Petsmart fish spread disease

[staredecisis]

Basically, I had a healthy tank, and I brought home a new guppy, who I thought had a small nip out of his fin. Well, to make a long story short, within two days his entire tail was GONE and he was dead with Ich, bloat, and MASSIVE fin rot. It rotted so quickly. The Ich spread to one of my other fish, which I am treating fairly successfully with higher temperature water. I was in the middle of treating the finrot for the guppy when he died, so I finished out the treatment even though he was gone. But NOW one of my other guppies has a fungus growing on his EYE. I know there is medication for this, is there any other way to treat it? Also, I have an empty 10 gallon, should I fill it with water and use it as a temporary hospital tank to do the chemical treatment? I don't want to stress out the guppy, and there wouldn't be any gravel or anything, maybe a few plants, bit of cover...

But also, I don't want the fish in my main tank to get the eye fungus. Should I just treat it in the main tank? I need the help of the experienced fish keepers of this forum.. you've all helped me fix my other problems with great success. Thanks.

 

[Angel Lady]

yes i would get the 10 gallon up and running if I were you I always have a hospital tank going so when I buy new fish I keep them in it for at least three weeks si if anything is going to happen it wont get in my tanks that I have going. I would treat the guppy in the 10 gallon also I dont like to add medicine to my tanks either I think they can destroy the cycle.

 

[staredecisis]

Thanks for the reply fish keeper

Yeah, I agree about the medicine screwing with the cycle... but at the same time, I fear the other fish may become infected soon after because they are in the same tank as the guppy with the eye fungus...

Anyone else have any opinions? Should I treat just the 1 guppy in the hospital tank, or treat all the fish in the main tank?

 

[noelberg]

I have had TERRIBLE luck with liverbearers from Petsmart.

My cory and glass cats are fit as fiddles, but the livebearers don't live very long.

IMO get them from a local lfs.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi staredecisis

Ewwww....... You've got some big problems here.

First, if you have ich in your tank, you will have to treat for it. The best way to do this is to raise the temperature to around 82 degrees, add salt at the rate of one Tablespoon per every 5 gallons and use a store bought Ich medication as well. BUT you don't want to do that with the cory, the frog or the shrimp in the tank. I'm not sure how well the glassfish or the puffer will tolerate that treatment, so you will probably want to inquire in those forums. This treatment should not harm your beneficial bacteria. Treat for ich at least a week longer than you think is necessary to be sure it is gone.

Second is the bacterial infection that is causing the fin rot and cloudy eye. You can use MelaFix to treat this but keep the water at no higher than 75 - 76 degrees and provide extra aeration to slow the reproduction of the bacteria. I would move the cory and the guppy with the eye problem into the 10 gallon tank and give them the treatment there. You could bunk the frog and the shrimp with your bettas for a little while.

If the guppy has ich as well as cloudy eye, the situation does not look too good for him, however, just putting him into clean water will probably do him good and if the MelaFix will help his eye, you will probably see an improvement quickly. Then, if necessary, return him to the main tank for ich treatment.

Now, I do not know what you were using to treat the finrot in your main tank, but, you will probably want to remove it with and give the tank a good cleaning and perhaps a 50% water change before you commence adding additional meds to the tank. Depending on what was in the medication, you may have already damaged your beneficial bacteria, so keep a close watch on your water parameters. Put charcoal in the filter to remove the meds and take it out before beginning treatment with the new meds.

Good luck and please let us know how things turn out.

 

[iloveyou]

wal mart sells 'jungle fungus eliminator'.. it works quite well... might kill the fish if it alrdy has it badly.. but it should keep the others from getting it.. i like this medicine it works very well..... petsmart really sucks.. to put it bluntly... if im considering buyin a fish from there i inspect the tank to make sure there are no diseases.. in doing this ive never bought a fish from petsmart.. because of the diseases in every tank they have basically lol....same with wal mart fish... i dont buy fish in diseased tanks.. jus brings up problems

good luck i hope your fish get and stay healthy

 

[staredecisis]

Well, I ended up just separating the guppy with cloudy eye. He has no signs of Ich. So I continued treatment for the swordtail with Ich in the main tank, with the water degrees at 82-83. My water levels seem to be getting better, I had that nasty ammonia spike, but it's going down. It's at 3.0, as opposed to 10. Poor fish.

I've got lots of aeration in a 10 gallon at 75 degrees, with just the 1 guppy in it. His cloudy eye is not too bad yet, I noticed it very early as I have been inspecting my fish under great scrutiny for the past few weeks ever since this fiasco happened. Things seem to be going well, I'm going home to check on the guppy tonight, hopefully he'll make it. All of my other fish seem to be doing well. The Ich has been visibly gone for a couple days, but I'm going to let the temp stay warm for a few more days just to be sure...

Does this sound like everything I need to do? I am hesitant about adding salt, I'm not sure I need to. If you guys still strongly recommend that I do add it to the main tank, I'll separate the sensitive ones into another tank.. but the only thing wrong with the main tank now is Nitrates and the Ich which is visibly gone and only bothered 1 fish.

Thanks again for the help everyone.