Hello! Please help!

[Dawn A]

Hello, I am new to this forum and seriously need some help. I have posted a question in the general area for freshwater fish but have yet to receive an answer. Since posting I lost my pleco. He was the only one that wasn’t appearing sick. I don’t know what’s happening and I have called, posted, and contacted so many places and everyone says something different. I treat for what I’m being told it is and nothing is changing. I don’t want to lose my black moors but I can’t get any help for them. I am going in circles and loosing sleep from worry. I haven’t had them long but they are my babies. They are all I have. Please help me!!

[Aiken Drum]

Hi dawn.

As you reached out directly to me in another post ill respond, but im probably not that helpful here as i dont keep goldfish and im really not good at diagnosing or treating illness. I try to keep away from things i dont have first hand experience or at least a good level of 2nd hand knowledge.

Did you cycle the tank before putting in fish or have you been doing a fish in cycle? What has been your water change schedule since having the fish? Your testing doesn't include ammonia? That is usually the first sign of problems in your tank that would show up in a water test. Are you seeing any nitrate in your test? In a cycled tank you should be seeing some.

As to treatment im a fan of clean water. I have far more success treating issues with clean water than medication. As a 1st course of action i would always recommend water changes.

Aquarium salt might help. 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.

I use Esha2000 as a general cure. Im from UK and a lot of the antibiotic medications recommended on this forum arent available here without vets prescription so i have no experience with the more effective treatments.

[Dawn A]

Ok I set the tank up did all the SafeStart, etc then added the fish the next day. I am using the Tetra 5 in 1 easy strips. They test for Nitrate, Nitrite, general hardness, alkalinity, and ph. All have usually been really good. I did a 1/3 water change yesterday and used all the safestart etc but today the levels are all over the place. I think the pleco may have infected them with something do to the appearance of the fish now but I can’t tell what or how to treat them. I was treating them with lifeguard but the tetra told me to stop because that isn’t for scaleless fish.

[BigRedsReefs10]

Sounds like you're fish in cycling, how often do you do water changes and what are your test readings for ammonia and nitrite?

General advice large water changes daily while you establish a cycle. Those “safe start” type products don’t really do much if anything to help start your aquarium

[Aiken Drum]

I dont like the term "good". What are your parameters? And you really should be able to test for ammonia. I would recommend the API freshwater master test kit. It covers the basics, will be more accurate/easier to read than strips and is more cost effective long run.

Even without seeing your water parameters its unlikely you are cycled. Using bottled bacteria like safestart might claim to cycle a tank and make it safe for fish, but ive never heard of that actually happenning. At best they will speed up your cycle from months to weeks. Your timescale is also about right for an uncycled tank starting to cause problems.

If it was me, i would do a big water change, like 50%. Then do daily 25% water changes until you can test for ammonia as well. If your problem is ammonia poisoning the only treatment for that is clean water and time. Aquarium salt will help with infections and parasites and is also a treatment for nitrite poisoning. A general cure like esha2000 might help. API melafix is a treatment for bacterial infections, API pimafix is a treatment for fungal infections, these 2 can be used together to give a broader treament, although they are usually considered a preventative rather than a treatment. There are more effective antibiotic treatments which i have no experience of due to previous comments. These antibiotic treatments are more likely to crash your cycle though so i wouldnt recommend their use outside of a hospital tank.

[Dawn A]

This will be the 3rd water change since getting the tank. The water change yesterday was the biggest one so far at about 1/3 of the tank. Also the test readings were in ideal range for the first 2 weeks and then about 2 days after adding the Pleco, the general hardness went up. Since the water change yesterday, all the numbers are everywhere. As of 2 hours ago, the readings were: Nitrate- about 40, Nitrite- 1.0-3.0, General Hardness- 150-300, Alkalinity- 180-300, and PH- 7.2-7.8. It is hard to tell the exact numbers due to the type of strips I am using, which I will be changing. Also I will be getting something to test for ammonia. I truly did not know that these tests did not cover that. One other question, should I do these tank changes with the fish in the tank? I am worried about stressing them out even more. So sorry, I have never had to do all this for black moors. I had some many years ago. I had them in a 55 gallon tank along with an Oranda, a crowntop, and a pleco and they all lived happily for almost 5 years with no issues. Never put anything in the tank. The only reason they died was because I got another fish from a retail store that wasn't a pet store and it was ill and killed all my fish in under a week.

[Aiken Drum]

Yes, leave the fish in the tank while you do water changes. Less stressful than chasing them round with a net, putting them in a bucket while you do your water change, chasing them and moving them again. Just make sure you temperature match the new water with the tank water, use water conditioner.

[Dawn A]

Originally Posted by Aiken Drum

Yes, leave the fish in the tank while you do water changes. Less stressful than chasing them round with a net, putting them in a bucket while you do your water change, chasing them and moving them again. Just make sure you temperature match the new water with the tank water, use water conditioner.

I'm on it!! Thank you for the advise. Hopefully they will be feeling better in no time!

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.