Hello, and help!!

[Gazman]

Hi everyone, this looks like a nice and friendly place to come, especially for advice.

i have had our tropical aquarium about 3 months now. I went into it with only advice from my older brother who has owned trops before. Big mistake i think. I went with the advice and have neve bothered with the PH thing, he said it wasnt necessary. However, ever since day 1, the fish have had white spot at least once a fortnight. Even with treatment, we have lost this week 2 bleeding heart tetras, and now my 2 beloved Clown Loaches due to white spot.

So my main question is... could this be a result of poor water conditions? Obviously the PH thing DOES matter, and now i feed bad for the fish that have been lost, and also cos the Clown Loaches offered so much entertainment.

Thanks, hello, and all that.

Gary.

 

[fantasy fish]

to the forum! Well don't know how to help with your problem but i never test my tropical fish tanks PH and haven't had any problems so maybe that isn't it, did u cycle the tank before u put fish in it?

 

[gadazobe]

Hi and welcome.
Well, in some respects your brother is right - PH doesn't really matter as long as it's stable.
It's very dificult to know what the problem is without your tank stats. How big is the tank, has it cycled, what are the levels of ammonia and nitrite. How often do you do water changes. If you could give us some more info, then it will be much easier to advise you.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Gazman

I moved your thread from the Newbie Forum to Beginners because I think you will get more help with the information you need here. It looks like you are in good hands already!

In most cases there are more important things to consider than pH, like ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. And keeping your tank at a consistent temperature is important too.

Welcome to the forum and I hope to be reading many more of your posts.

 

[OohFeeshy]

If I remember rightly, clown loaches are very prone to whitespot anyway.

 

[Gazman]

Cheers people!

Im gonna sound a right wally now, but cylce the tank?? Basically, we set it all up, filter, heater, all the basics. Then was just told to buy some Aqua safe stuff that reduces chlorine levels. Thats it. no testing, no amonia or nitrite or nitrate testing. Then after a week, we bought fish. Its a 30 x 15 x 15 tank.

I feel both under informed and out of my depth (scuse the pun) now, so am unsure what to do. Even worse, the water got cloudy every week or so. So i did 25% water changes every week. Then 2 weeks ago.... i realised i never put the white filter sheet in the actual filter. It was then fine for 2 weeks, then last week was when i noticed the white spot. Also, bought a book now and found all this nitrate stuff and tests it recommends. Cheers Bro!! Here are the fish we have and saying which have had white spot.

2 Golden Gouramis
4 Neons (all had WS but now ok)
2 Clown Loaches (both died having WS)
2 Bleeding hearts (both died having WS)
2 Rosy BArbs
2 Sucking Loaches
2 Head & Tail light tetras (both had WS, 1 died, other ok)

SO thats it. Im now unsure how my water is, What needs to be done?

I must add that after rreading all that, please dont think im as dumb as it seems!!

All help appreciated.

Gaz.

 

[gadazobe]

Don't worry, we're going to help you get through this and you're not dumb, the only dumb person is the one that won't ask questions because they think they know it all, and believe me, nobody knows it all - we all learn something every day.
First of all, I suggest you read this. It gives some really good info on the problems that can arise. Get some tests for the water, I think the cheapest and quickest are the strips of litmus like paper that you dip in the water and hold against a colour chart. They should give you readings for ammonia and nitrite - the 2 most important readings that you need to begin with.

 

[Bloo]

Hi Gaz. Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. Just two questions though:
1) What did you use to treat white spot (ICH) ?
2) If you used over the counter medication - did you treat exactly as directed ?

As for water tests, I tend to use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (API) liquid tests for consistency and accuracy & value for money. Not sure where in the world you are, but they are appox £3.5 for each test bottle and it's usually enough for 250 tests.
Quite personally I do not like the strip tests as they tend to "bleed" and the readings can sometimes be misleading or inaccurate.

 

[freddyk]

A lot has been covered.

I agree more with our brother about PH - it doesn't make that big a difference and you don't need to worry about it. Seriously, this is not what cause your problems.

These are the recommendations I can give you to help you start.

1. Get things sorted in your tank through the help of everyone here. Get the tank cycling properly (if you know anybody with fish, or if your fish store will help you, get some filter media from one of them and place it in your own filter - instant cycle!) Make sure no disease lingers - white spot at a certain life stage lays in dormant state where meds can't touch it. It's best to treat for the disease, and then treat again a week later whether you see signs or not. Your fish keep suffering from the same bout of ich over and over.

2. Start researching the fish so you can keep them appropriately. The more natural you keep them, the less chance you will get disease like white spot in your tank. For example:

4 Neons (all had WS but now ok): shoaling fish, best in larger groups. Can be finicky, beginners better off with hardier species
2 Clown Loaches (both died having WS): very large shoaling fish, best in groups and large tanks. Also prone to white spot, beginners should avoid these fish
2 Bleeding hearts: shoaling fish, best in larger groups
2 Rosy BArbs: shoaling fish
2 Head & Tail light tetras: shoaling fish
sucking loaches: find out what type of fish they are, some of the ones called sucking loaches (a very generic term) can grow very big and fatally aggressive.

All the shoaling fish are best kept with more of their own type (at least 6 in my opinion). Of course it's not worth adding anything until the current problems are solved, but I feel it is important to keep in mind. The best way to stock up a tank is one shoal at a time, rather then one fish of many different species at a time.

Good luck with your tank

 

[Gazman]

Well, what can i say, cheers everyone for the help so far!

Bloozoo, i cant rememebr the name of the treatment i use(d) so i will have to get that info when i get home from work. Yeah i followed strictly the amounts it said, and repeated when it said to.

 

[Gazman]

Right, the anti fin rot treatment is made by InterPet.

What do you mean by this filter media (instant cycle) business? We are off to get some testing strips later. Is there anything else i should buy at the same time?

Thanks everyone.

 

[Bloo]

That's very odd indeed The few times I've had white spot in the tank I used Interpet at recommended strength and dosage and it worked 100%.

Do you have any carbon in your tank ? If so that would have rendered the meds useless. If not, well then I'm really not sure why you still struggle to get rid of the ICH.

Do remember that your Barbs & Tetras like to shoal in groups of 6 or more, so they will definitely need some mates to keep them happy. Perhaps try some other loaches that do not get quite as big as Clown Loaches. I have some Botia Kubotai (also known as Angelicus Loach or Polkadot loach) - they are lovely fish and not as prone to white spot as Clown Loaches.

Your sucking Loaches - are they by any chance Chinese Algae Eaters ? If so, you can expect many problems of aggression soon - and especially kept in pairs.

But before you add any more fish, make sure you are completely rid of ICH in the tank.

As for the "instant cycling stuff" this pinned topic will hopefully answer your questions
But I think what freddyk meant, was that you can sometimes buy some "filter media" such as established / colonised filter sponges and add that to your existing filter - as such to instantly increase the bacteria in your tank.

 

[Gazman]

Thanks man, all really helpful.

lol, yes, those are the Suckers i have (golden).

The Ich goes away, then litterally omes back after a few days. Im guessing now this could be due to amonia?? I really need to get out and get some test strips. Then i will just follow the cycle guidlines that you recommended.

Thanks again.

GAz.

 

[Gazman]

oh, and ive just noticed a dead Neon.

I am absolutely gutted that i wasnt told any of this from any pet shops, but at the same time i guess i should have swotted up on it all first.

 

[Bloo]

Good luck

Ps: keep a very tight eye on those Golden Chinese Algae Eaters. In all honestly I'd seriously recommend taking at least one of them out. They tend to be OK when younger and smaller (but not always and can be real little mean things even from a young age) but as they grow, so does their aggression and territorial instinct.