My Fish Are Dying - Please Help!

[dstev]

Hi,

I am in real trouble with my tropical fish tank, I hope someone can help!

I have a 125 litre tank, setup since July last year. At the start of this week I had 6 Neon Tetra's, 3 Silvertip Tetra's, 3 Black Neon Tetra's, 3 Congo Tetra's, 5 Platy's (small stumpy ones), 1 Black Shark, 1 Loach and 2 Dwarf Gourami's.

It was due a water change on Monday, I noticed it was pretty murky which I thought was unusual. I did a 30% water chang, cleaning the filters and siphoning some of the gravel. I have been battling a fungus infection in my tank for a couple of weeks, and it had been a couple of weeks since I had put any anti fungus treatment in so I added this straight after my water change. Literally 30 mins after this both my Gourami's died (which both has some fungus on them) and a silver tip died. Within a couple of hours the water became very murky (I can only just see the back). Yesterday it was still very murky so I decided to put my Carbon Zeolite filter back in (it has come out for anti fungus treatment). Today it was the same and over the past couple of days many fish have died. I now only have 6 Neon Tetras, 2 Black Neon's, 2 silvertips, 1 Black Shark and the 5 Platy's. I did another 30% water change today, replacing 1 of the carbon filters and foam pads. It is still very murky and my fish are gathering at the surface.

I am really not sure what to do next and I fear losing all my fish!

 

[loraxchick]

welcome to the forum. sorry it is under such bad circumstances.
i feel that what you have in your tank is most likely not fungus, but rather a bacterial infection called columnaris. they appear similarly but have different treatments. (true funguses are generally classed as a rather uncommon illness). columnaris can wipe a whole tank out in not time. that would explain the die off happening. present in most aquariums the bacteria usually only affect stressed out fish or due to poor water quality.
keep up on waterchanges/substrate maintanence to dilute and keep the water a clean as possible. look for good gram negative antibiotic and treat the entire tank.
what do the fungus patches look like? where on the fish are they located? (google columnaris and have a read).
hopefully it all gets sorted for you.
cheers

 

[dstev]

Thanks for your help, after changing the water every day for the past 4 days the water is now fully cleared.

Just two things, my fish are spending alot of time at the surface, doing what looks like gulping for air, what exactly does this mean?

I have silly amounts of small black snails in my tank (even before the bacterial infection), how can I get rid and prevent them from coming back?

 

[aly_starh]

The fish swimming to the surface gulping for air, means that their is no airation in the tank;- or not enough.
I would advise getting an air-pump and an airstone, to add oxygen into the water.

The snails that you mention are most likely the pest type. The normally come in with Live plants. They breed a lot, so best thing to do, is cut back on feeding and they should lower in numbers. If there is alot of food available they will breed. Id even fast the fish for 1 day each week. This is what i do to my fish. Not only will it help the snail population be controlled but its good for the fish.

Another method you could try is, placing lettuce in the tank at night, then removing it in the morning. With luck it should be covered in snails

Hope that helps

 

[Harlequins]

Hi & welcome

What are you water stats for ammonia & nitrite etc,depending how long your zeolite has been in your filter,when you removed this you may have caused a mini spike,zeolite is normally used for removing ammonia,meds can also mess with water stats,
Because you have been doing waterchanges may be why the fish seem ok at the moment... gulping at the top could also be ammonia and/or nitrite in the tank..

I would test your water and get back to us with your reading
Also how well did you clean your filter and how?

 

[dstev]

Only got testing strips so levels are approximate with colour of strip.

Ammonia - 0 or very close to 0
NO3 - Between 0-10 with is easily safe according to chart
NO2 - 0
GH - Between 8-16 d
KH - About 6 d
pH - About 7
CL2 - 0

So as far as I can see my levels seem good. I thoroughly cleaned my filter during a water change over last couple of days. Removed both Carbon filters and took apart and cleaned them in removed tank water, removed zeolite filter and opened up compartment, took nodes out and cleaned all inside and also removed bottom of filter (where fan is) and cleaned inside there. I also replaced one of the carbon filters a few days ago. However no matter how hard I clean it I can't get it to produce bubbles, the flow is very strong but it just won't produce bubbles. (it is a fluval u3 filter if that helps)

 

[dstev]

Also being fairly new to the tropical fish scene, I am not entirely sure what an airstone is and how to use one.

Can somebody please explain what it is and what I need to buy in order to use one.

Thanks, Dave.

 

[Harlequins]

Readings look ok,although test strips are not very accurate,you may be better investing in a liquid master test kit,these usually have tests for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate & ph,and can be picked up for around £20 on ebay.

Your good cleaning of the filter may have affected your water stats,also carbon doesn't last long in the filter maybe 3-4 days,usually its for removing meds & tannins,you may be better put some other media in there for the bacteria to grow on.
Filters don't tend to produce many bubbles,more of a flow,
If YOu want bubbles you may want to invest in an airpump & airstone,these are more for affect than anything,although when you do use meds etc,they advise putting an airstone in to aireate the water

Also being fairly new to the tropical fish scene, I am not entirely sure what an airstone is and how to use one.

Can somebody please explain what it is and what I need to buy in order to use one.

Thanks, Dave.

Airpump,tetratec ones tend to be the quietest,although up to you,airline,airstone(allsorts of shapes and sizes out there) and a non return valve,this is used just in case the electric fails or during maintenance on the tank,will stop water siphoning back into the pump

 

[dstev]

OK thanks for your help, you may find I come back for more!

 

[Harlequins]

You're welcome,anytime