Fish Dieing Very Suddenly And Spreading Through Tank Help Pls

[sassy1976]

Hi can anyone help me pls? I bought about 20 new tropical fish just a week ago. 2 of them were covered in white a few days ago then died. My original fish are now dropping like flies. They all looked ok until a 2 days ago when I noticed some had lost their usual bright colour and their fins had been severed. The poor silver shark is being nibbled to death by the neons! I noticed they are dieing within 24 hours of showing 1st symptoms and also swimming downwards. Any help wud be greatly appreciated I don't have a spare tank to quarantine any of them Thanks in advance x

 

[Marve99]

What are you water stats?

Could the 20 new fish be putting too much load on your filter and you now have ammonia/nitrites?

 

[sassy1976]

Hi Marve, I have a 4 foot tank and about 35 small fish (maily guppies) in, is that 2 many? I don't have anything to check the water Would you advise doing a partial water change? x

 

[andy.ahad]

Hi Marve, I have a 4 foot tank and about 35 small fish (maily guppies) in, is that 2 many? I don't have anything to check the water Would you advise doing a partial water change? x

I would do an immediate large water change, but most importantly go and get yourself a good quality liquid test kit to test your ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte, as the help we can give you is very limited until we know what your water stats are!!

One thing I would suggest is taking a close look at all your fish to look for such things like whitespot (Fish looking like they have been sprinkled in salt) or signs of bacterial infection. (White stringy poo, white patches on scales, ulcers, cotton wool like growths) or parasites. (fish flicking and rubbing off of things) and post back your findings.

 

[sassy1976]

Thanks Andy. I will do the water change asap. I have no transport atm so can't get a test kit as nearest tropical fish shop is 15 miles from me. I have ordered a treatment for white spot online but knowing royal mail may take a few days. I've had white spot in tanks years ago but the fish didn't die as quick or swim downwards. The fish did/do have small white marks on them though x

 

[andy.ahad]

Thanks Andy. I will do the water change asap. I have no transport atm so can't get a test kit as nearest tropical fish shop is 15 miles from me. I have ordered a treatment for white spot online but knowing royal mail may take a few days. I've had white spot in tanks years ago but the fish didn't die as quick or swim downwards. The fish did/do have small white marks on them though x

When you say white marks, do you mean spots or more like white patches? A sign of bacterial columnaris is a white patch that start around the dorsal area and spread over the top of the fishes body and down the other side, giving the appearence the fish is wearing a saddle. Hence the term saddlback disease. Can you see anything like I have described?

 

[sassy1976]

It's spots that just start off with a couple then multiply. Just lost another fish, he was completely fine last night when I checked, why are they going so dam quick?!! I expect to lose a few more tomorrow as they don't look too good x

 

[Davo86]

Once you have done a water change (around 50%) gradually increase the temperature to 30C and increase the aeration as much as possible,

Heat will help minimise the whitespot outbreak but extra aeration is needed to combat low o2 levels caused by the warmer temps

 

[andy.ahad]

I'd agree with Davo86 if it's whitespot that your fish have. In addition to increasing temps I'd also add some salt. Regular table salt should suffice. Just search around this forum for the dosage. You will also need to increase aeriation by adding an airstone or moving your filters output closer to the surface.

Also adding so many fish at once has probably knocked your filter back abit and put the tank into a mini cycle. Of course the resulting ammonia/nitrite spike would stress your fish thus creating ideal conditions for a whitespot outbreak.

Good luck!!