I definately need some help here!

[Kari]

I hope I don't get too longwinded with this, but I'm having alot of trouble with the fish I have. First, I have two 10 gallon tanks set up, one with tropical fish and one with goldfish and plecos. I have a 1 gallon tank set up with a male betta, and three fishbowls with my other male bettas.

In the tropical tank, I have mollies, platies, harlequin rasboras, tetras, and female bettas. On two of the female bettas, the top fins and tail fins are fraying...I'm not so sure that it isn't due to the males nipping them, because I did witness that and that's part of why I moved the females to a tank without the males. I'm fairly sure that at least a couple of my fish in this tank have anchor worms, there are a couple that have what I think might possibly be clamped fins (not sure about that), and a couple have ich. There was no heater in this tank until this week, and when I installed the heater according to the directions for the tank size, it still got too hot and killed off a bunch of my fish. To treat them for the ailments, yesterday I added CopperSafe, Quick Cure, and Erythromycin. Three of my tetras and two of my rasboras were dead this morning. I used the reduced amount of Quick Cure that it said to use for tetras, but something's still killed them. I have a filter, and an air pump with a bubble bar, and instead of gravel, have used those little glass rocks, making sure that there aren't any that are chipped or broken with sharp edges. I've been using treated water (gallon jugs filled with tap water, then added 6 - 8 drops of AquaSafe and let sit for at least 48 hours before using) with water changes, and I admit, I haven't been very good about using the gravel cleaner in the past, but have really paid attention to that in the last week.

The goldfish/pleco tank seems to be doing well, for the most part. The water is consistently a bit murky, which I've been trying to work on (which hasn't entirely cured the problem) and the only other possible problem I see so far is with one of the black moors. It appears that something has eaten at his top fin, but I noticed that shortly after I got him, and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, and possibly might even be getting better. It's hard to tell when you see them every day!

Now, for the male bettas, I've been researching (on ALL of this, really, but on this particular issue just this morning) and I believe my red betta that's been the sickest has that black spot disease. He had originally been in my tropical tank, but his fins rotted badly overnight one night, and I removed him. I seemed to have stopped the fin rot, treating him with salt and MelaFix, and doing a 50% water change every day, sometimes every other day. I finally saw him flare up again for the first time in weeks just yesterday, and he seems to be having trouble with one of his gills.
My only concerns on the other male bettas I have is at least two of them seem to have that hemorrage thing, where there aren't any open sores or anything, but seem to be bleeding under the skin. Oh yeah, one other thing, on one of my male bettas, one of his gills looks kind of raw, but he doesn't seem to have any trouble with flaring or anything. I generally do a water change of about 30 to 50% at least once, sometimes two to three times a week.

CORRECTION!!! Now that I know what to look for, and have taken a closer look at my other three bettas, at least two of them look like they have the black spot disease as well.

It's really difficult to treat them, especially, because most medications only direct you for 10 gallon and above. I have quite a few medications, but don't know how to give doses suitable for bowls. The Erythromycin is in tablet form. I have Tetracycline Hydrochloride capsules, but haven't used them just yet. I also have MelaFix, Quick Cure, and CopperSafe in liquid form.

Any help that anyone might be able to give me would really be appreciated, and thank you to those of you who take the time to read through all this!

 

[Kari]

P.S. I'm also trying to find a suitable heater for my one gallon tank. The way this small tank is set up, I'm not able to hang anything from the top of it, i.e. I don't have anywhere that a cord could be put through, so I would have to find one that runs on batteries, if possible? Any suggestions on that?

 

[Kari]

Okay, here's an update...

I saw the thread about all the info I should give when asking my questions, so here goes the rest of the info that I have.

As far as what fish I have that are afflicted...
I already described the male bettas to the best of my ability.
I have a platie that I think has clamped fins...it's the two fins on the bottom closest to the rear, I've never seen those fins fanned out, just clamped up and held close to the body. I've had this particular platie for about a month and a half to two months.
I have a platie that has one small white spot in it's tail. The spot looks too big to be ich, and it's had the spot for a couple weeks, it doesn't seem to be spreading on that fish or to any other. I've had this platie for a couple months also.
I have a female guppy that's swimming on her side again...I think that's because of the heater getting too hot, it happened before and I got her out of there and put her in a little bowl and slowly cooled her and added a little MelaFix, and she perked back up, but now it's happening again. I had put her back in the bigger tank because she had anchor worms, and I was treating the whole tank and couldn't treat her in a small bowl by herself. The anchor worms are gone now though, at least I don't see any hanging from her anymore.
Before I got my son off to school this morning, I noticed that 3 of my tetras and 2 of my rasboras were dead. By the time I went to work a few hours later, all but one were dead. I'd had 9 tetras and 5 rasboras. When I got home this afternoon, the last one was dead too

As for tank parameters, I haven't a clue. I've never done the testing and have just recently started hearing about needing to do that. The temp I don't know for sure either, because I don't think the thermometer that I have in there is accurate. (I know I need to get the things I need to get these answers, but I won't be able to do that until the middle of next week)

The main tank that I've been talking about is my 10 gallon tank with my tropical fish in it. It's been set up for about 4 to 6 months now.

The filter I have is the Deluxe Aqua-Tech 5 - 15 Power Filter (the newer one with BIO-FIBER) I have NO idea what gph even means...

All together there are 16 fish in the tank at this point. Two female guppies, three female bettas, five mollies, and six platies.

I just vacuumed the gravel again yesterday, and have done it every other day this week (it was pretty bad). When I've done the gravel, I've done about a 25 - 30% water change. I've generally done a water change of about the same amount once a week, sometimes every other week, and with the gravel, I've only vacuumed a few times (yeah, yeah, I know NOW that's really bad!) About half of the fish in there I've had since I started the aquarium, I've added some off and on since then.

I've added new medications, and a new water treatment called Easy Balance by Tetra. I went into detail about what meds I've added in my previous post.

I did change their food recently, from Wardley Tropical Fish Flakes to Tetra Tropical Fish Flakes.

The heater that I've been having so much trouble with is the Tetra Whisper Submersible Heater for 5 - 15 gallon tanks.



There...I don't know if any of this info might help get answers, but that's all I got for now. I won't be able to post about the tank parameters until mid-week next week.

 

[Devilishturtles]

First off, Welcome to AA! It seems you have a slew of concerns, so lets see....

In the tropical tank, I have mollies, platies, harlequin rasboras, tetras, and female bettas.

This sounds a bit overcrowded. How many of each do you have in this tank?

On two of the female bettas, the top fins and tail fins are fraying...I'm not so sure that it isn't due to the males nipping them, because I did witness that and that's part of why I moved the females to a tank without the males.

Very possible. Male and female bettas rarely can be housed together. Good thing you took them out.

I'm fairly sure that at least a couple of my fish in this tank have anchor worms, there are a couple that have what I think might possibly be clamped fins (not sure about that), and a couple have ich. There was no heater in this tank until this week, and when I installed the heater according to the directions for the tank size, it still got too hot and killed off a bunch of my fish. To treat them for the ailments, yesterday I added CopperSafe, Quick Cure, and Erythromycin. Three of my tetras and two of my rasboras were dead this morning.

First off, did you add all the fish at once? Not having a heater could cause alot of troubles too, especially if you have the tank in a room that does't get as warm. Temperature flucuations can cause alot of problems with fish. My guess is that you maybe got the tank, got the water, let it sit, then threw in a bunch of fish, without putting them in in cycles, or letting your tank cycle, right? This is probably the most of your problems. In regard to adding all the medicine, your fish probably died from overdosing. The active ingredients in those medications are quite strong, and it's never reccomended to add more than one at any time. This is likely what killed your fish as suddenly.

See if you can get your water tested, ASAP. For now, keep up with daily water changes for the tropical tank.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Now, for the goldfish tank:

The goldfish/pleco tank seems to be doing well, for the most part. The water is consistently a bit murky, which I've been trying to work on (which hasn't entirely cured the problem) and the only other possible problem I see so far is with one of the black moors. It appears that something has eaten at his top fin, but I noticed that shortly after I got him, and it doesn't seem to be getting any worse, and possibly might even be getting better. It's hard to tell when you see them every day!

How many goldfish and plecos in that tank? Water could be murky due to overstocking, which is a likely case. Goldfish really need about 10 gallons per fish, due to how large they grow and the amount of waste they produce.

 

[Devilishturtles]

All together there are 16 fish in the tank at this point. Two female guppies, three female bettas, five mollies, and six platies.

Maybe if read all your post first....

This is overcrowded, and is probably what is causing most of your problems. I'd get rid of atleast half of them and start with just 6-7.

As for tank parameters, I haven't a clue.

This is quite important. Many pet stores will do water testing for you at no charge. If you don't have a kit, I'd do this.

Good luck!

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Kari and welcome to Aquarium Advice!

Devilishturtles gave some excellent advice...goldfish produce tons of waste, and plecos are "dirty" fish as well, so having both types of fish in only a ten gallon tank compounds the problem of keeping the tank clean. Do you know what kind of pleco it is? Some of them (most of them!) will outgrow a 10 gallon tank very quickly. Like D.T. said, one goldfish per 10 or even 20 gallons is recommended due to their high waste production.

About the bettas, unfortunately, as you have seen, bettas in bowls are prone to many diseases, like finrot or bacterial diseases. Bettas are very sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and unless you can correct that, the bettas may not be in optimal health. Bettas like a steady temperature of 80 or 82 degrees.

I have bettas in 5 gallon tanks, with heating and filtration, and they have never been sick. It takes a bit of time to set up the tank, but then all you do is water changes once a week and the bettas are fine. There are some pics in my gallery of my tanks. They have different bettas in them now, but the setup is still the same. In the tanks, I have a 25 watt heater and a sponge filter, since bettas don't like current, and sponge filters, hooked to a gang valve, are easy to adjust to control the current.

If a 5 gallon tank is not available, try a Mini-Bow acrylic 2.5 gallon tank. These come with a small filter, and you can add a 25 watt heater. This is the minimum tank size that you should put a 25 watt heater in. I use this tank as a QT tank and the betta seemed ok in there.

Another small heater I found is a 7.5 watt heater: Mini Heater I used this heater in a bowl of live plants, before I was ready to plant them. Don't put this heater in a bowl that is under strong lighting, or any kind of light, really, or the temperature will rise drastically. Watch closely if you use it in the fish bowl. A bigger tank would really be better, but if that's hard to do right now, this heater may help to keep their temperature stable.

I would use the tetracycline tablets for the red gills and red streaks under the skin. If one tablet is for ten gallons, to dose for a one gallon bowl, get a gallon of water, add dechlorinator, and add the whole tablet to the water jug. Then put about one-tenth of the gallon of the medicated water in the bowl, and fill the rest of the bowl with non-medicated water that has been dechlorinated. One-tenth of a gallon (16 cups in a gallon / 10 ) is about 1 1/2 cups.

Don't use MelaFix on a betta. The active ingredient seems to adversely affect the labyrinth organ of the betta. Watch closely for signs of stress or lethargy in the betta you used it on. When I used it on my very first betta, he fell like a rock to the bottom of the bowl. I did a huge water change and he perked up. MelaFix is a wonderful medicine for other types of fish, but I wouldn't recommend it on bettas or gouramis.

Here's an article you may want to read on tank cycling: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21

P.S. Are you near Indianapolis? As you can see, I'm rather fond of Indy!

 

[Kari]

My sick female guppy has been swimming RIGHT side up since last evening

On this other update, please, before you lynch me, realize that I've never handled/raised fish or known anyone who did either. I just saw pretty fish at Wal-Mart, felt sorry for them, and brought them home. I will definately have to do something for my goldfish/pleco tank. The plecos are the common pleco, and there are now 4 in there. There were only two, but the two in the tropical tank I switched to the goldfish tank because I was treating the tropical tank with salt and found out it would kill the plecos. There are two black moors in there, and there are eight fantail goldfish. I'd been telling my fiance, after watching how big my two oldest goldfish and oldest pleco are getting, that once we move this summer and get settled, we need to start looking into putting together a small pond or some type of wishing well to put them in. I'll definately be giving them some extra special attention this weekend while I'm off, and will be doing a LOT more cleaning and water changing for their tank until I can get them in a more suitable habitat. I'm beginning to feel like the kind of caregiver that I rescued them from! There's SO MUCH I don't know. I think at this point, I've resolved to research every fish I have in detail, and won't get any new fish until I've researched them as well.

 

[Jchillin]

On this other update, please, before you lynch me, realize that I've never handled/raised fish or known anyone who did either. I just saw pretty fish at Wal-Mart, felt sorry for them, and brought them home.

You will never be lynched here Karl. What you did is commendable and it's not usual. We tend to flame up at LFS who should be advising against this. You, by beginning your research and asking questions show that you do care.

You're going to have an interesting weekend. If you run into any problems...come here with it...we will be here for you.

 

[fearlessfisch]

Hi Kari,
I just wanted to add my voice to those encouraging you and saying how sorry I am that Walmart led you astray. I am sorry for your lost fish and hope you will try again. As others have said, a 10-gallon will only house about 6 of the type of tropical fish you described (the very loose rule is one inch of tropical fish per gallon), and only about one goldfish since goldfish are so dirty. And ten gallons is way too small for even one common pleco. There are other algae eating fish that stay small, that would be better choices.

Please read the article on this website about cycling a new tank. It is really important that your tanks go through the cycling process. If you add fish before they do, the ammonia (and after that, nitrites) in fish waste will kill your fish. It is possible to cycle a tank that already has fish in it, but you will need to do frequent water changes during the cycle to keep levels of ammonia and nitrite down to safe levels. You will need to buy a water test kit to do this. A master kit that includes tests for pH and other things is about 15 or 20 dollars online or in a fish store, but you can get by with just individual tests for ammonia and nitrite, which could be as cheap as 5 or 10 dollars total.

A lot of people who keep bettas in very small tanks (under 5 gallons) don't cycle, but rather do 100 percent water changes once a week to keep ammonia levels down. It is your choice.

I don't know of any heaters that don't use cords, but I'm not sure I understand your setup. You need access to the tank to feed them, so why can't a cord fit through there? Make sure to buy a heater designed for a small tank and monitor it carefully, especially at first. It is very easy to accidentally cook fish.

Keep coming here and asking questions, and you will have a successful tank going in no time. Good luck!

 

[fearlessfisch]

Also....

Most fish stores will let you trade fish in for others, and some will even hold fish for you until your tank is cycled. You may be able to take your goldfish and plecos back and get store credit for them. The store may also take back any tropical fish that are not yet sick. Then you can make sure you have everything in place for them to start right.

Please let us know how everything goes. Don't hesitate to ask more questions if you have any. We're rooting for you and the fishies.

 

[fearlessfisch]

Thinking twice....

Even if your tropicals are sick already, I would still take them back and let the store personnel know that you were seriously misled as to what your tank could hold.

 

[Kari]

Devilishturtles,
Thank you for all your advice, I really appreciate it. It's gonna take awhile to get everything in order, but I feel like I'm finally on my way at least! And thanks for the well wishes, too


An t-iasg,
Thank you for the advice too! As for the temp. problems with the bettas, I've improvised for the moment, until I can get the things they really need. They're still in their bowls, but I've set them up on top of a heating pad that's wrapped with a towel. That should up the temp SOME for them. The mini heater that you suggested sounds perfect, and I'll be looking into it once I finally get the darn tanks!
What I did with the tetracycline capsules...I opened one into a small cup, added a tsp. of warm water to dissolve, then measured a fifth of a tsp. between 5 gallon jugs of treated water that I had. I changed out the water they were in completely, and added aquarium salt to the new water.
I have a couple questions about something I've noticed since, though. Does tetracycline form tiny bubbles around infected areas, kind of like peroxide or something? I noticed an itty-bitty white spot on my most prized betta's tail, and not 5 minutes later, there seemed to be more, and I noticed them on the other bettas too. I KNOW they weren't there before I changed them out. It kind of reminded me of ich, and if it DOES turn out to be ich, is it safe to mix quick cure and/or coppersafe with tetracycline? The white spots really appear to be the like the tiny bubbles that I see on the sides of the bowls, but they didn't float off, like I figured a bubble would, when the bettas were moving around. The bettas don't appear to be really ill or anything, they're very lively...all but Red Dragon (my REALLY ill male betta) I'll be keeping a close eye on them the rest of the night.
As for Indy...that's where I'm from, and that's where we're moving back to come summer ( ). We're about an hour south of there right now though.


Everybody that's responded here, thanks...I really like my fish and I only know a couple people who really get into aquariums, and they don't seem to know much more than I do about it. This is getting too long... , I'm sure I'll be back quite frequently, at least until I know how to give all my fishes happy homes!
To those of you who've suggested that I get rid of some of my fishes...can't do that. I'll find a way to manage, and get them better habitats. Unless, of course, I find someone who would really like them as much as I do, and I wouldn't have to try to ship them. I might be able to part with some on those circumstances...big stress on the MIGHT. Right now I don't know of anyone though.

My sick female guppy was on her side again when I came home. I've taken her back out of the bigger tank, and put her in her own bowl and set her up with the male bettas on the heating pad. I'm doing what pulled her out the last time, I hope...keep your fingers crossed for her.

Jchillin,
I see you have what you call a 'mickey mouse platy'. I bet that's the same type I've got that I've been calling 'mickey butts' (lol) They look like they have a mickey mouse head on their rear, right before the tail fin. I have 3 that are mostly yellow, with the black mickey head, and red around where the fins meet the body. I like your collection, by the way! I'm hoping to get a couple angelfish at some point, and I definately want to get some tetras and rasboras back. That's on hold for now, but eventually...


FearlessFisch,
Thanks for the idea on sticking a heater line through the feeding hole, I shoulda thought of that!
I really want to focus on getting them into bigger tanks though, all of the bettas...and I'll manage with the rest of the fishes, too, I'll just be doing an awful lot of water maintenance til I'm able to get everything they need! There's no way I could take them back to where I got them from, my most ignorant attempts are still better than the best attempts I've seen made at Wal-Mart. I've found that many of their tanks contain ich, and not just in the one store in my area. And I can generally count about a handful dead in each tank, for days on end while they just let the other fish eat them. I guess they figure it'll cost them less to feed them that way . I hope you don't think I'm too mushy, but I just can't see taking any of them back there. I love my fishes! So keep rootin for us, and I'll keep you guys posted. I'm sure I WILL be back with many questions over the next couple/few weeks at least, and now that I've found fellow fish lovers, I'd really love to show mine off, and get advice and tell the funny stories

I hope I didn't miss anybody, thanks to all of you that have responded here!

Well...time to check on the fishes.

Oh yeah, one more question for now...I got some liquid Ammonia Chloramine Eliminator and am intending to add that when I do the water change for the goldfish/plecos. Is that a good idea? I thought it might help...although, like I said, of all the fish I have, they seem to be doing the best anyway!

 

[Menagerie]

I got some liquid Ammonia Chloramine Eliminator and am intending to add that when I do the water change for the goldfish/plecos. Is that a good idea?

No, it is best to allow the proper bacteria to grow in the filter. Adding the eliminator, slows the bacterial growth and encourages the addition of more eliminator and the nasty cycle will continue. The best way to rid ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates is by PWC.
As for the bettas, a 5 or 10 gallon tank with dividers is a great way to house many bettas, allows for filtration and a heater. I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this, but female bettas can be as nasty as the males. If the females' fins continue to look poor, consider isolating them and allowing the fins to grow back. I have a female in a 50 gallon with various tropicals, but her tail fin is getting shredded, so she will need a new home. (That is how I ended up with 10 tanks )

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Kari,
Here's an article on ich: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32 Does this look like what the bettas have? Heat is an easy and effective treatment, but you need a heater. A heating pad can't be adjusted like a heater can, so be careful. Mixing medicines will stress the fish more than it would help. If it does turn out to be ich, in your situation, I would do water changes to get the antibiotic out, and then use the Quick Cure or Coppersafe.

I remember the last time I used an antibiotic capsule -- it didn't really dissolve all the way. I stirred it in a cup and it still didn't dissolve too well. The water was a little cloudy, and that's common when dosing meds. I don't remember a 'bubble" appearance, though. Just keep watching the bettas. The small heater I linked will be too weak for a 5 gallon tank, IMO. I just used it in a one gallon critter keeper, with the plants. A 25 watt heater is good for a 5 gallon tank, and a 50 watt heater is good for a 10 gallon tank.

Menagerie had an excellent idea about dividing a larger tank for bettas. Since you have many bettas, this might work for you, and it would eliminate the bowls.

Good luck!

 

[fearlessfisch]

As Menagerie said, don't add anything that claims to get rid of ammonia. You want the bacteria to grow so that the ammonia will naturally convert to nitrite and then nitrate.

However, you should be adding a chlorine/chloramine remover every time you add new water to the tank.

For heat treatment of ich, make sure the temp is steady at 87 degrees for three weeks. Adding meds at this point will only delay the cycle and potentially kill your fish.

 

[Kari]

Menagerie,
Thanks, I'm glad I asked before I added the eliminator stuff! I think my fear of losing my fish are making me overdo it! I also think it's part guilt for realizing there's so much they need that I was completely oblivious to, so I'm trying to overcompensate.
The idea for putting the bettas in a tank with a divider has crossed my mind, I'm not sure what I'll do in the long run just yet. As for the female bettas, 2 of them are pretty mild-mannered. The third is pretty mild-mannered too, unless one of the other fish gets a little too close to her. And since putting them in the tropical tank, away from the males, the two with the frayed fins are healing nicely and rapidly!



An t-iasg,
I've been watching the male bettas closely since last night. I'm positive that they do NOT have ich at this point. I'm pretty sure they were just tiny water bubbles that I was seeing, like the little bubbles you see on the sides of the bowl or tank at first when you fill them with fresh water.



FearlessFisch,
I've got a system going with the water. Originally, I bought gallon jugs of bottled water, now I just refill the jugs with tap water, and add tetra's AquaSafe to them and let them sit at least 48 hours before I use them.



Today's concerns...

My biggest concern is my yellow female guppy that's been having so much trouble. She's right side up again, I don't know for how long though. There appears to be a clear strand hanging from underneath her, it almost looks like a strand of poo hanging from her, but it's colorless almost, and barely visible. It appears to me to be some type of worm. I've got some parasite clear fizzing tabs, and I'm contemplating doing a complete water change for the bowl that she's in and putting a small piece of the tab in with it. Last night I figured what was making her so ill again was all the meds in the bigger tank, so when I put her in the bowl, I filled it halfway with fresh water that didn't have ANY meds in it. If it IS some type of worm, it needs treated though, and the coppersafe that she was in doesn't appear to be working. This morning she's right side up again, but I'm sure this saga with her isn't anywhere near over just yet. I'm desperate for info that'll help her, I feel totally helpless watching her suffer like this so frequently. It's like watching one of my kids suffer and not being able to help them.


Other big concerns are my bettas. My red one that's been so sick seems to be doing much better, and seems to perking up quite a bit. But my violet one seems to have the black spots even worse than he did last night, that might be due to the difference in lighting during the day though. The only one with any fin damage is the red one, and though his fins don't seem to be growing back just yet, they haven't been deteriorating anymore since a week or two ago. A few of them also appear to have that hemorraging underneath the skin, with no visible open sores.

The only other concern I'm really having right now is what appears to be clamped fins on my mickey butt platies. There are two sets of fins on their underside, and on two of my mickey's, the set that are closest to their rear are clamped together and up against their body at all times. I know that one of them has had that since I got him a couple months ago. The rest of the fins look fine and undamaged on both of them, and they're pretty lively, not acting sick or anything. There IS that ONE white spot on the tail of one of them that also concerns me, but like I said, it hasn't spread to anywhere else on that fish, nor has it spread to any of the other fish in the tank, and it's been there for a couple weeks.

 

[Guest]

At this point, it is probably pretty pointless to try to help all these sick fish until you do water testing and know the tanks' parameters. Using antibacterials can be especially lethal if your nitrites are high, for example.

One thing that sticks out from what I have read so far: do you even have a thermometer in any of these tanks? You talk about how you "think" the heater gets too hot, but don't say how you come to that conclusion.

We can conclude one thing for sure: some of your fish have Ich.

 

[Kari]

The ones that I KNEW for sure had ich were the ones that died...the neons and the rasboras. None of the rest of my fish have appeared to have it, really.
I have a thermometer in the tropical tank, but I'm pretty certain it's not working anymore since it got so hot. The water's cooled, I can FEEL that it's cooled, but the thermostat hasn't gone back down. I've been doing 25 - 30% water changes about every other day for the last week to two weeks in the tropical tank, and have vacuumed 3 - 4 times in the past week, so I figured the nitrites, and anything else like that, would be low at this point.

My female guppy, Twinkie, is in a bowl by herself right now...not in the tank. I think the meds and the current in the bigger tank were too much for her, she's pretty weak right now, and still has that clear strand hanging from her. It seems to be getting longer, but not breaking or falling off.

 

[Guest]

What kind of thermometer do you have? I've never heard of one that just quit working without some sort of physical damage like a crack.

If one fish has/had Ich, every fish in that tank has Ich, regardless of whether you see it or not.

Clear strands being discharged are not a good sign.

Again, I am hesitant to offer advice without knowing exactly what state the tank parameters are in. But starting treatment for Ich now is a good idea, especially since it has not reached the "white spots all over" stage yet. I recommend RidIch+, follow the directions given.