My fish have been dying suddenly and without any visable signs. Things started going downhill when I purchased a discus form the local petshop. My tank got ick and i treated it with salt. Then about a week later, things went down hill. I woke this morning to find two of my clown loaches dead, one floating and one on the bottom. To make things worse a tiger barb was dead but i noticed him looking rough after yesterdays water change. I checked my all my nitrates, ph and amonia. Which is ph of 0ppm, amonia 0ppm, NO2 0ppm, NO3 5-10ppm. I just increased my filtration with an eheim 2217 that i got today, I have a airstone and do 30 percent water changes everyday. I have had 3 clown loaches, 2 blue rams and 3 tiger barbs die within the last week or so. Currently I have the 2 discus, one silver dat, 4 clown loaches and 2 tiger barbs. I dont know whats wrong and if anyone has any ideas that would be cool.
no visable signs of whats knocking off my fish
- Thread starter busterbrown
- Start date
too salty? and when the fish had ich did you take the fiber out of the filter so the ich didnt get trapped in it?
How much salt was added?
How did you administer the salt?
Did you even dissolve the salt?
Did you even quarantine your discus?
If you did not quarantine your fish, your trouble obviously started there. Quarantine is a must. Every new fish should have undergone quarantine process for 3-4 weeks before being introduced to the tank. A lot of people want instant gratification and take quarantine for granted so we learn mistakes the hard way.
I had several tropicals suffered ich but I have yet to lose one to it and I simply go with heat and salt treatment. As ich is a very dangerous parasite which also carries the Flavobacterium columnare, watch out for secondary infections. Salt is the gentlest med you can use. Chemicals recommended are often too harsh especially to loaches, rams and barbs.
How did you administer the salt?
Did you even dissolve the salt?
Did you even quarantine your discus?
If you did not quarantine your fish, your trouble obviously started there. Quarantine is a must. Every new fish should have undergone quarantine process for 3-4 weeks before being introduced to the tank. A lot of people want instant gratification and take quarantine for granted so we learn mistakes the hard way.
I had several tropicals suffered ich but I have yet to lose one to it and I simply go with heat and salt treatment. As ich is a very dangerous parasite which also carries the Flavobacterium columnare, watch out for secondary infections. Salt is the gentlest med you can use. Chemicals recommended are often too harsh especially to loaches, rams and barbs.
I used 1tablespoon per gallon and i have a 40 gallon tank. When i added the salt it was dissolved and i usually used less than what i needed to. I did that for atleast 2weeks and my temp was at 85-87 the entire time. I didnt quarentine my fish, so that was probably my mistake. Should I start adding salt every water change again or is there an antibiotic i should use for the secondary infection caused from ick? Ick is longer visible, so any suggestions should help
make sure you take out the fiber in the filter and wash it out and keep it out until the water starts to lower in quality or when the fish get better try to leave it out for 1-2 days
Tablespoon is equal to three teaspoons.busterbrown;3877317; said:
You were jumping the gun too fast. Start with one teaspoon next time and work on adding another set every 12 hours until you reach three teaspoons per gallon total.
Do the fish still exhibit ich? What unusual symptoms do they have currently? If you've removed the salt already, go back to a teaspoon per gallon again and increase slowly to three teaspoons. There are further instructions of this in a sticky thread for freshwater diseases, preferably the ich section.
No antibiotics. I'd sort out the parasites first as this is the main issue.
I disagree. How are you going to keep the water parameters in place if he cannot keep the biomedia? This is the most important step. Salt will prevent beneficial bacteria from multiplying but there will be enough of that to keep ammonia and nitrite to a minimum as much as possible.Deep Blue Sea;3877331; said:
I did that when my spotted gar had ich ive also heard that you should take out your gravle in the tank that has the contaminated fish
There are two options.Deep Blue Sea;3877436; said:
1. If the substrate is no more than an inch thick, you could simply vacuum it thoroughly every water change to remove the ich cysts but you are also at perfect liberty to remove it completely and boil it.
2. If the substrate is quite thick, reduce it to 1 cm or an inch thick. You may remove everything but to avoid cycle bumps, keep a bowl of it in the tank or stuff the gravel in nylon stocking bags. Gradually remove the substrate until completely gone and watch your water parameters as you do this process.