Please Help...

[Peddles]

I have lost 4 fish(2 clown fish, 2 guaramies), in the last 2 weeks!

Before they die, they only become very thin, looks like sceletons! Their heads is only bone and the rest of their bodies become thinner and thinner, and within 2 days or so, they just die! This is VERY sad and I don't want to loose more of my darling fishes...

Please, any advise is welcome.....

 

[stumpy57]

I have lost 4 fish(2 clown fish, 2 guaramies), in the last 2 weeks!

Before they die, they only become very thin, looks like sceletons! Their heads is only bone and the rest of their bodies become thinner and thinner, and within 2 days or so, they just die! This is VERY sad and I don't want to loose more of my darling fishes...

Please, any advise is welcome.....

how long you had your tank runing and have you tested the ph of the wather what sice is the tank

 

[minxfishy]

Sorry to hear about your losses,

Sorry also if youve posted this elsewhere, but what size is your tank, how long has it been set up, how was the tank cycled? What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrAte readings? How many fish and what species?

 

[Peddles]

I have tested the water..it's fine. I had my tank for a year....The last few months everything went well....I bought a few new fish and 2 new plants( 1-2 months ago).....All the fish that died, was new ones, but wasn't bought at the same place (3 different places).....My tank is 180l....

 

[chesterscot]

maybe your test kits could be wrong and your water quality isnt what it should be what test kits are you using? the strip tests arnt that good so it could be that your other fish may have got used to your water and the new ones just couldnt ajust and died what other fish have you got in the tank ? sorry for all the questions lol
scot

 

[minxfishy]

OK assuming you are using a liquid based test kit, your readings are Zero for ammonia and nitrIte, the fish havent undergone any kind of cycling, then as its only the new fish that have died, then I would assume they had a disease when you purchased them.

 

[Davo86]

Sounds like your fish are suffering from skinny disease (internal parasites)
Clown loach are particular prown to this but as the disease is contagious it can be easily past across to other fish

where are u based? UK/US/other etc.

 

[Peddles]

thanx, I will try and get something for internal parasites.....I stay in South Africa ....

 

[Wrams]

thanx, I will try and get something for internal parasites.....I stay in South Africa ....

Hold on a sec. You don't even know whats wrong with them and your off to buy some meds... I advise you to post this question in the "Tropical Emergencies" section and see what a few members there have to say, you never know, someone may have had the same problem.

You don't know about the meds required so it could end up doing more harm than good. Atleast get some more advice before you go and jump in.

3 or 4 people asked you questions and 1 gave you a possible answer which doesn't mean it is that. These guys know what there on about but please wait before you run off to the LFS. Also if i bought fish from the LFS and they died within a week or 2 then i would take the bodys back to the shop and ask them to refund you or replace them, to be honest i would want a refund until i found out what is wrong just incase there fish are the cause!

Another thing, we need to know what test kit your using so we can advise you if there anygood? Is it liquid or test strips?

Goodluck in your quest for a remedy.

 

[Peddles]

Ok...I'm using liquid tests....Sera NH4, NH3 test. The water here are ph 8.....(The guy at the shop said it will make no difference to try and change the ph because our water are treated so it will go back to the same ph again...). I thought that I will do a propper cleaning and 25% water change today and get some Tetra Medica, General Tonic, it's suppose to help for parasites, bacterial infections, fungus, wounds, ect (in the past I didn't have much success with meds anyway, so I don't know if it will help?)

I tried to post on the emergency forum, but they say I don't have excess to it, don't know why?

Unfortunately I can't take the fish back, because the shops are 100 km appart, and I have 2 kidz that needs to travel along (say no more!!! )
Thanx

 

[Peddles]

Ps.....It can't be the new plants?

 

[vinylman]

But you're buying medications without knowing exactly what's wrong (and some of them may harm the filter bacteria). What were the EXACT test results?; 'fine' covers a lot of things. We need to go through a process of elimination before you start spending money. Best thing you can do for now is water changes; if there IS anything in the water it will at least dilute it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi peddles, the access to the emergencies section is restricted because you've not validated your account with the forum yet, go to your e-mail and you'll find one from this site with a link to follow, that will sort it out

onto your problems, we definately need some more accurate information before we cna make a diagnosis, as above we can't recommend any course of action without a proper diagnosis beforehand. please be as descriptive and accurate as you can with your answers, it can be hard to diagnose over the internet sometimes so the more info you can give us the better

what size is the tank?
what fish do you have, species and how many of each?
how was the tank set up before adding fish?
what are the exact numbers for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
what is your regular maintenance routine?
do you add any chemicals to the tank?
can you observe any other symptoms in the fish which are still alive?

 

[Peddles]

Ok, I'm going to try my best with the info....

-My tank is 180l, with a build in filter
-I've had it for 1 year.....I do a 20-30l water change every week, washing the filter material in the old water before I put it back. I check the temp of new water, 27 degrees, then also adding 'water safe',I also suck up all the poo ect.
-I'm not sure of the spelling of all the names of my fish: 1 'cat fish', 2 silver dollars, I had 4 guiramies(now only 2 left), 2 very small bottom feeders, 1 molly (1 died), 7 little black and grey fish (sorry don't know their names), 2 tigers and a little baby bottom feeder (looks like a zebra). See, this is why I didn't give more info, because I feel so stupid not even knowing all their names!
- I did a dipstick test today: my Nitrite was 0, my ph 6.5 and to my surprise, my Nitrate was 250!
- I struggle with algea agianst my glass and one plant
- I feed them once a day.
-The only chemicals I add is the 'water safe, in the new tap water.

I don't know how often I can do a water change, to try and correct the Nitrate....?

Thanx for listening and helping.

 

[rabbut]

Strips are notoriously inaccurate, and I usually don't belive them, but with such small waterchanges and a heavy stocking, I'd say 250ppm is in the right ball park

The fact that the new fish only went over and the tank is heavily stocked only reciving small waterchanges at this point makes me suspect that you are dealing with OTS (Old Tank Symdrome) where a build-up of various toxins has occured. The established fish grow used to this and don't get harmed. New fish however won't be used to it, and will struggle at best, or even die. Symptoms for OTS are quite varied and none-specific and can include, but are not restricted to;

loss of weight
Burns on the body, similar to those associated with ammonia burns e.t.c
Loss of "ballence""
Gasping
Loss of apetite
loss of colour
There are others, that don't imediately spring to mind. Not all affected fish will show all symptoms, and the symptoms displayed can be very none-specific.

Do a test with Liquid drop test kits so you have some accurate readings and post back.

In the mean time got into some small, say 5-10%, daily waterchanges to try to dilute down the toxins. Don't do large waterchanges, as toxic shock (that I suspect killed the new fish as a result of OTS) can work both ways. Suddenly decreasing the toxin levels in the tank can do the same as introducing fish to ususually high toxin levels.

Recovering a tank from OTS requires a "slow but steady wins the race" approach. After a week start waterchanges that are twice as large as in the first week and start reviewing the readings. Once nitrate has dropped back to a reasonable level, go onto weekly 30-50% waterchanges and wait a month before thinking about more fish Nitrate wants to be no higher than 50ppm above that of your tap water. If it is higher, you either aren't waterchanging often enough (not true here, weekly should be fine), or you aren't changing enough (the problem here IMO)

All the best
Rabbut