine.
Tuesday May 8th - Fish still looking worse, a spotted pictus comes out and is "stressing" they always hide and dont come out. I see bumps on it's stomach. I check my fourlines by forcing them to come out. I move their hiding spots. They look good. Add a second heater and get the head to 88F
Clown Loaches are awful looking too.
I break down and buy some Ich Guard II at this point. The heat/salt is NOT working. I felt I had to step it up after seeing how bad the spotted pictus were. I toss my apple snail into with the betta in the 10gl, I had to get him out. Cross my fingers he doesnt get my betta sick!
Late that night I got these images. *disturbing*
2 spotted pictus - can see on the top one the skin having serious problems. the second one you can see some ich on the gill area.
You can see how massive the ich is on this spotted pictus. This made me sick to my stomach. I was so upset. I thought about putting them out of their misery, they were still active, stressing but not acting like near death. I thought we still had a chance.
Pranzer my fourline pictus comes out. I get a good look at him. His stomach is clear, his skin is clear, his gills are clear. He looks really good and acting normal. This is a picture of him. Later my other fourline pictus Tankboss comes out and she looks just as good as Pranzer. These two are my "babies" I love all my fish, but these are my babies. I am feeling good at least they are doing so good.
Wed May 9th - I wake up to 4 dead spotted pictus - actually 3 are dead the 4th the smallest one I have is laying on the bottom looking me. swims just fine. Freaks out and dies as I watch. I am so heart broken at this point and feel so helpless!!!! test my water right away and get .5 ammonia. A little less. Do a pwc and a good gravel vac to clean it up and drop the ammonia. Add more ich guard II.
Before I go to work I lose a bleeding heart tetra, a serpae tetra. This is an update on a site I posted
Tetra are dealing fine. Except the sick ones.
Four Line Pictus at this time both seem to be doing very well.
Clown Loaches - All of them are out today, they are stressed. Full of ich but not as bad as my spotted pictus were hit for sure. They are still active. 1 Clown Loach though is worse then all the others and starting to have stringy stuff come off him.
Pleco shows no signs of problems
I stop in to my LFS were I always buy from. He said to watch my water close and make sure they ammonia etc doesnt get high and make them more sick. He doesnt agree with my water temp. agrees that I keep the tank clean, no feeding and keep up with the ich guard II.
I add fungus tabs. What do I have to lose..... more fish? gonna die anyways at this rate. I do less then half due to the scaleless fish and them being so sick.
Thursday May 10th - I come home to 2 dead clown loaches, a few tetra... ammonia is back to .5 the fish were dead in there for sometime because I am gone over 15hrs working. Do a PWC smaller one and knocking it down. I feel the last thing they need is bad water. Add the ich guard II again. No salt. I take out the sickest ones and toss them in a bucket with fresh water, meds and figure I rather they die and rot in there then in my 55g while I am gone for so long.
Wake up before work, another dead tetra, another clown loach.
On the way to work I call the LFS and talk to the fish guy again. He is shocked when I tell him my death count at this point. He says there has to be something else that brought on the ich and the underlying problem is probably to blame. I tell him I am thinking bacterial or something because the fishes fins are looking rough.
At this point I am losing fish that show no signs of ich and look okay. Tetra like the serpae. Their bright orange the ich sticks out. After death I look close at them and see no spots at all. Could be there I know but it was strange. I checked the gills well knowing that ich on the gills is fatal.
I ask him about putting my 2 fourlines in the 10gl tank. I could take my betta out toss him into a 5gl bucket and add the fourlines in the tank. I just worry at 5-6" their size in there. The bioload is use to some snails and a betta not two larger fish. They are still healthy and I am worried sick about them. He says go for it and said they should be fine as it is not long term and as he said "they wont be happy going in there but they will enjoy the better water" and I agreed. I knew they would be mad at me for it.
I designed the 10gl with just a betta to be used as a hospital tank. I can take the betta out easy enough. I have a lot of small fish. I never thought I would have my large fourlines BOTH in there or need to house a pleco at the SAME time. One at a time it would work. Lesson learned.
I plan to go home after work and attempt to catch pranzer and tankboss the fourlines. I have no place to stick the pleco.
The plan is for me to go in the next evening and talk to the fish guy and get a stronger medication.
Go to work
Today - Two dead clown loaches, all fish I pulled out dead.. a dead serpae in the 55gl too. I have at this point lost all clown loaches none are left out of 5.
My tank stinks of fish death. It was awful. At this point I figure I have nothing left really to lose but my last 3 fish that mean a lot to me. My fourlines and my pleco. I adore the tetra but I am more worried about the other 3.
I take out all hiding spots from the tank and most of the fake plants. I plan to just leave them out to dry out and also make it easier for me to catch the fourlines.
I get a good look at the pleco and he actually looks better. He is very active, freaking out I took the hiding places but his color is back to normal. He doesnt have light brown swirls anymore and is all back to dark brown.
His top fin does have some "rot" going on.
I get 75% of the water out, all decorations and hiding spots out except for a few fake plants I left in there for "comfort" for my pleco and tetra that are left.
Take the betta out and stick him in a 5gl bucket with some of his plants to comfort him. He is sulking but he ate in the bucket so that was good.
I finally catch the fourlines and get them to the 10gl. I avoid adding the bad water from my 55gl to the 10gl. The fourlines are "barking" LOL that made me giggle. I mean I felt bad they were that stressed but man it vibrated my hands while I had them in a small bucket. It was so LOUD. I get them in the 10gl and they are still barking and just lay there still, cuddled together. Tankboss is laying over Pranzer. I feel so bad for them.
I put ONE small log back in the 55gl for the pleco, he needs it. I fill the tank back up, no salt, left the temp and added just ich guard II.
No fish looking ill in there right now. I gave them some food. They have not ate since this last weekend. I give them just a little. I give the pleco half a algae waffer.
My fourlines have not ate for several days too. I added in two pellets for them, not sure if they ate them. If they didnt I will remove them and will not feed them much while in there. Want to avoid a huge load on that 10gl with them in there.
As of right now the fourlines in the 10gl are swimming here and there and seem less stressed, they are sticking together and I feel bad they have no hiding place really. There are some floating plants in the water at least. I may cover the tank with a towel for them. The light is off and I wont turn it on today. They HATE being out in the tank with the light on. I felt it would comfort them more with no light not having a hiding spot. I cant really put anything in there for them, dont have anything not even a glass that isnt clear. May go get some pvc pipe later. Do I have to do anything to it to make it fish safe?
I got a really good look at them putting them in the 10gl and watching them with out them hiding. No signs of anything on them. Skin looks great, gills appear clear, breathing went back to normal after they settled down from the move. Fins look good, except one tiny spot on pranzer.
So yeah I have lost so much fish in the last few days it is hard. I am thankful for what I have left.
This evening I will go get the pvc pipe for the fourlines in the 10gl.
Another medication for the 55gl, not sure yet, see what the fish guy suggests. I know I am going to have to treat the fourlines in the 10gl too. That one spot on Pranzer I cant ignore.
I teared up. I miss the clown loaches doing their loach kind of things. 
