Omg Help!

[LauraFrog]

It's my 5gal with my best three platies. My ambulia kept coming unplanted and floating everywhere, so I tied it with rubber bands and the lead ties that it's packed with - they are in tanks with fish tied this way at the LFS - to the same filterwool I use in the filtration and some rocks that had been in a healthy 12gal tank. I put in three snails from the creek as well, I use snails from there all the time and in my other tanks, without problems. I also did a routine 30% WC yesterday. There has been heavy rain and our water supply is from the creek, but the water I'm using (I think) has been sitting in the water tank since before the influx of rain.

All of my fish are hiding and looking horrible. When they come out they dart around the tank flashing their fins, or sit with their fins clamped. The breathing rate is slightly elevated, but they aren't gasping for air. They are all flicking, rubbing etc. One has managed to gouge a few scales off her head. I am absolutely terrified. I have never been more frustrated with the weather in my life. I'm probably going to be trapped away from the tank for at least a few days and my parents have absolutely no clue about fish, where I keep my meds, how to use them etc. I have no access to water params or advanced meds.

PLEASE HELP ME! I don't want to wipe out the tank. There are fry in it too that I haven't managed to get out...

Should I remove the snails/plants from the tank altogether?

 

[kribensis12]

Maybe the water was stale. I would do a 100% waterchange and add a bubbler adn see what happens. Hope it works out for you!

 

[LauraFrog]

Scared to do any more water changes. I put back the water I took out and there have been marginal improvements. One of my fish is lying on the gravel under a piece of wood with her fins clamped, including her swimming fins. She's barely breathing. I think I'm going to lose her.

I was telling my mother this morning why I wasn't dressed and my floor was covered in water and my father overheard. Ever since he's been carrying on about how they're absolutely fine (he has no clue what to look for). He just got me to feed them. I stuck in two alfalfa pellets to shut him up and the two that aren't lying on the gravel actually ate them - then went back to clamped fins and hanging in the water.

 

[WILDER]

We need to know your water stats first in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
As bad water quality makes the fish act the way yours are.

 

[LauraFrog]

It's about now that I could murder my parents. They refuse to get paypal, so I can't buy anything over the internet, and my LFS doesn't sell test kits. Most of the people in my small country town who keep fish see an aquarium as a glorified piece of furniture. The range of fish is pretty much gouramis, goldfish, albino Cory paleatus, platies, guppies, mollies, swordtails, a few easy tetra species and a red devil on display, not for sale. I don't think I left anything out.

It's driving me mad. I'm terrified about the water quality. The rains always bring an explosion in fish populations, it could be a disease in the channel water or runoff with fertiliser etc in it. I added salt on my LFS's advice, 1 gram/litre which is about 1 teaspoon/gallon my best estimate.

 

[WILDER]

Do a water change then and see if the fish settle down.

 

[kribensis12]

Before putting the new water in the tank, Boil it and them let it cool down. That will get rid of anytihng bad, unless it's fertilazers.

 

[WILDER]

Double the declorinator.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

try doing a water change with mineral water (like you'd buy to drink) it's far from ideal but may well be an improvement on whatever's in the water now. the mineral content is wrong for fish though so not good long term. or try running water through a water filter (again as you'd have for drinking) then doing a water change with it/

a better solution (which may not be plausible for you) is to find a marine fish shop, buy some RO water from there, you'll need to remineralise it but you should be able to buy sachets of powder to do this with (anywhere that sells RO water should hopefully sell them).

long term i think you need to find a solution to your supply problems, i totally understand your frustration. Have you got a debit/credit card? You could try calling up a fish shop that's further away than you could drive to, and asking them if they could ship you anything and you pay over the phone with a card.

 

[kribensis12]

But, isnt Mineral water Flavored? I always see like Tropical Fruit Mineral Water. But never just mineral water. It could be just becasue im in america but.........

 

[Miss Wiggle]

But, isnt Mineral water Flavored? I always see like Tropical Fruit Mineral Water. But never just mineral water. It could be just becasue im in america but.........

ummm must be just in america, can get plain mineral/spring water everywhere in the UK!

just to reiterate though, that's emergency measures only, the mineral content is wrong for general fishkeeping so don't try this at home unless you're desperate.

if the tank's been infected with fertiliser or something like that then the wrong balance of minerals (i think) would be advisable to swimming in ferts

 

[Tolak]

First off, adding wild caught anything, even snails, is a risk. It may have worked in the past, it doesn't mean it would work every time.

Use a water treatment that deals with heavy metals, such as Prime, and as suggested, double dose. This is one of the times I would suggest running plenty of fresh carbon, this will remove any chemicals, such as fertilizer that may have entered your water supply.

 

[kribensis12]

Good sugestion Tolak!

 

[LauraFrog]

It rained all night and cleaned out the roof gutters. I stuck buckets under the downpipes and changed 90% of the water with rainwater. Fertiliser is a very likely contaminant. I don't use dechlorinator because our water supply comes from a major irrigation dam supply, not town water. There is no chlorine in it. Normally it's very good. It started raining here weeks ago but we only pumped from the creek into the tank two weeks ago. I changed the water that day just as the water was flowing into the tank, so I missed the contaminant. Yesterday I wasn't so lucky.

The fish do look better, but not out of the woods yet. Their fins are still clamped but they are eating and moving around instead of lying on the bottom. I usually put whatever inverts or plants out of the creek I want because the water comes from there anyway so if there are any nasties in the water they're going to get it anyway. This is the first time it's actually happened.

 

[LauraFrog]

After I changed the water I packed the filter box with as much carbon as I could fit in there without stuffing up the filter flow. I'm stuck at my grandparents place again and I told my parents there were feeder blocks in the tank (because otherwise they'd feed the fish anyway.) I've actually stopped feeding until this crisis is over. I drilled my poor longsuffering non-fish-obsessed parents for detailed descriptions of their fins over the phone and it would appear they are better.

YESS!!!

Thanks guys, I owe you bigtime!