Fish Slowly Dying Off..

[cooldude4u2no]

Hey guys, this is my first post here and a strange problem.

I Have a 30 Gal Hexagon/flatback tank.
I originally had 12 fish in the aquarium and now im down to seven.
Ammonia level is reading 0
Nitrates is reading 20
Nitrites is reading 0
Alkalinity is 80 (Moderate)
Ph is 7 (Neutral)
Tank Temperature is maintained at 76 - 78F

Fish: (Current)
(2) Molly
(3) Tetras
(2) Platties

Fish: (Before)
(4) Molly
(3) Tetras
(5) Platties

Okay so here is what happened. I had 9 fish about two weeks ago, so i bought three more red wag platties and added them (I know its a gamble not having a quarantine tank, i dont have the available space to even put a small 10 gal tank) The three fish i picked out looked healthy, didnt notice anything such as ich or whatnot and were very active. About 2 days later one of my fish just died, figured it was just one of those things since this tank is about 6 months old and was one of the original fish that died. So the next day i was looking and noticed ich developing on the fins of the tetras, i immediately removed the carbon filter and started using ich guard ever 24 hours doing 30% water changes for about 4 days. The spots fell off and see no sign of ich at all. During the 3 days I lost a couple more platties and mollies. So i figured well ich got in their gills and killed them. So about 3 days later still no sign of ich I lost two more just out of the blue. Is there something im missing, the tetras in the tank are very active and the 2 mollies but the platties seem so sluggish. Is there anything Im looking over or maybe some type of fungus?? Im thinking the three a put in the tank were indeed sick, and I have a feeling it has ruined my community tank. (Is it to the point where im just going to have to wait till all of my fish die and just start over and clean/re-cycle the tank?) This is really bothering me, I started out doing great and love my tank as all of this was very new to me 6 months ago.

Thanks for your help!

 

[snazy]

Hi there.
I see that no one replied yet and I might not give you any solution, but just to say I am sorry for the loss of fish.That's really horrible.

The4 day treatment doesn't seem to have been enough. Normally you should keep treating the tank after all signs have gone as the ick maybe in it's free swimming stage then when is most vulnerable, and not on the fish itself. It will re-infect the fish if not treated during this period.
The fish don't necessarily need to have the ick/ich spots on them in order to die as this an extreme stage and the damage to the fish could be too extensive to survive.
Have you raised the temperature while treating for ick? Are you still treating?

Whether it could be something else, yes, maybe one sickness is gone and another settles when the fish's immune system is down.
Maybe post a picture if you can and I hope the deaths have stopped

 

[Col1957]

Hi, keep on with the treatment as per instructions with the med and increase the aeration in your tank as most meds reduce oxygen in the water. Someone may come forward with a better way for you soon.

 

[colleen0309]

If it was me, I would put the carbon back in or use fresh to remove the meds you are using. I would then do a very large water change. When you refill the tank, I would use aquarium salt and raise the temp slowly to 25C. There is alot of different doseages out there for the salt. Some say 1 tsp per gallon. Some say 2 tsp per gallon. I use 1 rounded tsp per gallon of water. If this is not effective within 3 days, I up the doseage to two tsp per gallon. Make sure you have good surface disturbance. The higher the temp, the less oxygen in the water. You don't want to try this method if you have scaleless fish, but mollies and platties should do fine with this treatment. This is how I have always treated ich. Some may not agree with me, but it is what I would do. Don't forget, when you no longer see the spots, continue treating for atleast 3 days. Gravel vac daily and replace the salt for the volume you remove during the vac.

 

[Col1957]

If it was me, I would put the carbon back in or use fresh to remove the meds you are using. I would then do a very large water change. When you refill the tank, I would use aquarium salt and raise the temp slowly to 25C. There is alot of different doseages out there for the salt. Some say 1 tsp per gallon. Some say 2 tsp per gallon. I use 1 rounded tsp per gallon of water. If this is not effective within 3 days, I up the doseage to two tsp per gallon. Make sure you have good surface disturbance. The higher the temp, the less oxygen in the water. You don't want to try this method if you have scaleless fish, but mollies and platties should do fine with this treatment. This is how I have always treated ich. Some may not agree with me, but it is what I would do. Don't forget, when you no longer see the spots, continue treating for atleast 3 days. Gravel vac daily and replace the salt for the volume you remove during the vac.

Never used aquarium salt for ich, just done some research and it sounds good to go .

Nice one colleen , i will remember this for the future..