Dying Tropical Sucker Fish

[curiositykillsme]

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Tank size: 20 gal
pH: we dont measure any pH levels
ammonia: idk
nitrite: idk
nitrate: idk
kH: idk
gH: idk
tank temp: usually between 70-78 degrees

We have a 20 gal tank with 2 baby turtles ( with red spots on the side of their head), we've had them for at least 6 months. We added a sucker fish about 4 weeks ago and just two days ago he started to barely move. now the tank is getting cloudy. We have a filter but not sure if it is a full cycle one....since we have turtles in it. The turtles are fed baby shrimp and reptile gammarus pellets. We have not added any new fish or done anything diff. The sucker fish also now has a white spot on his tail. He is not completely still, but barely barely moving at all.
Please help. Can I save him? Do I need to just add more algae? The lady at the fish store said they sucker fish and water turtles are fine together in that temp.

 

[WILDER]

Sorry what IDK mean.
The whitespot how big is it and does it have any redness to it.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.

 

[curiositykillsme]

Oops, IDK means I Don't Know. We don't have other fish so we don't measure any of those chemical levels. As we cleaned the tank ( since the h20 was cloudy) we put Mortimer (sucker fish) in a bowl and he just kept swimming upside-down and trying to turn himself over. still not eating...we put a algae pebble in there with him. For a moment he even stopped breathing. I think it might be too late for hime but I still want to save him =(

White spot on tail, no red around it except for the tiny red spots that are part of his color. He's really dark tho. Fins barely moving


I don't know what signs of flicking and rubbing are....

Thank you for replying

Sorry what IDK mean.
The whitespot how big is it and does it have any redness to it.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.

 

[WILDER]

The bowl not good as they need aeration and a heater.
No it dosn't sound good for him.
How big is the white spot.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
I would take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to write the readings down for you.
I would also strongly suggest investing in some liquid test kits.

When fish rub themselves on things in the tank like something irratating them.
It sound bacterial to me.

 

[curiositykillsme]

I don't see signs of rubbing. About an hour ago my bf took a water sample to the petstore that we bought the sucker fish and they just said to do a 20% h2o change and start giving him the algae pebbles. I know that some turtles can have different levels of salmanala. So is it a bad idea to have water turtles and a sucker fish together? The white spot is very small, smaller than the tip of a ball point pen.

The bowl not good as they need aeration and a heater.
No it dosn't sound good for him.
How big is the white spot.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
I would take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to write the readings down for you.
I would also strongly suggest investing in some liquid test kits.

When fish rub themselves on things in the tank like something irratating them.
It sound bacterial to me.

 

[WILDER]

It could be whitepsot then.
If you see anymore tidy white spots on the fish I would treat for whitespot.

 

[curiositykillsme]

ok, thanks for all your help

 

[WILDER]

Is it the turtles or fish that have the tiny whitespot as i'm getting confused.

 

[curiositykillsme]

The fish has the white spot. But the turtles are know to carry or have salmanala like chicken do. That's why I was wondering if them being together is a good or bad idea since you said the spot sounds like a bacteria thing.
they have been living together for over a month tho. Mortimer has been doing really good up to the last 2 or 3 days. right now he is sideways at the top top of the water in the tank and i can see his breathing has slowed tremendously.


I have to leave for work now. Thank you tho. Really much appreciated

 

[WILDER]

Its the turtles that have the red spots then.
Don't know anything about turtles, so I would suggest posting in the right part of the forum about them.

If you think he's in a bad way and not going to make it. Get a jug of very cold water and add ice cubes to the water till the water
freezing cold, then add the fish it should take about 30 seconds to pass on. Make sure his gills are not moving and leave him in the ice cold water awhile
to make sure he's passed on.
If you have no ice cubes put the jug of cold water in the freezer till you can see a thin sheet of ice,.

 

[Spishkey]

firstly im guessing you mean red marks not red spots on the baby turtles? these will be red eared slider babies

how often do you change the water in the turtle tank? a 20 gallon (whether us or uk makes no difference) is no where near big enough for two turtles, not even really suitable for a baby turtle. they make so much mess you should be doing water changes every other day in that tank, especially if the filter isnt cycled.

the fish is probably dying from ammonia poisoning, it will be high if you havent been doing those kind of water changes. the turtles will also be suffering. do you have an area the turtles can fully come out of the water? do you have a heat lamp and uvb lamp for them?

 

[WILDER]

Did the fish end up dying.

 

[three-fingers]

Aside from anything else, what type of 'sucker fish' was it?

Like one of these: [URL="http/www.amnh.org/science/divisions/vertzoo/images/vertebrate_loach_fish.jpg"]http/www.amnh.org/science/divisions/vert..._loach_fish.jpg[/URL]?

Or one of these: [URL="http/www.aquariumlife.net/profile-images/algae-eater.jpg"]http/www.aquariumlife.net/profile-images/algae-eater.jpg[/URL]?

Also, did you ever feed it at all?