Mystery Illness Killing my fish slowly!!

[Kennakm]

Please help me!! Explanation below parameters.

MAIN TANK:
10gal tank
Gravel substrate
Artificial and live plants (plenty of hiding spots)
Filtration: standard aqueon hang on 10gal filter
Light: fluvon 10gal tank plant light (14 hours a day)
Air-stone with 10gal air pump
Temp- 26°C
Ammonia- .1ppm
Nitrite- .28ppm
Nitrate- 7ppm
Ph- 7.2

POPULATION: 6 neon zebra danios, 2 longfin leopard danios, 2 guppies (1 male 1 female)
Maintenance: gravel vac and 25% water change yesterday (nov. 3rd)
Supplements: Seachem Prime (5x dose to help detoxify), Seachem Stability (daily dosage) Seachem Flourish (daily dose)
Start date: september 10th
Cycling complete: oct 17th

DIET:
-aqueon tropical fish flakes every other day
-frozen peas every tuesday
-baby brine shrimp every thursday

SICK FISH: danios (leopard and zebra)
Symptoms: hovering by the heater in one spot, barely moving. Fins clamped. Bloated belly and arched back. Discoloration. Not eating. Extremely responsive to the fish net and impossible to catch, otherwise does nothing all day.
Time from noticed illness to death: 3-4 weeks
Treatments attempted: peas for constipation, salt dip with aquarium salt (1tbs/ gal temp matched dechlorinated water)
Possible symptoms: tail deteriorated? Was always clamped but seemed shorter and a bit ragged. Might have been from other fish nipping at him.

TIMELINE:
-Sept 10th cycling /w 3 leopard danios
- oct 1st Danio dies. One removed. 2 new added.
-oct 17th cycling complete. 6 zebra danios added. Water change.
-oct 20th 2 guppies purchased. New tank setup.
-oct 24th fry born in 2nd tank.
-oct 26th notice sick behavior in danio 1. Water change and gravel vac. Prime added.
- oct 27th water change and gravel vac. Prime added. Salt dip Danio 1.
-oct 29th water change and gravel vac. Prime added.
-oct 30th 2 more sick leopard danios
-nov 2nd Danio 1 dies. Pink zebra danio sick. Water change and gravel vac. Prime added.
-nov 3rd fed frozen peas.

AQUARIUM HISTORY: Okay there is a bit of backstory here. September 10th i started a new tank. I cycled it using 3 leopard danios adding Stability daily to help establish the biofilter. One was a bit aggressive and nipped at the smaller guy a lot who eventually passed away, either from stress or injury/infection. The other guy wasn’t doing too swell either, so i brought him to my local aquarium for them to try and save him. I then purchased 2 more leopard danios. After about 5 weeks the tank finished cycling, so with the aquariums approval of my water i purchased 6 neon zebra danios. When i returned i did its first 30% water change using dechlorinated temp matched water and acclimated the new fish before adding them. About a week later i returned to buy a pair of guppies and purchased a new 7.5 gal tank for breeding and fry purposes. That setup is irrelevant to this issue.
Somewhere around that time i noticed one of my leopard danios acting unusual. He was sitting by the heater and barely swimming with his fins sort of clamped. Concerned, i called my local aquarium. They had me test my water using a master kit (test tubes and drops and the like). Unfortunately, the levels were outrageous. Ammonia was at 2ppm, nitrite at 5ppm, and nitrate at 40ppm. I’m quite new to aquariums and hadn’t been doing gravel vacuuming with the biweekly water changes. I was quickly informed of what to do. I purchased Prime to help detoxify, started with gravel vac and 20% water change. Repeated the next day. Waited 2 days and did so again with 25% water change. I also changed the filter cartridges when i did the original vacuuming and again yesterday (nov 3rd) and added Seachem Matrix Biofilter stones to the filter.
Unfortunately, in the meantime 2 more leapord danios started acting the same. Hovering by the heater, fins clamped, barely moving. Over time they develop bloat and slight discoloration. Monday Nov 2nd i returned home from work and found that the origin danio had died. I called the aquarium and asked for advice but they said keep working on the water parameters and lower the temp a little. I even brought him in and begged them to help me save him beforehand, but at the time he was stressed and not acting ill and he had no other visible symptoms besides the arched back and a bit of bloat.
In addition, a pink neon zebra danio is now exhibiting the same behavior, even though the water has only improved.

So finally, HERE IS MY QUESTION.

Are my fish having a delayed and prolonged death from the water parameters? Did i change too much too quickly? Can fish die from stress alone? Or could they have a parasite/bacterial infection??

I really don’t want to slowly watch my fish drop like flies. I’m afraid they all have an illness that is contagious and i have to treat the tank/ euthanize them. Is it too late for the sick guys?

My second tank is not available to be used as a hospital tank. The mama guppy is in there and about to burst, she had 7 fry (that i found) about a week and a half ago that have been in the breeding box until she finishes (which i clean every 2 days because their feces collect quite quickly). I don’t want to put her in the main tank in case they have some kind of infection, but when she has her babies i’ll have to remove her.

PLEASE HELP! Are my fish safe? Keep doing what I’m doing? Change something? Euthanize them? Medicine? I’m willing to remove plants in order to make this tank a temporary hospital tank

 

[Autumnsky]

Fish which experience a high nItrate spike can die 2 weeks later due to internal organ damage and the fish not being able to recover.

Illness can also happen from a stressed immune system, where they are in a less than ideal environment and their body can't fight off the illness, it could be a combination of both.

First, ammonia is the beginning of the problems.

Feeding a couple times per day a smaller amount so there isn't waste falling and rotting later, causing ammonia.

You get to feed a little less food, which can help the parameters stay a bit more even.

Feeding 2 (or more) times per day in small amounts also gives the BB in the tank a chance to process the waste more equally during the day.

Do not get any more fish for a bit until you can see if you can get the water parameters to stay stable for a good period of time.

It sounds like you have been working very hard on getting this situation to work out right.

Doing water changes is excellent. Clean perfect water parameters is what you need.

A couple options are you finish cycling your actual tank in a fishless cycle. BB needs to be fed ammonia source to maintain and grow the colony.

And then the sick fish will move to a tub or tote with an airstone and you just do good sized pwc's for them to keep the water perfect.

You can treat with medicine if they seem to be worse over the course of a day or 2.

Medication is tough on fish as well. I would add Epsom Salt (ES) if they just seem to be tattered.

ES is necessary for and helps with body function, and healing.

(side note for when you have time, if you're interested /general back up about magnesium which is what Epsom Salt is / can help with https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/magnesium-HealthProfessional/ )

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f17/using-epsom-salt-in-fish-therapy-374191.html#post3548383

But if the fish seem to be getting better just from the daily like 50% - 100% water changes (and/or ES thereapy) then you know water quality is a key issue!

~~~~~~~~~~~`

Picking fish from the store... Sometimes at the fish store, you may be selecting fish which are already weaker and not in the best of health.

They get scooped and shipped and scooped and put in tanks water changes and no acclimation - temperature differences, pH differences, with very bright lighting, and more stress, often with different fish and ones which might be different to the fish which they aren't used to even further stressing, and fish getting chased and scooped out for buyers, over and over and over... That's a very hard few days....

So Info for the future, if there are any sluggish, clamped fin, hiding and looking poorly, or dead fish in the tank, then DO NOT select fish from this group, wait for the next week. You can go back the day or 2 before the next shipment come in and see how they recovered from the stresses. If they perked up and look spunky and healthy then it might be a good time to get some.

There are usually deaths of fish shipped in transport to the store. But sometimes the fish look pretty good when they come in. Taking a chance if there are very few fish in your tank might be worth the purchase. Waiting as mentioned above can be a good way though to get the stronger tougher fish.

The stress can allow internal parasites to get a bigger grip too.

Watching their poop can help see if that is a factor.

Feeding excellent quality food with less fillers is also helpful.

fish-in cycle articles

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/fishin-cycling-step-dark-side/



Fishless...



https://www.aquariumadvice.com/the-almost-complete-guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling/

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/tips-and-tricks-for-your-fastest-fishless-cycle/

 

[Kennakm]

I always ask for the healthiest looking fish when i get more, i don’t mind much what it looks like as ling as its healthy. I added aquarium salt to the tank and removed the plants. Levels seem to be lowering slowly after they dropped pretty rapidly.

 

[Kennakm]

I always ask for the healthiest looking fish when i get more, i don’t mind much what it looks like as ling as its healthy. I added aquarium salt to the tank and removed the plants. Levels seem to be lowering slowly after they dropped pretty rapidly.

I can move the sick fish to a tub/bucket that holds 4gal of water for now and keep a close eye on them- but i will need to purchase another heater and airstone, which I’m not sure i can do in time. I will continue water changes and monitoring

 

[Autumnsky]

I always ask for the healthiest looking fish when i get more, i don’t mind much what it looks like as long as its healthy. I added aquarium salt to the tank and removed the plants. Levels seem to be lowering slowly after they dropped pretty rapidly.

Okay good about looking for the best selections.

You mention aquarium salt, did you mean aquarium salt sodium chloride or Epsom Salt Magnesium sulfate?

Which levels, sorry, I didn't understand?

 

[Kennakm]

Okay good about looking for the best selections.



You mention aquarium salt, did you mean aquarium salt sodium chloride or Epsom Salt Magnesium sulfate?



Which levels, sorry, I didn't understand?

It says API Aquarium salt. Says from evaporated sea water but doesn’t specify the chemical makeup of the salt. As for levels. Here is a good way to explain whats going on. Visually!

 

[fishwonder]

Here is some information that may help with slow fish deaths.


https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/1-7-aquarium-slow-fish-deaths/