When To Just Quit

[tgo]

Thought I'd start a new thread rather than add to the old one, but I have lost over half my fish and don't know what to do. My tank has been medicated far too long. I have tried both Mertronidazole (2 weeks) and PraziPro (praziquantal), and still the fish are wasting away, have white poo, and slowly die a sad death. I currently don't have enough money to try another med, and I only have a few danios left now.

My questions are: What would you do now, gievn the circumstances?

and

After the last dies-off, should I just leave the tank running without fish for a few weeks, then try to very slowly introduce a couple fish to see if the parasite (I think it is) is gone? Or do I have to break the tank down and scrub everything?

Thank you

 

[Haych]

am so sorry for the major loss

i personally would break down and scrub, and even clean the media under the tap too, as whatever has killed your fish could be hiding away nicely in there

as daft as it sounds, are you sure you didnt overmedicate the fish? i found once i did, tryig to help, and killed them more.

but, tbh, it sounds like they had an internal parasite

 

[JustKia]

Some times the best thing you can do is stop medicating.
Make sure you've got good clean tanks with good husbandry and see where you're at.
It can happen that you start to medicate for something that you didn't need to medicate for and then are forever chasing your own tail trying to counter balance everything.
I'd personally do several 50% water changes, run some carbon for a few days, do another big water change and see how things progress from there with the remaining fish.
How is your filter after the meds? Is it still cycled? Do you have a log of your water stats since this started happening?

If all else fails, then break down, scrub and boil. You can use ammonia or chlorine based bleach provided that you rinse well and allow to air dry (even better is to do a final rinse with dechlored water).
Then start up a new cycle with new filter media and stock carefully.

Good luck, let us know how things progress.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Sorry about your fish. In your shoes, it'd probably be safest to clean the tank and start over (including new media and re-cycling the tank from the start).

 

[tgo]

I have done ammonia and nitrite tests and the meds didn't impact the filter, I'll try some more water changes. I out some carbon in 2 days ago and stopped medicating because it didn't seem to do much good. I think you guys are right, I have to strip it down and clean it.

Just out of curiosity, can inverts like snails and shrimp catch fish diseases? My snails seem to have done just fine.

 

[WILDER]

Depends which parasite it is. As some meds only work on certain parasites.

Need to look at your other thread.

Do you have any livebearers in the tank.
Need to name all the fish in the tank.

 

[tgo]

no livebearers, just a couple kinds of danio.

 

[WILDER]

Once fish are really infested with internal parsites the damage has been done to inside the fish.

What were the symtoms the fish were showing. Just to make sure it is internal parasites.

 

[tgo]

symptoms:

First, they gradually became lethargic and lose their appetite. Then they get skinnier and skinner, until they have sunken bellies and become even more inactive. It also looks as though they are breathing heavily near the end. They also continue to have white poo, sometimes stringy too. It seemed like the fish were getting better, then the white poo comes back and they eventally die a slow death.

 

[WILDER]

It could also be bacterial to fish tb.
Could be losing weight due to not eating.
Sunken bellys can be bacterial aswell.
I would try a bacterial med.

 

[tgo]

what kind of bacterial med? I'm not from the UK. What active ingredients should I look for? Is Maracyn 1 or 2 for internal bacterial infections. I thought metro cured that, which I already tried. Thanks Wilder.

 

[WILDER]

I know that what I was thinking. The metro treats bacterial infections. But sometimes bacterial infections need treating longer.

How long did you use the metro for?
Maracyn plus.

Lost any fish to bent spines.

 

[tgo]

a few of the fish had sunken bellies with slightly bent spines (maybe just the illusion of bent spines since their bellies were so sunken. I fed the metro mixed in frozen brine shrimp for almost two weeks (12 days). In that period a couple more fish also developed symptoms,so I thought that the meds must not be working. Then I tried Prazipro for three weeks and still had deaths. Maracyn Plus is too expensive for me right now, until I know for sure I am reluctant to buy more meds. I wish I could find out for sure somehow, this is depressing.

 

[WILDER]

Ok.
Let me know how the fish get on.
It could also be fish tb, but there not showing some symtoms so it's hard to say.
You really need tests done on a fish to definately say fish tb.