Fish Continue To Die

[Teacup]

What are your water readings right now? If ammonia and nitrites are extremely high, I would do a large water change (i.e. 50% to 80%) - but if they are only slightly high (i.e. 0.25), I would stick to 25% to 30% water change. Again, this is based on my experience and I have had excellent outcomes.

 
Thought I better add this: when I first got my black widow tetras, I added too many too soon, eight to be exact (yep - big mistake on my end). But, with consistent water testing and water changes, everything worked out. Two years later and all of my babies are still here and they are happy and healthy, and I now have 16 in total (I added 8 more over the last three weeks...after almost two years with just eight!). In the beginning, I always did the 25%-30% water changes when readings were at 0.25 (I never had anything higher than that).

 

[Teacup]

PS to my last meesage - I forgot to mention that, because the beneficial bacteria is in the filter and (a very very small amount!) is in the plants/decorations, doing a large water change will not shock the fish per say - however, if the water chemistry or temperature is significantly different - it may cause some stress.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If i should do a daily water change in my 55 gallon, how many gallons should i be cycling out?


I wont be preventing a good amount of the benificial bacteria to grow by changing water that often?

 
Not exactly.  You might get a slightly faster growth rate of bacteria, but you'll lose more fish.  Save the fish, keep the ammonia levels down.   I never saw your pH value.  Did you mention that somewhere?
 
 

im currently using  an aqua tech 30-60 gallon power filter with a 330 gph ratio... so doing an 80% water change will not put my fish into some type of shock?

 
On the contrary - fresh water changes of that ratio are used at times to spawn breeding behavior in certain species (mimics rainy season).  Anyway, clean water has never been found to be a problem for fish.  Add it slowly, dechlorinate it, and make sure it is reasonably close to the same temperature as the tank (lower than the 80F you mentioned, 74-76 should be fine for your stocking).

 

[Arkportguy87]

Alright thank you guys i did the 80% water  change and treated every gallon of water that i put back in the tank i took out my decorations and rinsed them off as well so i hope all of that works i have a ph equalizer that i added to each five gallon bucket i poured in there that is supposed to make the ph go directly to 7 so like i said i hope all of this works because i really want my fish to be ok....
 
 
How long should i wait after the problem is fixed and no more fish are dying to start adding more fish?

 

[This Old Spouse]

It will be several weeks before your filter is fully cycled. Please don't add any more fish until the filter has matured.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Alright thank you guys i did the 80% water  change and treated every gallon of water that i put back in the tank i took out my decorations and rinsed them off as well so i hope all of that works i have a ph equalizer that i added to each five gallon bucket i poured in there that is supposed to make the ph go directly to 7 so like i said i hope all of this works because i really want my fish to be ok....
 
 
How long should i wait after the problem is fixed and no more fish are dying to start adding more fish?

 
 
This is generally a completely unnecessary step.  What's the pH of your tap water after sitting out for 24 hours?  Most fish are fine in just tap water that's been dechlorinated.

 

[Arkportguy87]

well i also have been treating my tetras for ich for the last few days like five or so now and it is not getting any better the smaller of the two actually died last night and i think the other one may die today unless i can figure some way to get rid of that ich on its body been trying two different medicines but nothing seems to be working.. what czan i do please help, sick of losing fish.....

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Please explain exactly what you are doing and using to treat the ich...

 

[Arkportguy87]

well right now i just took the one tetra that i have left that has the ick and i quarantined him into a five gallon bucket with an air hose in it for airation. I am using ap quick cure fast relief for ick and protozoan parasites ive been using that for like i said about five days or so it was weird it seemed to be working the ick would go away from there bodies and then when i would wake uo in the morning it would be back and worse than before. so i went to the pet store yesterday and bought some tetra ick guard fizz tabs and i put six of them in my 55 gallon tank and they did nothing to help out the fish either. so like i said i quarantined the tetra in the five gallon bucket and put some medicine in there with him. hope this works i figured it would be a good idea to get him out of the tank with my other fish before they catch it as well.... so am i doing the right thing? Is there something different i should be trying? Thanks for all your help.... 

 

[This Old Spouse]

Ich (not ick) lives in the water until it finds a fish to attach itself to, and that's where the problem comes in. You're not actually treating the fish because the only way to treat it is when it's free floating in the water.
 
This link provides a great explanation and treatment options. Please read it to get a good understanding of the ailment.
 
I don't think the fizz tabs contain the right ingredients to do an effective job.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

How much do you know about ich?
 
 
 
Ich is a parasite, that is ONLY vulnerable to medicine in one specific part of its lifecycle.  And a single fish isn't infected with it, the tank is.  So, you'll want to put the other fish back and continue to treat the entire tank for ich.
 
 
 
Ich lifecycle simply put:
 
Stage 1: Symptom visible - white spot on fish - the parasite steals nutrients it needs from fish and eventually falls off when it is ready to divide.
 
Stage 2: Hard "cyst" sits on the bottom and divides into hundreds more of the parasite.
 
Stage 3: The "cyst" bursts open and the parasite swims freely in the water - this is the stage where the parasite is vulnerable to medicine.
 
 
 
Ich treatment preferences:

• higher temps - this speeds up the life cycle of the parasite helping it get into the vulnerable stage for the medicine to work best. 
• increased oxygenation - higher temps hold less oxygen, so increasing a bit more surface agitation will help with that.
• salt (depending on species present) - the parasite has been treated succesfully at high temps and salt only.
• medicine - necessary to kill the parasite - must follow directions exactly.

 
This is all complicated by the fact that your filter isn't capable of handling the ammonia produced by the fish yet.  There are some option available for that as well... 
 
I think you need a different med.

 

[Arkportguy87]

well  i am just afraid to put the fish back in there because if i did kill off the parasite that lives in the water with the medicine and the 80 percent water change that i did last night  and the alive ones that are on  the fish now fall off in my tank wont that give them a chance to multiply before the medicine kills them and potentially infecting the other fish?
 
Also i have been adding API  stress zyme  to the new water that i add to the tank and that is supposed to have the beneficial bacteria that the aquarium needs so shouldnt that be building the bacteria in my filter faster?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

If there is a single spot on any of the fish, you didn't kill the parasite.  Sorry, but that's just the nature of the beast.

well  i am just afraid to put the fish back in there because if i did kill off the parasite that lives in the water with the medicine and the 80 percent water change that i did last night  and the alive ones that are on  the fish now fall off in my tank wont that give them a chance to multiply before the medicine kills them and potentially infecting the other fish?
 
Also i have been adding API  stress zyme  to the new water that i add to the tank and that is supposed to have the beneficial bacteria that the aquarium needs so shouldnt that be building the bacteria in my filter faster?

 
 
I've never seen any documented cases of stress zyme doing that, but a product like Prime will detoxify the ammonia.

 

[Arkportguy87]

well on my bottle of stress zyme it says adds millions of beneficial bacteria to your bio filter. and i dont know what else to do for them then because ive been using medicine and did a 80 percent water change which should had rid the tank of the ich but it obviously hasnt. sorry for getting upset just making me mad that nothing im doing is working.....


the bottle says contains bacteria to consume the sludge and improves the bio filter its called stress zyme +

 

[This Old Spouse]

The only way other than medication to rid the tank of ich is to empty it completely. 
 
Stress Zyme doesn't consume the sludge and that's a wild claim about adding bacteria to your bio filter. Only you can do remove the sludge from your filter. It's not a bad product but Seachem Prime is the best for water changes.
 
Some of the best treatments have been malachite green or formalin, or a combination of those two. Raising the temp in the tank to 80ºF (26-27ºC) will speed up the process. So, raise the temp in your tank and go get some ich medication that has methylene blue or formalin. You might as well return the fish to the tank since you'll be treating the whole tank.