Help!

[snoflak25]

Hi all,

About a month ago, my house purchased a 10 gallon tank and some fish (of course we set the tank up prior to purchasing the fish!). We began with 4 black mollies, 2 dalmation mollies, 3 glass/ghost catfish, and 1 placastamus. There didn't seem to be a bully at any time.
H Levels 7.6
Temperature 78 F

With in the first week, 1 black molly died, one of the dalmation mollies died (and then a couple of weeks later the other died...we think it was lonely). One catfish died a few weeks in, and then just now another glass fish died...we might get more glass catfish, but I'm afraid now that everyone seems to be dying...

In addition, 3 of the black mollies now seem to be infected w/Ich (definitely have white spots on their bodies, faces- esp around the eyes)...I can't get a good picture of them unfortunately. We treated them with Ick clear this afternoon, and about an hour ago is when the 2nd glasscatfish died....

What can we do?!?!?! I know most of these are schooling fish, but I do not want to introduce any more fish until we figure out what is going wrong!

Any advice would be much appreciated, if there is any other information that might be helpful, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA! Did you cycle the tank before adding fish? Do you have a test kit? You need to test and post for ammonia,nitrite and nitrate. First you need to do a large water change. Then you have to slowly raise the temp to 87 F and add extra aeration to treat the ich. Keep the temps up for 2 weeks after the last spot of ich is gone.

I suspect your fish are dying from ammonia and nitrite poisioning. If your tank was cycled before adding fish then I am way off base. If not you will need to do water changes possibly daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite to as close to 0 ppm as possible.

 

[Sum22]

It does sound like your tank isn't cycled as Zagz said. I vote for a 50% water change asap.

Don't replace any of your fish until after the ich goes away, otherwise, anything new is going to get infected as well. Follow the above instructions of SLOWLY increasing your water temp. Try 1-2 degrees every 12 hours. If you do it too fast, you are going to stress your fish even more.

Get a liquid test kit to test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Keep ammonia and nitrite levels at .25 ppm. You will do that by replacing the water, i.e siphon it out, and add fresh, dechlorinated water. Keep testing, daily or every other day until ammonia and nitrites show up at 0. Once that happens, you can add back the fish you lost. Do it slowly, i.e 2 fish every couple of weeks. You will want to do weekly water changes of 20-30% to keep nitrate levels below 40ppm.

Also, glass cats don't do well with meds. I dosed my tank with something to treat a fungus many years back and it killed two of my glass catfish. If you lose the last one, and I hope you don't, I would suggest you wait to add more until you are sure your tank is cycled. They are fairly sensitive to changes in water condition and die easily if the water conditions aren't good.

With some patience, you can correct the issues you are facing and get your tank up and running full strength again soon.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Is placastamus, plecostomus? If so then its going to be huge.
Plecostomus, Pleco - Hypostomus plecostomus

Have you been doing water changes?How frequently?

 

[snoflak25]

Thanks everyone, I bought a test kit, and I think you're right, our levels are a bit high, so we're working on all the advice we got.

Unfortunately we're too late for the last glass catfish but hopefully we can fix everything for the remaining fish.

I'll keep you updated!!

(Oh and we do the recommended 10% water change once a week, but now we'll follow your advice).

Thanks!!

 

[snoflak25]

Update!

Hi all! Thanks again for the wonderful advice...are fish seem to be prospering now!

In other news, one of our Black Mollies gave birth to babies!! I only found 8, and now they're separated from the rest of the fish by a net breeder...so hopefully they'll survive as well!

Thanks again!

 

[Zagz]

I am so glad to hear that you have had some good news with your tank! Congratulations.