Just Call Me Mr Disease

[SkiFletch]

So it seems that no matter what I do I cant keep a disease free tank. I've done everything by the book here to the best of my knowledge but cant seem to keep my fish alive. My original tank stock you'll see below in my sig. I went through the decisions on what I could and could not have and tried to keep a tank that was not overstocked, to most everyone's agreement here. Went through the test of patience known as fishless cycling to its full completion and added all the fish below at once. Since fishless cycling I haven't read an ounce of ammonia or nitrite, nor any problems with pH or nitrates (plants gobble all that up).

Initially one of my Otto's died a day after stocking which I just attributed to NTS, and he was replaced right away. Then, about a week and a half after stocking the tank my Dwarf Gourami came down with some Columnaris. So I treated with antibiotics for a week and actually beat that one, he survived. Then about another week later I noticed the telltale signs of Ich on one of my female guppies just after she had given birth to some fry. I battled the Ich with a formalin and malachite green medication but ended up loosing all my Cardinals and Guppies within 5 days. My 3 Ottos, Dwarf Gourami, and one of the guppy fry survived (yeah, go figure, a fry lived...). Then about 4 days after stopping treatment for Ich my Dwarf came down with a case of swim bladder and passed away real quickly this past friday. All I have left are the 3 Ottos and one Guppy fry whom I'm pretty sure is old enough to truly sex as a female. Oh, and my shrimp of course.

Anyway, the remaining fish look fine still. No telltale signs of further infectoins and my plan here is to go ahead and try re-stocking after christmas which will be close to 2 weeks after my last fish death. I'm just banging my head against the wall here to try and figure out what went wrong. None of the tanks I bought any of these fish from my LFS ever contracted any of the diseases I had. I check there a few times a week and they've all been fine. Even their cardinals didnt contract a disease which of their own admition was odd. I bring them home and they drop like flies, I feel like I'm cursed.

They get a varied diet of flake, boodworms, brineshrimp, algae pellets, and shelled peas. As mentioned before, water chemistry has been perfect throughout. I do weekly vaccuming and I dont even own a carbon insert for my filter. The tank has an airstone and an oversized functioning HOB filter. I guess I just dont know where I'm going wrong here. Probably just bad luck but damn, I havent had a string of luck this bad in a while. Anyway, if you guys see something I'm missing, please let me know. If not, thanks for listening, gotta vent the frustrations somehow

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hmm....most likely just a string of bad luck, although the lfs was probably lying to you when they said their fish hadn't contracted any deseases, they may just be one of those lfs's who prefer to euthanise fish instead of treat them with expensive meds which is why you might have not seen sick fish there, or they may have a hospital tank some where else where customers can't see- either way though the only way ich could of entered your tank was from the lfs fish and the chances are it must have passed onto their fish as well, as ich always does.

Maybe it is time to set up a quarentine/hospital tank? The tank only needs to be 10gals, but considering your luck recently it will be worth it whatever happens, i own a quarentine/hospital tank myself and it has helped me out a huge amount over the last couple of months.

How do you go about acclimatising your new fish by the way?

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, I strongly doubt the guys at my LFS are lying to me. They always treat their tanks when they get diseased, and also have a series of hospital tanks in case the situation arises, all of which they have always been very forthcoming with and showing me.

As for acclimitizing the new fish, I floated them in their bags and slowly added water to their bags over the course of two hours with a measuring cup. I more than doubled the amount of water that was originally in the bag from the LFS before finally releasing them. Pretty sure I did everything right there to help get them used to the temp and slightly different water chemistry.

It might be time for a hospital tank... What do all you guys use to keep your filter bacteria alive in your hospital tanks? A couple hardy fish?

 

[Genesis]

when you released them did you pour the water from the bag into your tank? if you did, this may have added the disease (possibly from your LFS) into your tank

you should always fish the new fish out with a net and pour awaythe old water

 

[annka5]

This isn't meant to be harsh, but whilst it sounds like you're doing everything right, I don't think you can put all the problems down to luck - it's just too much and not helpful to do that.
Right, so you're water stats are fine, your tank is not hugely overstocked, and your maintenance and feeding regime are fine.
water temperature - have you any reason to suspect that?
level of current in the water - is it so strong as to stress the fish out?
Excessive noise in the room - is the tank besude very loud base speakers or on top of soemthing which vibrates the water (e.g. near a tumble dryer or washing amchine?)
Could there me any contaminents entering the water - do you use spray cleaners, perfume, deoderant, hair spray, fine powder, anything giving fumes, smoke etc around the tank?
Re-double-check the instructions on your dechlorinator bottle and test kits.
Does anyone in your house do anything daft like wash your siphon set or buckets in detergent?
Maybe one of those things could help you track down a problem....

 

[WILDER]

When you set a hospital tank up, always keep the hospital filter in the main tank then just remove it when you need it, always best to qurantine new fish this way it stops desease going into the main tank, if a fish gets stressed they become ill, not much go in livebearers and gouramis always prone to illness it's all in breeding, since i no longer keep livebearers had no problems much with desease in my tanks.

 

[SkiFletch]

This isn't meant to be harsh, but whilst it sounds like you're doing everything right, I don't think you can put all the problems down to luck - it's just too much and not helpful to do that.

Not harsh at all, I welcome the help

Right, so you're water stats are fine, your tank is not hugely overstocked, and your maintenance and feeding regime are fine.
water temperature - have you any reason to suspect that?

Temp is a constant 75F

level of current in the water - is it so strong as to stress the fish out?

I dont think the current level is too strong, but how do I tell for sure? Other than right near the filter outlet the fish dont seem to struggle swimming or maintaining position at all..

Excessive noise in the room - is the tank besude very loud base speakers or on top of soemthing which vibrates the water (e.g. near a tumble dryer or washing amchine?)

No excessive noise in the room. Its on top of one of my bedroom dressers. I rarely play any music and the tank is at opposite ends of the room from my small stereo.

Could there me any contaminents entering the water - do you use spray cleaners, perfume, deoderant, hair spray, fine powder, anything giving fumes, smoke etc around the tank?

No smokers in the house and I only very rarely put on cologne in the same room, but again, thats over at the opposite end of the room.

Re-double-check the instructions on your dechlorinator bottle and test kits.

Checked the instructions many many times and I'm dead on there.

Does anyone in your house do anything daft like wash your siphon set or buckets in detergent?

Nobody in my house ever touches the tank unless I need help feeding while I'm gone. My housemates aren't that cruel or cyincal


Thanks for the suggestion on the hospital tank filter Wilder, I think I'll do that

 

[gr00ver]

You mentioned that you sometimes feed your fish blood worm - Live blood worm (also other live food like daphnia) can sometimes bring disease into a tank.
If you are feeding your fish the dried version, then that won't be the cause of disease.

Hope your luck improves

 

[moeldner]

My 2c....

Can you get your LFS to test your water? Maybe there's something in your tap water your tests are missing?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Oh, i just remembered somthing, what is your ph? Has it fluctuated at all recently?

 

[SkiFletch]

pH has been a rock solid 7.6 after fishless cycling, no fluctuations. my LFS keeps most of their tanks at 7.5-7.8 they say. Same water supply, no surprise there.

Bloodworms can carry disease huh? I did feed them live versions... Maybe thats what I'm missing

 

[gr00ver]

Regarding the bloodworm thing - I don't know much about it but I have been told that live foods increase the risk of disease for some reason.

I've had tropicals for about 10 yrs now and once I got the whole fish keeping thing sussed, the only time my fish got disease was when I added new fish from my local pet shop.
I finally got round to getting myself another tank for quarantining any new fish and it has worked wonders. No fatalities (other than old age) in my main tank since.

I really don't see anything that you are doing wrong tho. I'd blame the pet shop (especially if its one of those national big chain store types). There's one where I stay and there is always signs of disease in their tanks.

 

[SkiFletch]

thanks for the advice groover. the petshop is a family owned local operation. by far and away the best in the area, but you're right, even on their own admition, some of the fish they bring in could be carriers. as far as the LFS goes, they're great. they cut me deals routinely since I know the owners and the manager pretty well and keep the best tanks in the area. still, as you say, even the best can be vulnerable. anyway, I'm just gonna hope my next batch of fish works out better

Thanks for all the advice here guys, I appreciate it

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Good luck with your tank and any new fish you get