Four Different Fish Problems In One Week- Help Please!

Hi, I have been away on a weeks holiday and when i have come back there are a few problems with my tank- everything was fine before i went, checked all the levels, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite etc, and they were fine before we went. the fish were being looked after by in laws who just fed the fish for me, no problems with overfeeding (as we keep a close eye on food levels). It turns out our red tailed black shark died the day after we left, and was found grey in colour and floating. I have also noticed that one of my gouramis has 3 brown spots on it ~(photo to follow when i can borrow camera) and to top it off one of my female guppys was struggling to get off the bottom of the tank and another gourami, although looks fine had a "sort of fit" when i turned on the light or when i drop food in. Having seperated the fish from the healthy ones i am wondering what i can do next? i changed a 3rd of the water and tested the levels again (they are normal), and asked a local fish shop if he had any idea- was about as much help as a chocolate teapot (they will prob die, just give then internal bacteria med)??!! Didn't do this, as thought i would ask you guys who would probably give better advice.

Tank size: 180 ltrs
temp: 25 degrees
Fish in tank: 7 guppys, 5 neon tetras, three gouramis, one silver shark, sucking loach, catfish and a few glowlight tetras.
No new fish recently- last new fish was 6 months ago
Tank has been set up for 2 years

thinks thats about it.

any help please as i don't like seeing them not well.

If the shark died and wasn't removed it could of caused a bacterial infection.
Not getting of the bottom of the tank could be swim bladder to bacterial infection.
Don't feed for aday and try some peas.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.

Brown patches can be snails, velvet. columnaris.
Do the brown patches look fluffy in appearance.

Seeing as the cause of the problems is unknown - (maybe the dead fish sent ammonia up and the filter had a mini cycle or something - we just dont know) - Simply stick to what you are currently doing with the main tank.

Main tank - check levels and perform a water change every day - around 40% of the water just to remove any build up of background bacteria/nasties that could be in the water. If on day 5 there has been no change in the healthy fish and the parameters (ammonia = 0/nitrite = 0 /nitrate = anything above 0) have been correct and stable then put the main tank back to its usual routine.

Unhealthy fish in hospital tank- Keep the lighting low and add a dose of melafix. Perform a 70% water change in the hospital tank daily with fresh dechlorinated (but not freezing cold) water and add melafix to the new water in the correct dose. It could be that the marks on the gourami are chemical or heat burns, or simply missing scales. Either way - the fresh water will wash away any nasties and help to heal the fishes wounds. The melafix will also help the other fish if they are simply feeling "off colour".

Think you may lose the "fitting" fish and the guppy. Sorry x

Wilder said:

If the shark died and wasn't removed it could of caused a bacterial infection.
Not getting of the bottom of the tank could be swim bladder to bacterial infection.
Don't feed for aday and try some peas.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.

Brown patches can be snails, velvet. columnaris.
Do the brown patches look fluffy in appearance.

Click to expand...

They said that they removed the shark the same morning, and only died between 10pm and 7am. I will try the peas- is it correct to split the pea before i put it in the tank?
The brown spots don't have any fluff to them at all, but one looks almost like a sore patch- the others like small moles.
The gourami doesn't flick or rub as such, it just suddenly shakes and swims in very tight loops and hits of anything thats near- but then stops and is fine.

saz326 said:

Seeing as the cause of the problems is unknown - (maybe the dead fish sent ammonia up and the filter had a mini cycle or something - we just dont know) - Simply stick to what you are currently doing with the main tank.

Main tank - check levels and perform a water change every day - around 40% of the water just to remove any build up of background bacteria/nasties that could be in the water. If on day 5 there has been no change in the healthy fish and the parameters (ammonia = 0/nitrite = 0 /nitrate = anything above 0) have been correct and stable then put the main tank back to its usual routine.

Unhealthy fish in hospital tank- Keep the lighting low and add a dose of melafix. Perform a 70% water change in the hospital tank daily with fresh dechlorinated (but not freezing cold) water and add melafix to the new water in the correct dose. It could be that the marks on the gourami are chemical or heat burns, or simply missing scales. Either way - the fresh water will wash away any nasties and help to heal the fishes wounds. The melafix will also help the other fish if they are simply feeling "off colour".

Think you may lose the "fitting" fish and the guppy. Sorry x

Click to expand...

I will try this then for the 5 days- I am also going to take a sample of water off to be tested with a secondary kit, to check my results are right. Is melafix something i will be able to get from a local pet shop?- and simply called that?

Thanks x

You can buy melafix from most lfs. Yes it just called melafix.
I would just half dose for now to see how the fish handle it.

It sounds like you have three separate problems. It's difficult to say why the gourami had a fit, but there probably isn't anything you can do about it.

The female guppy sounds like she has a swimbladder problem - there can be many causes of that. It could be an infection, but it might simply be old age, or a weakness she has always had.

The dwarf gourami has the bacterial/viral infection that is extremely common in these fish, so common it's almost normal It's very hard to treat: Melafix won't hurt but you may be best off speaking to a fish vet. I wouldn't add the Melafix at half-dose personally: Melafix has been tested on multiple species of gouramis at recommended dose with no problems.

^^^ please stop telling people that melafix is fine for fishes at full dose. while it HAS been tested im sure many forum members can tell from experience that some fish (a betta in my case) are sensitive to it and some wont tolerate it at all. it is very convenient that you work as a consultant for the company that manufactures the product. it is best to start with half dose and see how the fish react. to the OP, sorry to hijack, but ive seen some advice regarding melafix from this person over and over again and sometimes it is not even for a disease that would bennefit from the addition of said medication.
good luck with your fish...waterchange waterchange waterchange!!!
just my two cents.
cheers