Help 6 Dead Fish No Idea Of Cause & Now Mouth Rot = [

[Katlee]

Hi Guys last week me and my partner bought 3 new platties for our community tank. We then lost one of those then bought another to replace it thinkin it was just stress that killed the fish. We then lost another two and put it down to poor quality fish as they were from world of water where we have seen a lot of problems with fish there in the past. This week we have now lost our silver shark, another platy and a sucking loach and NOW this morning have noticed one of our clown loach and one of the few remaining platties have what apears to be mouth rot We also bought at the same time as the platties, 3 new plants?

I have tested the water with test sticks which show the nitrates are high. edging toward harmful. I dont however have exact stats on the water. Please can someone tell me whats gone wrong with my tank? How to sort out the nitrates and also what to do about the mouth rot? Will it have infected the entire tank now?

Im completely gutted as we've had the tank established for so long with no problems only one bout of white spot. More so the fact i'd bought the fish and tanks as presents for my partner for valentines day and have spent well over a grand on it all I just dont know whats happened = [

At this stage we now have left: 1x common pleco, 4 clown loach 1 ill , 3x platties 1 ill, 1 sucking loach, 2x mollies and one guppy. Obviously lost the above fish aswell so adding them in thats what we did have.

Please can someone help. I dont know what else to mention to help apart from we have sand substrate and all real plants in the tank.

Thanks
Katie

Edit: After writing this before I left for work i ended up flushing the ill clown loach he was laying upside down on the plants and sinking with a very red head area and not alot of mouth left. He was occasionally twitching and flapping around then would stop and sink. I flushed him now rather than waiting to get home and finding him dead to hopefully save a couple more fish from dying = [

 

[Katlee]

please can someone help?

 

[JenCliBee]

Unfortunatley the strips arent very accurate at all, you really need the liquid test kid. API do a very good one which is highly recommended.

How long has the tank been running?, how did you cycle it?

Air of caution, if fish need euthanizing its best to do in a human way and then dispose of the body in the dustbin, putting fish down the toilet can lead to contamination of local and natural waterlife.

 

[Katlee]

whoops i forgot about where the toilet pipes go ill avoid it in the future. stupid thing was i nearly put him in the garden but decided against it.

tank has been set up fine since febuary/march time. going to get a liquid test kit of a friend tonight and get some meds from a store. hopefully not to late for the remaining fish = [

the tank was set up with a fishless cycle for over a week originally and we have had no other problems apart from that one bout of ich which was at least 3/4 months ago.

any ideas on what it could be from what ive told you guys so far?

 

[JenCliBee]

whoops i forgot about where the toilet pipes go ill avoid it in the future. stupid thing was i nearly put him in the garden but decided against it.

tank has been set up fine since febuary/march time. going to get a liquid test kit of a friend tonight and get some meds from a store. hopefully not to late for the remaining fish = [

the tank was set up with a fishless cycle for over a week originally and we have had no other problems apart from that one bout of ich which was at least 3/4 months ago.

any ideas on what it could be from what ive told you guys so far?

A tank wont cycle for any lengh of time without an ammonia source, leaving a tank 1 week or 30 weeks without this wont make any difference whatsoever, i really think the problems stem from the tank not been cycled properly and the fish been subjected to toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite in the water which over time stressed the fish to the point of illnesses which keep occuring. Water test results are really needed before any sort of explanation of what could be casuing your problems so far.

Whats your maintenance regime?, gravel vac, water changes etc?

 

[Katlee]

so why would all the problems i have come out now then? i thought a fishless cycle was still a cycle and was fine? just some people choose to do one with fish and others do them without? so how have i done a cycle wrong then?

the nitrites are ok its the nitrate's that are showing up as the probloem area. thats the only thing where the levels are high.

this is the first batch of fish we've lost so its not reoccuring.

maintance regime is i check/test the water every 3 or four days and do 25% water changes each weekend. i dont have a gravel vac, and tbh the tank is very clean despite the fact i have sand substrate. I alternate the changing of filter media every 2-3 weeks as i have two filters in the tank, although this time both filters werent running very well so i changed the wool both at the same time to clean wool and they work alot better. surely getting the crap out of the tank, into the filter is better for the tank than leaving what its not sucking up to rot inside the tank? i really am confused here = S

 

[JenCliBee]

so why would all the problems i have come out now then? i thought a fishless cycle was still a cycle and was fine? just some people choose to do one with fish and others do them without? so how have i done a cycle wrong then?

the nitrites are ok its the nitrate's that are showing up as the probloem area. thats the only thing where the levels are high.

this is the first batch of fish we've lost so its not reoccuring.

maintance regime is i check/test the water every 3 or four days and do 25% water changes each weekend. i dont have a gravel vac, and tbh the tank is very clean despite the fact i have sand substrate. I alternate the changing of filter media every 2-3 weeks as i have two filters in the tank, although this time both filters werent running very well so i changed the wool both at the same time to clean wool and they work alot better. surely getting the crap out of the tank, into the filter is better for the tank than leaving what its not sucking up to rot inside the tank? i really am confused here = S

You stated you left your tank for one week to cycle proir to adding fish, yes?, leaving the tank with no ammonia source isnt cycling a tank you could leave it for 52 weeks but with no ammonia source there isnt nothink to kick start bacteria growth. You actually done a fish IN cycle which without water testing and daily even twice daily water changes the ammonia and nitrite would have been slowly poisoning your fish, weakening there immune system and casuing damge to gills etc, this happening will leave them more secetable to illness's weather it be straight away or in the future.

As mentioned the nitrate reading isnt accurate if your using a strip test, neither to be honest will the ammonia or nitrite reading, test strips are renowned to be inaccurate, not sure what you mean by the leave crap in the tank comment rather than in the filter?

 

[Katlee]

nevermind about the filters now. so me adding tetra start liquid had no beneficial help then when i was "trying" to cycle my tank?

 

[JenCliBee]

nevermind about the filters now. so me adding tetra start liquid had no beneficial help then when i was "trying" to cycle my tank?

Most if not all over the counter so called 'filters starters' are absolutley useless, infact they probably add a trace more ammonia into the tank due to the so called bacteria in them dying off.

I would imagine somewhere on this site there will be a guide on how to cycle a tank both with fish and without, that way will give you that actual correct process and what should be done and what happens while it's been done.

Most LFS while selling tanks want you to buy fish, they will tell you exactly what they want you to hear for them to make a profit especially when it involves extra items like 'bacteria in bottle' instant cycles been brought.

 

[Katlee]

thanks anyway. i'll post some stats up later to see of we can sort this

 

[llamalord305]

MIght want to take a look here.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=141944

 

[Katlee]

cheers. im just reading up on water stats and cycling. really didnt think i'd have to be recycling a tank after 7 months of it being established. it's a bit gutting and a bit off putting tbh. really didnt think i'd have problems after so long of it all being fine. i've even had the water tested by 2 seperate LFS and they've said everything was fine = [ makes me want to give up

 

[JenCliBee]

cheers. im just reading up on water stats and cycling. really didnt think i'd have to be recycling a tank after 7 months of it being established. it's a bit gutting and a bit off putting tbh. really didnt think i'd have problems after so long of it all being fine. i've even had the water tested by 2 seperate LFS and they've said everything was fine = [ makes me want to give up

No your tank is probably fully cycled by now thats not what i initially was getting at, the fish may have become in a weakened state due to the fish IN cycle that was done initially maybe causing them to be ill very easy if anythink has changed. It may well be new fish brought in causing the problems (often the case if not QT'd).

Get the tests done and we can go from there. Untill the correct stats are pruduced with a liquid based kit we cant tell you either way if you tank is still cycling or fully cycled.

 

[Katlee]

cheers. im just reading up on water stats and cycling. really didnt think i'd have to be recycling a tank after 7 months of it being established. it's a bit gutting and a bit off putting tbh. really didnt think i'd have problems after so long of it all being fine. i've even had the water tested by 2 seperate LFS and they've said everything was fine = [ makes me want to give up

No your tank is probably fully cycled by now thats not what i initially was getting at, the fish may have become in a weakened state due to the fish IN cycle that was done initially maybe causing them to be ill very easy if anythink has changed. It may well be new fish brought in causing the problems (often the case if not QT'd).

Get the tests done and we can go from there. Untill the correct stats are pruduced with a liquid based kit we cant tell you either way if you tank is still cycling or fully cycled.

thank you = ]

in the mean time though can i get some treatment for the mouth rot?

 

[WILDER]

Are the fish mouth rotting away.