I Am Losing My Fish....

[bigdave2009]

Hello everyone, I am getting very frustrated as a new fish hobbyist. I started a 29 gallon tank, with 26 species and I am now down to 16 or so. I am so miserable I don't want to know how many innocent fish have lost their life. First off, the tank is about 4 weeks in. I am aware it was kind of over stocked and possibly experienced new tank syndrome, but I was using stuff to prevent it. All was going well, I didn't even lose one fish in the process (keep in mind, nitrites and ammonia were kind of high, and everything else was perfect). Until all of a sudden, I noticed white spots on some of my fish. Slowly one by one, I started to lose fish. I raised the tempature to 86 or 88f, and I used some copperhead stuff to remove the ick. I am still currently experiencing the ick, and losing fish. I have lost all 10 neon tetras and a few fancy guppies. The guppies and tetras are the only fish dieing. The zebra danios, giant danios, sunset platys, and dwarf gourami are all doing well and I have not lose one (maybe due to being more hardy?). I would really like some help, I want to fix tank.


I eventually want to add more fish back to the tank, but I will discuss that later when time is appropriate and the tank is stable for more fish to live a healthy and happy life.

 

[MartinD]

Hi

I'm relatively new to the hobby too but I don't think you'll like what I have to say.

Having a fishtank only 4 weeks in with 26 species of fish in a 29 gallon tank would definately suggest overstocking.
Couple of points though:

Did you cycle your tank?
What are the levels your tank?


When you say 4 weeks in, is this after cycling or 4 weeks after setting the tank up and pouring in some water?
The ich can usually be cured by raising the temperature slightly (say 1-2 degrees). If not, a bit of Methylene Blue
added will help. The problem is, if you added all your fish without cycling the tank, they will have become very stressed
(water quality issues and I would say overstocked) - stress leading to outbreaks of ich.

I've never heard of this copperhead stuff - do you have more info on it? I used a copper based medications on my fish once
(Octozin) only to discover that I was actually poisoning them and killing them off! Copper is poisonous to a lot of fish and you
actually be doing more harm than good.

Enough of the flaming (sorry ). I would suggest a good water change (50%) and leaving the light off for longer periods of time.
Don't forget to remove dead fish as soon as you spot them - disease will be passed onto other fish if they nibble at the carcass. Try
some of the Methylene Blue instead of the copper additives. Keep an eye on your levels and do regular water changes over the next
few weeks, say 15% every day or two, or if you notice the levels rising sharply try around 30%.

Water quality is the key here - it's most likely what started the ich outbreak!

Best of luck - I know how disheartening it is watching all your fish die - I had the exact same thing in one of my tanks about 6 months ago.

 

[darkwolf29a]

Guppies are going to be the least hardy to begin with. Let's start with some basics:

1) How many of each type of fish do you have?

2) What is the name of the medication you are using to treat the ich?

3) Do you have some place else to house some of the fish? If you are as overstocked as I fear, that may be the ultimate answer to fixing the tank.


At 4 weeks, you're in the middle of your cycle. Also, with 26 species (I still want the exact numbers of fish) you are, more than likely, WAY overstocked. But, we can deal with overstocking issues later...maybe. That may be a good portion of your issue.

Overstocking causes stress, which weakens the fish, and allows for ich and various other ailments to grow and fester into a major problem.

Once you get the info, then we can start looking at causes and fixes.

Tanks are never unfixable....it's just sometimes the answer is just as painful as the problem.

 

[bigdave2009]

My current stock after losses is now....

4 giant danios
4 fancy guppies
2 sunset platys
2 zebra danios
1 powder blue dwarf gourami

the treatment is called mardel coppersafe (i called it copperhead, whoops). it was recommended to me on this site. I have no other place to hold my fish at this current time. I am doing large water changes. but the nitrites and ammonia will not drop.

 

[mav8989]

Not to hijack the thread or drift too far, but personally I have been successful with Mardel's CopperSafe. It is supposed to be chleated copper as opposed to ionic copper. Blah blah blah... I know. IMO, it is easier, however, to maintain levels of chleated copper in the tank b/c the copper holds better - but you should buy a copper test kit that tests for CHLEATED or "TOTAL" copper in order to maintain the proper level and not poison the fish. Heavy metals are poison - it just happens to work out that fish can tolerate more of the poison then parasites like ich. If you must go the copper route you are currently using then I can only stress that you get a proper copper test kit. Too much is deadly, too little is ineffective and a waste of time and money. Be sure that with water changes that you add additional medication so that you maintain the recommended level. This is also where tests are important - because depending on a variety of factors not worth mentioning for the sake of brevity, you cannot assume that if you remove x gallons you just add x amount of CopperSafe to keep the level the same --- the test kit is really necessary to do that. One other thing that might help you BUT I DO NOT KNOW THIS FOR A FACT is that in using CopperSafe in the past I would get Nitrite readings that were OFF THE SCALE - they MAY have been false. I only suggest this because another copper product called "Cupramine" has a much more detailed explanation that comes with it. That product says that a man-made Amine (spelling?) is used to bind the copper and therefore causes false ammonia/um readings. Maybe this is true with CopperSafe and effects nitirite tests as well? I dunno. Perhaps a little experimentation will help you figure out if a sample of regular aquarium water with and without the CopperSafe in it causes a false spike in your Nitrite readings. Good to know you are doing these tests. I'm no chemist - but playing one is fun - maybe you can figure that out and know if you are really not cycled or if it is a false test.

To get past all of that and on to a solution to the problem, I might suggest something other than copper that is even cheaper. I cannot get a scientific answer on the effects of copper on beneficial bacteria - and since the tank sounds like it possibly may not be cycled the last thing needed is anything to stall that cycle further if there is such a thing with copper and beneficial bacteria. I would suggest looking at some of the past and recent posts on salt/heat therapy. A very kind forum member suggested heat/salt therapy to me recently (as I am fighting my own battle) and I finally decided to just give it a darn try. I have heard many people giving success stories on this method. Maybe someone more experienced in the forum can point you to a pinned post or something with some suggestions - if they even agree with my suggestion.

I've been around the hobby - but don't just listen to me - I'm no expert.

It really stinks when this happens - and everyone has a horror story to tell - learn as much as you can and best of luck with your fish!