Fish Dying... Lack Of Oxygen Due To Med?...

[bogwood]

I am reposting with ref. to my previous post: 'Interpet N0.8 Anti Fungus + Finrot... Advice from any users please'...

Through that post, I established that I - and some other users - seem to suffer a 'lack of oxygen' in their tanks after adding the above Med... all my fish were at or near the surface for air and agitated...

... I did a 20% water change last night... all water stats fine... temp 78... for a couple of hours after the water change all the fish moved 'down' in the water again and were behaving 'as normal'... later last night I noticed they were all 'rising' again...

Overnight, 2 Tetras and the Blue Shrimp died... remaining fish are all at the surface again... I've only just found the 'carbon pad' that came with the filter... should I now put this in to remove any remaining Interpet Med?...

... I have 'Melafix' that I am currently treating another tank with... should I try this Med after the carbon pad has done its job?...

... any suggestions...

 

[black angel]

I take it your filter is agitating the water surface and you have added an airstone with pump to the tank?

 

[bogwood]

I take it your filter is agitating the water surface and you have added an airstone with pump to the tank?

yes, fluval 2 plus filter outlet is set to 'max'... I've also lowered the water level slightly so the filter outlet is only half in the water... greatly increasing the surface agitation/bubbles... canopy off too if that makes a difference... I don't have an air stone/pump...

Should I put the carbon pad in the filter to get rid of the 'Interpet' Med?... then try 'Melafix' instead? (a more 'natural' tea tree-based Med?...

 

[Squid]

Doesnt the fluval 2 plus have the little venturi bit, that you turn and if above water level will generate bubbles? or are you doing this already?

Squid

 

[bogwood]

Doesnt the fluval 2 plus have the little venturi bit, that you turn and if above water level will generate bubbles? or are you doing this already?

Squid

by lowering the water level and exposing the filter outlet slightly I'm getting the 'venturi' effect already...

...another Tetra has died...

... btw, apart from the Endler that initially suffered from fungus (why I added Interpet Med) all 'remaining' fish show no fungus...

 

[a.i.m]

Apart from the Endler that initially suffered from fungus is there any other fish with sighns of any thing else?
Ive read your last 2 threads and carnt find why u started dosing in the begining.

 

[WILDER]

Yes put the black carbon in, also how old was the med, and has any other chemicals gotten into the tank.

 

[millym]

hi
sorry to hear about your probs - i posted about knocking our tiger barbs out with the stuff a couple of years ago & had replies from quite a few folk who noticed their fish gulping for air at the top of the tank after theyd used it.......i would keep up with small water changes daily + add the carbon pad
it may be coincidence that since adding No8 you've had problems but after my experience with it im not so sure.
melafix is good sometimes i always try it 1st ( or pimafix - similar stuff) but for stubborn cases of fungus/finrot ive found esHa 2000 quite good ( easy to get in the uk) it also has no ill effects on shrimps but i think you have to adjust the dose if loaches are in the tank
ive also found that fish that are ill with some other problem that you cant see ( some internal bacteria or virus) sometimes have finrot/fungus that just wont go & it is a secondary infection as they are already sick/run down.
hospital tanks are always a good idea but i know its hard for some people to set them up/keep them going just for the odd sick fish. we bought a little 1ft acrylic tank for a hospital tank & feed a tube from our main airpump to it to use (it doesnt have a filter or heater but we keep it in a warm room or against the radiator & it seems to work.
good luck

 

[bogwood]

Update:

Well, I added the carbon filter pad as suggested and it seems to have removed the Interpet med. that was removing the oxygen...

I lost all my Tetras, a Cory and a blue shrimp... weird...

This morning, all remaining fish are fine... no more surface gasping or agitation and feeding well... so in this case it does seem that the med. was the lack of oxygen cause... my glowlights must have been more sensitive to oxygen levels...

 

[Inchworm]

Hi bogwood

When treating for fungus/finrot/bacterial infections, one of the things you should always do is increase the oxygen level of the water. This not only allows for any lowering caused by the medication, but slows the growth of the bacteria that is causing the problem. Turning down the temperature to no higher than 24 degrees C. helps too.

Low oxygen content in the water is one of the conditions that can lead to fungus/finrot/bacterial infections, so whenever you have a problem like this, that's always something to suspect, right from the beginning.

If you don't like that medicine, keep in mind that Waterlife's Myxazin will treat the same problems. Perhaps you will do better with it if you need something again. I understand that King British also puts out a good product for this. If one doesn't seem to work, remove the medicine with carbon and water changes and try another. Sometimes the bacteria involved just doesn't respond to the first medication.

When treating fish for these problems, always do a big water change and tank cleaning before you start and again after a few days. This refreshes the tank, removes waste and harmful bacteria, and adds to the oxygen in the tank.

MelaFix is a good, but mild, antibacterial agent and is worth a try if you catch a problem early on. If it will help, you will see positive results in a day or two. If not, remove it and move on to something stronger.

 

[bogwood]

Thanks inchworm... I guess all this was just part of the learning process... losing all the glowlights was a shock! as they were the first fish I got and always seemed pretty hardy...

Re: Melafix... I used this on my dwarf puffer to treat a 'cloudy eye'... 2 days on and the eye is completely back to normal...

 

[missPenguin]

Thanks inchworm... I guess all this was just part of the learning process... losing all the glowlights was a shock! as they were the first fish I got and always seemed pretty hardy...

Re: Melafix... I used this on my dwarf puffer to treat a 'cloudy eye'... 2 days on and the eye is completely back to normal...

My experiences with melafix have [so far] been very good. I used it to treat fin rot on my blue mickey mouse platty and it seemed to kill it within a couple of days. It also seems to have helped blues tail grow back quite quickly as well. It's been 10 days since it cleared up and his tail is nearly all grown back [ nearly half of it went ]. However when I used melafix, I turned my pump up to max and tunred my heater down. It also sounds silly but, melafix smells nice! It smells natural and not chemically, I'd rather use natural stuff if I could.

Hope your fish are ok bogwood.