HELP!

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mcmemily

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 6, 2005
162
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Oregon USA
My fish look absolutely horrible and I don't know what to do! They have cloudy eyes and don't really move much. My green terror has just sat on the bottom for 3 days straight. My peacocks have really cloudy eyes. My birchir looks fine and my large synodontis's whiskers look like they are melting! I'm really afraid I'm going to loose them all if I don't take action fast.

Here's whats been happening:

The water in my tank has always been fine and is still the correct temp, ph, alkalinity, hardness, no nitrites, no ammonia and low nitrates. I had a fish that started to get hole in the head. I treated the tank with Mela Fix and a miscommunication with my husband led me to believe it was probably too old. I stopped medicating right away did a little over a quarter water change and removed the infected fish to another tank. I did another small water change 4 days later, and another. On the last water change we decided to get rid of all our fake plants and go all live. It was recommended that we use these metal plant anchors from petco (that say they are non-toxic and safe for all aquariums on back). I had two live plants previously anchored.

Two fish has some cloudiness in their eyes but other than that everything was fine-they were eating, etc. My research is leading me to believe it is some sort of toxin. But how do I know? What do I do?

HELP ME!!!
I just lost my small synodontis!
 
Sounds like you're checking what needs to be checked. However, you didn't list any test results or even the temp. Pics would also help.
For now. Bring your temp to 84-85F and add salt at 1-2 teaspoons per gallon. If they're fighting a fungal attack, the higher temp and salt will start killing off the fungus. You may also wind up with, or already have, bacterial infections at the fungal attack sites. One thing at a time, treat the fungal attack first. You can add a slime coat booster to help them heal up more quickly.
 
My temp is 82 right now. I already have 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons in there.

Here's another weird thing-my air tubes are also cloudy. Actually the water was cloudy too for awhile. It has a very light blue cloudiness to it.

How do these fungal attacks occur? What did I do? Was it the Mela Fix?
I was planning on doing another small water change tonight. Is it too much?
 
If i where you. I would Un-do everything I did before I noticed the problem. Take out the plants and the metal anchors and remove anything else that was new.

I would do a heafty water change of around 50% at least. You cant really do too many water changes.

For Salt: I would be doing more like 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons rather than 1 Teaspoon.
Make sure to add however much salt your removed for each water change. If you take out 20 gallons of water, make sure to add 4 Tablespoons of salt back to the water.

Get some NEW Malefix and add that as well.

Make sure to vacuume the gravel REALLY well when you do your water change. And i would do a 50% water change every other day or every 3 days at most until this clears up.

It sounds to me like they are dying of a bacterial infection. A broad range antibiotic could help.
 
:iagree: You need to do a really BIG waterchange, not a small one...
 
How do these fungal infections occur? Did it all start with my first infected fish that had hole in the head that I removed?
:cry:
 
Fungal spores drift in the air, almost all tanks contain several types of fungus if they have been set up more than a week or so. What causes it to become a problem is anything that lowers resistance.
 
Thanks for the info.
I'm going to do a 40% water change, increase my salt, up my temp and prey....:(
 
Well, I did a 50% water change last night. My temp is at 85. I have a little over a tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons. I lost two fish last night and my green terror was dead this morning. :cry:

My question now is should I do another water change tonight? If not, when?

I was thinking I would get antibiotics, but I don't know what to get. My only choice around here is petco and petsmart. The fish left have foggy eyes and some fin damage but otherwise look okay. Most are eating, but not much. A couple just lay on the gravel.

Can anyone recommend a good antibiotic? What about food?
 
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