PLS HELP ME FIX MY DEATH TANK :(

[GuppyLady1986]

**UPDATE**

I’ve lost another fish and two more have developed the fuzzy spots on their back. Upon further research it appears I have a columnaris infection in my tank. The angel is swimming better but his sore hasn’t improved.

 

[mikey11]

Unfortunately a lot of good bacteria is in your filter, which you threw away. You should only ever rinse the filter cartridge in warm, conditioned water so as not to kill off all of the bacteria. Essentially, my guess if that you undid your cycle and you are now in the middle of a 'fish in' cycle.

here is your answer....

 

[GuppyLady1986]

here is your answer....

I found my filter along with my plants I had left them sitting in a bucket of the old tank water and forgotten about them until Sunday. Was it still alive sitting in the bucket or did the bacteria die anyway? When I found it in the bucket what kind of rinsed it in the water that was there and stuck it in my tank again. Was that a bad idea?

 

[mikey11]

I found my filter along with my plants I had left them sitting in a bucket of the old tank water and forgotten about them until Sunday. Was it still alive sitting in the bucket or did the bacteria die anyway? When I found it in the bucket what kind of rinsed it in the water that was there and stuck it in my tank again. Was that a bad idea?

it sounds like you have killed off your bacteria one way or another, and now your tank is trying to cycle again

 

[GuppyLady1986]

So should I still try to medicate my fish? Or should I just let it cycle and let them die? This message board is great but I really wish I could just call someone on the phone and then they can explain it all to me I feel like I should just send my fish to a rescue and give up.

 

[mikey11]

you don't really have any other option then to let it cycle, and hope your fish survive it.....don't clean or touch your filter.....leave it alone.....change 50% water every 2-3 days

 

[GuppyLady1986]

OK so as helpless as I’ve felt since I started this thread I have been doing the right thing. It’s really hard to just leave them alone when you see them looking so bad. I’ve had this tank running consecutively for like 10 years and I’ve never had a problem. the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with was ich and that waspretty easily taken care of except that I killed all of my snails because I didn’t know they were carriers of ich/sensitive to the medicine when I treated the ich

 

[Colin_T]

If your filter materials were in a bucket of tank water, then most of the beneficial bacteria will still be alive. If the filter materials dried out then the bacteria is dead.

What are you adding to the tank to treat them?
You need to treat them for bacterial, fungal and protozoan now. The red in the angelfish's dorsal fin is a bacterial infection. The white fluffy stuff on the angelfish's dorsal fin is fungus. The fin is being eaten away by bacteria and protozoans. The guppies have a protozoan infection too.

You need a fish medication with methylene blue for the bacterial and fungal infection, and malachite green for the protozoan infection. If it contains formaldehyde then that will help. Fortunately most broad spectrum fish medications contain these ingredients.

You need to do wipe the inside of the tank down, do a huge water change and complete gravel clean, then treat immediately. If you don't treat this properly, you will probably lose all the fish in the tank.

You can also add 1 heaped tablespoon of salt (rock salt, swimming pool salt or sea salt) for every 20 litres of tank water. This will help with the fungus and protozoan infections, as well as help reduce the stress on the fish.

 

[mikey11]

OK so as helpless as I’ve felt since I started this thread I have been doing the right thing. It’s really hard to just leave them alone when you see them looking so bad. I’ve had this tank running consecutively for like 10 years and I’ve never had a problem. the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with was ich and that waspretty easily taken care of except that I killed all of my snails because I didn’t know they were carriers of ich/sensitive to the medicine when I treated the ich

not trying to sound insulting here.....but, do you understand the cycling process?.....do you understand how bacteria in your filter lives and is beneficial?

 

[GuppyLady1986]

If your filter materials were in a bucket of tank water, then most of the beneficial bacteria will still be alive. If the filter materials dried out then the bacteria is dead.

What are you adding to the tank to treat them?
You need to treat them for bacterial, fungal and protozoan now. The red in the angelfish's dorsal fin is a bacterial infection. The white fluffy stuff on the angelfish's dorsal fin is fungus. The fin is being eaten away by bacteria and protozoans. The guppies have a protozoan infection too.

You need a fish medication with methylene blue for the bacterial and fungal infection, and malachite green for the protozoan infection. If it contains formaldehyde then that will help. Fortunately most broad spectrum fish medications contain these ingredients.

You need to do wipe the inside of the tank down, do a huge water change and complete gravel clean, then treat immediately. If you don't treat this properly, you will probably lose all the fish in the tank.

You can also add 1 heaped tablespoon of salt (rock salt, swimming pool salt or sea salt) for every 20 litres of tank water. This will help with the fungus and protozoan infections, as well as help reduce the stress on the fish.

Fortunately the filter was not dried out so I think I was able to save the bacteria. Called an aquatic vet this morning and he instructed me to add five heaping tablespoons of salt to my tank(29 gallons, I think about 94 cm³) to help and to purchase the antibiotics you mentioned, but he didn’t tell me how to use them or to change the water.

not trying to sound insulting here.....but, do you understand the cycling process?.....do you understand how bacteria in your filter lives and is beneficial?

I do not find your question insulting honestly, I don’t know a lot about cycling in a tank. I know that there has to be a certain level of bacterial flora living to break down the ammonia and nitrates and fish waste and all of that stuff, but I don’t really know how it works, no.

 

[Colin_T]

The medication should be available in a liquid form and you simply add x number of drops for every x litres of tank water. If you can find a medication called "Waterlife Protozin" that should do the job. If you can't get that medication, have a look at your local petshop and check the ingredients on their broad spectrum fish medications.

Do not buy dry anti-biotics to add to the tank because they are not really designed for aquarium use, and the malachite green and methylene blue will do the same job.

re: the salt. Simply get a tablespoon and scoop out 5 heaped spoons of salt and add it to the tank. Just scoop the salt and tip the spoon of salt into the tank. The cheapest place to buy salt is the hardware or swimming pool shop. Buy a 10-20kg bag (whatever is available) for about $6.00 and use that.
You need to keep the salt levels up for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks. After the disease has gone you can do 10% daily water changes for 2 weeks, to dilute the salt in the tank.

If you need to do a water change while treating the tank, do a big water change and complete gravel clean and re-dose with the medication. And add some more salt for the amount of water you add.
If you are doing water changes it is best to fill up a clean bucket with water, add dechlorinator, and then aerate for at least 30minutes before adding the water to the tank. You can add salt or any other buffers to the bucket of water while it is aerating.

 

[GuppyLady1986]

The medication should be available in a liquid form and you simply add x number of drops for every x litres of tank water. If you can find a medication called "Waterlife Protozin" that should do the job. If you can't get that medication, have a look at your local petshop and check the ingredients on their broad spectrum fish medications.

Do not buy dry anti-biotics to add to the tank because they are not really designed for aquarium use, and the malachite green and methylene blue will do the same job.

I’m heading to the pet store now. Motivation in full force lol

 

[GuppyLady1986]

Another update

The pet store did not have any medications so I had to order them offline. My master kit came today and golly g willikers.
The pH is 7.8
Ammonia is 2.0ppm
Nitrite is 0ppm
Nitrate is 20ppm

 

[stanleo]

Personally I don’t have a lot of faith in medications. IMO medicating the tank will add more stress and foreign chemicals to fish that are already under an enormous amount of stress from a fish in cycle. I think the best advise you have gotten in this thread is to do a fish in cycle. Monitor ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate closely and do 50-75% water changes with temp matched and dechlorinated water every 2 to 3 days until you get readings of 0ppm on both ammonia and nitrite for two consecutive water changes. Test before you change the water to see how much of each have increased and after to see how much it has gone down. You don’t need to test for nitrates until the other two are 0 twice consecutively. You then can start doing water changes 50% weekly provided your ammonia and nitrite remain 0 which you should still test for every two days for at least another two weeks, preferably 6 weeks. If after the cycle is complete if you still feel the need to medicate then do so. Fish are tough and can recover from an amazing array of ailments and injuries.

 

[NickAu]

Ammonia is 2.0ppm
Nitrite is 0ppm
Nitrate is 20ppm

This is a serious problem,

Do not buy 10 or 20 KG of salt, go to you local store or deli and buy Kosher salt. Do NOT add the salt directly to the tank get a jug put some tank water in it and dissolve the required amount salt in the jug then add it to the tank.

NO Colin I do not care what you say about adding undissolved salt to the tank being OK.