Fish dying

[mrseigel]

So it's been a long, slow, and painful end to all of the fish in my aquarium. I mistakely added shipped fish to my display tank in November 2023 and slowly but surely everything has died except for my snails and corys. Here is a pic of my 2nd to last rummy nose rasbora. It looks very skinny and cannot swim normally. I will ask again if anyone has any ideas of what could be happening. I have medicated twice with Kanaplex, focus, and paracleanse to no avail. Some of my other fish had red streaks near their fins and would start swimming sideways and upside down and die a few hours later. Any thoughts?

 

[MattW]

I've ordered these fish online, and all arrived small and with shrunken stomachs. But I never had it look that bad before. I wonder if it is a parasite that has somehow avoided the treatment. I think a large water change may be the best action. I'm afraid these types of things aren't something I have much knowledge of. Sorry to see the rasbora in that state I don't think it will recover


@Colin_T any thoughts?

 

[GaryE]

Red streaks in fins are usually septicemia - an infection the shipped fish carried in. I live in a no antibiotic for fish zone, so I can't comment on that treatment, but I honestly haven't lost more fish with no antibiotics than when they were legal. We generally pick a med that vaguely seems possible, and Murphy's Law says we pick the wrong one anyway. Red streaked fins are an endgame to me, but I haven't seen it persist in the tank. I wait a short time, and the next lot of fish don't get it. It's something I've only dealt with a couple of times over 57 years of fishkeeping, but it's always wiped out the tank.

 

[Colin_T]

How long was the tank set up for before you got the fish?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

How long does it take the fish to get skinny?
What does the fish's poop look like?
Are the fish eating well?

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No idea what focus is.

Paracleanse contains Metronidazole and Praziquantel.
Metronidazole is an antibiotic that can be used to treat internal protozoan infections in fish.
Praziquantel treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
Kanaplex is antibiotic (Kanamycin) and should only be used on known bacterial infections that haven't responded to normal treatments. Improper use and mis-use of antibiotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill birds, fish, reptiles, animals and people.
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Red lines in the fins can be from poor water quality that allows a bacterial infection in. Making sure there is no ammonia or nitrite in the water is a good starting point for this. Salt and clean water can usually fix this if caught early.
The fish is really skinny and probably has round/ thread worms and possibly gill flukes. I would check the water quality and then treat all your fish (in all tanks) for thread/ round worms.
Section 3 of the following link has information on treating fish for intestinal worms.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

 

[mrseigel]

How long was the tank set up for before you got the fish?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the aquarium?

How long does it take the fish to get skinny?
What does the fish's poop look like?
Are the fish eating well?

----------------------

No idea what focus is.

Paracleanse contains Metronidazole and Praziquantel.
Metronidazole is an antibiotic that can be used to treat internal protozoan infections in fish.
Praziquantel treats tapeworm and gill flukes.
Kanaplex is antibiotic (Kanamycin) and should only be used on known bacterial infections that haven't responded to normal treatments. Improper use and mis-use of antibiotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill birds, fish, reptiles, animals and people.
----------------------

Red lines in the fins can be from poor water quality that allows a bacterial infection in. Making sure there is no ammonia or nitrite in the water is a good starting point for this. Salt and clean water can usually fix this if caught early.
The fish is really skinny and probably has round/ thread worms and possibly gill flukes. I would check the water quality and then treat all your fish (in all tanks) for thread/ round worms.
Section 3 of the following link has information on treating fish for intestinal worms.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate =20
Gh = 8
Kh = 3
Ph = 7
To be clear all the rummy nose did have stringy poop but it was black/brown. Tank had been set up for about 7 months when I added the fish. Also the fish were shipped in frigid tempuratures.
I have aquaclear 20 and sponge filter
I water change usually once or twice a month about 30-40%. I clean the filter about the same frequency. I do gravel vac the substrate. I always dechlorinate. This happened pretty suddenly with this particular fish within a few days. But most of the other rummy nose, neon greens, and even my betta also shared the same fate. I do believe I accidentally introduced a bacterial infection from the shipping. I just don't understand how it's taken so long (3+ months) to wipe everything out.

 

[Colin_T]

If it was an internal protozoan infection, the Metronidazole in the Paracleanse should have treated it.

If it was bacterial, the Kanaplex should have treated it.

Most bacterial and protozoan infections will show up within a few days to a week of new fish being added to an aquarium. If the fish started dying in that time, they might have a bacterial or protozoan infection. However, the fish in the picture does not appear to have that and just looks really skinny, which is normally intestinal worms (thread/ round worms) and or gill flukes. Gill flukes should have been treated by the Praziquantel in the Paracleanse.

Post pictures of any remaining fish and I can check them for diseases, and look into deworming the remaining fish.

If fish do have intestinal worms, feeding them more often (3-5 times a day) can help keep them alive for a bit longer so you can deworm them. You should continue feeding 3-5 times a day for a month after deworming them so they can fully recover and gain some weight.

Do more frequent water changes and gravel cleans when feeding more often.

 

[mrseigel]

If it was an internal protozoan infection, the Metronidazole in the Paracleanse should have treated it.

If it was bacterial, the Kanaplex should have treated it.

Most bacterial and protozoan infections will show up within a few days to a week of new fish being added to an aquarium. If the fish started dying in that time, they might have a bacterial or protozoan infection. However, the fish in the picture does not appear to have that and just looks really skinny, which is normally intestinal worms (thread/ round worms) and or gill flukes. Gill flukes should have been treated by the Praziquantel in the Paracleanse.

Post pictures of any remaining fish and I can check them for diseases, and look into deworming the remaining fish.

If fish do have intestinal worms, feeding them more often (3-5 times a day) can help keep them alive for a bit longer so you can deworm them. You should continue feeding 3-5 times a day for a month after deworming them so they can fully recover and gain some weight.

Do more frequent water changes and gravel cleans when feeding more often.

Here are some pictures of the previous fish that have died. Let me know what you think

 

[Colin_T]

Top row
Picture on left, the fish's poop doesn't look normal and the plant leaves have fungus and debris on the leaves (as well as algae). This can be an issue if it's caused by uneaten food. The fish don't look too bad in that pic.

Middle picture, fish on paper towel. The fish has a bacterial infection (red area on the body near the anal fin).

Picture on right, a Betta with flared gills can be from a heart attack or stroke.

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Second row.
Pic on left, fish appears to have the skin removed from the body and blood near the anal fin. This could be a physical wound caused by another fish or an infection. Looks more like a physical wound to me but it depends on how quickly it appeared. If it was fine one day and had that the next, it's a wound. If that took a few days to go like that, then it's bacterial.

Middle pic, koi Betta. Can't tell much with them and their multi-coloured body.

Pic on right, weird poop, especially fish on left. Deworm them.

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Bottom row
Pic on left, fish in middle but upper half of picture has red above the anal fin. Probably bacterial.

If you still have those fish, I would deworm them and add salt. See what happens. Salt should help with the bacterial issue and deworming should help them internally. If there's no improvement after a week with salt or if more die during that time, post pics of them asap.

You can use salt and deworming medications at the same time.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[mrseigel]

Top row
Picture on left, the fish's poop doesn't look normal and the plant leaves have fungus and debris on the leaves (as well as algae). This can be an issue if it's caused by uneaten food. The fish don't look too bad in that pic.

Middle picture, fish on paper towel. The fish has a bacterial infection (red area on the body near the anal fin).

Picture on right, a Betta with flared gills can be from a heart attack or stroke.

----------------------

Second row.
Pic on left, fish appears to have the skin removed from the body and blood near the anal fin. This could be a physical wound caused by another fish or an infection. Looks more like a physical wound to me but it depends on how quickly it appeared. If it was fine one day and had that the next, it's a wound. If that took a few days to go like that, then it's bacterial.

Middle pic, koi Betta. Can't tell much with them and their multi-coloured body.

Pic on right, weird poop, especially fish on left. Deworm them.

----------------------

Bottom row
Pic on left, fish in middle but upper half of picture has red above the anal fin. Probably bacterial.

If you still have those fish, I would deworm them and add salt. See what happens. Salt should help with the bacterial issue and deworming should help them internally. If there's no improvement after a week with salt or if more die during that time, post pics of them asap.

You can use salt and deworming medications at the same time.

----------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

Thanks for the detailed response! Unfortunately all of the fish pictured had died. I also believe it wss bacterial because it spread to fish that had already been in the tank prior to introducing the shipped fish. I wouldn't have guessed worms. But I will get some aquarium salt for future use