Something in my tank?

[swozzie]

There is something in my tank that is causing problems, but I seem to have tried everything and I am not making any progress.

The tank has been going for some 9 months. The water quality is always good, no ammonia/nitrite, little nitrate and phospate. pH is 6.8-7.0. It's a planted tank with co2 injection.

Initially I bought 4 red line torpedo barbs. The day after I got them, one of them had a cloudy eye and another a white spot on his nose. Eventually I fixed the white spot with some anti bacterial treatment but this fish has never been right. He developed various problems over time that I kept managing to fix but eventually he started flashing/flicking on the substrate. One of the other barbs developed this problem as well. Generally they seemed ok, but one day the "white spot" fish looked rather ill, he was sat near the pump outlet with some damage to his side and wouldn't eat for weeks. I did various treatments but all things pointed to it being some external parasite. Over time I did various anti-parasite treaments which fixed him up and the flicking seemed to calm down a bit but still remained. He got his appetite back and seemed fine except that he was rather thin. Even though he was eating he never regained his weight and some 3 months later, with no warning he died. When he died he also has a cloudy eye but this seemed to be a sudden thing, the previous day he looked perfectly normal. The other fish has had a cloudy eye for the last 9 months but shows no other symtoms so I am pretty sure this is a cataract. So over the last 9 months I have tried anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-parasite treatments but the flicking still remains. I even spoke to Waterlife who do the anti-parasite treatment and they suggested a large dose of Sterazin over a 10 day period (3 times the dose on the packet!) but this didn't seem to make a difference either.

Anyway, a few days ago one of my Ottos died - he had clamped fins for a few days. I did anti-bacterial treaments and used Maracyn but it didn't save him.

I seem to have tried everything but nothing seems to fix this flicking. I am considering salt baths but not sure if it will make any difference and might even cause more problems.

I also have 3 clown loaches that seem in perfect health.

Can anyone suggest any other potential remedy?

 

[aloaring]

Well if they are flicking theres something not right in the water , iknow you've done your own tests but take a water sample to a trusted lfs for testing as sometimes test kits can go wrong!!
i would also say tht with the amount of chemicals you've been puttin gin that tank it might have caused more problems than solved it would have been a better idea to quarantine the ill fish to treat it.
sorry i can't be of more help!

 

[WILDER]

Cloudy eye is usually due to poor water quality, the fish that got thin might have had internal parasites did it do long stringy white poo,also the amount of meds you have been adding could of caused irratation I would add some salt to the tank if you have no scaless fish and do a few daily water changes, have you been adding black carbon to the tank to remove the meds.

 

[CathyG]

In the short term, until you identify the cause, I would suggest daily water changes and using carbon filter media to absorb some of the chemicals you have introduced into the tank. It may be that the barbs were ill when you bought them (hence almost immediate symptoms) but I would get the water tested independantly, to be sure. I wouldn't add salt, you have clown loach. Good luck with the rest of your fish!