Another Of My Fish Died

[barb-e]

My fish apparently have some mystery illness which, dispite all of my efforts, I have not been able to cure. They are getting so weak that three of them, within the last two weeks, have been sucked onto the filter intake and have died. Last night the third died. I was doing homework and looked up to see one of my male cherry barb's body stuck to the filter. I quickly ran to unplug the filter and was surprised that he swam away, he was still alive. For the next couple of hours he gulped for air and struggled to swim. By the morning he was dead. I am beginning to lose hope. The two fish I have left are very weak and I fear that the same thing will happen to them.

Once I read a post where a man froze his sick fish instead of flushing them while alive or watching them suffer. He said it was more humane.

 

[Christine1014]

What size is your tank?
What's in it (plants and fish)?
How long has it been set up?
What meds were you using?

 

[martyn21uk]

Please fill out the consult form from the pinned topic at the top of this forum
http/www.fishforums.net/Please-Read-Befo...tion-t2330.html
It will enable us all to help you a lot more and a lot quicker

 

[K.J.]

While freezing would probably be more humane than flushing, if you can do anything better, you should. Two options: You can wrap the fish in newspaper and slam something heavy on it's head, making sure to crush the brain. Sounds cruel, but it's an instantaneous death so at least there is no pain involved, where there is with flushing and freezing. The second is to fill a ziploc bag with just enough water to cover the fish, and add some clove oil and then the fish. Clove oil is a naturally numbing oil, so they don't feel anything as they die.

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

I just wouldn't reccomend flushing a live fish. But many "unknown illnesses" actually result from the water qaulity and not a disease. Can you get your water qaulity tested at a local fish store? Make sure you bring a nice uncontaminated vile of water straight from the fish tank.

 

[barb-e]

Tank size:
pH:?
ammonia:0
nitrite:?
nitrate:?
kH:?
gH:?
tank temp:78F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):
they won't eat, the hide, they have convulsions, they have red gills, they are losing color, they are weak
Volume and Frequency of water changes:
once a week
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:
I use a tetra 15 filter and I add a aquafin declorinator
Tank inhabitants:
2 cherry barbs left, started out with 5 cherry barbs
Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):
I added some fake plants a little over a month ago
Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):



I have a ten gallon tank
It contains 2 cherry barbs, two snails, a java fern, a small jungle val, some fake plants, an cave and a red rock thing
It's been up for 5 months
I am using Parasite Clear by Jungle


Where can you get clove oil?

And another thing I am thinking about is one of those little makeshift caves is actually a coffee cup/mug. It there any danger connected with this?

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

I am sure it has absoluetly nothing to do with parasites. Please get your full water quality checked somewhere. We can't help until you do. Find the ammonia levels, Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ph. Your description is by the book, a water quality issue. I reccomend stopping the parasite meds, they are not neccessary at this point and may do more harm than good.

 

[Christine1014]

I agree with OrganziedChaos on this one... definitely sounds like a water issue when it's a recurring problem with all the fish in the tank. Either take some of your water to the LFS for testing, or get a liquid (NOT STRIP) test kit (I recommend API Freshwater Master Test Kit for about $25). Not sure about the coffee cup; it probably depends what it's made of, how it was painted, what it's coated with, etc... good luck!

 

[barb-e]

When you say the strip test is that the test where you drop the dye in the water sample and match the color to the color card because that's what I have. It's got ammonia, nitrite and ph.

 

[Christine1014]

Nope, what you have then is a liquid test kit (yay!). The test strips are these little chemical coated strips that you dip in the water and they turn color... they're notoriously unreliable.