Frustrated

[Colin_T]

Hexamita doesn't kill fish that quickly.

If the fish died shortly after you added the medication, you probably overdosed them.
Did you remove the rocks when you worked out the water volume?

Do you have any pictures of the dead fish?
Did they develop a cream/ white film over their body?

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You can wipe the inside of the tank and do a complete gravel clean and water change. Refill the tank with tap water (no dechlorinator needed).

Wash the filter under tap water and set it back up and get it running.

Add a heap of salt to the tank. Buy a bag of swimming pool salt and pour the whole bag in. Add so much salt it no longer dissolves and there is an inch of salt on the substrate. Let the tank run for a few days with the salt in and then drain and refill it a couple of times with fresh water. Then set the tank back up.

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You can sterilise rocks by putting them in the oven and cooking them at 100-150C for an hour.

 

[kerncake233]

Hexamita doesn't kill fish that quickly.

If the fish died shortly after you added the medication, you probably overdosed them.
Did you remove the rocks when you worked out the water volume?

Do you have any pictures of the dead fish?
Did they develop a cream/ white film over their body?

------------------
You can wipe the inside of the tank and do a complete gravel clean and water change. Refill the tank with tap water (no dechlorinator needed).

Wash the filter under tap water and set it back up and get it running.

Add a heap of salt to the tank. Buy a bag of swimming pool salt and pour the whole bag in. Add so much salt it no longer dissolves and there is an inch of salt on the substrate. Let the tank run for a few days with the salt in and then drain and refill it a couple of times with fresh water. Then set the tank back up.

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You can sterilise rocks by putting them in the oven and cooking them at 100-150C for an hour.

I didn’t take the rocks out because the rock work I have is just too extensive and I didn’t want to stress the fish more than they already were by moving everything around. I dosed on the light side. The tank is 125 gallon and with 3 filters minus rock and substrate I used one package of the API general cure which is for 100 gallons. My rock is lava rock, very porous and doesn’t take up as much space as other rock. The fish that are still alive are getting worse and whatever it is is up and down their flanks now as well as head.
Stupid question but what is pool salt? Can I just use Morton water softener salt?

 

[Colin_T]

Post some pictures of the remaining fish.

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Most medications are poisonous to fish and other animals and it is a very fine line between adding enough medication to treat the disease, and adding too much and poisoning the subject.

One of the drawbacks to keeping fish in tanks with lots of rock, is treating them if they get sick. The other drawback is the amount of gunk that can collect under rocks and this can lead to numerous water quality problems and fish health issues.

Your best bet is to remove all of the rock and do a complete gravel clean and big water change today and tomorrow, then work out work out how much water is in the tank. Treat the tank without all the rocks in. You can put some pvc pipe and plastic plants in the tank to give the fish hiding places, and when they have recovered, you can put some rocks back in for them.

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To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

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Swimming pool salt is simply sodium chloride sold in big bags and used in salt water swimming pools. You can buy it from hardware stores, pool shops and some big chain stores like Target, BigW and Kmart.

Don't waste your money on water softener salts.

 

[kerncake233]

Post some pictures of the remaining fish.

----------
Most medications are poisonous to fish and other animals and it is a very fine line between adding enough medication to treat the disease, and adding too much and poisoning the subject.

One of the drawbacks to keeping fish in tanks with lots of rock, is treating them if they get sick. The other drawback is the amount of gunk that can collect under rocks and this can lead to numerous water quality problems and fish health issues.

Your best bet is to remove all of the rock and do a complete gravel clean and big water change today and tomorrow, then work out work out how much water is in the tank. Treat the tank without all the rocks in. You can put some pvc pipe and plastic plants in the tank to give the fish hiding places, and when they have recovered, you can put some rocks back in for them.

----------
To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

----------
Swimming pool salt is simply sodium chloride sold in big bags and used in salt water swimming pools. You can buy it from hardware stores, pool shops and some big chain stores like Target, BigW and Kmart.

Don't waste your money on water softener salts.

I really appreciate the help. Unfortunately there’s only a few fish left(literally 3 that I can even find) and they all appear close to death and are barely moving. I’m not going to spend more money on treatment when I don’t even for sure know what it is I’m treating and for 3 juvenile fish that probably won’t survive until tomorrow.
With the rock build, the reason I use as much as I do for Mbuna is to deter aggression and provide territories and cover. However I’ll keep that in mind when I buy new stuff and maybe will dial it back a bit. Wife won’t let me bake em in the oven and apparently boiling isn’t an option with lava rock.
I will try to get a couple pics of the deceased. No white/cream colored coating, just the original lesions spots like the pics I posted before. I had a couple catfish that didn’t seem to contract the disease but are now dead from apparently gorging on the deceased fish..this has been a mess from hell.
With that said, I’m now in “nuke the tank” mode and am going to proceed with your salt suggestion. Sounds easier for a large aquarium than using bleach. I have sand for substrate. It’s difficult to vacuum that without it sucking out and into the tub. I normally just get as close to it as possible. Should I replace it or will the salt kill anything in it? Thank you.

 

[JWT]

Hey guys, new here. Been keeping fish for about 20 years and am so frustrated the last year or so I’m about to abandon ship. I’ll try to give the full story. About a year and a half ago I had a thriving 75 gallon Mbuna setup. Beautiful tank with happy fish. Then, I got the bright idea to upgrade to a 125 gallon and have had problems ever since. During the move about a year and a half ago, a couple of the fish got stressed obviously but all made it until one came down with what I believed to be columnaris or fin/mouth rot. It quickly spread and I vigorously tried everything to cure my beloved Mbuna. After a long battle and numerous antibiotics and treatments, the majority died and the few remaining were horribly sick and I euthanized them.
At that time I took down the entire tank and cleaned everything and drained it completely. It all sat in my garage completely empty and dry in -30 degree weather as I live in Minnesota.
Now, a year and a half later I just set up the 125 gallon again and performed a fishless cycle using Dr Tim’s ammonia. Cycled in about a month, and conditions were pristine. Nice hard water, ph around 8.5, no ammonia or nitrites obviously and very low nitrates. Temp is a steady 77 degrees. I introduced 20 Mbunas from livefishdirect on Tuesday this week. They all appeared healthy but took cover as expected. None would eat or come out and now it is day 4 and same story. However, upon closer inspection tonight it appears that several of the fish have symptoms of the columnaris or fin rot yet again. Could it be that the crap survived on my rock or tank walls with no water in sub zero temps for over a year? I just don’t believe that is possible. I’m so incredibly frustrated that I’m considering just giving up on the hobby. Livefishdirect will refund my money but that’s not the point. I just don’t get it. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. See photos.

It is entirely possible an probable. The spores can l at dormant for years in all different environments, including cold weather, especially if the surface is porous. When I take down a tank an move things to others I soak everything in vinagar. It will kill most all forms of bacteria then rinse it very well in fresh water before re-use. How ever I'm betting the fish already had fun rot an the stress of shipping an new tank lowered the ability to fight it off.

 

[dennis r]

I started keeping mbuna in 1970 and kept them for 30 years. I used lava for their decorations. Three years ago, I had a similar problem as you do with my South American cichlid tank. Just about everything died with the same symptoms as your fish. Here, in northern Jersey, we have heavily chlorinated tap water. I did 100% water changes every day for four days and the survivors cleared up. If your fish have long, white feces, that is an interior parasitic infection. Throw in a couple of handfuls of Epsom salts. Basically what that does is that it gives the fishes a case of the runs and cleans out their intestinal tract. Go to the web site for Allivet. They sell pet drugs. Buy fish penicillin. Yes, there is such a thing. Follow directions and remove carbon. I used the same combo last year to clear up problems with my wild discus. The salt did not bother my plecos or Brochis cats. Did you ever use Malawi salts or marine salt mix? The salt builds up their body slime which is their protection against exterior parasites. You can get any of these things from the internet. Good luck.

 

[dennis r]

If you want to clean your lava, remove from the tank, get a new plastic garbage can, put the rocks in the can, cover with water and add about a quart of bleach. After an hour, dump the bleach water then add fresh tap water. let sit for an hour and repeat two more times. The lava should no longer smell like bleach. Lay the rocks out in the sun for two or three days until dry. They should no longer smell fishy or like bleach. Lose the old gravel and wipe out the tank with a vinegar soaked new clean sponge. Rinse thoroughly. Again, the tank should not smell. This is a tried a true technique

 

[Colin_T]

Catfish don't die from gorging themselves on dead fish. If that happened they would die in the wild too and there would be no catfish left.

If you add salt, try to stir the sand up so the salt water can get down into it. You should do this several times a day for a couple of days just to make sure the salt water gets down into the sand.

If you are going to bleach anything, use granular swimming pool chlorine because it doesn't have surfactants in and is easier to clean off afterwards. Normal household bleach has surfactants that are like detergents and it helps the chlorine to stick to things better, but it is also harder to get off after.

 

[kerncake233]

Interesting on the catfish. The dead ones stomach was so bloated it looked like they ate until death. No other fish had any bloating, just the catfish.

I am going to do the salt disinfecting method as you posted above Colin. I’ll run it like this for a couple days stirring the sand occasionally. Everything will die for sure? Just don’t want any risk. If not sure I’ll replace sand.

Is it ok in your opinion to soak my lava rock as Dennis indicated in swimming pool chlorine then Colin? Just don’t want them to retain the bleach.

My water is very hard naturally and I have no reason to add Malawi salts. I do add some aquarium salt. It’s unfortunately too late to treat anything. Just in disinfect mode now.

 

[Colin_T]

Yes you can soak the rocks in a bucket of water with granulated swimming pool chlorine. Leave them in it for a couple of days then drain and refill with fresh water a few times. Then add a double dose of dechlorinator before removing and rinsing the rocks and let them sit in the sun for a few days or until they no longer smell of chlorine.

 

[kerncake233]

If you want to clean your lava, remove from the tank, get a new plastic garbage can, put the rocks in the can, cover with water and add about a quart of bleach. After an hour, dump the bleach water then add fresh tap water. let sit for an hour and repeat two more times. The lava should no longer smell like bleach. Lay the rocks out in the sun for two or three days until dry. They should no longer smell fishy or like bleach. Lose the old gravel and wipe out the tank with a vinegar soaked new clean sponge. Rinse thoroughly. Again, the tank should not smell. This is a tried a true technique

Thanks Dennis. Appreciated. You clean your lava rocks this way? Them being so porous I don’t want them to absorb bleach and leach it into tank killing fish

 

[kerncake233]

Yes you can soak the rocks in a bucket of water with granulated swimming pool chlorine. Leave them in it for a couple of days then drain and refill with fresh water a few times. Then add a double dose of dechlorinator before removing and rinsing the rocks and let them sit in the sun for a few days or until they no longer smell of chlorine.

Ok great that saves lots of money. Thanks!!

 

[Colin_T]

Make sure you use the chlorine outside and not near any windows of the house because there will be strong fumes that can kill you or any animals that are stuck near the container with chlorine in.

 

[kerncake233]

Make sure you use the chlorine outside and not near any windows of the house because there will be strong fumes that can kill you or any animals that are stuck near the container with chlorine in.

Ok good to know. I’ll set outside the whole time. How much to use in a 55 gallon garbage can? Also, regarding my sand that I’ll leave in the tank during salt treatment will stirring it allowing salt to enter be sure to kill everything or do you feel it’s safer to just replace it?

 

[Colin_T]

The pool chlorine should have dose rates on the packaging, but you should double or triple dose it to make sure there is nothing alive on the rocks. You can put a lid on the container too to help reduce the fumes but be careful and hold your breath when you lift the lid so you don't get a lung full of chlorine gas.

If the sand is an inch thick then stirring it up several times should allow the salt water to get in. If you have 3-4 inches of sand, then the bottom of the sand might not get salt water. In which case you could remove it and put it in plastic storage containers with salt water. Have half an inch of sand in each container and let it soak for a bit. Then rinse and dry in the sun. Once it has been salted, rinsed and dried, there won't be anything alive in it.