One by one...deaths

[coywolf]

Hi everyone,
My name is Sarah and I'm new here and pretty new to fish keeping. I did have a 20 gallon when I was younger, but I only knew a little bit.
I don't want to be too wordy, but hope this is the right information you will need.
Aquarium- 75 gallon (long).
Nitrate - Reading at 0
PH- 7.5
Amonia 0
Temperature 84f (Slowly putting it down and is 82f today).
tank has been cycled.
Sand for bottom
stones that make caves.

4 hatchets, 4 female guppies (1 out of five died), 4 male guppies ( All 4 died) 1 clown loach (4 died- 1 accidental death), 4 silver hatchets ( 4 alive and well). Guppy Fry (21 in a one gallon, approx 6 in the 75 gallon doing well.).


When I added the female guppies I noticed my clown had a small white spot. My bf and I treated them straight away for ich, just in case using Tetra Ick Guard at half dosage. We raised the temperature to 84f (not that high) and added a smaller air pump to the tank in addition to the filter.


1) (Is the filter not good enough? Is the bubbles adding air from that or do I need a big air pump?

At first they all looked fine, three days or so later each of our fish started dropping dead. But not all at once. Within two weeks, one at a time...a day.. pretty much, or so it feels like. One accident- The first clown got stuck inside the air pump. We are slowly decreasing temperature to see if that will help.

The female guppy just dropped dead, no signs at all. Swimming fine etc..

The males all died one after the other- I saw fin rips. I wasn't sure if this was fin rot or the females killing them. I'm wondering if the later because the females that are left seem happy.

Next the clowns died one day apart, with one left now.
No signs of ich or any other parasite. They look bright , colourful, and fine. Sadly, the one with a giant black spot instead of a stripe died an hour ago..I thought that was pretty cool about the spot.

We stopped medicating...we did water changes when medicating (Before a new dosage was added 25% water change) Last night we stopped meds and did 50%. The hatchets, the females left, and the fry are all fine.

Oh yeah..today our pleco died. He is the only one who looked like he was attacked. But I saw him slower last night and guppies trying to pick at him once or twice.. before he fled..so maybe they just picked him off a bit after death..


EDITED TO ADD: our clown loach we took out seems to have skin missing. Should I treat for something else? Will that stress the fish out more? I'm soo confused.

Any idea what I should do?

 

[Matt68005]

Sounds like Flexibacter infection. Probably came as a suprise with your fish from the store. Any ideas what i should do.
Definately unplug the heater right now! bacteria multiply faster in warm water than cold. Definately add salt, not aquarium salt but sea salt or packing salt from the store, be sure to dissolve it first for at least 30 minutes.
In a tank that big, i would rather see them in a ten gallon tank just filled with cool water
A good medicine to look for would be kanamycin or maracyn-2, or if nothing else triple-sulfa.
You would likely add an anti-fungal agent to the water too, such as primafix or methylene blue. Go with what you can do from a open mindset, your probobably gonna loose most of them anyway if its progressed by now, the best thing to do is not waste time or money or give up on the hobby.

 

[coywolf]

thank you for the help. We don't unfortunately have a smaller tank. We are living paycheck to paycheck, but since we do not spend our money on any form of entertainment (movies, bars, etc) we decided to buy a tank second hand for cheap.
I had a twenty gallon when I lived with my parents, but it was 8 hours away and rather than travel with it, I sold it to help with the costs of the new tank.
The last loach was listless but just 10 minutes ago started swimming around the tank. The water is at 80 now. I wonder if they were just burning from the ich treatment?
I don't trust chemicals that much. I wouldn't be surprised if it hurt them. Just because, the guppies and hatchets are all fine now for a week.

My other fear is that the loach has no friends. I also don't want to let him die from stress because there's no school of fish either. sigh* I wish there were fish vets that did house calls.

 

[Matt68005]

That sucks that you have no money. If its not to bad, unplug the heater and let it cool down. Then dissolve table salt with declorinated tap water in a bucket for half an hour by stirring it or an airstone or pump. That is if any of them are still savable at this point you might just take it down and clean it outside and get some new fish. Fancy Golfdfish are really cool, don't take much care, and are cheap. They grow big and live for up to 40 years. And you can handbreed them and watch the eggs hatch in a few days. Guppies only really live for about a year, the wild type 2.
Anyways didnt know you were on a budjet. Sorry for your loss. Sea Salt alone and cold water can kill bacterial infections in fish if it hasnt progressed too far. think of refrigitrators
Think of people packing food in salt before refrigidirators. Salt kills bacteria and guppies and mollies and most livebears can take salt up to brackish strength, even if its sudden. Even if its table salt (same stuff as marine salt)

 

[coywolf]

No problem. In a few years time we will be on our feet. My boyfriend is just in the process of taking over his dad's clients in a business, and in a few years time I'm sure finances won't be an issue. My one clown seems tohave survived and looks to be getting better. But he is skiddish now. I don't know when it would be safe to add some friends for him, I don't like to leave a school fish alone...
I'm not a real fan of my guppies, but live and learn i guess haha. They are doing well and the fry are happy too. Goldfish are nice, but I don't think something my bf wants. I love clowns..I just wish they were more hardy

 

[coltonwsmith]

I'll warn, though, clown loaches are particularly sensitive to salt.

 

[coltonwsmith]

Do you have any pictures of the fish that are looking torn? Or possibly even deceased? That way we can get a better idea if it IS flexibacter.

 

[coywolf]

I should have taken one of the clown that died, but didnt. I actually couldn't see any problem inside the tank. When he was outside, you could see the orange was gone. I didn't see tearing, no white , nothing cottony... just gone.
I do have one of the pleco in the tank. Not sure if the pic shows anything. Let me check and upload it. thanks

 

[coywolf]

Here is a photo of the pleco taken when I thought he was deceased-and he was.
And a photo I took of the last clown loach alive, taken just recently. He is not in full view and after I snapped the photo he left to hide.

 

[coywolf]

The last living clown is doing really well, though likes to sleep and hide and hasn't eaten yet. We bought more clowns for him, plus some khulis. They are so happy and have helped the last one to come out a bit and look around. I had confirmation from the fish store that it was chemical burn from the meds. So he may take a bit to recover fully, but now we know better.
The tank is now stable and happy thanks for any help!

 

[coywolf]

Now my hatchet has tiny white spots- two hatchets . I do not want to add medication now that I see signs the clown loach is doing well. I do see the hatchets fighting sometimes..Can nipping also cause a few white dots?
Should I raise the temp?

 

[coywolf]

Here isa photo of the hatchet (though there are two ) that has spots. Sorry for the bad quality. .

 

[coltonwsmith]

It's very possible that the apparent ich was caused by all the stress.

You could raise the temperature...or also look into saltwater dips.
I would suggest adding salt to the entire tank, but because of the clown I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.

Research the saltwater dips with hatchets (as I have not done it on them)

Now, the ich will still be in the tank, though. So you'll need to do something about that. Continue doing the suggested water changes frequently to keep the water clean and reduce stress on the fish.
If you're not wanting to medicate, the best you can do are the water changes and keep the fish stress free. Dim or turn off the lights, also.

 

[Matt68005]

+ 1 to raising the heat.
Aquarium salt is just not that strong. If you have other fish that don't like salt it would be better to take them out and give them a dip in it.
I did jump the gun on saying it could be flexibacter. I guess since you said so many deaths and guppies that this was the case. I should have asked more information before trying to help you.
What did they look like before they died?

 

[Matt68005]

Hi everyone,

At first they all looked fine, three days or so later each of our fish started dropping dead. But not all at once. Within two weeks, one at a time...a day.. pretty much, or so it feels like. One accident- The first clown got stuck inside the air pump. We are slowly decreasing temperature to see if that will help.

The female guppy just dropped dead, no signs at all. Swimming fine etc..

The males all died one after the other- I saw fin rips. I wasn't sure if this was fin rot or the females killing them. I'm wondering if the later because the females that are left seem happy.

Next the clowns died one day apart, with one left now.
No signs of ich or any other parasite.


Oh yeah..today our pleco died.

EDITED TO ADD: our clown loach we took out seems to have skin missing. Should I treat for something else? Will that stress the fish out more? I'm soo confused.

Any idea what I should do?

This is what mislead me.......i do apoligize and im sorry that your fish got sick.