Emergency

[outofmybin21]

Hey everyone i have noticed some sort of white cotton wool fungus on a good few of my fish recently it has already claimed the lives of 6 of my zerbra danios and i have noticed it on my black neon tetras and normal tetras as well.
The fungus is mainly on the danios and appears in an entire band around the fishes body in a couple of cases about 5mm in width and all around the rear of the body. Some of the black tetras have it near their eyes and on their fins.

Can u help me on this matter as it is driving me crazy lol

15 gal tank
Neon tetras
Black tetras
a 2 yr old male krib i`ve had since it was a little nipper
Danios

Recent dead include Plecostomaus, Red tailed black shark (actually was fine with my male krib due to a lot of hiding places probably or just friendly ) about 6 Zebra and Leapord Danios and Neons.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You defintely overstocked your tank. What are the water parameters? Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates.

You could get proprietary meds to treat fungus on your fish.

 

[The-Wolf]

Some info on fungus

Description
White or or discoloured 'cotton-wool' patches on the skin or fins. Often accompanied by inflammation and skin erosion

Treatment
Use strong malachite green solution (100mg/ litre).

Prevention
donot overcrowd the tank
keep up with regular waterchanges
add Malachite green: 0.10mg/litre – three treatments at three-day intervals.

 

[outofmybin21]

Hey i found out the problem too acidic so i`ve added some bicarbonate of soda

P.S my tank isn`t overstocked that whole 1inch of fish for 1gal of water is a load of mince according to the guy i know who works in a fish store hes been keeping them for 40 years now so i trust him.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Even without the rule, I'm guessing that tank is new. It is probably recently cycled. you say you had a plec and shark that died, both get pretty big and the former very messy. You didn't say how many neons and widows you had, but if you have them in shoals (which you should) then you have way too many fish in the tank.

With too many fish, O2 falls, wastes increase, living space goes down. More stuff, but too lazy to consider them.

Also, danios easily suffocate in tanks if they don't have enough room to swim or O2 in the water. They might be ok if you have enough aeration, but if they don't and you overstock your tank (which is still MO) then they will asphyxiate.

Do what you will, though, but many members who don't follow the one inch rule would agree with me.

 

[outofmybin21]

lol thanks for the response i still think my tanks not overstocked

This particular tank is 3 years old in december strangely enough
The start happened a couple of months ago when my rummy nosed tetras all died within a couple of days of each other 8 in total Thats when my water became too soft and acidic i managed to get it back to neurtal and everything was fine but now its back and its literally BURNING the fins off of my fish i`m devestated for the poor guys i dropped osme bicarbonate of soda in the tank yesterday and they started feeding fine checked my water again today and its about ph6.2 which is BAD I have been told off of another guy from a LFS to add a TABLE spoonful of tonic salt to the tank everyday for 3 days and that should bring it back up he has also told me to stop using AQUASAFE for the water changes.

Altho i`ve been around tropical fish for years this is my first tank that i`ve looked after MYSELF so i`m relatively inexperienced although it`ll be 3 years in december so i`ve learned some stuff right?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi outofmybin21

It sounds like you have a couple of problems going on at the same time.

First, you are fooling around with the pH which is a very dangerous thing to do. It's seldom a problem if left on its own since the fish will adapt to it. I suggest you start a topic with "pH Problem" as the title, and perhaps someone who knows more about this than I do will be able to suggest how to normalize it again without doing further harm to the fish.

It also sounds like you have a bacterial infection going on, which is a common disease that takes hold when the fish have their immune systems compromised. This could be from overcrowding, low oxygen content in the water, infrequent water changes, aggressive tank mates, uneaten food in the tank, sudden increase in temperature, elevated nitrite levels, or any other thing that causes undue stress to the fish. Swings in the pH would probably be another reason.

Since you are in UK, I recommend you try Tetra Medica for bacterial infections, or Waterlife’s Myxazin or Interpet’s AntiFungus and Finrot. Slowly adjust your temperature to no higher than 24 C. and to be sure there is extra oxygen content, add an airstone if possible. Do not discontinue treatment until your are 100% sure the disease is gone to avoid a relapse.

Again, let me repeat that it is very important to get your pH back to normal and keep it there. Good luck, I hope your fish get well soon.

 

[outofmybin21]

thanks for the response

Will keep u updated over the next week on this problem

 

[clutterydrawer]

he has also told me to stop using AQUASAFE for the water changes.

dont do that, unless you want your fish to be poisoned by chlorine.

 

[outofmybin21]

Yeah he suggested some other stuff but i`m not sure what it was i will find out the next time i go down.

 

[skimpy]

QUOTE (outofmybin21 @ Sep 24 2004, 03:36 PM)
he has also told me to stop using AQUASAFE for the water changes.


dont do that, unless you want your fish to be poisoned by chlorine.

I AGREE VERY MUCH with clutterydrawer

It also sounds like you have a bacterial infection going on, which is a common disease that takes hold when the fish have their immune systems compromised. This could be from overcrowding, low oxygen content in the water, infrequent water changes, aggressive tank mates, uneaten food in the tank, sudden increase in temperature, elevated nitrite levels, or any other thing that causes undue stress to the fish. Swings in the pH would probably be another reason.

I also agree everything Inchwork is saying especially as I have just had an internal bacterial infection. Mine was caused, we believe, from low oxygen content in the water because my pump was clogged up and I did not realise until one fish died.

I also have a low PH but I come from a very soft water area and the GH/KH is very low. Messing about with PH can be very complicated. Before messing about with you PH, I would ask how often you do water changes on your tank, do you have a high build up of NitrAtes. NitrAtes, although not toxic are "Nitric acid" and if you have a low KH (buffering capacity of water), and are producing high readings of NitrAte it will lower your PH over a period of time.

Therefore rather than mess about with your PH levels look at why your PH is low or lowering. Do you need more frequent water changes? or do you have a low KH. If either of these are the reason you can easily increase water changes and/or add natural things like calcium gravel with will help to increase the KH. INCHWORM IS RIGHT to go into any of this further you need to start a topic on PH because it is very complicated and there are a lot of different opinions out there.

Whatever you decide to do good luck, and remember all of the above is only my opinion.

 

[outofmybin21]

Thanks for replying and ure opinion is very much valued.

I haven`t done nitride or nitrate tests or ammonia for a couple of weeks now normally i take a sample down to the biggest fish shop in my area as my LFS only tests PH levels. I`ve been told that when taking down water samples to take from the middle of the tank and this i have done. Everything was all clear a few weeks ago when the guy said my water quality was spot on perfect and my tank looked as if it was only newly cycled but i have had it on the run now for 3 years in december now. I haven`t done recent tests i am following my LFS advice on adding bicarbonate of soda to stop burning the poor fishes and they`ve told me to wait until my ph is back to normal 6.8-7.2 before i do any water changes.

Recently i have done water changes every 3 weeks removing about 30% of the water using a gravel hoover and only clean one half of the gravel then the next time do the other half as if i do too much i will be removing "good" bacteria

The guy that told me to stop using the aquasafe works at the LFS but hes an ******* its the other guy that works there who works every other day who gives me good advice as he`s been breeding and selling the fishes for 40 years now and some of the simple stuff he does for keeping his fish happy is quite amazing so he has helped a lot. My dad knows a good bit about fish keeping as he kept them since i was a kid but hes working abroad just now so i`m on my own

My tank is a RENA 15 gal and the filteration is a fluval 2+ with a basic heater i think 60W i`m not sure?

For 2 1/2 years i`ve been fine or lucky until now i have this acidic level which is among the worst ever seen the guy said so i`m in dire straits to get the water back to neutral or thereabouts and to learn more about acidity and preventing this problem to the best of my abilities in the future and stop these poor souls getting their fins burned.

So another tablespoon of tonic salt from the LFS tomorrow then again the next day
so says the ******* who works there so i`ll do that just now then speak to John on tuesday and see if this was correct.

 

[skimpy]

Hi outofmybin21

1. I would be very interested to know what your actual readings of NitrAte are from your tap water and tank water. ???
2. Could you also get your lfs to give you a reading of GH/KH from your tap water and tank water. ???

Your fish shop said they are the worst readings of PH he's seen, well I know of a tank that had a PH level of 2.5. Softwater area like mine, low KH buffering and never did enough water changes hence his NitrAte was off the scale. It was no wonder his PH went so low.

 

[outofmybin21]

LOL

My PH level was at 6.2 it was as yellow as it could get and he said that was literally choking and burning the fishes fins

I`m going to aquarium design in Glasgow tomorrow thats a gd place as they check all ure nitrate ammonia levels etc so i will get them to write down these figures on a piece of paper and keep u updated.

 

[skimpy]

If you PH is off the card it may be quite a bit lower than 6.2. See if the shop can test below that level and get them if possible to get the GH & KH readings. (not all fish shops will do this) or you could buy a test kit.

To find out what is causing this level of PH you will also need to have your tap water tested.

So if possible I would get PH, GH, KH, Am, NitrIte, & NitrAte tests on both tank and tap.

Good Luck - a good lfs will be willing to do this but not all of them will

Best off - you could always buy a set for testing - API master set (PH Am NitrIte and NitrAte) is about £15.00 on the net and the GH/KH about £6.00, in the long run it can be cheaper than petrol/fares of constant trips to the lfs and you can test at your own convenience.