EMERGENCY! Our tank is dying!

[taylordean]

URGENT HELP NEEDED! Our tank is dying, and we don’t know why.
Here are some photos of our sick pets: Sick Galileo and Snails - Imgur
I will link a video in just a moment, it's uploading.

We have:

• 1 Male Betta
• 3 Otocinclus Catfish
• 1 Large rabbit snail
• 4 Baby rabbit snails

They are housed in a 5 gallon Fluval Chi tank, set up with the following:

• Two inches of black pebble on the bottom
• Skull decoration, about seven inches tall
• A live freshwater fern-ish plant from Petco (we just found out that this plant is NOT an aquatic plant (thanks, Petco), so it isn't helping like we were hoping, but our fish is still sick when separated from the plant, so it shouldn't be the issue)
• We clean and change the filter
• No heater

We first noticed an issue when our beautiful betta, Galileo, started losing his fins entirely. We guess it was more gradual than we thought, since when we look back on photos of him before he got sick, it’s SHOCKING that he had such long, beautiful fins, especially compared to now.

We’ve isolated him in his own tank and treated him with Maracyn 2, Bettafix, and regular stress coat and water changes. We’ve tested both his isolation tank and the original tank for pH imbalances, nitrites and nitrates, etc. Everything is normal.

Along with the loss of fins:

• He has been completely lethargic
• When he sleeps, sometimes it’s so hard, he seems like he’s dead
• He sleeps and rests in weird positions, on his side, angled, on his back, or curled up
• He is having an incredibly hard time swimming
• He sometimes spazzes a lot, darting about REALLY quickly and running into everything

He used to be a very normal, VERY healthy fish, with a wonderful curiosity and personality. He would know when it was time to eat, and would hang out with us whenever we were near. He would stare directly at us and follow us. He was completely connected. Now his lethargy is taking over, and it’s like he’s a completely different fish.

However, he recently (two weeks ago, or so) started getting back to his perky self. He seemed to be healing and coming back, then his fins looked like they were regressing and his weird behavior started up again. Nothing changed, but he seems to be relapsing.

We originally thought that because we added catfish and snails, that’s where his sickness came from. We bought the catfish and snail to clean the tank, and they did a fantastic job at first… but then our betta got much worse and his weird behavior started.

Now, even the snails are getting sick. Their shells are deteriorating, and we’ve bought a calcium boost and API calcium test to fix the tank and help them regrow their tissue. It seems that the Hikari algae wafers aren’t feeding the snails and the catfish, so we’ve tried giving them a bit of blanched spinach (which they used to love). Sadly, it appears that it might be too late to bring them back from the brink.

In conclusion, treatments we have tried for betta:

• Seclusion in a separate tank, with heater and filter, for about a month now.
• We have tried cutting back on food with a 2 day fast. We added different kinds of food to his diet, including betta treat bloodworms and New Life spectrum Betta pellets. (For a year, we fed him only Tetra brand BettaMin Tropical Medley flakes.)
• We have treated him with Maracyn Two anti-parasitic/bacterial medicine.
• We’ve also been through two bottles of API brand BettaFix medication in about 6 months.

Treatments we’ve tried for the snails:

• Instant Ocean Calcium Boost
• Maracyn Two
• Stress Coat

We’ve done research and spent over a hundred dollars now. We’re trying everything we can find, but nothing seems to be working. PLEASE help us find out what’s wrong so we can heal our pets and build a happy aquarium! A million and one thanks in advance!

 

[rmiller]

Do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate? Knowing these readings is extremely important.

It sounds to me like one of two issues. When you added the snails and ottos you may have introduced a disease. More likely when you changed the filter, you removed your beneficial bacteria that processes your fishies waste. You'll need to know what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings are to be able to keep them at a safe level for the fish while the bacteria colony rebuilds itself.

Make sure you have a kit that has the liquid drops. The test strips are extremely inaccurate and not at all worth having. The api master kit is the most popular and will run as much as $30, but its one of the most valuable pieces of equipment you'll need to get Galileo healthy again.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello taylor...

I'm not familiar with the type of tank you have. I can tell you that small tanks are extremely difficult to keep clean. There's not enough water in them to dilute mistakes in tank management.

Most of the problem with tanks is the water isn't safe. Try changing out a couple of gallons every couple of days. Just replace the old water with pure, treated tap water. The wastes the fish produce are likely polluting the tank water.

Consider a larger tank if possible. I tried smaller tanks for a couple of years when I first got into the hobby and lost some fish because I couldn't keep the water pure enough for the fish. It wasn't until I got a 30 gallon tank and moved the fish, that they started to live for any length of time.

The larger the tank, the better for the fish and you too.

B

 

[taylordean]

Do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrate? Knowing these readings is extremely important.

It sounds to me like one of two issues. When you added the snails and ottos you may have introduced a disease. More likely when you changed the filter, you removed your beneficial bacteria that processes your fishies waste. You'll need to know what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings are to be able to keep them at a safe level for the fish while the bacteria colony rebuilds itself.

Make sure you have a kit that has the liquid drops. The test strips are extremely inaccurate and not at all worth having. The api master kit is the most popular and will run as much as $30, but its one of the most valuable pieces of equipment you'll need to get Galileo healthy again.

Yes, we have the API master test kit. We've tried to leave the filter intact when changing and cleaning the tanks, but the nitrate levels have been tough to balance (just found out it's because Petco sold us a non-aquatic plant that isn't actually converting anything, just slowly sitting there rotting).

there's never been ammonia to speak of, the pH is always good, and we change the water often to try to balance the nitrate problem, and are buying a new real plant to help balance the tank.

 

[rmiller]

When your tank is fully cycled you should have 0 ammonia and nitrites. Your migrated tell you when to do a water change. As was pointed out small tanks are always harder to maintain because there's so little water in them.

With the nitrate test you need to shake the number 2 bottle for a solid 2 minutes before testing. Set a timer and shake the whole time, smack it against the counter a few times. The chemicals in that bottle settle very quickly and don't like to remix properly. If you don't shake it for a at least 2 minutes you won't get an accurate reading.

You want to keep your nitrate at 10/ppm or less in a small tank. Make sure your ammonia and nitrites are always zero. No more chemicals, they can do more harm than good. Keep doing water changes, be sure to dechlorinate every time, and you should notice a difference.

 

[taylordean]

You want to keep your nitrate at 10/ppm or less in a small tank. Make sure your ammonia and nitrites are always zero. No more chemicals, they can do more harm than good. Keep doing water changes, be sure to dechlorinate every time, and you should notice a difference.

We just did a nitrate and nitrite test. Nitrite is at 0/ppm, and Nitrate is at 2.5/ppm. That's what we've been typically running. Running an ammonia test now..

 

[rmiller]

Did you shake that second bottle?

 

[taylordean]

Did you shake that second bottle?

Big time. We're good at shaking: we like to make Ramos Gin Fizzes. [Awesome drink, try it if you haven't before.]

 

[rmiller]

If I drank I would probably love them!

The best thing you can do at this point is to keep up with water changes and no more chemicals. Make sure your temp stays at a comfortable level for all your inhabitants. Keeping the temp stable in such a small tank is tough, but its important.

At some point you might consider getting a 10 gallon tank. Not really any more work, but much easier to maintain.

 

[Fishman88888]

I'm just throwing this out there... But you mentioned your fish aren't eating the food you give them? Maybe there's some over feeding going on? Maybe try not feeding them for a few days after doing a big water change.. See if it'll help