Help!

[melz94]

Help please..... I have a 55 gallon tropicak freshwater tank. I am doing something wrong. I have lost 25-40 fish this year. I am lost. I don't want to get rid of my tank, but I don't know what to do. I get my water tested and the store says it's ok, but then I clean my tank and things are fine for a few weeks and then the tank gets really cloudy or green, I clean it and lose fish. I am distraught. Any and all suggestions would be most helpful.
Thank you
Melody

 

[Tolak]

Welcome to TFF Melody! When you clean the tank, what procedure do you follow? Filling this out will help as well, ask your lfs to write down the numbers for you;

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):


The cleaning procedure, as well as any water treatments used could be the key, as cloudyness & fish deaths usually indicates a cycling tank. Writing down the numbers is important as well; what's ok for some shops may not actually be ok.

 

[melz94]

Welcome to TFF Melody! When you clean the tank, what procedure do you follow? Filling this out will help as well, ask your lfs to write down the numbers for you;

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):


The cleaning procedure, as well as any water treatments used could be the key, as cloudyness & fish deaths usually indicates a cycling tank. Writing down the numbers is important as well; what's ok for some shops may not actually be ok.

Thank you for the welcome, and also the info. At this point I think I have Ick. My tiger bard has white cloudy spots on him. My question, Should I buy a 10 gallon tank and put the 4 remaining fish i have and treat them for ick and totally restart my 55 gallon tank?

 

[Tolak]

You could keep the 55 cycled with ammonia, while treating the fish in the 10 gallon. Without a host the protizoans die in a few days at a higher temperature. Check out http/www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...;articleid=2421


"Another way to get ich out of a tank is to remove all of the fish. Since we know that the tomites can only survive for 48 hours without attaching to a fish, if we remove all of the fish and then raise the temperature to 80°, the existing ich in the tank should be dead after 2 days. To be safe, wait 4 days before returning the fish to the tank. But remember, you will need to treat the tank that the fish are moved to, otherwise, fish entering that tank could become infected."



Ick is common, but so is columnaris. Ick looks like the fish has been sprinkled with salt, Columnaris is larger white spots, sometimes mistaken for fungus. Posting a pic would help with this.