I'm failing

[ma27]

I feel like I'm failing my fish. Got this guy yesterday and he seemed perfectly healthy, and this is him today. Had 2 other fish die overnight (also new). This is a well established tank for over 2+ years. Don't know what's going wrong.

 

[ma27]

My neon tetras that have been in the tank over a year also are showing the same signs on their fins now. What do I do

 

[itiwhetu]

What are your water parameters please? Do you have floating plants for the Hatchet fish?

 

[.Kai]

looks like fin rot.

 

[FranciscoB]

The problem was adding new fish to your nice, running tank, without quarantine. Never a good move. I am very sorry. If it were me, I will dose with salt (any kind except Epsom salt), and observe. Water changes (50% or so) every other day, replacing the salt. It should take care of it, but there could be fish loses. After things improve, continue with weekly water changes to maintain pristine conditions (nitrate at 10 or below). You may suffer some plant melting from the salt but eventually should recover. For the future, qt of at least one month is the mantra, more if suspicion of something, or observation of disease. Just not worth not doing it. Good luck!

 

[Rocky998]

The top picture looks 100% like ich

 

[enricosonic]

Unless you have a trusted local fish store, you really have to quarantine as FranciscoB mentioned. The Hatchetfish definitely looks like it came with a free case of Ich. Petco (and other pet chains) sell fish in this state often, at least where I live, and the spots aren’t yet visible at purchase.

We don’t know your water parameters or the other fish in the tank but do a huge water change as recommended and raise the temp to the mid 80s. I’d be wary of adding much if any salt after each change as the residual amount of salt is going to start to build up and again I don’t know what other fish are in there, some may be sensitive to salt. I treated my Ich cases purely with the raised temperature.

 

[Rocky998]

Unless you have a trusted local fish store, you really have to quarantine as FranciscoB mentioned. The Hatchetfish definitely looks like it came with a free case of Ich. Petco (and other pet chains) sell fish in this state often, at least where I live, and the spots aren’t yet visible at purchase.

We don’t know your water parameters or the other fish in the tank but do a huge water change as recommended and raise the temp to the mid 80s. I’d be wary of adding much if any salt after each change as the residual amount of salt is going to start to build up and again I don’t know what other fish are in there, some may be sensitive to salt. I treated my Ich cases purely with the raised temperature.

The temp has to be 86°F or more to kill ich I believe

 

[enricosonic]

The temp has to be 86°F or more to kill ich I believe

I believe you're right, sir. I'm just now noticing the neon tetra pic. To me this does not look like ich and I move toward thinking there may be a water quality issue.

This is why @itiwhetu asked for water parameters in post #3.

 

[Rocky998]

I believe you're right, sir. I'm just now noticing the neon tetra pic. To me this does not look like ich and I move toward thinking there may be a water quality issue.

This is why @itiwhetu asked for water parameters in post #3.

I can agree but the top photo looks a lot like it and it was the newest addition to the tank. The other fish may not be showing signs JUST yet but the other one is because its the one from the infected water. Although it could just be bad water its in now and not ich

 

[itiwhetu]

Just as a thing, Cardinal and Neon tetras are highly susceptible to white spot, if you have those fish in the tank, they will usually be the first to show signs of the problem.

 

[enricosonic]

I can agree but the top photo looks a lot like it and it was the newest addition to the tank. The other fish may not be showing signs JUST yet but the other one is because its the one from the infected water. Although it could just be bad water its in now and not ich

Both things are true IMO. I see textbook Ich on the Hatchetfish and I don’t know what the neons have. Fungus, bacterial infection? We know nothing about water parameters.

 

[Colin_T]

It looks like excess mucous caused by something in the water irritating the fish. This could be ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, plant fertiliser, or any other chemical in the water.

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Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.