Fish dieing

[timothy.woods]

Sorry im new to this forum so apologies if I've posted in the wrong group.

I have lost and guppy and a red eye tetra in the last few days and I now left with about 8 guppies. I though the guppy that died was about to give birth as she was very bloated as she has however died the very next day.

I noticed that she was not only bloated but her rear seems to be producing out and looks very sore back is now also arched downwards.

I have also noticed today that the others all have whitish Feces but all seem very happy. Is this a parasite and if so what should I treat with?

Many thanks

Tim

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[Colin_T]

Stringy white poop is normally caused by intestinal worms (thread worms or tapeworms), internal protozoan infections or Tuberculosis (TB).

Worms don't normally kill their host quickly and fish can have worms for months or even years and not die. Worms suck the fish's blood and the fish normally get skinnier over time. However, sometimes fish become so heavily infested with worms, they actually appear fat.
Livebearers like guppies can be pregnant and have worms and can look very fat but in reality the occupants living in the fish are worms and baby fish.

Tuberculosis can live in fish for months or years and then an infected organ fails/ ruptures and the fish swells up, breathes heavily, stops eating and dies within 24-48hours of the bloating.

Internal protozoan infections cause fish to go off their food and get skinny and die within a few days to a week.

Worms are the most common cause, then TB then internal protozoan infections. Sometimes the fish's spine can be bent out of shape by the bloating or growth inside the body cavity. A bent spine is more often seen in worms or TB and rarely in protozoan infections.

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How big is the tank and how long has it been set up for?
What other fishes are in the tank?
What is the water quality in the aquarium (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & temperature)?
How often do you do water changes and gravel cleans?
What sort of filtration is on the tank and how often do you clean it and how do you clean it?

If you have a photo of the fish it might help.

 

[timothy.woods]

How big is the tank and how long has it been set up for? 25ltr 10 months

What other fishes are in the tank? Only guppies now of all ages 2 weeks to 9 months a total of 7. We did loose a few early on as the tank hadn't cycled fully but since then the main female has given birth to all the ones left.

What is the water quality in the aquarium (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & temperature)?all ok water 26

How often do you do water changes and gravel cleans? 25% Weekly

What sort of filtration is on the tank and how often do you clean it and how do you clean it? Rena super clean 40 internal filter came with the tanks. Change it every 28 days.

If you have a photo of the fish it might help

Unfurtunatley my daughter burried it this afternoon.

I have learnt the hard way where not to get fish from as we got 3 neon tetra but they lasted about 6 weeks died of what looked like tetra disease.

We also had 2 mollies one died within a few days and 1 lasted 3 months, died 2 days ago looked very happy then it just died had no symptoms. They were the last we got and I won't be going back as I found a number of fish dead in the tanks.



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[Colin_T]

If you ever lose a fish do a 75% water change and gravel clean. This will dilute any ammonia that has been produced by the dead fish and also dilute any disease organisms that might be in the water. Just be sure to remove any chlorine/ chloramine from the new water before it's added to the tank.

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You mention you change the filter media in the Rena Superclean filter every 28 days. Can you elaborate on this? Do you chuck the sponge and other filter media away and replace with new sponge and media every 4 weeks? Or are you only replacing the carbon?

If you are replacing all the filter media (sponge & carbon) each month you will be causing the filter to lose its beneficial bacteria and the tank will cycle again each time you replace the media.

Your best bet is to chuck any carbon out and replace it with another sponge. You can get any sponge for aquarium filters and cut it to fit the spot where the carbon normally goes. If you want to use carbon then that is fine but it isn't normally necessary unless you have chemicals in the water that need to be removed.

Sponges should be squeezed out in a bucket of tank water about once a month or more often if necessary. The bucket of water is poured on the garden and cleaned sponge is put back in the filter.

The impellor and housing should be cleaned under tap water.

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Unfortunately livebearers are becoming weaker and weaker fish and many die within weeks of being bought. Any young that are born in the tank are usually very hardy tho and do well. It's just the parents that are contaminated with diseases and parasites from the breeders in Asia.

 

[timothy.woods]

I did do about 60% and cleaned the gravel do think will be ok for a few more days?
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I just just replace the ciano water clean filter not sure if this has carbon it but there only £5 for 2. I then rinse the sponge in a bowl of tank water just a little to removed some of the debris. I do the impellor and housing at the same time.

Do I need to replace the sponge?

Do you think it's worth getting some interpet anti internal bacteria?

Thankyou for you reply it's much appreciated my little girl is mortified.

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[Colin_T]

Worms don't normally kill fish quickly because if the fish dies the worms also die. So whilst they do suck blood and weaken fish they generally don't kill their host. But sometimes the fish does die due to malnutrition and lack of blood. Feeding the fish well helps keep the fish healthier and they can tolerate the parasites for longer.

If it's worms they should be fine for a while yet.

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You only replace filter sponges when the sponge starts to break down, and that normally takes years.

Your filter sponges should be squeezed out pretty thoroughly so they are clean and free of debris. You might need 2 or 3 buckets of tank water to get them clean but you want to remove as much of the gunk as you can.

Most of the beneficial filter bacteria live on the sponge, not in the gunk.

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I would not buy anything that treats bacteria. I would look for something that treats intestinal worms in fish. And do not buy a broad spectrum medication that allegedly treats everything from fungus to bacteria to intestinal parasites. Just try to find a plain old fish deworming product. If you can find something with Levamisole and Praziquantel in that should do the job. But there are several other good products that contain different ingredients.

There are a couple of other threads running on the forum currently covering intestinal worms so if you do a quick search for intestinal worms and worm medications there might be some products listed that you can find for your fish.

Put down the country you live in because not all medications are allowed in every country. We have different drugs in Australia compared to the US and UK. Then hopefully someone from your country can tell you what is available for you.

 

[NickAu]

You have how many fish in a 25liter tank?

 

[timothy.woods]

You have how many fish in a 25liter tank?

7 guppies 1 months to 8 months old

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[NickAu]

I hate to say it but your tank is overstocked, 25ltr is just big enough for 1 Betta.

 

[timothy.woods]

I hate to say it but your tank is overstocked, 25ltr is just big enough for 1 Betta.

Is that not dictated by the sustainability of good water quality? From what I've read there seem to be conflicting opinions on the subject?

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[Colin_T]

It is partly dictated by keeping water clean and the fish healthy, and partly on how much room they have to move. For 8 young guppies it is fine in my opinion but I have 50-100 baby/ young fish in rearing tanks with 30-40 litres of water and they get fed 5 times a day.

If you had barbs or rainbowfish the tank would be too small because they are active swimmers, but guppies are not renowned for swimming kilometres in a day.

 

[NickAu]

Seriously?

 

[Demeter32]

25 liters is about 6.5 gallons. If I had your stocking I'd have them in no less than a 10gal (40ish liter) tank. If you have a mixed gender group they will breed and quickly over populate the tank.

Is that not dictated by the sustainability of good water quality? From what I've read there seem to be conflicting opinions on the subject?

While it is common to keep fish in overstocked tanks, the water quality is indeed of utmost importance. Not to be rude, but the fact of the matter is you're fish have been dying, likely due to overstocked conditions and poor water quality, which ultimately lead to their immune systems being compromised allowing internal parasites to take hold. Fish diseases are caused primarily by stress, and stress is almost always caused by less than ideal water conditions. Can we get the number results of your water parameters for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

We also had 2 mollies one died within a few days and 1 lasted 3 months, died 2 days ago looked very happy then it just died had no symptoms.

Mollies need surprisingly large tanks as they often grow a good 3 inches, some larger, and are constantly swimming around. 20gal (80ish liters) minimum for these guys but bigger is always better. 25 liters is extremely small for even a single molly.

 

[timothy.woods]

25 liters is about 6.5 gallons. If I had your stocking I'd have them in no less than a 10gal (40ish liter) tank. If you have a mixed gender group they will breed and quickly over populate the tank.



While it is common to keep fish in overstocked tanks, the water quality is indeed of utmost importance. Not to be rude, but the fact of the matter is you're fish have been dying, likely due to overstocked conditions and poor water quality, which ultimately lead to their immune systems being compromised allowing internal parasites to take hold. Fish diseases are caused primarily by stress, and stress is almost always caused by less than ideal water conditions. Can we get the number results of your water parameters for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?



Mollies need surprisingly large tanks as they often grow a good 3 inches, some larger, and are constantly swimming around. 20gal (80ish liters) minimum for these guys but bigger is always better. 25 liters is extremely small for even a single molly.

Thankyou for all your advice I'll stick with treating the symptoms i have and take it from there. They are all very happy fish and for the record I never intended to have male and female guppies but life found away..........one of them just kept giving birth ever since she arrived every month or so and the ones that made it through without being eaten by mum are still alive.
So unless your would like me to feed them to my cat there's very little I can do.

I also check water quality every week and it's not that.

All I wanted to know is how to treat intestinal worms or internal parasites. White stringy poo.

As you can see there not exactly bumping in to one another.

Thanks again everyone for the advice it much appreciated.

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[Demeter32]

Check out Prazipro, it contains praziquartel which is the same de-wormer often used for dogs and cats.

Side note: When I find myself having too many fish, I take a trip to the local pet store and trade them in.