Help - Newbie At Wits End

[Katya]

Please can you help?

This is week 7 of a new tank - I started with whitespot which would not clear with Waterlife, so I moved on to Interpet Treatment for Whitespot. I must have had one week free of disease when they started to look red inside (veins appearing) and my gourami had a swollen belly.

I went back to my aquarium and they gave me Myaxin. That did not work after 5 days and I have been given Omnipur. It's now day 4 and they all have swollen bellies.

They are still in good spirits and are eating well - dried premium fish food.

I have tested the PH, Nitrate, Ammonia - all fine. I have added de-chlorinator when performing water changes and have added good bacteria.

Now at wits end - really don't want to lose them all as they are such characters. Not having much luck.

I have not used a carbon filter yet as this will not allow the medication to work.

Any ideas?

Tank size: 90 litres
pH:6.5
ammonia: 0
nitrite:
nitrate: 0
kH:?
gH:?
tank temp: 27C

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
Swollen abdomen
White stringy poo
Red Inside

Volume and Frequency of water changes: Every Week - 20%

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
Aqua One Tank - No carbon filter - waiting to use

Tank inhabitants:
2 Blue Gouramis
2 Plats
3 Angel Fish
13 Tetra's
2 Clown Loaches
5 Guppies

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
None

Exposure to chemicals:
Myaxin, Waterlife Whitespot Treatment, Omnipor, Interpet Whitespot Treatment.

 

[Htw]

Was the tank properly cycled before you added the fish and over what amount of time were they introduced [all at once, or a couple a week etc]? You need to know the nitrite reading as well really.

 

[Underwurlde]

That is one overstocked tank!

By a factor of at least 2 I'd say.....

 

[shang hi]

firstly your tank is way to small fr clown loaches they need 300l + (preferiabley 400l +) and they like to have 4-6 in a groupe, either re-home in a bigger tank with atleast 3 more clown loaches or re-home. and what type of tetras? theres hundreds of types some ranging from 1 and a half" too 3" (i think 6").
angle fish are not the best for a comunity tank (they will eat smaller fish) and they need tall tank with a minimum of 100-120l again you tank is too small.

did u even read up about the fish you wanted??? i mean your tank is a desarster waiting to happen, guppys are at risk of getting fins eaten by angle fish. heres a tip re-home clown loaches and angles (angles in tall tank) (clown loaches in tank with lots of floor space), read up about overstocking.

this is a basic rule on stocking 1" of fish per 1gallon, 90litres = 20 gallons, the clown loaches alone when they grow up will fill your tank without a exelent filtration, angle fish grow up to 4" making them need 4 galls each (12 galls in total)

sorry about the "bad" new (i put it kind of harsh), just makes me anoyed when someone incompitent not to learn about their fishes needs come on here saying "whats wrong with my fish, there all ill" and im here thinking "earth to person, hello it dosent take much of a brain to realise that u dont know what your fish need"

you were not as bad as this, just in the future BEFORE buying a fish, cycle your tank, know is the fish are community (if you want a comunity tank), learn there max size and what size tank they need minimum and don't excead the limit (not even by 1 tiny little fish, is best for your fish)


in the paragraphs (if you can call them that ) above i sound anoyed, i wasn't at you, its just im new here too and i know the common stuff because i put time and effort into learning what each individuiall fish needs. i think you will now.
and i hope it all works out for you fishes, shang hi

 

[Katya]

Never knew about the over stocking - we were just advised by the aquarium we bought the tank from.

Sorry if I have annoyed everyone.

 

[shang hi]

Never knew about the over stocking - we were just advised by the aquarium we bought the tank from.

Sorry if I have annoyed everyone.

no ones annoyed with you, atleast im not (i know my last post maby suggested that i am). your learning and theres no nice way of saying "stop adding fish, your killing them" well there is but its never as effective
you should think about either giving away the angle fish and clown loaches (i know there cute but its for there own good, and the smaller fish in the tank) or getting a huge 300l tank that can house them.

have fun with it though.
shang hi

 

[Imber]

You're definitely not alone. Many people got into this hobby in the same way that you did(myself included) with too many fish and an uncycled tank. Then when things go wrong you go out and dump a bunch of money on meds which can stress your fish out even more. Unfortunately most pet stores are in the business for money and it is in their best interest to sell you the most fish that they can. On top of that, many pet store employees just don't know what they're doing and don't know any better than to send you home with way too many fish. The lack of nitrate in your tank indicates that your tank isn't cycled and the 0 ammonia might mean that you have very high nitrites which can be deadly. Right now the best thing that you can do for your fish is lots of waterchanges and look into getting a nitrite test. Also, it would be advisable to at least rehome the clowns and the angels and possibly some of the other fish. There are lots of articles online for you to read about keeping a healthy aquarium(cycling is especially important to learn about) and I hope that you don't become too discouraged and instead educate yourself on caring for your aquatic pets.