Going to get this right! Questions...

[krap101]

I think I have one of those heaters.. Mine was a wal mart brand, with the little grey "knob" on top, and imo, mine was pretty bad at keeping a stable temp. I really like my marineland dual temps, although they don't make them anymore. Alot of people recommend ebo jagers and or visitherm stealths.

Oh, and if somebody else hasn't mentioned it, the oto and pleco don't really like salt, so try to get it out over the next couple weeks with a few wc's.

 

[apollosmith]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I thought it might be useful for historical reference. You can read from this post on unless you're curious about past issues.

First of all, thank you for the great advice. I implemented your recommendations and have had great success with the aquarium until just recently. We lost one of the Plecos and one Neon Tetra shortly after my last post while getting the tank stable, but the rest have been thriving for almost 5 months. Everything has been testing stable and the fish were wonderful. No algae recurrences. I do 30% PWCs every 8-10 days and condition new water - and that's all.

We then went on vacation and had our neighbors feeding for a week. We came back to 2 dead snails and a dead Oto. We did some PWCs and everything was testing fine, so we purchased 2 more snails and 1 Long Fin Black Skirt Tetra. Within a week, 1 of the original Tetras had died (he looked to be going downhill for awhile anyway). We then went out of town this last week and again had the neighbors feeding and came back to 4 dead Neon Tetras, a dead Platy, and a dead Pleco. 2 of the Neon Tetras couldn't be found and I assume the Pleco and/or the others probably ate them.

And to top things off, we have a nasty case of Ich - probably introduced with the new fish and boosted by lots of icky fish stuff.

Of course the first thing I did was test the water. Everything came out just fine and normal, though Nitrates and Ammonia were slightly high (expected with dead fish in there for up to a week?). My pH, KH, and GH are still off the charts, though I don't think this has been an issue. I did a 30% PWC, am treating with Super Ick for 3-4 days, added a tiny bit of salt, and bumped up the temp to 82. My next step will be to interrogate the neighbor to see when and how much they fed. The fish are not eating at all today - either due to overfeeding and/or the ich.

My current stock in the 20G tank is:
1 (very lonely) Neon Tetra
2 Long Fin Black Skirt Tetras
1 Red Wag Platy
1 Dwarf Gourami
1 small Otocinclus
2 Mystery Snails

Questions:
- Can I attribute the losses to the ich or do you think I have something more serious to worry about?

- Any other recommendations for ich treatment? It seems like recommendations here are all over the place. We've had good luck with Super Ick in the past.

- Any recommendations on lowering pH? I'm thinking of trying some driftwood. It is 8.2 out of the tap - which I think is acceptable if I slowly condition newcomers, but I'd feel a bit better if it were ~7.8 in the tank.

 

[apollosmith]

Grrrrrr!! And in the last few hours, the other Platy has died and now the last Neon Tetra and the Gourami look to be on their very last leg - swimming upside down, etc.

Again, all of the water tests come out OK. Could Ich really be this devastating? We've had it twice before, and seemingly much worse than this, and it's never wiped out an entire tank in a matter of days. I'm not sure what else to try. Help!

 

[dkpate]

Try feeding the two boiled, de-shelled peas. If they are upside down, I would think it is a swim bladder issue also. The peas are a laxative for fish.
Good luck!

 

[marchmaxima]

Don't buy anymore fish until the ich is gone (and gone for a few weeks) and you get control back of your tank. It is possible one of the new fish was sick or diseased and has brought something into the tank that has affected everyone in it.

And just for future reference, it is probably not the best idea to buy new stock and then not be in a position to watch things. When ever you add fish to your tank, you're changing the bioload, so you need to keep an eye on your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate because you may have a mini-cycle you need to deal with. Also, you need to make sure that the new inhabitants are healthy and well and no other issues arise. I would recommend when adding anything, watch things very closely for at least 2 weeks just to make sure everything is alright.

There's an excellent article in the Articles section on dealing with Ich.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/29/1/Freshwater-Ich-Yuck-/Page1.html

And a big water change now if you haven't done it already.

Good luck

 

[apollosmith]

Lost the last Neon Tetra overnight, but the Gourami is looking a bit better and the remaining Black Skirt Tetras are starting to look a bit better. I also noticed a new algae bloom and that the substrate I cleaned just over a week ago is filthy. I think this was a perfect storm of ich from new fish and HUGE overfeeding while we were gone.

And just for future reference, it is probably not the best idea to buy new stock and then not be in a position to watch things.

Lesson learned there. I know we didn't really change the bioload much, but the ich (and perhaps some other illness) most certainly came with the new fish. And we'll certainly be finding a new neighbor to feed.

My current plan:
- Keep the heat, salt, and ich treatment going for at least a week. I can see them starting the free-swimming stage now, so I'm hoping a week should do the trick.

- A deep cleaning today and then 25% water changes every day or so until everything is disease free and stable.

- No new fish for at least a few weeks and until I'm sure things are balanced again. With all of the garbage in there, the treatment, and now dramatically reduced fish load, I'm sure things are going to be way out of kilter for a while and I may just entirely recycle everything after the ich is gone.

 

[Solarris]

Have you considered getting an automatic feeder?

 

[apollosmith]

Have you considered getting an automatic feeder?

Funny you should mention that! I bought one earlier today.

 

[marchmaxima]

Yeah, relying on neighbours and friends to feed your fish while you're away is dangerous territory. They mean well, but non-fish keepers almost always tend to overfeed.

I had a friend who looked after my tank while I was in the US for a month. Had her over 4 times prior to going away to go over PWCs, feeding and fertiliser processes. Wrote everything down in minute detail.

She did pretty well, but I still came back to a disaster of a tank.

 

[Etunes]

Yeah, relying on neighbours and friends to feed your fish while you're away is dangerous territory. They mean well, but non-fish keepers almost always tend to overfeed.

I had a friend who looked after my tank while I was in the US for a month. Had her over 4 times prior to going away to go over PWCs, feeding and fertiliser processes. Wrote everything down in minute detail.

She did pretty well, but I still came back to a disaster of a tank.

EXACTLY, i always come home to a alage covered tank do to over feeding.