What The Blazes In Happening In My Tank!

[donnat]

Oh my goodness, I dont know who is more distressed me or my fish!!

I have been having problems with one of my guppies (see from my "fainting guppy" discussion in the emergencies section). "Fire"(my fainting fish) is in a 5 gallon on his own, cause I moved him out of the main tank a few days ago, i found out today hat he has an internal parasite, so I have started treating him.

Today a guppy from my main tank died and I have got no idea why, he seemed fine yesterday

My stats are

Nitrate - 50
Nitrite - 0
GH - 14
KH - 5
pH - 7.2

I rang the LFS I bought the guppies from and he said the stats are ok.

But now "Bumble" one of my platies has been hovering at the top of the tank for nearly 2 hours. She looks at little fat but I am not sure if she also has parasites or is pregnant. I marked her last birth on my calendar, so I dont think she is due for another couple of weeks.

I put a couple of flakes in to see if she would swim towards. She moved a couple of inches but not in a great hurry.

All the other fish 6 guppies, 4 platies and 4 danios all seem ok, but I thought that yesterday and a guppy has died since then.

I have 2 baby fry in there too, one that is abut 8 weeks old and one that is maybe 2 or 3 weeks old, surely if there was a problem with the water, they would be the first to suffer.

Any ideas please.

 

[Syphoniera]

Hi, donnat, sorry to hear of your troubles.
I'm certainly no expert, and hopefully one will be along soon, but I've had trouble with internal parasites and, believe me, if one fish in a tank has them, the odds are VERY high others do.
Can you treat the tank?
Depending on the type of internal parasite, certain kinds can apparently live for months even in a tank empty of fish or snails, while others with a complex life cycle can come in with snails, for example, and infest fish at other stages.

I recently lost 2 of 4 fish initially placed in a tank another fish (bought sick, but apparently fine for months, although always seemed a bit thin - I had him 9 months) had been in; as though a ghastly timer (perhaps the lengthening days?) went off both the 'rescue betta' and all 4 of my treasured giant otos melted down to hollow-bellied bone, two of the latter dying before my eyes, with something horrible partially emerging from one after death, actually cracking the scales on its side; the abruptly partially paralyzed, pathetically thin, belly-wiggling to 'mum' betta put down.
At the same time, another 'rescue betta' which I believe to have been a sibling of the other bought from the same place = one always big-bellied despite also having been fed wormer, extra pea feeds, and having hd Epsom Salt baths - suddenly became even more big-bellied, with sharp corners in her tummy actually forcing the scales to the point of sticking out and large, irregular lumps growing also at a horrifying rate, so that she also had to be put down.
All at once - all synchronized and FAST.
Nightmarish...
But I was finally able to obtain some Prazi Pro (bath treatment wormer - the bettas had been fed wormer way back when with no result) and there seems to have been some improvement in the two surviving giant otos within only a few days.
Perhaps you can save your other fish?
Some bath wormers don't harm the biofilter and are safe with invertebrates, so the tank can be treated without disaster, although I know such things are very hard to come by in my area (of Canada).
Fish often don't appear at all sick even when the most horrible things may be very wrong inside, and even live-bearing worms/nematodes can release thousands of invisibly tiny eggs into the water.
After previous experiences, including the one described above, I would always assume that any exposed fish were likely carrying the problem diagnosed in one fish from a tank and treat the lot.
Perhaps Wilder or some other expert/experienced person will come by with better information and recommendations - I can only speak from grim experience.
But from reading your post, my amateur opinion and instinct would be to treat anyone potentially exposed ASAP before more heartbreak and loss occur.
The best of luck.

 

[donnat]

Thanks Syphoniera, I am really sorry bout your fish and how they died it must have been really horrible to watch.

I noticed after my post that another of my fish had worms, so have started treating the whole tank. They seem ok but like to said you never know what is going on inside.

I am watching them even more closely than usual.

I am worried about Fire again now. His tail is darker and doesnt appear to be as fanned out as it used to be. Is it true that guppies need a strong filter to keep their tails fanned out

 

[vinylman]

Do you have a figure for Ammonia, d?.

 

[donnat]

Hi Vinylman

Sorry amonia is 0. I have just tested it again as I have just had to retrieve a dead platy from the bottom of the tank.

I am not happy, part of me wishes I had never bought those 5 guppies, one has died and now Fire look all withery to the point where I think I need to euthanize him.

 

[vinylman]

Sorry to hear that; Guppies (in this country at least) are very poor these days. When I kept them, I used to pass the fry onto my LFS in exchange for food or plants. They said they'd take whatever I had, as when they ordered them in from suppliers, what arrived was barely worth selling, they were so poor. I can see other types going the same way, sadly.

 

[donnat]

To make it worse one of my platies from my main tank died last night too. Got no idea what killed him. I'd had him for 7 weeks without any problems. I wish I could be sure that that was the end of my loss, but not holding out much hope