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SteelerLuke

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Ok, so there's been some weird going's on in my tank over the past couple of weeks.

Firstly here's some info about my tank;

90l, 2 yellow goldfish, 3 guppies, 8 platies, 7 golden barbs, 1 apple snail.

The last time I tested this tank was on 11/01 where my test results were absolutely fine (ph 7.5, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20ppm). The last time I did a water change was last Friday 20/01 when I changed roughly 50% of the water.

A couple of weeks ago I had a bout of fin/mouth rot but this only seemed to affect my guppies & consequently killed off 11 of them, all my other fish were absolutely fine & showed no symptoms whatsoever.

Last weekend I noticed I had ich so I cranked my temp up to 29 celsius (74f) & have been adding King British Methylene Blue to the tank every 4 days (there have been 2 doses of 10ml as the bottle says 1ml for every 9 litres). Today all signs of ich have gone. What's weird is that it was only my platies that had the white spots...

Today however I've noticed that my golden barbs all have a few scales missing. See the picture at the bottom of the post. Also one of my guppies has some discolouration on one of her sides, it's hard to describe but if you look at the picture you can see an almost triangular sort of marking on her side.

Does anyone know what may be causing these problems to my guppies or my golden barbs? I only have methylene blue medication which is already in the tank but I am happy to get other medication if I need to.

As always, thanks in advance for any help.

Regards, Luke.





 
erm, for a start you shouldnt really be keeping goldies in with tropicals, or Golden(tiger?)Barbd in with guppies, the goldies will die of stress and too haigh a water temp and the guppies will die of being eaten alive...

Have a look at the link in my sig as it sounds like you have an uncycled filter... dont be cross if you got the advice from a store and it has mucked up your tank... thundreds upon thousands of people a year make this mistake...

if you have any Q's, just ask, we are all happy to help :)
 
Thanks Blubble37. It's definitely a Golden Barb btw, I've had them in my tank for years & there aren't any stripes. See here http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/barbs/goldbarb.php

I know it's not a good idea to keep the goldies with tropical fish but I've had those goldies for a couple of years now & I've never had any problems with them & they've always seemed happy. However I accept now that they ideally need to go in a relatives pond which they will be doing when the temp gets a little warmer outside. I think it'll be a bit of a shock going from 20+ celsius to just above freezing in the pond!

If my ammonia & nitrite levels are zero & I have a nitrate presence (20ppm) then doesn't this mean that my tank is cycled?
 
Just a quick update, I've just got back from work to find my female guppy dead :(

It's a shame but I did get 12 babies from her in the short while I had her.

My Golden Barbs are still pretty much the same, & despite looking ill they certainly aren't acting it.

Seeing as though my bout of Ich seems to have cleared up I'm going to lower my temp back down to 23 celsius & I'm due a water change tomorrow so I'll probably go 75% & I'll see how my barbs go on from there.

Still open to advice if anyone knows what is wrong with my barbs :good:
 
What are you using to test your water with because those symptoms are typical of poor water quality, specifically ammonia being too high. The other possibility is that you've got one or more bullies in the tank who are stressing the other fish out, again that could bring on ich etc. Or it could be a combination of both things. By my reckoning you had 29 fish (before the guppy deaths) plus two messy goldfish, that's quite a bioload for a 90l (i.e. you're overstocked). As blubble said, the goldfish shouldn't be in that tank either.
 
What are you using to test your water with because those symptoms are typical of poor water quality, specifically ammonia being too high. The other possibility is that you've got one or more bullies in the tank who are stressing the other fish out, again that could bring on ich etc. Or it could be a combination of both things. By my reckoning you had 29 fish (before the guppy deaths) plus two messy goldfish, that's quite a bioload for a 90l (i.e. you're overstocked). As blubble said, the goldfish shouldn't be in that tank either.

I've got an API Master Test Kit which was recommended to me on here. The last time I tested the water was on the 11th, I've not bothered since then because I've been cycling the methylene blue since a few days after that, first for the mouth rot & now for the ich.

I accept that I shouldn't have the Goldies in there & they will be going in a relative pond as soon as the temp outside increases, at the moment where I live there's probably 20 celsius difference between the pond water & my water. However if you think I can move them now, then I could in fact move them tonight.

My current stocking level is as it is in my signature minus 1 guppy.

In regards to bullying I've not seen anything as such. I've never actually seen my Goldfish chase a fish. The platies often peck at the Goldfish & the Golden Barbs peck at the snail, but that's about as bad as it gets in there.

My current cycle of methylene blue is complete tomorrow & I'm not planning on adding anymore, with the ich seemingly gone & the Golden Barbs undiagnosed I am going to try & return my water back to normal. I'm going to take out all of my deco & plants (artificials), clean the filter (in tank water), give the gravel a good vac & change probably 75% of the water. I'll then see how things go on from there,
 
All I can suggest is that you keep a continued close watch on your water parameters (daily at least) as you are still overstocked with the goldfish in there. The usual recommendation for just one golfdfish is about 80l, so you can hopefully see why I say you're overstocked...and that's now, before the deaths you were waaaaay overstocked! And with 12 baby guppies growing fast you are on the way to being overstocked again.

The tank cleaning and water change are essential things to do but you must also make sure you do at least a weekly water change of probably 50% and if your readings are at any time at or above 0.25ppm for ammonia or nitrite then do an immediate water change. With your bioload I would be surprised if you didn't have to change water at least twice a week though.
 
Thanks for the advice, do you know if it is safe to move my Goldfish now? It doesn't seem as though things are going to improve until they're gone.
 
Thanks for the advice, do you know if it is safe to move my Goldfish now? It doesn't seem as though things are going to improve until they're gone.

Just so you know, methylene blue kills the biological filter. You really have to start watching your ammonia and nitrIte levels again.
 
I didn't know that, is all medication like this?

Looks like I'll have to start a fish-in cycle, luckily I have some media in my other tank so that's a start.
 
I didn't know that, is all medication like this?

Looks like I'll have to start a fish-in cycle, luckily I have some media in my other tank so that's a start.

Not all meds are like that, but many are to one extent or another. You'll see the manufacture get kinda wishy-washy by qualifying their claims of being harmless with something like "established" tanks.
 

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