4 dead

[RDFISHGUY]

Just as I finished typing the last message I got an e-mail from them stating that it was an extra $9 and change to ship to Canada. I sent him an e-mail back with a couple of questions and within 2 min I got a phone call from them ,with a real person on the other end ,and got everything sorted out so it will be here tomorrow. Awesome service! Not cheap, though, so I hope it works. Things are not better. I just got a call from my wife and she said the pleco has it now too,and so bad she thought she should kill him. This stuff can't get here fast enough!

 

[navygirl76]

thats a great site for diseases, and its nice you had a human to talk to! lol.. let us know if it works for them!

 

[RDFISHGUY]

Here is another link to some really good info on ulcers. They are caused by aeromonas bacteria so parasite meds will be ineffective. To read more on this subject check out this link and read SRAC 478: http://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm?catid=26

 

[RDFISHGUY]

Things have taken a serious turn for the worse. When I got home on Wed. my taiwon reef was dead. I immediately did a 40% water change and removed all rockwork. Tested water it read 0ppm ammonia,nitrite and nitrate at 2pm. At 6pm fish were breathing heavy so I did another water change 25% (I use chloramx to remove chloramine), No sick fish medication arrived and I began treatment. At 8am on thursday fish were again breathing heavy,did another 25% water change and treated with No sick fish. Came home after helping a friend do some moving etc. at 6 pm and fish were again breathing heavy, so I did another water change. Went back after putting the kids to bed at 9pm and all fish were either dead or in very serious distress. I managed to save only my large yellow labs ,4 msobo males,lateristriga,venustus,and believe it or not the kiwinge in the picture. I moved them into my 20 gallon tank and they immediately came to life. I then removed 100% of the aquarium water from the 230 gallon and refilled the tank. This morning I tested water again and all readings for ammonia ; nitrite/nitrate were 0 ppm. Water looked much better so I added a chocolate cichlid from my 125 gallon. The canary was dead within hours but the BN pleco is still alive. I use the same choramine treatment in all my other tanks and I even had to move my 55gallon twice in 3 days which required 100% water removal and that tank is unaffected. I also treated the 125 with the No sick fish just to be sure I hadn't transferred anything and it is fine. The now toxic 230 sits empty with some kind of toxin in it. I am very careful about cleaning the glass and never spray the top third of the tank when cleaning . I think I can rule out the city water supply because all other tanks are fine. Can a bacterial infection kill fish that fast? Not likely. Something toxic got in the water of that tank alone. I thought, maybe , the bacteria causing the ulcers finally did them in until I added the chocolate after a 100% water change and he also died. I guess I'll go clean out the filters and start over. This is the worst day of my fishkeeping life. Not sure what can be taken from it.I guess next time Ill be more prepared to treat ulcers though the poisoning in the 230 will likely remain an enigma.

 

[RDFISHGUY]

OK, here's a new one. I just opened one of my FX5's to clean it out and it is full of tiny snails- malaysian trumpet snails? Could this be part of my problem? Really weird because I haven't had plants for months nor have I seen these guys crawling around in the tank. There are literally millions of the little buggers. I thought it was just sand at first but they were all the same shape . I picked one up and sure enough :snails. Anyone ever heard of some kind of snail toxin.

 

[mike dunagan]

crazy weird... had to be something toxic that got in the water and is now in the tank

 

[fsc46]

I have MTS's and my tanks are fine. I think (just a guess) that you don't have enough filtration in your largest tank and it stressed the fish and made them susceptible to the bacteria. Once the disease took over your fish then filters (again a guess) you were doomed.

Even if the above is wrong you can still do the following to prep your tank for the next group...

The easiest thing to do is empty the tank of everything and toss it and the filter media from your XP's. Add chlorine to the water and run that for a few days. Drain the water, and rinse, repeat until the chlorine smell goes away. You can even use water conditioner to help remove the chlorine.

When the tank is ready for fish, take one of the AC110's from your 125 and add it to the 240 and add gold fish or whatever fish you want to use to the 240. This should be done without any new sand, rocks or decorations. If everything is good, add new media to the XP's and slowly add fish and new sand and rock. Don't forget to add a new AC110 to the 125.

I'm sure I missed some things but you get the idea. If you have questions just ask. Someone can chime in and offer more thoughts.

 

[cichlidgirl]

I wonder if the toxin caused the ulcer. If you did not remove the sand when you did the 100 percent water change you could have really churned it up and released any toxin that was present in the sand bed when you refilled it . I might have been just minor leaching of it into the tank when in normal use and the flush of the whole tank made it come out more concentrated, thus kiliing your healthy test fish in hours. (next time you do a test fish you should remove it at first sign of stress.)

 

[RDFISHGUY]

Here is a conclusion I've drawn with the help of someone on another forum. The snails which were likely helpful when I first got them (must have came in on plants) have become the root cause of this whole ordeal. For weeks I've been trying to figure out what made this tank any different than the other three. I blamed the filters . I thought maybe there was a toxin in the water conditioner but " why aren't the other three tanks effected?" Maybe I sprayed something in the air or maybe I overdosed meds? I am convinced that this plague of snails is the key . All the other tanks have loaches and/or puffers therefore no snails. The snails have taken over my filter using up all the food source for my nitrifying bacteria and producing co2. This explains the heavy breathing and produces an environment condusive to bacteria. Once the fish got a wound the bacteria just moved right in. My ammonia and nitrites and nitrates are 0ppm because the snails and the bacteria (aeromonas) are taking care of any waste. The only problem is that they are prohibiting the beneficial bacteria and lowering O2 levels. I've been looking to treat various symptoms all along when the root cause is not something I put in but something that needs to come out. I'm confident that once the snails are removed and the beneficial bacteria get re-established this problem will be a thing of the past. When I open the other filter I'll try to get pics so you can see the infestation levels. Also filters are not XP's they are FX5's and should be plenty of filtration with a UV sterilyzer and I also bought a new ac 110 and placed it on the 125. I took one of the established filters off it and put it on the 230. I don't think filtration will be an issue once the beneficial bacteria are re-established in the absence of the snails. I plan on adding my central/south Americans to the 230 since they will eventually need a larger tank and the surviving Africans will live-out their lives in the 125. If they survive the ulcer treatment in the 20 gallon. Lots of water changes. You are absolutely correct about the test fish. It was a free fish and was therfore deemed expendable and I had to run out the door to go help a friend remove some fish lice on his goldfish. I also thought that he was probably stressed out from the chase and I didn't really think he was going to die. I should have added him when I had more time to observe the tank . I t was very irresponsible of me. Time is my enemy as I only have 1 1/2 days left before I go back to work . I need to at least get everything headed in the right direction before I go so that when I come home next weekend I can add fish ....hopefully.

 

[RDFISHGUY]

I borrowed another test kit from a friend and retested for ammonia / nitrite/ nitrate and all were still 0 ppm.I am bleaching both filters and treating the main tank with coppersafe to get rid of the remaining snails. All fish that were saved are still alive. Here are some pics of the filters as I was cleaning them. These pics are after the filter was dumped out and most of the snails went down the drain the ones in the foam are the worst because they don't come out.