illness wiping out my tank.. help!

[MerryCat]

There's an illness thats been scouring my tanks lately. So far its affected
2 platys, a betta, and now one of my cory catfish has got it. They seem
normal to start with, and then suddenly, they start to get sluggish. From
there its downhill very rapidly. They hang about the surface looking very
dejected. Have troupble stayin upright, and often float with head pointed
downwards. By the end of the day, they've fallen to the bottom of the tank,
barely alive, and by the next morning they're dead. I just finished cycling
my tank last week, and added fish at that time. I think that one of the fish
brought this disease, whatever it is, in with him (AND he's the one from
petsmart... how typical).

I have a 20 gallon setup, with 4 neon tetras, 1 grown and one baby cory and
a platy remaining. Amonia, nitrates, etc are almost 0 ppm, and PH is at abt
7.5 .

If you have any idea how to treat this or what it is, I'd really, really
appreciate hearing from you. I'm so afraid that I'm going to lose all my
fish to this.

Thanks in advance,

Sheryll.

 

[Amadaca]

Have any aerosols been sprayed near the aquarium lately? Have you added anything, such as a rock or artificial decoration recently?

 

[MerryCat]

no aerosol, no. I did put in a couple of fake plants and an aquarium log frm the petstore, but they'd been in since before I started cycling. There are also 3 live plants in there. Thats about it in terms of decore. Its still pretty sparse till the plants grow in. Now the baby cory is begining to have trouble staying lever. Her front end just keeps wanting to float above her back end, and she has to wriggle to stay level. She's active, if i turn out the light, or put in food, but I wonder for how long. I really dont want to lose them all.

sheryll.

 

[Gibbo]

I wouldn't say it is a disease, it sounds like a water quality problem to me. You say 'Amonia, nitrates, etc are almost 0 ppm, and PH is at abt 7.5 '. The key word is 'almost'. If you can give us exact Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings this would help. Any ammonia or nitrite is very dangerous to your fish even in small amounts. Thay is why it is important that you add a few (2-3) fish every 1-2 weeks once the tank is cycled otherwise the beneficial bacteria hasn't built up enough to handle such a massive, sudden biological load which sounds like what has happened in your case. You've added too many fish too soon. It can take several months to get a tank fully stocked safely.

If you can give us more details on the following it would be helpful -

Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH - Exact readings from test kit.
Filtration - Internal power filter/undergravel filtration?
Temperature + water agitation - is there enough water movement for oxygen exchange?
Feeding regimes - How often, how much, type of food.
Type of substrate - coloured, natural gravel/sand?

This info would be useful to know - it would give us more to go on. Whatever happens though Sheryll, put it down to experience. It will make you a much better hobbyist if you can look back on it this way in the future. We've all been through it....

Tim

 

[MerryCat]

Hi,

Just thought I'd post an update on the condition of my fish. A friend of mine, whos had fish for years, suggested I not feed the fish for a couple of days, and then feed them skinned green peas. I did this and the fish seem to have gotten back to normal. My remaining platy has stopped fipping onto his side, and my baby cory no longer has trouble staying level One of my tetras is still lurking around the back of the tank, but at least he comes now rushing out now to feed, even if it is only briefly. I'm so glad I didnt lose anymore than i did

Sheryll

 

[wetwetwet]

Thats some good news Sheryll

But think what Gibbo said was right. Too many fish too soon. Its takes the bacteria colonies a while to adjust when new fish are added and they were most likely suffering from ammonia poisening.

Another little tip especially for new tanks is that after adding new fish, to cut back a little on the portions for a few days to allow the filter bacteria to adjust to the increase in biological load.

Also a common problem/mistake that new keepers make is one of overfeeding, any food that isn't consumed can quickly pollute a tank and add to the biological load.