Guppy Pandemic PLEASE HELP

[seahorseswimmer]

I have been fish keeping for almost a year now and it has been one thing after another of problems. Right now I am at a loss because my fish keep dying at a rapid pace and I don't know what to do. about a week ago I got a new fish and ran into one of my many mistakes, not quarantining the fish. She later died and I think has infected the tank with whatever she had. As of today I have 8 guppies in a 29 gal. tank. several of the females have white spots so I put some ick treatment in and raised the temperature to around 85 degrees. I also put some aquarium salt in. Today I noticed several of my males, who just hours before looked and acted completely fine are dead. I lowered the temperature to 82 degrees but yet another male who seemed fine died! I really don't know what to do and am afraid at the rate they are going by tonight I might not have any fish!

treatment I used was imagitarium parasite remedy. 3 tsp.

 

[Flushable Pets]

@Colin_T might be able to steer you in the right direction. He always has sound advice and is very knowledgeable.

 

[DAnCSF]

But it would help if forum members have more in such as

Ammonia level = ?
Nitrite level = ?
Nitrate level = ?
pH = ?
GH = ?
KH = ?
Tank size in Gal and dimensions = ?
Tank Filtration info = type and media?
Tank history - symptoms, what was done and when....doesn't this sound like going to a doc....well without knowing anything any advice is just a shot in the dark, more specific info will lead to better recommendations. Ultimately you can always do a complete tank take down, disinfect and start over.... Good luck

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

We need clear pictures and maybe a short 1 minute video of the fish showing any diseases they might have, as well as a description of their symptom, eg: how they are acting.

We also need the info DAnCSF asked for.

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Any idea what the ingredients are in the imagitarium parasite remedy?

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If they have white spot, you either use heat (86F for 2 weeks) or chemicals, but not both.

Heat, chemicals and salt all reduce the oxygen levels in the water and stress fish out. Having all three in the tank at the same time can kill fish.

If you overdosed with medication, that can also kill the fish.

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Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that 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.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[Metalhead88]

All good questions for you to answer so far.

I know you are treating for ick....but do you actually have it?

Many problems are caused by poor water quality especially if fish seem to be dropping fast. Even disease will take time to bring a fish to death.

 

[seahorseswimmer]

Thank you for all the information! I'm so new to this and it has been a bit of a struggle! I have lost most of the fish but they all died within about 3 days, if anything, I think everything I did may have made it worse I did several water changes and cleaned everything, as well as lowering the temperature to 79 degrees. I took the remaining fish out into a smaller tank with treatment and they seem okay now, but several still have spots. I think I will end up redoing my tank. How long will it take for the ick to go away? There is nothing in the tank now except substrate and a piece of driftwood.

 

[Colin_T]

pictures of sick fish?

 

[seahorseswimmer]

The first fish with the red tail is swimming a little but kinda shivering at the top. The second I just removed from the tank because she is really struggling I was thinking I may have to euthanize her soon. The third is swimming fairly well and doesn't seem to have any symptoms or problems yet.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish in the middle picture (1502) has a bacterial infection on its back.

Add a heap of salt (at least 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres of water) and maybe add some broad spectrum medication.

 

[seahorseswimmer]

ok, I have them in a quarantine tank, should I treat the big tank that is now empty or just the tank that the fish are in?

Again thank you for the info!

 

[seahorseswimmer]

Do you recommend a broad band medication with Nitrofurazone or Erythromycin?

 

[Colin_T]

someone else deal with this, I cant cope with it right now