Multiple water disease

[MamaPish]

Hi and welcome.......sorry it couldn't be under better circumstances, but this is why this forum is here, I too went through some of the same problems you are having, just hang in there, it will all work out eventually.

Just remember that it can take quite a while to "cycle" a tank.
I thought a week would do it.....that's when I loaded up my 55 gal with angels!

I have a good link to cycling a tank and will try to find it.

edit::tank cycling



You mentioned a friend who had an airstone....does this friend or do you have another friend with a tank? You could even ask your LFS where you purchased the fish
ask them for some gravel out of their established tank....keep it in tank water, put it in a clean nylon hose, and get it to your tank asap so the bacteria doesn't die....I have cycled a couple of tanks this way and it didn't take very long at all.

You really need a test kit.....the oneI have is by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. it is called Freshwater Master Test Kit & cost $19.99 at Petsmart it comes with everything you need except the nitrate test kit which can be purchased for about $5.00 more.

Also....one more thing I did wrong in the beginning was clean the gravel with the water changes.....when cycling a tank, don't clean the gravel, just remove and replace water......I kept my tank to clean and I was killing off all the good bacteria, so just let the tank, and plants, substrate build up all the "stuff", and when your tank is cycled, don't clean everything at the same time.......you could go back into a mini cycle....alternate cleaning the plastic plants...and aquarium walls.....etc.....



I set up my 55 gal in February......I now have 6 tanks and am attempting to raise angels...I have 3 babies left out of several spawns....but it is a start, and all of my fish are healthy now at the moment, but I do have a sick tank...so if I do have a fish, or a few fish that get sick I transfer them to the 10 gal, and medicate them there.......it will pay for its self the first time you use it instead of treating a 55 gal....meds can get quite expensive!
You might want to check out this site for fish supplies also, great prices here!

Big Als Online



If I am incorrect in any area....someone please correct me!

I know all this is very frustrating, I felt like giving up several times the first month, but everyone is so great here and we are all here to help you through this.

 

[mmarch]

Thank you mama,
I will try all what you said to me, but i dont have anywhere else to transfer the sick fishes, so Im just waitting, I dont know I feel a little bit frustrated, but well Im hanging there,
Thanks a lot
MM

 

[Pufferpack]

If you have freinds that keep fish you could borrow some of the foam from their filter to speed up your cycle, you can also add products like "Cycle" or "Bio-Spira" to add more beneficial bacteria to the tank and relieve some of the stress on the fish

 

[magsamermaid]

hi mmarch, I know how you feel i lost my first lot of fish its realy disappoiting
and upsetting. I know stick to only one supplier who i now know realy well and they have never steared me wrong. I also keep a list of the fish that i have so that when i go along they tell which fish to add and which to leave alone. Its also a good way of finding out about other fish types. Don't always go for the posh shops my supplier is a real hobbyist he keeps his own fish in the shop he has a puffer that hes had for 8 years called harold hes gorgeous. He realy loves his fish and understands how attached you can actualy become. don't dispair you will get there in the end. If unfortunatly you do lose all you fish sterilise you tank with marine salt and start again. make sure you get a nitrite kit and some stress coat it gets rid of all the chlorine in the water and puts a protective coat over the fish.Thats what i had to do because a bad fish supplier sold me an Angel fish telling me that it wouldnt harm my fishguess what it did it bit all my guppies and stressed every thing else out. Hope this helps bye.

 

[mmarch]

Thanks magsamermaid and pufferpack

Well, more fishes have died like three more (the glass fishes) I wish no more.
Tomorrow I'll be on the 7th day of treatment.. so when am I start going to see it working?
Well
thanks a lot,

mm



PS: pufferpack telkl me more about those products please.

 

[Pufferpack]

I have never used the Bio-Spira myself, but have seen other members recomend it. As for the Cycle it is basically a bottle of beneficial bacteria that is sold in most lfs around here. I have added it to all my tanks when first setting them up and it seems to help reduce the cycle time and reduce the stress on our fish. In the 6 tanks we have used it in we have only seen 1 ammonia spike and that was due in part to a fish dieing inside a crevase in a barnacle and rotting before we found him I highly recomend it for setting up and new tanks, and introducing new fish to existing tanks. In an emergency you can have a tank set up and ready for fish in 24 hours (although it will still have to go through it's cycle it will not be quite so hard on the fish). I have one more tank ready to be set up (just finished repairs) and if I remember, I will keep a log of what's happening with the cycle and post it here

 

[mmarch]

Okay, I did the stuff of the old filter into my fillter, already..

I have another question, how do I know if I have to repeat the ich treatment again.. all the infected fishes died, the others seem well, but I can see like one or two powder spots in one of them.. what should I do?

 

[mmarch]

I'm on the 10th day treatment...

 

[Angel Lady]

did you turn up your temp. if not you need to to around 85 that will kill the free swimmers I am sorry all your sick fish died mabey you will get your tank lined out pretty soon.

 

[mmarch]

I have the temp in 80 degrees, and today one of my gouramis has something in one eye, but I dont know if was another fish that attacked him, I dont know, in case it was a pop eye, how do I know and what should I do?
When all this is going to finish, I'm thinking to change the 75 percent of the water and clean all the gravel on the 15th day, what do you think?

 

[ang7880]

Hi mm.

I would not do a 75% water change... only 25-30% at one time. and do not clean the gravel. by doing that, you would be getting rid of a lot of the benificial bacteria in the tank. hope all works out. how many fish are you down to?

Bless your little fishies.

Cheers, Angela

 

[wetwetwet]

mmarch as suggested earlier can none of these fish be rehoused untill the tank is cycled?

The only way to tell whats going on in the tank is to regularly test the water - have you got any test kits or can you post the parameters?

Apart from the toxins produced during the cycle which in themself are poisenes to the fish it also severly stresses them weakening their immune systems and making them more susceptable to other diseases and infections.

I'm affraid that untill the tank/water has stabalised then there could be more trouble ahead....

Chageing water will prolong the cycle but this is preferable to more deaths - I'd do about 30% - but also would monitor the water and if nitrIte or ammonnia were getting excessive then do more - hence the need to get your own test kits....


hth

 

[mmarch]

Thanks wetwetwet, Today I changed the 70 percent of water, I also changed the sand completely. I bought the sand for african cichlids.. Well, I traspass the fishes (15 survived) to my 10 gal tank and conserved the same water. I clean the whole 55 gal tank, added new water. And wait one whole day. Used acquaclear.

The ph was in 7.8 at the beginning and 7.6, and the ph in the 10 gal tank was 7.3, so I put both tanks temps the same, and aclimate the fishes for 1.5 hours leaving both water progressively mix and then put all the fishes in the 55 gal tank. They seem okay.. . the ph is in 7.5, so probably for tomorrow would be better.

I used the same electric filters with the carbon (2), and the only thing that I dont like is that even that I clean very well the sand and everything.. the water is a little cloudy.


I havent rise the temp, it is in 74 degrees..


Well, but it was a tragedy, semper fi helped me through it, i'm exhausted.. we were kind of chatting because I was so nervous that I put a pleco to see if he survived in the 55 gal tank, and he died. Semper fi told me it could be for a ph shock, and explained me how to do it. But I thought that the sand had something to do, so I almost died of a heart attack, because the 10 gal tank didnt have a filter, just aireators..
Well, what do you think..
I'll keep you posted and semper fi too, Thanks a lot!!

 

[mmarch]

Today fishes are okay..
But the water continues to be cloudy,
the ph level is 7.5,
Please tell me if I need to make changes of water, until the water turns clear..?
Ok, I'll keep you update with everything..

 

[Tanked]

mmarch, have you had a chnce to test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate? these are very important factors. the cloudieness may be cause for a few reasons such as an ammonia spike. or post cycle bacterial bloom (I have that right now and can't wait for it to clear up).