Stop dieing on me fishies!

[MissClaire]

Ahoy!

This week I have lost: Three rummy noses, two neons, an adolfoi cory and a bristlenose to popeye!

Thats seven lovely lives wasted and I feel helpless!

I have tested the water the other day, all was fine. Will test again tonight and post results shortly. Ive done a 25% water change as well and now I have noticed a couple of white spots on my discus. Should I start treating for ick? or could this be calcium spots.

This is getting depressing, if I loose another fish I might give up!
I feel dreadfull!

 

[Dare2Dream]

Dont give up on yourself and your fishys ! !

I cant help with your problems but just wanted to say you need to keep your chin up !

Keep going things will sort themselves out in the end.

 

[MissClaire]

Doing water tests now (will post in 10 mins) should I treat ick now or wait till morning to see if it's still there?



Edit:

RESULTS:

Ph 7.4

Nitrite 0

Ammonia 0

Nitrate 0 - 5

 

[bunjiweb]

Keep an eye on the white spots and do a water change and add some general bacterial treatment.

Last thing you want is your beautiful discus getting ich and dying.

Ben

 

[MissClaire]

Did a water change this afternoon....
I will go to my lfs in the morning and get some bacterial treatment tomorrow. If the Ick is still present I will start treatment as well. Can I treat for both at the same time?!

 

[bunjiweb]

Its best not to treat with 2 different medicines at the same time, as sometimes the ingredients can conflict and then will kill all your fish.

I would start by treating with a general bacterial treatment, then if you notice ICH starting to break out, start treating with the ICH specific medicine.

And remember, when treating, the best way to do it is to take 10% of the water out, and when adding it back in, add in the treatment with it and mix it up in a bucket or something.

Ben

 

[MissClaire]

Thanks Ben, I will purchase treatment in the morning for general bacteria...because I know my other fish did not die of ick and this seems like the more serious issue at this stage. Once Ive done that if the ick break out gets worse or no improvement I will treat after.
*fingers crossed*

 

[MissClaire]

OK the verdict:

After speaking with lengths with my LFS we came to the conclusion that by fiddling with the PH for so long to get it down the 'PH down' added too much pholsfate(sp?) to the water thus affecting the cory and rummy tetras, neons. As for the pop eye on the bristlnose we were unsure of this cause.
So we have binned the PH down and im using PH minus now...a more expensive product which is more effective (doesnt make the PH flactuate) and you only need to use it once or twice.
So hopefully we wont have any more deaths...
The 'ick' I suspected was calcium spots as he showed me another example of calcium spots on another dicus and my spots matched those of the other discus so false alarm there. However he said keep an eye on it just incase.
OK, so hopefully everything will be aok now

 

[CathyG]

I personally would not advise using chemicals to alter your PH since, depending on your KH (buffering) the PH may well bounce back up, causing more stress to your fish. Have you considered using reverse osmosis water as a percentage of your tank volume? By using 25% RO water on my tank, the PH has dropped from 7.4-7.8 (tap water) to 7.0 - 7.2 (tank) and my GH has dropped from 300 mg/l to 200 mg/l. Bog wood and peat are also natural ways to lower PH.

Good luck with the rest of your fish

 

[MissClaire]

great my clown loach just died and so did my gourami

WTF is going ON!

@#$%^&*(

 

[enchanted]

First CathyG is right against using Chemicals to adjust PH. They have to destroy any buffering in your water before they function and can end up causing major PH fluctuations, aside from the fact that they also add things to the water.

If you need to change your PH some of the basic methods are bogwood and CO2. I would recommend the CO2 method with Plants and a PH Controller. This way your plants will use up the CO2 producing oxygen and the PH controller on a pressurized system will keep your PH at the level you want.

Now, for your fish. I spent quite a while on the phone with aquarium pharmacuticals when I thought something was wrong with my tank, prior to finding out it was a fin nipper.

What I found was you can use MelaFix, PimaFix, and their ICK treatment in combination with each other, although you will need to run an airstone or something to make sure they do not leach oxygen, because they will.

Also, have you tested the GH/KH of your water? This is something else important with Discus that you will want to test.

I'm not an expert by any means, I have just spent a whole lot of time reading. Since I narrowed my problem down to fin nippers and removed them I have only lost one fish and that was an LFS bumble that they corrected with a replacement.

 

[MissClaire]

It's got to be the Ph....its jumping all over the place, one minute its 7 and now its 7.6!

I have driftwood and plants.....I dont know what else to do, except maybe just leave it and hope no more die

 

[enchanted]

First, your PH is jumping probably because the PH stuff took all the buffering out so it could adjust it.

STOP USING IT. That is the first step. Next, what is your PH out of the tap after it sits for 24 hours?

If it is too high look into a CO2 system. You said you had plants... Adding CO2 will lower the PH.

 

[MissClaire]

Thanks ddreams...
OK. no more using it! Ive learnt that now! My tap PH is around 7.6 -7.7
a co2 system....what does that involve...

 

[lizard]

Sorry to hear of all your fishy troubles. Those are *not* fun! I hope your fish start to get bettter soon

A DIY CO2 system can be done fairly cheaply and easily by using 2-liter pop bottles, some airline tubing, a little bit of aquarium sealant/silicone, and some sugar, water, and yeast. Check out the plant section for more information on that.

Good luck

Pamela
aka Married Lizard