Crisis 101

[Perhaps]

Hello all!

Here's my story. I have a 7 Gallon Fluval Shi tank with the following stock;

1 Dwark Gourami
1 Molly
1 Platy
1 Cory Catfish

Parameters:
Temp 78F
PH 7.6
Amonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - unknown
Nitrate - unknown

Soon after the Molly was introduced, my Gourami/Platy/Molly all got ich. Being a beginner, I researched the illness and got some Malichite Green to fix the issue. All was getting better until... I left for the long weekend and the heater died in the tank (temp was 71-72F).

I came back, and was welcome with what I would call a Crisis :/

The Gourami had lost most of it's color (big blue streak starting at the mouth down to the first side fins). It's top fin is down all the time as well, and he was looking pretty bad and ich was back on him.

The Molly also looked like it had ich, but upon further research it seems more like fin rot. He was staying at the bottom of the tank.

The Platy is acting weird! Fins all clamped down but no sign of ich.

The Cory seems ok. Not moving much but he's looking the best.

Here are the steps I have taken;

I fixed the temperature, it's now back to 78F. I've started the ich treatment again, now on day 3, and I've added a fungus tab for the fin rot. I've separated the platy/cory to a 1 Gallon bowl with clean water. Plan is to move them to my 36 Gallon ... which is in good health (but I'm scared to infect it!! ). I'm doing 25% water change everyday since I got back (at every treatment)

The Cory i'm confident is fine.

The Platy swims around in circles at the top, and won't eat.

The Molly started to swim more today, doesn't seem to eat.

The Gourami is getting it's color back, but doesn't seem to eat. Stays at the top.

So, here are my questions!!

• Should I move the Cory and Platty into the 36 Gallon?
• Anything I can do to get them to eat!?
• Is it bad to leave the fish in a 1 Gallon with no filtration/areation? Should I swap the water everyday in the 1 Gallon?

Hope to find some answers!
Thanks all

 

[BettaGal]

Before moving them, I would quadruple check to make sure they have nothing on them. Cory cats like to be in small groups. In the bigger tank I would get at least six Corys. Then your Cory will be much happier.

I've heard using garlic to get fish to eat, but I've never tried it. I have fish that are pigs, so not eating never seems to be an issue here. Lol. Before doing that, I would make sure none of them are bloated.

Platys are messy fish. In a 1-gal, that water would have to be nasty. I would move them as soon as I was sure they aren't carrying anything. Until then, lots of water changes.

 

[Perhaps]

I gave the Cory a good long look and all seemed clear. I transfered him to the main tank after aclimatisation in a water bag, clean water, with some aquarium salt to rinse him out

I'll pick a few more tomorrow to make him happy.

I scanned the Platy, but his scales aren't 100% yet. I replaced the water in the 1 Gallon, it looked pretty gross after just one day!

 

[BettaGal]

Yeah. Platys make a mess. Until you're positive he's fine, I would definitely change the water at least once a day.

 

[Perhaps]

RIP Gourami

 

[BettaGal]

I'm sorry.

 

[creic38]

Hey there! Sorry for your predicament. I'll try to offer some advise here, and please don't take anything in a bad way. I mean only to help.

I think the stock in that tank is what caused your problems. Platys are pretty dirty as mentioned, and mollies are worse. I think you may have had too much in there. Water quality issues will definitely lead to ich and fin rot. A tank like that with those fish would probably require daily water changes. Also, not sure how you feed, but once every other day is all I do.

Be really careful if you are moving any fish into the other tank. I actually wouldn't recommend it at this point. Ich will get into everything. And don't use salt with your cory.....not good. Mollies actually prefer a little salt in their water, and the platy would benefit as well. It is best to slowly get that water temp up to 82-83 for ich treatment. Again, slowly. And I wouldn't leave the platy in that bowl too long. Someone else can chime in on this, but I would probably take my chances with it back in the tank with the mollie and treat them in there.

Hope this helps.....and good luck!

 

[bmckee727]

Hey there! Sorry for your predicament. I'll try to offer some advise here, and please don't take anything in a bad way. I mean only to help.

I think the stock in that tank is what caused your problems. Platys are pretty dirty as mentioned, and mollies are worse. I think you may have had too much in there. Water quality issues will definitely lead to ich and fin rot. A tank like that with those fish would probably require daily water changes. Also, not sure how you feed, but once every other day is all I do.

Be really careful if you are moving any fish into the other tank. I actually wouldn't recommend it at this point. Ich will get into everything. And don't use salt with your cory.....not good. Mollies actually prefer a little salt in their water, and the platy would benefit as well. It is best to slowly get that water temp up to 82-83 for ich treatment. Again, slowly. And I wouldn't leave the platy in that bowl too long. Someone else can chime in on this, but I would probably take my chances with it back in the tank with the mollie and treat them in there.

Hope this helps.....and good luck!

I think I agree with treating them together rather than infecting another tank. I would pull carbon,raise temp, and medicate.

 

[creic38]

I think I agree with treating them together rather than infecting another tank. I would pull carbon,raise temp, and medicate.

Oh yeah, definitely pull the carbon. That will just take the medication out of the water column, and you would be wasting your efforts. Forgot about that part!

 

[bmckee727]

Oh yeah, definitely pull the carbon. That will just take the medication out of the water column, and you would be wasting your efforts. Forgot about that part!

Good luck! I hope everyone pulls thru.

 

[creic38]

That wish of good luck needs to go to the op! I'm just a dude trying to help out....hehe.

 

[bmckee727]

That wish of good luck needs to go to the op! I'm just a dude trying to help out....hehe.

Sorry, computer/phone illiterate:/

 

[creic38]

It's all good. My problem is my fat fingers......not compatible with the iPhone keypad sometimes. hahaha

 

[BettaGal]

Sorry about the stocking issue. Sometimes I think we can overwhelm newcomers when we tell them everything all at once. I think it's better to guide people new to this hobby toward getting a good tank at the beginning and to get more involved as it goes just because there's so much to take in, I just think its too much to simply dump on. I was focusing on the OP's questions. Being told you did this, this, this, and this wrong, IME, can feel like getting your head bit off, especially when you didn't know in the start that what was done was wrong.

Yes, the tank was overstocked, and it probably made the water quality poor. The good thing is you got a bigger tank you can move some fish to. The other good thing is water quality can be fixed.

 

[Perhaps]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm not taking anything personal It is a bit overwhelming, but I don't mind it. I actually enjoy the learning curve !

I knew about the carbon filter, so that's been pulled out for over a week now. I might dump the platy back into the 7 gallon tonight, i'll see how he's doing when I get back home. He was still swimming in circles at the top of the 1 Gallon bowl this morning...

The molly is starting to move around more and looks a little better now, but still has a white film on him, but the fins are looking better.

 

[creic38]

Sorry about the stocking issue. Sometimes I think we can overwhelm newcomers when we tell them everything all at once. I think it's better to guide people new to this hobby toward getting a good tank at the beginning and to get more involved as it goes just because there's so much to take in, I just think its too much to simply dump on. I was focusing on the OP's questions. Being told you did this, this, this, and this wrong, IME, can feel like getting your head bit off, especially when you didn't know in the start that what was done was wrong.

Yes, the tank was overstocked, and it probably made the water quality poor. The good thing is you got a bigger tank you can move some fish to. The other good thing is water quality can be fixed.

I hear you on this. And I agree! My tactic is to try to head some problems off at the pass. Sometimes folks ask the questions, but still go buy more fish while they are getting their answers. Just recently some guy was replacing discuss without getting to the root of the problem first. This was happening while the advise was coming through on the thread. Poor guy ended up losing 6 discuss before someone finally came out and said to make sure not add any more fish. At 30 to 60 bucks each, that's a real hard loss. You'd think someone would know enough to not add fish, but it's just not the case sometimes.

Yes, the advise and criticism can be mind blowing sometimes. I always try to come off as nice as possible so I'm not taken the wrong way.

 

[BettaGal]

That would be horrible. Tons of money gone. I stopped a lady at Walmart one day when I heard the employee give some horrible instructions for introducing her fish into the tank. I basically just told her how to acclimate them and to change a few gallons of water every week to keep the tank healthy. I didn't go into the full details of cycling and all that. It was her first tank and she already was confused.

As for the water quality issue. What test kit are you using? Do you have the full kit? I'd say test your water with all of it and post the results. Then we'll work on cleaning it up. You might wanna look into Seachem Prime for your water conditioner. It detoxifies just about everything for 24 hours I believe. It would help give you a chance to get everything in check. I've used it when my back was so bad I couldn't lift the bucket to dump the bad water.

 

[creic38]

Seen it too many times.....it's really a shame.


Definitely go with Prime. It should be the only "chemical" you ever use in your tank, barring illness. And a full testing should definitely be done. Stay away from the test strips as they are very inaccurate.

 

[Perhaps]

I`ve picked up two more Green Corys to go with my little guy in the 36G. I have drops for PH, Amonia, and now Nitrite/Nitrite drops as well ( picked them up today as well.) I`ll be doing a full test on the 36G tonight.

Sadly, the molly passed away too

The filtration system in the Fluval Shi is definitly not up to par!!

The only one left is the platy. Still swimming in circles....I`m thinking something isn`t right with the poor guy!

 

[BettaGal]

What do you mean drops for them? Most if those do more harm than good.