Fish Dying For No Apparent Reason

[shelaghfishface]

tank spec
130 litres( aquaone 620T- 2x filters, 1 fluval4+ 1 built in trickle filter)
temp 25.6

5 small angel fish
6 guppies
9 platys-young small ones
5 ballon mollies

water test results (using API master kit)
ammonia-0
nitrite 0
nitrate-10
( i didnt bother with the kh or ph as i was cleaning 3 tanks at once and in a rush)
i have been losing fish at a rate of at least 1 a day for the past week, ballon molly was the first, then guppies, and a platy is looking ill now, the guppies are sometimes flicking, but NO sign of whitespot, the tank was treated about 2 weeks ago and all has appeared well till now.i have been doing twice weekly water changes, only for the sake of it to be honest as i think there maybe a few too many fish in there,lots and lots of bubbles and surface movement from the fluval4
there is water lettuce on the surface covering about 1 tenth of the surface, and a heck of a lot of algae on the floor
3 javav fern plants, large clump of java moss,


any help will be greatly received , im sorry i have to run to get the kids from school, if i missed anything, just ask plaesse

shelagh xxxxxx

 

[shelaghfishface]

have a asked a really stupid question

 

[rabbut]

NO, there just isn't a lot there to go on.....

Did you look at the gills of the lost fish? Did they look normal?

You say you treated for whitespot a couple of weeks ago. What med did you use? When did treatment finish? Appart from the flicking and rubbing, are there any other symptoms? Do you have a microscope handy? Any fish gasping?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[shelaghfishface]

hi rabbut,
yes one of the platys is gasping and a few guppies seem to be hanging at the surface for longer than usuall too.all the fish that died looked as normal.
ill tell you what i have just noticed, is a blue platy with what looks like a mole on her chin.
this just dosent look right at all
yes i am looking at the tank, and another of the guppies is flicking like hell off the top of the filter, his gills seem to be red,and they seem to be exausting themselves( but they are orange and yellow fish so this could be the norm)
angelfish seem fine,as do the baby platys,
for whitespot i used- first dose-interpet antiwhitespot, then ran out so left 48hours and used protozin for the remainder( following protozin instructions) uped heater to 80
there are a couple of snails in the tank-really small ones
apart from this i cant see what more i can tell you, so please ask

 

[WILDER]

It sounds like flukes to me if water quality is good.
Signs of gills flukes and skin flukes are.
Red inflamed gills or pale gills with excess mucas.
Fish will look opaque with excess slime.
Flicking and rubbing against objects.
Laboured breathing or gasping at the surface of the tank.
Swimming in a jerky movement.
Spitting food out.
Sometimes they lose weight.
Once gills flukes have damaged the gills and there laboured breathing the fish are dying.

Flukes also cause bacterial infections as in there hooks they carry a nasty bacteria which enter the fish blood stream when it peirces the skin.

 

[shelaghfishface]

so do i euthanise the fish that are having trouble and treat the others with anti bac?? any recs?

 

[shelaghfishface]

i have to hand
interpet no9 ( anti internal bacteria
parazin (fish lice+anchor worm)- treats fish lice,anchor worm,gill maggot,other crustacean paracites

can i use either of these im feeling a bit desperate just now

 

[TetraLinz]

I agree with Wilder - sounds like flukes, but no, there's no need to euthanise. Waterlife Sterazin treats flukes. If the fish are showing signs of hypoxia (gasping at the surface) time will be of the essence and you need to treat asap.

Personally, I'd ditch the Interpet meds. They can actually turn toxic if not stored correctly (as in - most LFS or during transport) and I haven't heard that many stories of success.

Good luck.

 

[shelaghfishface]

right ok, ill try to get my hands on that in the morning,im just going to turn the tank lights off now and leave them, its ever so depressing,i cant do anything for them right now, ill let you know how i get on, a massive thank you xxx

 

[rabbut]

Sterazin is good for Flukes as above. I have used it with success

The blister type thing you describe sounds to me like a bacterial infection. Red inflamed gills can also be bacterial gill infection... I have used many of the Interpet meds on my own, friends, and works tanks, with success most times

Wilder, what do you recon? Bacterial infection a possibility?? If so, IME bacterial issues spread quicker than flukes, so that would be where I'd start. Lowering the temperature again will get an increased oxygen content in the water and help the Hypoxia Raised temperature can lead to increased bacteial infection suseptibility, but does little to bring in flukes IME

All the best
Rabbut

 

[fry_lover]

sorry to hear this Shelagh, you seem to forever having problems with fish keeping, good luck love

 

[shelaghfishface]

morning, i have lost a blue platy over night, and one of the guppies ( usually vibrant blue/yellow) has gone very pale and appears to have something on her tail fin (looks like a fungus on the outlines of the fin) my camera wont get in that close to get a picture sorry. the ballon mollies are spending a lot of time in the bubbles, another guppy appears to be getting thiner,and one of the baby platys are flicking of the filter
the platy that died didnt have red gills
im going to google flukes, to get some images and compare them,everyone else seems fine for now, my lfs opens at 12

yes i have had a look and im definatly conviced its skin/gill flukes from the description give on fishforever
will get sterizin and treat today

i have added quite a lot of plants from diffrent scourse recently, i do water changes very often and test the water, i dont overfeed,and the filters are more than capable of looking after this many fish, so i would like to understand why on earth this has happend, i know people who do no maintentence on there tanks at all, just wiping the algae of from time to time, and never have a problem, so am i making them ill with the cleaning ,fussing,its awful when i spend as much time as i do keeping up the work on the tanks, and still to be forever suffering something
i hate whitespot, but i wish it was that this time as at least i would be 100%,but this seems to be a mystery one, but i am going with my gut feeling and am going to treat for flukes anyway, see if i can save some of the others.

fry_lover, your not wrong there, im getting a bit disheartend with this hobby to be honest, and i certainly dont understand whats happening this time,which is the most upsetting part tio see them suffering and not be able to say oh yes thats ......i can treat that with .......

shelagh xxx

 

[TetraLinz]

Sorry for the loss shelagh

When you buy new plants or fish, do you quarantine first? Sounds stupid, I know, but even plants can and do bring diseases in with them - including parasites like flukes or whitespot. What I do is, put new plants in a bucket of water and overdose them with Sterazin, Protozin or Esha2000 (Esha2000 is a good one - it's a broad-range treatment so it should get bacteria, fungus and parasites) for 2 days before rinsing them thoroughly and adding them to the tank.

Sounds like the guppy has the beginning of fin rot. Keep an eye on it for the tail splitting. If it does, whip her out of the tank, into quarantine (I'm assuming you have a spare tank that can be used for quarantine?), and treat with a Melafix/Pimafix combo. If that doesn't help, carry out a water change (25-50%), put carbon in the filter for 24-48 hours and try Waterlife's Myxazin. She can be reintroduced once her tail is sorted.

How often do you carry out water changes, and how much?

 

[shelaghfishface]

right, i have dosed with sterazin
i have never thought to QT a plant
i do water changes at least twice a week on this tank of about 20-30%.always adding back declorinated water
ill keep a close eye on the guppy, but my feeling for now is to let her stay in there and be treated with the sterazin, this is a long treatment so i really hope they get through.
how long will it be before i should start to see an improvement,infact will it make better the sick ones or just stop the others from dying?
i havent done a water change before dosing with meds,as i did one 2 days ago, so can someone please help with what i should do now, when should i just leave the tank as it is and treat as it says on dys 1,3,6,8,10, or will i add salt or doing anything in the middle, sorry but the instructions that waterlife give are in every language except english

thanks everyone , i really do appreciate all of your ongoing help

 

[TetraLinz]

Sterazin will kill the flukes on the fish, as well as the free-swimming parasites, so the afflicted fish should recover - as long as they're not too heavily affected

Can't give a guesstimate for when you should start seeing an improvement though I'd finish the course and see what what happens then. If the fish don't show any signs of recovery, you might have to speak to a vet.

Re the guppy - by all means, keep her in the community for now Wasn't suggesting you QT her straight away. Guess it's one of those things you have to judge for yourself. If you can get away with treating for flukes without the added problem of fin rot, great - worry about the tail afterwards

Unless you've been treating the tank since the water change, you shouldn't have to do another one until the medication has finished. The Sterazin should be enough to kill the parasites . . . shouldn't need to treat the fish with salt