My Whole Tank Is Dead Or Dieing!

[itsmetracye1960]

I have no idea what has happened to our tank. we have 5 different tanks and only our largest, the 55 gallon has problems. two months ago one of my Malawi blue dolphins became ill. his eye became cloudy and a large blister formed on it, shortly after he began losing motor skills and died, His mate died shortly after him, and their one off spring died and looked perfectly fine. i changed water and filters and I thought everything was fine but recently my two balas have became ill with what appeared to be Ick, I treated them but they are worse and one died today, the other will not make it thru the nite. My Clown Loach looks like he has salt crystals on him. Only my remaining Angel Fish and my Violet Goby still Look OK. I checked the PH and it is acid, measured in the yellow. My dolphins were 10 years old and the Bala,s were 2 years. Any ideas? I am so upset at the loss of these beautiful fish. I intend on draining it and bleaching everything and starting over , but i wich i knew what happened. can i have this water analized? I am new to the forum so please go easy on me.

 

[Chad]

Sorry to hear about the problems. I know that can be frustrating.

Have you changed anything recently like adding a new fish etc. or changing gravel, etc etc. that might have introduced the ich into the aquarium?

 

[itsmetracye1960]

No nothing new, same routine. the only thing i might question is the over feeding our grandchildren did. right after that is when our dolphins got sick, do you think somehow the water became toxic?

 

[Chad]

I was going to ask about anything that might have increased the ammonia level in the tank and often a new fish can do this. That lowers the immunity through stress and the ammonia is an irritant to the skin. Over feeding certainly could cause this issue as the extra food rots and there isn't enough bacteria in the tank to handle the extra ammonia created by the rot.

The way to get around it is to do a pretty large water change and vacuum the gravel really well to get any extra food and detritus out of there. This should get that ammonia level down.

Then you might have to treat the fish with a medication or at the very least a stress coat.

 

[Tuxyu3]

i changed water and filters

What do you mean? Are you saying you changed all of the material in the filter?

 

[Chad]

i changed water and filters

What do you mean? Are you saying you changed all of the material in the filter?

That would explain a spike in ammonia...

 

[itsmetracye1960]

When the first dolphin became sick, I removed the carbon from the filters as I was directed and treated them. After their death, I did a 50% water change and put in new filters. I course I treated the water. things were fine then or so I thought , untill last week when I noticed all these salt like crystals on bith my Bala,s

 

[Chad]

So just the carbon filters were changed...that's good. The salt like crystals are likely the parasite ich. There are many medications you can buy to treat it.

 

[itsmetracye1960]

I have removed the two fish from the tank that dont appear to be sick and have them in a small 10 gallon. only the one Bala and a loach are still in the tank. I am still treating the tank but I hasnt helped.. Its my bedtime. 330am comes really early...lol, I thank you for all your suggestions. nite all.

 

[Chad]

Treatment for ich is an 8-10 week process. During that time it's important to have clean water and to make sure the fish are low stress and eating well. I will often turn off the tank lights for most of the day and only turn them on an hour before feeding, then feed and turn off an hour after. This is just to lower the stress level but having the light on induces them to get active enough to feed.

Sorry you haven't gotten any sleep yet!