Tank meltdown....

[Pidge1992]

Remember my post about the dwarf gourami having scratches? Well he died abruptly overnight.... was fine when I went to bed and dead this morning... I’m devastated. He was healing... ugh... moving on.

So when I posted about him I did a full water check and had experienced a really high nitrate spike. It couldn’t have gone on long as I had done a water change a week prior. One of my plants is doing poorly so I think the dead plant matter is to blame. I did a 75% water change when I found it and got nitrates back down to 20 BUT (and here is where I think I messed up) I think I over treated with the Aquasafe I was using to condition the water (was out of prime and just thought I’d use this) and it has the slime coat stuff in it. I noticed a few fish going to the surface to get bubbles/air even though the tank is well oxygenated. Then I noticed one of my scissor tails has a messed up/injured Gill on one side. Last night before any deaths I also noticed weird clear poop from my big pleco.

Now that a death has occurred and given the nature of the plecos poop I’ve decided to treat everyone for parasites and disinfect my tank/make sure all the aqua clear crud is out of my water... here is the plan:

1. set up 2 hospital tanks to put everyone in and start parasite treatment and poss. follow up with bacterial treatment too just in case.
2. Do a 100% water change, wash/soak all the decor and rocks etc. trim and clean up the plants and make sure the sand is well siphoned.
3. Clean all my filters etc VERY well and replace some media.
4. Refill the tank and check to make sure I haven’t killed my cycle and that the water stays nice and stable while the fish are in the hospital tanks.
5. Return all survivors (hopefully all of them) to the tank after completing treatments.

Is this a good plan? Thanks in advance to all who help... I’m so sad right now... not sure what the heck is happening....

 

[FishGuest5123]

If you don’t have a diagnosed disease which requires you do all that, I think you are doing overkill. Vacuum your substrate well and do a big water change. You can add some aquarium salt if you like and your fish are salt tolerant. Dose salt dissolved at 1 tablespoon per every 5 gallons of tank water. If you need to do another water change the next day, then add back 1/2 tablespoon of salt per every 5 gallons. Doing everything that you plan to do will kill your cycle and you’ll be back at square one.

 

[Pidge1992]

If you don’t have a diagnosed disease which requires you do all that, I think you are doing overkill. Vacuum your substrate well and do a big water change. You can add some aquarium salt if you like and your fish are salt tolerant. Dose salt dissolved at 1 tablespoon per every 5 gallons of tank water. If you need to do another water change the next day, then add back 1/2 tablespoon of salt per every 5 gallons. Doing everything that you plan to do will kill your cycle and you’ll be back at square one.

Will salt treat parasites? After reading the pinned thread on white stringy poop I’m 90% sure I have a parasite issue based on at least 2 fish and one of those is my pleco who is my absolute baby. Even if I don’t go into over kill on the main tank I still feel the need to hospitalize and treat everyone. ???

 

[FishGuest5123]

Will salt treat parasites? After reading the pinned thread on white stringy poop I’m 90% sure I have a parasite issue based on at least 2 fish and one of those is my pleco who is my absolute baby. Even if I don’t go into over kill on the main tank I still feel the need to hospitalize and treat everyone. ???

Salt can help with same external parasites but not internal ones. Something like Prazipri will treat internal ones. I would treat in the tank too be sure it is treated too.

 

[Pidge1992]

Ok! Final decision after talking it over with my MIL (lovely lady and fish expert lol) and the suggestion I received here I decided to just do a standard but thorough cleaning of the tank. As for the fish, they have been placed in the hospital tank but only because I only have paracleanse on hand and it can mess up your cycle. It’s only a 5 day treatment. Once done, they go back in the big tank and to ensure the big tank also gets treated (not just the fish) I will re-treat in 2 weeks with prazipro because I’ll have it on hand by then and it isn’t cycle damaging. ? I feel so much better.

 

[Colin_T]

There is no point stripping the tank and sterilising everything because the fish have the disease and it will be in their main tank and any tank you move them to. Just treat the main tank for intestinal worms. You are in America, get some flubendazole and it will take out flat and round worms. If there's still problems after that, post pictures and continue this thread.