Jump In, Both Feet, Holding Concrete And No Air Tank - A.k.a Newbie Th

[eshackleton]

HI all -
New to fish keeping and new to here......
I used to think kieeping fish was the most BORING pet and hobby ever. I now can't sleep 'cause I'm checking on my tank and fish and am stressed out but loving it.
I did the ultimate "fish keeping crime" - went out, bought tank, kit and lots of lovely fish before I had the slightest clue of what I am doing. My fish supplier just wanted me to buy everything, obviously and I'm naiive.
Here's the problem - I have some clown loaches that started getting white spots over them and started breathing rapidly. Then one of my Discus died. Then some tetras died. I did some research and found that they had whitespot (all water tests proved within normal range) so began treating the whole tank of fish for whitespot. It has been 4 days and I have lost a total of 12 fish (mainly tetras) that showed no outward sign of the whitespot disease and am feeling guilty as hell. I have quarantined the clown loaches in a separate tank and have been treating them separately and they are improving rapidly (no longer have white spots) and finally the full tank looks healthy and happy.
How do I know when the treatment has worked and I can add my loaches back from quarantine? Why did so many fish die?
Please help so I can be a better fish keeper and can stop it happening next time.

 

[rdd1952]

Have you tested your water for ammonia and nitrite? White spot is usually triggered by the stress of bad water parameters. Some of the fish had to be infected when you bought them and the rise in ammonia triggered the outbreak. For now, I would do a 50% water change in the main tank to lower the ammonia and nitrite. I strongly suspect that is the root of the problem. Bad water can lead to all sorts of issues. Your main concern is to get ammonia and nitrite below .25 ppm and keep it there via water changes until the tank cycles.

I would leave the clowns in the q-tank for the full treatment cycle as you want to make sure that all of the white spot has been killed. And just because you don't see the white spot in the other tank, doesn't mean it isn't there. It could just be in the reproductive or larvae stage. You probably need to treat that tank too but others with more experience in diseases can shed more light on that. From what I have read (someone please correct me if Im wrong), the parasites attack the gills first and are usually undetectable at that time. On tetras, it's possible they could do enough damage there to kill the fish without the spots ever being visible.

 

[kribensis12]

Your tank needs to be cycled before adding fish, especially Discus. They are probably the MOST SENSITIVE freshwater fish. I would do 50% to 75% water changes every day until you tank has cycled which can take up to a month. I would look into borrowing someone's filter pad that has been used for a while, as it will have the bacteria on it that your tank needs. Dont rinse if off though. Just plop the think in the tank. Leave it there for about 1 to 2 weeks. I would take all your fish back and look into a couple of feeder to help the tank cycle, then start to stalk it, slowly! As far as white spot goes, take the tank temp up to about 82 degree's( 29C)t the tank with White Spot med's.

 

[Mr._Fishy]

I would recommend returning all the fish to the store you got it from. Either that or give them to a different lfs. The discus will definitely die during a cycle, they are one of the most sensitive freshwater fish.

Ryan

 

[eshackleton]

Your tank needs to be cycled before adding fish, especially Discus. They are probably the MOST SENSITIVE freshwater fish. I would do 50% to 75% water changes every day until you tank has cycled which can take up to a month. I would look into borrowing someone's filter pad that has been used for a while, as it will have the bacteria on it that your tank needs. Dont rinse if off though. Just plop the think in the tank. Leave it there for about 1 to 2 weeks. I would take all your fish back and look into a couple of feeder to help the tank cycle, then start to stalk it, slowly! As far as white spot goes, take the tank temp up to about 82 degree's( 29C)t the tank with White Spot med's.

Thanks! Great advice. - My water temperature is already 29 degrees as I live in the tropics, is the water too warm??

 

[LauraFrog]

Possibly - it's too warm for some fish. I'm in the same situation, and condensation all over a fish tank looks awful so cooling is out of the question. If you have something like that going on, it's not a good idea to choose sensitive fish. If you're new to fish keeping I wouldn't even consider keeping discus. Like everybody else has said they are very touchy. It doesn't take much of a cycle spike to kill them and they are very easily stressed.

If your fish have whitespot, don't give them away because you will just infect whatever tanks you put them in. The whitespot disease does not appear as white spots on the fish for its whole life cycle. I've never had to treat it so I don't know, but the optimum time to treat is when the spots fall off the fish so act soon.

If you put a lot of fish into a new tank or a tank without many fish in it all at once, you will get a cycle spike because the number of bacteria in the biological filter cannot cope with the extra ammonia. With sensitive fish like discus in the tank there will be deaths. If you have a cycle problem, which is possibly why your fish have whitespot, stop feeding them. Fish can survive at least a fortnight without being fed and this will reduce the amount they are excreting to cut back the ammonia production.

Any fish store that will sell you stuff that fast - and sell discus to somebody who is not experienced with fish - is more interested in making a sale than whether or not your aquarium is a success or the welfare of the fish they are selling. An honest LFS would have advised you strongly against buying discus or even refused to sell because they are very delicate and grow quite large - bigger than a man's handspan. If you have to stick with that supplier, don't take everything they say at face value. They will probably tell you that your tank should contain far more fish than it's capable of supporting - how big is it and what do you have in it? If you tell them you have problems they may also try to sell you ineffectual rubbish saying it will cure your fish.

Good luck! If you lose some more of the fish don't give up. When you restock (if you give some away or more die) it's best to do it two or three fish at a time.

 

[rdd1952]

29 isn't too high if you are treating the tank for white spot as high temps speed the life cycle and quicken the treatment. It is higher than you want to normally keep the tanks though. They should be around 26.