Another Loss

[emmaisaguppy]

You might remember my postings about leeches just over a week ago.

I treated thetank with interpret crustacian killer, it said to remove and store some of thefilter media before treating, I tried to do this but unfortunately my boyfriend accidently threw it down the sink last night while trying to drain it to put into a new filter. so weput some shop brought bacteria into the filtr hoping that this might help.
Unfortunately and hour after I noticed that my female Ram was lying on the bottom of the tank gasping for air. checked thepump and airstone etc... but there was nothng wrong. Therewas nothing i could do. This morning she had moved but was still on the bottom gasping. Sh has since died. I feel horrible that she basically seemed to suffocate to death but there was nothing else I could do to help her.

During the treatment I aso lost a barb - but couldn't comment on what happened to him, he was fine when i went to work and dead whn i got home.

The other fish are all looking a bit pale and slow at the moment, and I honetly don't know what to do. i don't want o medicate them again if I can help it, I am worried that they have had enough chemicals in the tank lately already.

I am wndering whether it is time to euthanise the fish which all seem to be dying slowly, clean out the tank, start a new fishless cycle ad start again from scratch. This would really upset me but I feel so terrible watching them all as i am sure that they are suffering.

the water also looks quite cloudy.

Please help / advise.

Emma

 

[Spooky76]

Hi Emma,

Firstly ive no expereince with leeches.

Sounds like youve killed your benefical bacteria in your tank.

The cloudiness is a bacteria bloom / blossom, very common with you nuke your good bacteria.

Firstly, have you got a test kit ? If so do some tests ASAP and post them back

Ammonia, Nitraite, PH are the important ones, but Nitrate too.

You will probably be poisoining your fish with ammonia, do a 30-40% water change ASAP, de-chlorinate first. Add an airstone if you have one. Some melafix might help reduce the bacteria bloom too. Then re-test. You might need to do small water changes after this, say 10-20% every day until your filter catches up.

The filter start products are really not very good really they wont do it that quick which you need.

Do you have a freind very close who could give you some cultured media for your filter ?

 

[emmaisaguppy]

woah - I have sme crazy stats! now bear in mind I did a 50% water change last night!

Amonia: 1mg/l (usually 0)
Nitrate: 10mg/l (usually 5 but it did fluctuate to 10 when I treated fish before)
Nitrite: 0.5mg/l (usually 0)
PH: 8.2 (usually 8.4!!)

I am going to do another 30% change. I have no fsh keeping friends, no-one on the media donation list on this website lives in Hertfordshire UK, if anyone close by reads this and has some healthy bacteria please contact me.

Thanks
Emma

 

[WILDER]

Bless them.
The tanks in a mini cycle and i'm afraid it will kill fiish as it takes its toll on them.
Increase aeration and small water changes.
You can add salt to the tank if you have no scaless fish.
Good luck.

 

[Spooky76]

Yip - as wilder said its in a mini cycle.
Try to do smaller more frequent water changes now. Say 10-15% twice a day maybe three times if you can.
You are getting Nitrite so your getting there. Good luck.

 

[emmaisaguppy]

Thanks for all of your help.

One of my neons looked ropey this morning before work. I will do as many water changes as humanly possible over the next week or so and check the stats daily.

will post anything abnormal.

cheers
Emma

 

[jourdy288]

Keep the water well aereted(spelling?) to help the bacteria, since they need oxygen(O2)

 

[Spooky76]

lol nearly its aerated I think its one of those words that always looks wrong

 

[emmaisaguppy]

I think it's improving, fish are lookin healthier, except for the one neon, water is much clearer and amonia stats are improving ever so slightly! I think that there is hope for the little fishies yet!!! Looking forward to seeing the tank all healthy aain and replacing the plants and a few of the lost fish.

Any advice on how to avoid the leech problem in future would be greatly appreciated. The only way Ican think they got there is eggs on a plant, how do I avoid this again as this treatment is horrible!!!