acei help please (urgent)

[sarahh]

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.).

A juvenile Acei. His dorsal fin is rotting away at the bits between spikes. His lower end is going see thru almost and he has a cottony looking growth over his anal fin
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
ammonia 0.5 is best i can do with dip stick
nitrate less than 20 ppm
nitrite 0.2
hardness about 125GH
Chlorine 0
alkalinity 10
pH 7.6

3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
10 gallon about a month
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
penguin 150
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
2 2" pleco
2 1" lab
2 1" acei
2 1" clown loach
1 lace catfish

all from same store

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?
25% water change the daybefore the fish arrived (2 days ago)
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
floated the bags for 15 minutes, added a cup of tankwater to bags then netted the fish out after 15 minutes
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
added a piece of coral to up the hardness.. out of a bag i rinsed it and then put it in the tank
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
cichlid pellets and some spiruliina flakes.. don't know what LFS was feeding

Other info... i noticed that the other acei had fungus on his mouth last night and added a dose of pimafix (about 3 1/2 ml, because the clown loach are in and i didn't want to od them)

he's moping around a bit, and i don't want him to die.. please help

 

[happygirl65]

OK, well your tank is still going through a cycle or the addition of the fish is causing a mini cycle. Your best best at this point is to keep up water changes, probably daily (twice a day would be better) until your fish starts looking better. Make sure you use dechlorinator and that the water is the same temp going in. I would do about 50% water changes at this point. You could use some antibiotics but the super frequent water changes are your best bet at this point IMO. Don't use any other products in the aquarium and back off the feedings a bit. Your main concern is the ammonia and Nitrite in the water which have stressed the fish in their already stressed state from moving them.
Good luck to you!

 

[sarahh]

thanks for the reply
i did notice the fungus on the other fish, so what i think may have happened is the bossy little lab has picked his scales off and opened him up to infection.

The LFS guy said he probably won't make it thru the night, but i am going to try. I have take him out and have treated with maracyn for the body fungus.. i don't think the pimafix is going to help much at this point.

But the Lab is quite happy now he's gone, and hsn't been picking at any of the other fish.. go figure

 

[mfdrookie516]

do daily 50% PWC's along with a daily dose of pimafix and melafix... also, you are planning on moving these fish to a bigger tank, right?

 

[sarahh]

thanks guys.
Little Blue isn't going to make it. It's not fair, but i guess that's life.

Mfd, i am moving them as soon as this ich clears in the other acei. it's just a QT. I have a 30 gallon setup for them at the new house. It's cycling right now. It should be ready in 6 weeks or so.

There has been a huge shakeup at the house tank wise. The community tank moved to the 75, the adult cichlids are now in the 120 and the 55 (which we found out is actually a 45) is going to be the permanent home for the acei and labs (all 6 of them).

The catfish and plecos will be shared out among the cichlid and community tanks, and the clowns will join the other clown in the community tank too.

I can get another fish to replace this one, but it sucks, you know? i don't buy fish to watch them die in agony.

 

[sarahh]

stupid stupid stupid petsmart.

I did a 50 % water change, dosed with pimafix and treated the water for chlorine. made the fish happy.

Went back to Petsmart.I called ahead and the guy said bring a water sample. SO i get there, he tells me sorry, none of our fish are showing signs, maybe you should get another one. So i look at the juvenile acei and GUESS what?! Almost every juvi acei is covered in ich and horrible fungus. So i say no thanks, clearly you need to do something with your tanks.

So anyway, i drive home. When i get there, i notice that the labs are chasing the other acei with the ich mouth and harrassing him. well they look healthy enough, so i thought bugger them and put them in the 45 (together, by themselves)They are healthy as little horses.

As i am adding some pH up (desperate times.. trying to keep little acei as healthy as possible) i move a rock and slimy ichy pleco comes out. virtually dead. By the time i bag him and go back to get the other one out (not dead yet, but i am not taking chances now) he's gone.

So i go BACK to petsmart.. lo and behold the sick acei are gone, and they are still selling the "healthy" looking acei. I mean jeez.. i know they have to make money, but come on... Sorry, rant over now. I hate this business sometimes.

 

[dkpate]

Don't use pH down! Yikes! It is like a band-aid on a broken arm, only a temp fix. You will stress the fish more by using it.
Just do what Rookie said, and use the Pima and Mela, and water changes.
Good luck!
I sometimes hate the LFS too....

 

[mfdrookie516]

definitely dont use ph up... its not quite as bad as ph down, but its not good at all. why are you adding it anyways? ph would be the least of my concern right now

 

[sarahh]

it's just that for some reason the ph plunged to like 7.. i figured he was probably coping with stress as well as the rest of it.. What do you reckon i should do about it? or maybe i should just hang with the water changes and figure it out when he gets better

 

[mfdrookie516]

keep up the water changes... clean water is the best thing you can do for it right now

 

[Aquarium1]

Also, just thought I'd say, for a more accurate result I would reccomend a liquid master test kit like API

 

[sarahh]

will do.. and thanks so much