Help Needed! Very Sick Fish

[flaxinn]

Please help. I have an establised tank (6 months old.) 12 gallon Fluval Edge, sand, air stone, cycled and stocked slowly over the past few months with
3 platys (used to be 4 but I lost one)
2 black phantom tetras
1 chinese algea eater
3 dwarf gouramis

I haven't added new fish since christmas. Everything seemed to be healthy until one of my platys (over night) went from healthy to nothing left of her. I pulled her out to a hospital tank and treated with parasite medicine (tetra parasite guard) and tetra fungus guard as her fins were rotting. I also treated my main tank with the parasite guard since my fish were pooping long stringy white poop. My platy died after two weeks of not eating. my main tank has gone down hill ever since. The local pet store suggested seachem paraguard after one of my black phantoms side fins was gone (pretty much over night)and the other black phantom has a large lump on the base of his tail where is connects to his body (it looks like the lump has opened up) . I used that for 7 days and gave my tank a break. After decreasing the water temp from 81 (which I had it at while treating) a lot more fish started getting sick. One dwarf gourami with eye pop and the shimmys, one platy with a red mouth and the top lip is rotting away. So I went back to the pet store and got maracyn two,have been slowly decreasing the water temp to get it to 74 and covered the tank to keep it dark (I started treatment yesterday) and now the one black phanton has half his tail missing and the other black phantom has the one side fine gone to the base and the other is half gone. The gouramis eye remains the same and the platys mouth looks like it's getting worse.

I do 30% water changes weekly, lightly stir the sand with every water change. Use Seachem Prime in my water with every change. Add aquarium salt (3ml per gallon) with every water change. I test my water and everything comes out fine. I even took a sample in to be tested and was told that my water perameters are perfect. Please help!! I don't want to loose all my fish. THANKS!!

 

[Prime Ordeal]

All of your symptoms point to poor water conditions. What are the readings for your water parameters, what do you test with and how often?

If you're adding salt at every water change you've made your tank into a saltwater environment and you have freshwater fish. This is probably the main cause of your general woes (possibly combined with poor water conditions).

At the very least I would do a full water change. This can be fatally stressful on the fish so it's best to put them in a bucket with some tank water and while you're refilling the tank add at least twice as much dechlorinated, temperature-matched water to the bucket. Do this over at least half an hour, preferably an hour, adding water very gradually. If your filter will fit in the container, move that in as well.

I note you have a CAE. They can become very vicious and have been known to damage other fish, that may also be part of the problem. The lump, the missing fins, could all be down to him.

Don't add salt again. It's unnecessary unless you're adding it as a medication and it then needs to be removed completely after it's done its thing.

That's it in brief, if you need anything clarified just ask.

 

[flaxinn]

Thanks...can you let me know what would cause poor water conditions since I clean my tank weelky. I test my water every week before i clean it. readings are Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, PH between 7 and 7.5, KH 80, GH 60, ammonia 0. I even took it in to be tested and they gave me the same readings. I add the salt because the fish store told me that gouramis like a little salt and the rest of my fish would be fine with it too. What I've read online says that a little salt is good. I keep my salt on the low side and only replace what's removed during a water change. Salt or no salt??? How often and how much should I be feeding my fish? Should I get ride of the CAE...I haven't noticed him being aggressive but maybe at night he is. Is there something that will stay small for my 12 gallon tank that with help clean it?

 

[robin23]

Hi sorry to put a downer on things, but i used to have a Fluval Edge 12lt tank also, and all i got was problems after problems with that tank and i could not understand why,like all the fish be fine at night and i the morning there be at lest 3 dead all the ph ect was fine, so ended up getting rid and now have a 190lt jewel corner tank, i hope things get better for you

 

[This Old Spouse]

First off, it's devilishly difficult to keep a small tank at its best. The larger the tank, the more consistent the water conditions will be. You should actually have some trace nitrates if your tank is completely cycled.

You have freshwater fish, so don't keep adding salt.

Rehome the CAE. Just because you can't see it being aggressive, doesn't mean it isn't. They're horrible little fish when they hit adolescence. I rehomed mine right away when my fish started showing signs of getting bullied. Best to go with a few shrimp. And try to work toward a bigger tank, even a 20g. Do you do at least a 50% water change weekly?

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Robin23 has confused me now...is this a 12 gallon or 12 litre fish tank? Also what do you use to test with? From your readings I'm guessing it's a test strip and not a liquid test?

When you took your sample to the fish shop did they actually give you readings, e.g. ammonia is zero, or did they just say 'everything's fine'?

Regarding the salt, if you're adding 3ml per gallon that puts it in the brackish category and, as I said, your fish are freshwater fish and won't appreciate being in brackish water for extended periods. If your maintenance routine is adequate there's no need for any salt in a freshwater aquarium.

 

[snazy]

It's not necessariliy from poor water conditions but I support the idea to rehome at least the chinese algae non-eater . That white stringy poop could have been a parasite they had for a long time. If you have done your routine weekly water changes on time and the tests did not show any ammonia/nitrItes for all that period of time, then somwhere along the line when adding new fish you have introduced a disease into your tank that took a while to show up properly. Once there is a parasite/worm it is common for the fish to develop a secondary bacterial infection like fin rot, etc..
You may need to do several treatments to get rid of whatever it is.

You should have kept treating with the paraguard for longer than 7 days, preferably 2-3 weeks and doing water changes every day or every second day and dosing the whole tank. The paraguard can be combined with certain types other meds for internal parasites so you may try both at the same time depending.... Parasites are normally treated with high temperatures additionally but if you suspect bacterial infection as well I would leave the temperature alone and rely on meds only.

 

[ShaneL]

I had a chinese algae eater pick off two fish in my tank before I saw him in action and the results were similar to what you're describing. They literally fix themselves to other fish like they would a tank wall and start munching. I've replaced him with an Otto which suits our small tanks a lot better, they need perfect conditions to thrive so wait until youve fixed this before investing.

 

[flaxinn]

Thank you all for the help. Prime Ordeal, it is a 12 gallon tank. I will re-home the CAE and get the salt out of my tank. I test with a testing strip, which I know is not very acurate so that's why I went into the fish store. They tested with a liquid test. She showed me the readings and said that the ammonia was zero (lightest shade of yellow with the liquid tester).

I do 30% water changes weekly. Should I be doing 50% weekly? How much should I be feeding?

Should I finish with the Maracyn Two, do a 50% water change (no more salt), wait a couple days and treat again with the Seachem paraguard for 2-3 weeks?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Going to just slip this in ... any shade of yellow with the liquid test indicates there's at least some ammonia.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Finish the Maracyn, do a 90% water change (temperature matched) without salt and, if you can, run some carbon in your filter to clear out any residual Maracyn before using Paraguard as you don't want to mix the meds. As you don't have a decent test kit doing 50% weekly water changes would be safer (getting a proper test kit would of course be the ideal).

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Going to just slip this in ... any shade of yellow with the liquid test indicates there's at least some ammonia.

Don't you mean any shade of green? Yellow is 0ppm.

 

[flaxinn]

Thanks I will do that. Today is the last day for treatment with the Maracyn two (five days) So I'll do the 90% water change tomorrow. The lady at the store showed me the test chart and it did show light yellow as 0 ammonia and as the chart colors increased in shades of green, it showed the amounts of ammonia. So I think I'm okay with the ammonia.

 

[flaxinn]

Does anyone have experience with sand in your tanks? Does it hurt the fish when the sand is stired and the water gets a little cloudy? I try to stir the sand gently but get a bit of cloudy water in the bottom half of my tank until it settles again.

 

[snazy]

I have sand in one of my tanks and the water does not get one bit cloudy if the sand is stirred. Was the sand washed before you put it?