HELP all my fish in tank dying

[Alex]

I've got a community tank, for small fish, introduced a new plec, which then proceeded to die. A couple of days later noticed some fish had fungus. fish are dying at the rate of 1 or 2 a day, used myxazin to try to prevent the spread of desease to no avail. Lost a neon and a cockatoo cichlid today, though the cicalid may have been to do with the treatment. Once a fish has the fungus on it so that you can notice it, it dies within 24 hours. I have had one fish, an Indian gourami that has survived for a few days, and today the area which was covered in fungus has started to heal up. Can anyone help me, as my boyfriend seems to think I should kill all my stock, and sterilise the tank and start again. Need some advice on a less drastic and violent solution.

 

[wetwetwet]

First hi and welcome Alex, sorry your first post is such a nasty one.

For the members to help we're really going to need some more information on your set-up to help determin what could have caused this and any solutions.

If you could supply as much of the following info...

1. Water parameters. (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, temp', Hardness etc)
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms.
3. How often you do water changes and how much.
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.
5. WhatTank mates are in the tank.
6. Tank size.
7. Finally how experienced are you in keeping fish. (williams list )

I'm sure as you say some less drastic action can be taken.

 

[Gibbo]

90% of fish problems are caused by poor water quality which then causes stress, lowering the immune system. This in turn leaves them open to all sorts of diseases and ailments, which can then cause secondary infections. As WWW states, if you can give us more info then the real problem may become clearer. I don't think it was the Plec, but rather the environment. Unfortunately it's introduction may have upset the balance of your tank.

 

[Alex]

Got 120 litre tank, that's been active for about 2 and half years, no major problems before. Had nitrate, nitrite, amonia and ph tested, all fine. Use ro water, though only started that about 2 months ago, so still introducing it. the fish are loaches, corys, neons, plec, flying fox, banjo cat, dwarf cichalid, gourami, hatchets, and dragon goby. Tank reasonably heavily planted, plenty of hiding areas, rocks bogwood etc. been tropical fish keeping for 2 and half years, had cold water before that for 5 years. Fish mainly get live food, though sometimes dried/frozen if short of money. Change the about 25% of water every 2-3 weeks. Symptoms of desease: cotton wool like growths apear, fish stops eating, fish stops swimming, fish dies within 24 hours of me first seeing fungus like growth. All bettas were quickly demolished, and neons are now getting scarce, has also taken plec, gourami and dwarf cichlid (maybe). Hope this helps, please contact soon as my tank is becoming a ghost tank.

 

[wetwetwet]

I know people get tired of hearing it but as cm says most fish ailments are due to something wrong with the water ('look after the water the fish will look after themselves' )

It sounds like the fish are suffering from from a fungal attack, I think Myxazin is predominantly a bacteriacide so won't be very effective on fungal spores. I stop using that and maybe try Protozin by the same company, though you are supposed to wait a few days before adding any other treatments and do a water change. I usually have both these products amoungst others (Melafix ) in the cabinate.

WATERLIFE'S website, send them an e-mail to check how long to wait before dosing with another one of their products - I've found them very helpfull

Many medications avaialble for treating fungal infections will also treat bacterial infections, providing a safety net in the case of mis-diagnosis, but not allways.....

We still really need to establish the cause of the problems though.....

The only noticeable thing you've done is change to RO water

During the RO process the water is stripped basicly leaving pure water removing anything harmfull but also all minerals are removed, however most of these are beneficial to the growth of fish, and they also give water its buffering capacity. So you have to add back powered adjusters. Are you getting enough back in??

Also RO water will often be lacking in oxygen content aswell so should be well aerated before use.

Maybe the cause could lie with the RO water??

Hope that helps...

 

[Alex]

Cheers, wetwetwet. Contacted waterlife they have told me to wait 3 days, or in an emergency (which I think mine is) put the carbon back in, put filter on full blast for12 hours then change the medication. Definitely worth ago. Thanks.

 

[cichlidmaster]

During the 12 hour carbon filtering period you should also do a 30% water change. This will help to remove the old medication as well!!

CM

 

[catman]

Hi Alex...

You stated the water was fine... Any chance we can have some readings? KH and GH may also be helpful...

For the time being i would also up the water changes. What is the temp of the water?

Cotton Wool fungus, ( i suspect thats what it is) usually only developes when fish become injured or under extreme stress... Perhaps the ro water has caused a ph crash? So it may be worthwhil going back to tap water until everything is all right again....

As was said earlier... RO water requires that the minerals are added back in... Most people use a mix of RO and tapwater to keep the mineral content up.....

Good luck

 

[Alex]

cheers chaps, going to try that. What do people think of RO water? I've had a mixture of reactions, from "great stuff" to "waste of money", your input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Alex]

Hiya, youseem to need to know these readings so here goes. nitrate 30ppm, nitrite 0, amonia 0, ph of 7. Hope that helps, haven't lost any fish yet today, but one of my female cockato cichlids is looking unhappy. Like I said don't know if that's the fungus or the treatment, her boyfriend died yesterday, showing no signs of fungus, but this ones mouth looks a little dodgy.

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi Alex, - nothing wrong with those readings, though if using RO water I'd have thought your nitrates would have been less aswell??

kH and GH would tell us the mineral content of your water. Which can be the problem with RO - not enough and the tank can suffer serious pH fluctuations which the fish ain't gonna like

How do you bring the mineral content back up - add some tap/mineral adjusters?? The minerals act as a pH buffer/stabiliser

 

[Gibbo]

It will be the RO water Alex, no doubt about it. You must buffer it with minerals before use. With the 25-30% water changes over past few months you're diluting down the original tankwater with the RO water without re mineralising it. I know of people buffering up their RO water with tapwater to get it to the right mix. What was the pH before you used the RO water? Did you really need to use RO? It is really only beneficial to wild caught acid water fish, certain fish breeding projects and for Marine use (buffered and re-mineralised after RO process to get it back up to hardness- RO removes heavy metals that are harmful to inverts). Even the 'blackwater' has trace minerals in it, no matter how soft it is. RO has its benefits to some fish, but lets face it, a lot of fish we buy from lfs are captive bred and have adapted to 'tapwater' and are perfectly happy. Weigh up the odds......

 

[catman]

Add to that that RO water is NOT beneficial to plants. ....

The plants rely on the minerals and nutrients in the tapwater as much as the fish... Unless you have particuly high nitrates in your tap water or you are keeping fish that require extremely low nitrates like discus, then IMO RO water is not needed...

Added to that i keep my discus in tapwater and as the spawn every week i assume they don't mind....

 

[Alex]

I began using RO water because the water round me is extremely hard, and the nitrates come out the tap at 60 ppm. So I thought it was for the best. I have been putting r/o right into the ro water to add back the important minerals, etc. Do you think I am wasting my time. The only thing that I have noticed is a couple of my plants love the softer water, though I must admit my grasses have nearly all snuffed it.

 

[catman]

I would use 50% RO and 50% tap water, remembering to condition the tap water..... should keep the water softer, but stable...

Then increase your water changes to 20% every week... Should keep your nitrates down...
Or you could get a biological nitrate filter.....

Have you checked your RO before putting it into the tank? What are the parameters for that?