Hi everyone,
I need some advice about an ongoing issue with my tropical tank. First I'll tell you about my set up. I have a 20 gallon with an aquaclear 50 filter and an aquaclear brand heater. I have a simple CO2 system. The tank is heavily planted with lacy java fern and an amazon sword. Right now I have 4 black skirt tetras, 1 male dwarf gourami, 3 bronze cories and 3 ottos. I do about a 25% water change every week or so, and treat the water with Prime and Flourish Excel (I use it sparingly). I feed the fish blood worms, omega one flakes, algae wafers and shrimp pellets. The tank has been cycled and established for well over three years now.
The issue I'm having is that my fish have been slowly getting sick and dying over about the past 6 months. I have lost one black skirt, 2 priscilla tetras and a broze corie. All of them I'd had for at least 3 years, but probably more like 5. I have added new fish in the past year so it's possible that something has been introduced.
I noticed with the tetras that they seemed to get more black pigmentation, not sure if it was some kind of melanophore migration? It's a bit hard to describe but they would then just slowly deteriorate, until one day they would be dropsied and/or have popeye and if they didn't die soon after I would euthanise. A couple of them also lost their equilibrium and would just float/swim erratically around the tank.
So recently I gave the tank a big cleaning and added a couple of airstones inside of hollow ornaments to keep the water flowing. I thought everything was ok but now my gourami is looking bad. He is swelling and there are small holes in his dorsal fin.
I'm not sure what to do. I have a lot of different meds on hand but I like to only use them as a last resort as I don't want to have to restart my cycle - but if I do it's not the end of the world, I'd be willing. I would love some advice/suggestions about what I should do.
I need some advice about an ongoing issue with my tropical tank. First I'll tell you about my set up. I have a 20 gallon with an aquaclear 50 filter and an aquaclear brand heater. I have a simple CO2 system. The tank is heavily planted with lacy java fern and an amazon sword. Right now I have 4 black skirt tetras, 1 male dwarf gourami, 3 bronze cories and 3 ottos. I do about a 25% water change every week or so, and treat the water with Prime and Flourish Excel (I use it sparingly). I feed the fish blood worms, omega one flakes, algae wafers and shrimp pellets. The tank has been cycled and established for well over three years now.
The issue I'm having is that my fish have been slowly getting sick and dying over about the past 6 months. I have lost one black skirt, 2 priscilla tetras and a broze corie. All of them I'd had for at least 3 years, but probably more like 5. I have added new fish in the past year so it's possible that something has been introduced.
I noticed with the tetras that they seemed to get more black pigmentation, not sure if it was some kind of melanophore migration? It's a bit hard to describe but they would then just slowly deteriorate, until one day they would be dropsied and/or have popeye and if they didn't die soon after I would euthanise. A couple of them also lost their equilibrium and would just float/swim erratically around the tank.
So recently I gave the tank a big cleaning and added a couple of airstones inside of hollow ornaments to keep the water flowing. I thought everything was ok but now my gourami is looking bad. He is swelling and there are small holes in his dorsal fin.
I'm not sure what to do. I have a lot of different meds on hand but I like to only use them as a last resort as I don't want to have to restart my cycle - but if I do it's not the end of the world, I'd be willing. I would love some advice/suggestions about what I should do.
