HELP! New fish enthusiast with dying fish!

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DareU2

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 8, 2009
17
0
0
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Sanford, Fl
Hi! I really need some help here. First let me give some background info as requested. I have a 55 gallon Freshwater community tank that is 48" long x 12.5" wide x 19" deep. In it I had 2 Bolivian Rams, 3 Platys, 1 Opaline Gourami, 1 Blue Gourami, 1 Rainbow Shark, 1 Dojo Loach and 1 Pleco. The tank has been established for 2 months. I don't have any testing info (sorry, I'm a newbie) In the tank we have 1 large rock of unknown type and 2 ceramic-like tree stumps, 6 fake plants, 5 live plants (names unknown) and gravel substrate. For filtration I have 1 aqua-tech waterfall filter for 20-40 gallons and 1 aqua-tech waterfall filter for 30-60 gallons. I also have a top fin 300 watt submersible heater with water kept at 78 degrees, a 7" Bubble Wall, and lighting is 2 aqua-glo 15 watt aquarium bulbs. Feeding schedule is blood worms and brine shrimp in the A.M. and Tetracolor brand tropical flakes in the evening. Just as much as they will eat in a few minutes. water stays pretty clear.

I introduced the platys approx 3 weeks ago and the Bolivian Rams about 1 and 1/2 weeks ago. My Male Bolivian died approx. 3 days after I purchased them and the female followed about 2 days after for no known reason. They were fine one day, showing NO symptoms and then they were dead the next. Yesterday I lost 2 platys, again with NO symtoms showing, except I noticed that they were staying in one corner of my tank as of night before last. Now my Opaline Gourami and last remaining platy are staying up toward one corner of the tank, they are not eating and have clear, whispy or stringy feces. I did research and found this might be caused by an internal parasite, so I treated with Jungle's Parasite Clear yesterday. They dont appear to be any better today and I really dont want to lose any more of my fish. As silly as it is, I've named them and really love them.

None of this started occuring until I purchased and introduced the Bolivians into my tank. I did 25% water changes daily since they weren't showing any symptoms for me to determine how to treat them with meds. I feel so helpless!

I do not have a separate tank for quarantine but will definitely get one for future issues and for future new fish before introducing them to my tank.

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
 
im not sure whats goin on, but test the water and post it. did you add anything else to the tank? If you get the fish from petco or petsmart always quarantine first. I had a problem like that and i ended up having to do a 100% water change. and prolly want to bump the temp and add salt to the tank, but that didnt help my situation.
 
I will try the aquarium salt. I do weekly changes of 25% normally but due to the issue I was doing daily changes of 25% for the past week and a half.
 
DareU2;3179946; said:
I will try the aquarium salt. I do weekly changes of 25% normally but due to the issue I was doing daily changes of 25% for the past week and a half.
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sounds good.... i hope that it will clear up.... but like you already figured out the white stringy poop sounds like an internal parasite and good that you got Jungle Parasite Clear.
 
How many times should I give the JPC? I guess what I'm asking is about how long does it take to clear up something like this? The parasite seems to be so fast acting that I'm afraid ifit takes too long to cure I'll still lose all my fish. I hope that's not a silly question.
 
and I have definitely learned my lesson as far as purchasing and introducing new fish. I will only purchase my fish from a trusted dealer as opposed to the larger "Box" stores and will always quarantine for at least 3-5 days before placing them with my other fish in my larger tank.
 
Sounds like they weren't acclimated to your water properly. With no test, you could have put them in the extreme opposite water that they were in before. PH shock can kill mighty quick... Are you using a dechlorinator when you change the water? IP's usually dont kill that fast... Stringy feces is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Get a test kit & post up your parameters.
 
i believe the jpc is every 3 days up too 3 times. i dont really care for jungle products though, but i understand you have to work with what you have or can get.
 
DareU2;3180019; said:
and I have definitely learned my lesson as far as purchasing and introducing new fish. I will only purchase my fish from a trusted dealer as opposed to the larger "Box" stores and will always quarantine for at least 3-5 days before placing them with my other fish in my larger tank.
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Just FYI-you're no safer by going to 'trusted dealers'. And you should quarrantine more like 3-4 wks. Ich isn't going to show up in 3-5 days, not to mention other diseases. I always quarrantine 3-4 wks and go through 2 treatments of praziquantel (Jungle Parasite Clear/General Cure/PraziPro).
 
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