Strange Problem..

[CBTF]

about 2 months ago, 3 of my platys got sick. their gills were red and flaring, and they all stopped eating. this had happened to one of them before and anti parasite meds did the trick. all 3 had the tell-tale white poop that goes along with parasites.

so i treated again. this didnt work. i treated for fungi and bacterial infections- nothing. they were becoming so skinny i could see their bones under their scales.

one passed away. a few days later, to my suprise my amano shrimp died.. then a few days later i lost a cory and my ADF. by this point i had done several water changes (25-50%) in incriments of one per week.

the strange plague took out my other cory and remaining 2 platys. i moved the last cory into a hospital tank where he seems to be okay.

whats weird here is that my male betta has been in the tank for this entire time and is showing no signs of illness. he doesnt sulk, is active and eats.

i noticed some mold growing on my filter, and promptly replaced the cartridge. there seems to be a little bit growing on the back of my tank underwater. it doesnt look like it should be causing all of this, nor is there much of it.

what could be the cause here?

other than the mold i cant think of much. the tank was not overstocked, water changes were done every week.

as it stands now, my betta is still in there and i plan on planting java moss in the tank tmrw. is it safe to add something? i want to avoid emptying out the tank completely.. perhaps i could buy a feeder minnow and see if he's affected? how long would i wait and see to judge the safety of this tank?

water levels are fine. the corys showed no physical signs of stress and were active. they did have some gill redness. when the frog died he seemed to be paralyzed a few hours before and was bleeding from the head, it looked internal. one platy had a *slightly* curved spine.

hmm.. anyone? there are so many variables here.. the tank is not new and is cycled. the platys could be explained by a resiliant parasite.. the shrimp and frog to old age.. but not the corys, especially since the one i have left thrives in the hospital tank but starts to redden in the normal tank .. these were young fish.

- thanks to anyone who managed to follow this

 

[Phoenixfish]

sheeeeeeeez unlucky mate, did you add/change anything like food,livestock or even enviromental?

 

[black angel]

How big a tank is it and how many fish and types? As you changed the filter pad you would have taken the good bacteria out so your tank would have needed to cycle again? Did you cycle the tank at all in the beginning?
Red gills are a sign of either parasites or ammonia/nitrite poisoning. The emaciating and curved spines could be anything from a defficiency in minerals to tb. Tb is matching some of the symptoms as it takes some fish longer to succumb than others but you would see fins becoming deformed and ulcers appearing, but if the disease gets them in the earlier stages then some symptoms wont be seen.

 

[CBTF]

No, no objects were added to the tank. Same food as usual. No changes that I can think of.

The tank has been established 7-8 months. It is a 10 US gallon that was full, but not quite overstocked- 3 cories, 3 platys, the betta and the adf/shrimp. I have not had trouble changing filter pads in the past with this tank- the gravel seems to prevent cycles and i use the "cycle" product as well as a precaution.

I added my last cory back into the tank last night after a water change. He isnt active like he usually is but his gills aren't red either which is a good sign. Ill keep you guys updated and hopefully we can figure out what's up/ this cory lives.