What’s going on with my 240 gallon tank????

[Joshv]

240 gallon established tank. Have had tanks for over a decade, never had any major issues. Last 3 months had an ich infestation, this week my rope fish got what looks to be worms (white patches with some red in it) and passed, and now today my Electric Blue Acara that’s about a year old is hanging at the bottom of the tank, then running into the glass and acting really odd. No visual issues at all. Moved to my quarantine tank and it passed within an hour.

I had recently introduced a rainbow shark after quarantine. It’s been chasing fish around, not the Acara though. I’m going to take it out as it’s stressing the fish.

I do weekly water changes of 30%.Running an fx6 filter.

So tested water after seeing the Acara using an API kit. .25 ammonia, .25-.50 nitrite, 40 ppm nitrate. Immediately did a 30% water change and cleaned my filter. Added prime and retested water.

0 ammonia, 0 nitrite but nitrates were 160 ppm. They skyrocketed. Wtf is that all about??? I have a variety of juvenile fish in the tank. Probably 25 total. Nothing bigger than 3 inches.

I’m at a loss as to why my rope fish for a parasite infection, then my Acara crashes and burns with no obvious issues and then when I do I water change my nitrates triple ... not go down.

I’m so confused right now. Anyone have any thoughts. Please help. Thank you.

 

[Rocksor]

The API nitrate test tends to clump up if not used for a week. This will skew your test to be lower. Even then, I shake bottle number 2 for at least 2 minutes.

What did you treat for during quarantine? How long was the quarantine period of the new fish?

how long have you had the rope fish? Not all internal parasites show up immediately, and with wild caught fish, I end up treating then with Prazipro and levamisole HCL.

 

[dr exum]

more water changes probably... what does “clean” your filter mean?

sounds like a mystery for sure! i introduced one lightly qt’d fish to another group i have after a week in qt with no issues and got dead / sick fish.

maybe more extensive qt using meds (prazi) when i bring new fish in...

GL!

 

[duanes]

How long was the quarantine?

i usually QT for about 3 months, and longer if something appears fishy, because it often takes that long for certain malaise to show up
.
Sounds to me like some parasite, disease or both was introduced to the tank.

 

[Joshv]

more water changes probably... what does “clean” your filter mean?

sounds like a mystery for sure! i introduced one lightly qt’d fish to another group i have after a week in qt with no issues and got dead / sick fish.

maybe more extensive qt using meds (prazi) when i bring new fish in...

GL!

So I open my filter and pull out all the trays. Water from tank is still in the filter. I take the media and wash it out in that water. Then I dump the water out. Then I take water from the tank and refill the filter.

I had unhooked the filter then did a water change. Used prime in doing so. So when I refill the filter 30% of the tank is new water so I guess 30% of the filter is new water as well.

So I had 2 rope fish. After the first 1 got sick and died I moved the other to QT and dosed with praise. That was 2 days ago. He looks fine but going to keep him there for at least 7 more days.

The Acara fell ill after removing the rope fish. Prob. 36’ish hours later. No physical signs of anything.

At a loss as to why my long term fish are dying.

 

[Joshv]

How long was the quarantine?

i usually QT for about 3 months, and longer if something appears fishy, because it often takes that long for certain malaise to show up
.
Sounds to me like some parasite, disease or both was introduced to the tank.

7 days QT. I’ve only seen 7-14 days that folks QT. 3 months?

Question. Can some fish that have parasites not show any sign of them and then cause issue with other fish?

Would you dose Prazi for all new fish in QT?

ive has FW tanks for a long time but I’ve never had these issues so I’m a rookie in dealing with this.

Would you doze main tank with Prazi at this point because it’s a mystery?

Appreciate all your help.

 

[duanes]

A friend who runs the aquatic exhibit at a public zoo, QTs every new comer for no less than 6 months.
So my 3 month seems wimpy in comparison.
Consider a fish from the wild might have only 1 ick parasite or 1 Lerneia (it is common because fish in nature (or a breeding pond)) is not cramped,
And if that fish ends up in an aquarium, how long would it take to reach a stage where the parasite or bacteria would be noticed? From my experience could be months. And by then, could reach epidemic status in the confines of a glass box, where constant reinfection is the norm.
As an example, I received a number of wild fish for my tank together in bucket from a local Panamanian fisherman, they all looked pretty good, until I started taking photos, only then diid I notice two parasites.

On 1 cichlid, there was 1 spot.

On 1 tetra, a Lernea, you can see it at the base of the caudal

Because all the fish came together, I had to treat the entire tank.
I used 3ppt salinity, although I had to physically remove the adult Lernae (young Lernea are killed by salinity) adults aren't. So the adult parasites had to be taken off with a tweezers.

I was lucky the two maladies were obvious, yet certain bacterial diseases are not, and may only become apparent after a couple weeks of even months in QT when symptoms are easily seen.
I realize most people don't bother with that extensive QT duration, my friend at the zoo has 1,000 gallon tanks that would be extremely expensive to treat, and or replace stock.
My tank (at the moment) is only 200 gallons, but to bring to the correct salinity only took 6 lbs of salt, and the death of some plants, so I consider myself lucky.
When this happened to me I hadn't yet acquired a QT tank, on the island where I live, tanks are not easy to get. So I had to treat all 200 gallons for at least a month or more before all parasites haddisappeared
When I lived in the states it was more convenient, I always had a 55 QT tank, cycled and at the ready for newcomers.
Anal ? ....... maybe, but meds are expensive (one treatment alone is often the cost of that 55...and/or the loss of established fish, even more.

 

[jjohnwm]

As usual, I think duanes is right on the money. I always have at least one quarantine tank ready to go, and it will be housing any new fish for at least a couple months, maybe more. I currently have three cichlids that I purchased earlier in the summer who have been "self-quarantined" in an outdoor stock tank pond, along with a couple other fish. When I brought those guys into the house recently, I put them into a QT tank with the intention of just slowly equalizing temperature before introducing them to the main tank...but I chickened out. They are staying in that QT for at least a month, likely more.

A long quarantine costs no more than a short (and largely useless...) one. It's just a strain on one's patience. In this hobby, as in many other things, patience is a virtue that can pay dividends in the long run.

 

[duanes]

One other thing about quarantine.
Its not just about the new fish.
Fish in your main tank may have acquied a partial immunity or resistance to some disease, or bacteria over a long time.
Something a new fish may not have resistance to .
And dropped too quickly into the main tank, that new fish (under stress) can become infected, and cause that bacteria to overwhelm the partial immunity the established residents have, causing an epidemic among them too.
So when I QT, I usually add a little water daily from the tank they will go into, into the QT tank to help establish a slow ("herd" immunity in the parlance of our time) , so that when that fish eventually gets to go in the main tank, it's immune system is somewhat prepared.
By the time the fish is ready, the tank QT water has been totally replaced with main tank water.
Being a retired microbiologist may be why I'm so anal, but treating a couple hundred gallons instead of 55 is a time consuming, expensive task.

 

[Joshv]

Wow. Thank you all for your help. I never thought about a lot of what you had mentioned. I will definitely start quarantining my fish for a longer time. I like the idea of adding water from the establish tank as well overtime.

Did a 30% water change and nitrates are down to 40 ppm. Is it bad to do multiple water changes over consecutive days? Cause I’d like to do another tomorrow or the next day to drop it more.

Also wondering if I do not have enough biological media in my filter. The fx6 is huge but I only used the amount of biomax provided. Thought about this when I cleaned it yesterday. I added a little more but my 407 canister on my 75 gallon has way more that the fx6. I just figured they would provide enough .... but now thinking I’m wrong.

Has anyone ever used the nitrite and/or phosphate removing pads from fluval in their filters? They were on clearance at the LFS so I picked them up, but have not used them as of yet.