Arrggggg! Could It Be Worms?

[sabrefish79]

OK so I'll try not to ramble on to long. A week ago my fish got really sick and started dying off. The tank is 150 gallons and the water tested fine. Ammonia 0, ph 6.8, nitrite 0 and nitrate 10-2- ppm. I do weekly water changes and feed my fish a vareity of dry and frozen food and veggies. Anyhow my 2 white/black spotted catfish died first, then less the 5 hours later my 3 bala sharks died (all 5 plus inches) then my 2 red tipped tinfoil barbs died with in 10 more hours. At this point I pulled everyone out of the big tank and put the in hospital tanks and added medicine for ICH - I lost a few tetra's at this point and then my clown loaches started dying off one at a time. Day 3 I put everyone in a new hospital tank that I treated with salt. Many of the fish were looking kind of fuzzy and there fins were becoming tattered. OK so now my few survivors are doing better today - they are still being treated with a warmer tank and salt. So today I finally got around to emptying the big tank and I noticed worms kind of standing up from the rocks. The are reddish in color and some are over an inch - I googled worms and I don't think they are planera - could this be what killed my fish? I haven't had any problems before and I even had rubbernose plecos lay eggs and hatch babies in the tank just a few days before this happened. I think it is weird that my biggest fish died first. I haven't seen any worms on the fish but they died so quickly and I must admit I didn't look to closely at the bodies - this is the first time we have had any problems - I loved my fish but right now I'm ready to give up. If I can't figure out what went wrong I don't know how to protect them in the future. The only thing we did this month was add algae eating shrimp and a peice of bog log - that we cleaned. Any help would be great.
Thanks

 

[WILDER]

Do you feed live blood worms.
Check the anus of the fish to see if its enlarged and red and inflamed.
What colour is there poo when they go to the toilet.
Have any fish gone thin or bloated up.
The fuzz on the fish does it look fluffy.
What was the ph of the store to your tank, and how long did you climatise the fish for.

 

[sabrefish79]

Do you feed live blood worms.
Check the anus of the fish to see if its enlarged and red and inflamed.
What colour is there poo when they go to the toilet.
Have any fish gone thin or bloated up.
The fuzz on the fish does it look fluffy.
What was the ph of the store to your tank, and how long did you climatise the fish for.

I feed them frozen blood worms - never live ones.
I can't see any sign of worms on the fish I have now but they were the ones that didn't get really sick and they are doing better.
The fuzz just looked like there outer skin was coming off not real fuzzy - I thought they had velvet or something but I'm not really sure.
None of them seemed really thin - I had a female betta that got all bloated - I thought it was eggs but she was one of the ones that died.
I'm not sure the ph at the store, everyone was climatized and had been in the tank together for over 6 months. The only new thing we added were algae eating shrimp and some bog log that we washed really well and soaked in hot water.

I'm just hoping my survivors keep getting better - I just want to make the big tank safe before putting them back in.

Thanks,
Sally

 

[WILDER]

The only time camallanous worms are red is when they have been feeding on the victims blood.
Can you get a pic up of the worms and fish.

 

[WILDER]

The bogwood did you use boiling water.
Has the strimp died.

 

[NEONCORY]

What fish and how many fish did you have in the 150G tank? And how long the tank was running? And what kind of filteration and water change schedule? And what kind of substrate?

I think those things I asked above would help to figure out.

 

[sabrefish79]

I don't have a picture of the worms - I took the tank apart and scrubbed it all down, cleaned and boiled the rocks. I plan on re boiling all the bog log tonight and re filling the tank. Some of the peices of wood are too big to boil - we soaked them in super hot water in the tub (Is this ok?)

For substate I have natural colored rocks - they were too deep so when I re add them I'm only going to put a thin layer.

I originally had 2 tinfoil barbs, 4 bala sharks, 6 tetras, 2 giant danios, 2 zebra danios, 2 white/spotted catfish and 2 black catfish, 2 rubbernose plecos with babies and 4 clown loaches. I know we were going to be overstock in the future but it wasn't crowded yet. Clowns were less the 2 inches, only the balas were big - 4 inches+.

I lost the white/spot cats first - Balas - then tinfoils. I lost some tetra's and a pleco (I think partly due to stress and meds I gave them. And all but 1 of my clown loaches past away. I don't plan on replacing anyone except the clown loaches. They are our favorite and so social that I think he would be too lonely - but thats in the far off future

Right now I'm just trying to get the survivors back in there big tank but I want to make sure its safe. I replaced everything in my filter (Fluvial 405) and replaced airstones and air tubing, I disinfected the glass tank - I'm boiling the rocks and wood and plants. So I think I'll be back at square one - (((I know I will have to cycle again))) I felt this was better then risking putting fish back into a tank that might have something to make them sick.

Anyhow I tested my water every week and it was always ammonia 0/ nitrite 0 / nitrate 10 ppm / ph 6.8. I changed out about 20 percent water every week and added water conditioner. I feed them a variety of flakes, pellets, frozen food and fresh veggies. My tank was set up for 8 months with no trouble at all - my rubbernose plecos were even laying eggs that hatched out - I still have few babies.

The shrimp are currently in a tank with just snails - I'd like to add them back to the big tank but I first want to make sure its safe - they are healthy looking but I didn't treat them with anything. Is there away to clean shrimp?

I'm still treating the survivors with salt and warm temperature - should I add salt to the big tank when I move them back? I have never used salt before this. Or should I slowly reduce the salt in the hospital tank and lower the temperature till it matches the big tank - then move them back. I'm planning on leaving them in the hospital tank for at least another week but I thought it would be good to research now about how to move them back to their big tank.

Thanks for the help!
Sally

 

[WILDER]

What fish are left as some fish can't tolerate salt.

 

[sabrefish79]

What fish are left as some fish can't tolerate salt.

I have a pleco, 2 tetra's, 2 black catfish, 1 clown loach, 2 danios, 2 zebra danios. The rubbernose babies are in a seperate tank as are the shrimps. They are in salt now and slowly getting better. I'm just wondering if it will shock them to take them out of salt and put them in fresh water - do I have to do it gradually?

Also does anyone know anything about if the worms may have been the problem??? I got rid of all the worms. The big tank is clean and re filled. I'm just going to let it run for a while empty till the fish have been looking good for a little longer.

 

[WILDER]

Gradually remove the salt with water changes.
The red worms all I can think of is blood worms.
Was there any sores or pierce marks on the fish.