Over Half Of My Fish Are Diseased?

[zeealice]

hi, i'm new here so please excuse me if i am a little rusty.

i had to kill one of my beloved neon tetras today after its mouth had completely disintergrated and thus couldnt eat, it looked like neon tetra disease and i think i may have caught it early enough for other fish not to be affected.
but my red eyed tetras are suffering with ich and fin rot. while the rest of the neons have velvet, i am using protozin but so far there has been no difference, only 2 balas and a female betta remain unaffected in the tank.
as for tank atmoshpere:

not sure about Ph and nitrate and whatnot.
but i use King British Safe Water and Safe Guard.
temp is around 24 degrees C and i clean the tank once every 2 weeks (its considered small (58 litres) so i have to clean it more often.)
is there any advice you can give me to get these fish healthy again?

 

[mattlee]

what is the current fish stocking in the tank?

if you have bala sharks in a tank that small then i would remove them as soon as the issues are resolved with the other fish.....

i would do more regular water changes these will help with any issues etc

 

[anon02]

I would finish the protozin course and look for signs of disease over the next 48 hours, if you see signs of spots, rubbing or darting I would do a large water change and begin a second course of meds
I agree with Matt about the sharks and the need for more water changes

 

[zeealice]

i know exactly what happens to the balas and i have a larger tank prepared for them, this is just a test out tank to see how i get on. i have 10 fish overall, well, 9 now, 4 neons 2 red eyes 1 betta and 2 balas they are barely a month old, an ornament for the betta and one aquarium plant that doesnt want to stop growing.
overall even the infected fish are happy, they chase eachother around and they still eat.

 

[anon02]

I predict that if you do not take steps to improve your water quality you will be posting in the emergency section on a regular basis

In all probability your "happy" fish are being slowly poisoned by ammonia and nitrite and the suspended solids in your water are becoming an ideal breeding ground for unwelcome bacteria. Weekly water changes of 25-30% will go a long way to avoid this as well as keeping down nitrate levels and removing algal spores

 

[zeealice]

I predict that if you do not take steps to improve your water quality you will be posting in the emergency section on a regular basis

In all probability your "happy" fish are being slowly poisoned by ammonia and nitrite and the suspended solids in your water are becoming an ideal breeding ground for unwelcome bacteria. Weekly water changes of 25-30% will go a long way to avoid this as well as keeping down nitrate levels and removing algal spores

even with the ammonia and nitrate removal agents?

 

[karin]

Not certain when you set up this tank. Is it cycled? (Read beginner's resources under New Freshwater Tank section of forum). The "agents" are not very effective at maintaining tank chemistry and if they do anything it is only very short term.

If you want to become a good fishkeeper and water keeper, then you need to get a good liquid-based test kit to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as well as Ph at a minimum. It sounds from your posting that the maintenance of your water is lacking. Until you get the test kit and know what is going on I would medicate and then do big water changes between doses. And then continue with 50% water changes daily until you get that kit and know what is going on with the water chemistry.

Good luck, take the challenge, become a student of water chemistry.