Help - Clown Loach Just Lying At Bottom Of Tank

[WILDER]

I can't get my nitrate reading any lower than 30 because of my tap nitrate reading. I don't use live plants as scared of snails lol.

If you have a tap reading of 0 nitrate and live plants thats why its 0.
0 a good reading but it quite rare.

I would leave the tank a few weeks to let it settle down.
If no problems get some more clown loaches. Don't know much about them so make sure you can put young clown loaches with older one. Also make sure they don't look skinny at the lfs.

One more thing about septicemia. It's hard to cure once it progresses as it blood poisoning.
Good luck and hope he pulls through.

 

[Marclau]

DAMN!!!!! He has passed away..........my kids are heart broken......so is the wife and so am I...........damn it............put up a good fight.......thanks for all your help Wilder.....really appreciate it........

 

[WILDER]

Bless Him R.I.P.
I would just carry out a few daily water changes or your mine tank. So sorry. Just say to children he's gone to fishy heaven.

 

[Marclau]

Nightmare continues........

Now lost the other loach and have a Gourami fighting for its life......red tail shark looking bit sick too...

I added Tetracycline today but wondering what else i can do..........
We have now lost all but a handfull of Neons (suspect these brought in the disease) and several fishies are left struggling.

Spoke and visited two well known fish stores in Melbourne and both recommended the Aqua Master Aquari-Cycline Tablets.........13 tablets.........desolved
So it's been in the tank for past 3 hours.........

How soon does this stuff begin to work........and what else do i need to do??
Should/could I also add Pimafix??

Last water change was yesterday (30%)......

When should i do the next chang if any..........do i give them another dose of Tetracycline in a few days??

I also purchased Cycle good bacteria..........

Please anyone, loosing my whole tank here !!!! DAMN

 

[Marclau]

Phoned my LFS and they said it also would'nt hurt to also add Pimafix to the tank which I have done........so now I have Pimafix and Tetracycline to tackle my tank......

I also did a water test and this time my PH has dropped to around 6.6 But no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate all still showing 0.

I was told that after 48 hours of tonights treatment, if fish have improved I can add Cycle to the tank to get the good bacteria happening again after being knocked out.
If that is the case, should I add carbon back to my canister filter (looks like charcoal) and place it in a stocking before adding to the filter??

Anyone??

 

[WILDER]

What the instructiions say. How long do you treat before you do a water change.
I would treat more than 2 days with septicemia.
Why have they told you to use pimafix.

 

[Marclau]

Hi Wilder,

I suggested it and they agreed it would'nt do any harm......
It says 1 tablet per 20 litres but more or less, nothing else.........for the tetracycline........comes from Aqua Master.

Says not much else.......

 

[WILDER]

So it dosn't say when to preform a water change.
Antibiotics are only removed by doing water changes.
Pm colin t to see if he knows more about the med as he from australia.

 

[Colin_T]

Tetracycline should be used each day. Basically treat the tank, then the following day drain most (95%) of the water out (and do a complete gravel clean). Then re-treat the tank again. You need to wipe everything down with a sponge before you do the water changes. This removes the biofilm/ slime (dead bacteria) that builds up on the glass and ornaments.

You need to continue using the drug for at least 2 days after the fish have stopped dieing and no longer show any symptoms.

Tetracycline works best in a bare tank (no gravel or ornaments). This allows the medication to kill the bacteria on the fish and not get wasted on the bacteria in the gravel and filter, etc.
It wipes out filter bacteria pretty quickly and you should see a difference in the fish within 24hours of starting treatment. If the fish show no improvement after a couple of days of treatment, then the problem is probably something other than bacterial.

Once the fish have been cured (if they make it) and they have been healthy for a couple of days, then do a couple of big water changes and complete gravel cleans before adding any of the Cycle bacteria. You can then put carbon back into the filter if you like.

 

[Marclau]

Thanks heaps Colin T, appreciate.........will try and do that this afternoon and have the kids help me...........thankfully i purchased enough tablets to do it again..........

Luckily, I only have one ornament........the rest is driftwood and many rocks for caves etc.........hoping i dont have to rince them either......

I dont use carbon as my LFS guy said it's more trouble.......it's loose so i guess maybe i should place it in a stocking before puting it in my Fluval canister 305??

Should I also clean out my canister then or just drain the water out of it and refill with tap water since i wont have any tank water left??

 

[WILDER]

Just maintain the filter. No need to go mad as the tetracycline would of wiped all the bad bacteria out.
How are the fish doing.

 

[Marclau]

Well,after more then 2 hours, i cleaned the tank, ornament and driftwood.........did not clean the rocks but did managed to also clean most plants........empited around 80% of the water and did a reasonable gravel vac.

Found the remainder of my dead Neons and a few other fish.....i think these died either yesterday or day before.....
Cleaned the glass also. Also followed up with Tetracycline again in the tank. So it's now had 2 treatments......

The sick Gourami seems to have bounced back and looks a lot more healthier.......fish dont seem to be out of breath anymore also.........only a Serpea Tetra still looking fragile like last few days.......so i believe huge improvement. (fingers crossed of course).......

Will do another water change tomorrow but probably only around 25%...........will check amonia etc before the change however..........

Wow, has this knocked my tank out or what...........ended up loosing around 2/3 rds of my fish within 4 days.......incredible......

 

[WILDER]

If they were dead fish in the tank they could of been poluting the water.
Have you increased aeration with the med.

 

[Marclau]

Yeah, added a large air stone.........not sure if its enough.........also, the Gourami didnt make it.............
I alos cant find the sharks anymore.............DAMN IT............

Will do another big clean this afternoon............only 2 Gouramis left...........and if i cant see the sharks, basically everything has been wiped out.

Will again add the Tetracycline again..........(last lot)...........

Very upset...............all under a week..........

 

[WILDER]

Bless Him R.I.P.
Poor things, not having much luck.