Please Help Me Save My Fish

[Lady_L]

I need some expert advice before I manage to kill anymore of my fish! My last hope=find a fish forum and speak to some fish experts

I decided to take the plunge and go for a tropical fish tank as my first fish keeping experience 3 weeks ago. I bought one of these biofilters as I thought they looked good and they sounded great

(24/12/15'') http/www.spectaculargroup.co.uk/port2-1.htm#

I heated the water to 82deg in the tank with a thermometer/heater combi and a day later stocked it with 6 tetras, 4platys, 2 angels, a swordtail, a catfish algae eater and a siamese fighter, and 5 plants which I don't know the name of, and a tropical light. I realise now that may have been too many but I took the advice of the pet shop owner with regards to numbers and combinations.

Within 2 days both angels and a platy had died, and fighter really wasn't looking too happy at all. I realised that I needed to have a pump to activate the filter (I was disillusioned into thinking the biofilter was all I needed) and they had probably died of lack of oxygen so sorted myself out with a pump.

Then about a week ago I spotted whitespot on the tetras, and on a couple of platys, then on the catfish and the fighter. I went back to the pet shop (who incidently gave me a credit note for the angel fish although that didn't make me fell less guilty) and they gave me some drops 1 drop per 7 litres every 48hours. I gave the first dose 2 days ago, and went away for a couple of days, then returned this afternoon and 4 tetras and swordtail were all dead surrounded in a weird white film of goo that looked like a cacoon or something. Fighter looks like he's on his last legs, and the platys keep nipping him.

Oh other pointers, i've been vary careful to feed only a small pinch of food every evening, and i've had 2 tests on my water and apparently my ammonia levels are OK, and i've been treating water with the conditioner bought at the pet shop and some water from a kettle to warm it up slightly.

Now I feel really bad, thats over half my fish dead within 3 weeks


Can anyone answer the following:

What should i do to avoid more fish death?

What caused the second round of fish death do you think it is something to do with the whitespot? or the medicine? or the general setting up of the cycle?

Does anyone have any specific advice regarding the biofilter?

Is 83 deg the correct temperature?

I've been under the impression the more light the better for my plants to oxygenise the water, is this correct?

Is it good to have plants?

Do fighters always hide in holes and look really upset?

I realise now that I rushed into things a bit and have probably made some common mistakes, but any advice would be gratefully received before i'm scared off ever keeping any more fish again!

 

[littleme1969]

Yes you did rush it just a bit..lol
First of all the temp is too high 78 to 79 is good.. you should only be going to 81/82 when you have a white spot outbreak as this helps to kill the whitespot cycle.
Second when setting up a tank its always best to leave it about a week for everything to settle..ie temperature etc. the slowly add just a few fish at a time.. Start with a few hardy tetras,then the nest week if all water perameters are Ok maybe a few Corys.. then the week after somthing else.. I would leave livebearers until your tank is fully cycled between 3 - 6 months depending on amount of fish etc.
Plants are good as they help keep the nitrate levels down and the oygen level up, but I would lay off full light when adding new fish, it will only stress them. make sure there are lots of places to hide, this helps reduce stress for the more shy fish.

Platys will nibble at anything if the are hungry, I often see them having a quick peck at my Giant rainbows that just how bosssey they can be.. each fish is different. But you can guarantee once they start..they wont stop, so someone wil have to go!!

You have just done way too much way too soon really.. very common mistake. Most pet shops are rubbish with advise.. all they care about is selling you stuff.

If I were you I would just let things run their course, by the sounds of it you will loose most of your fish. Stick with the few that are left and concentrate on getting the tank cycled properly.. Check water perameters every few days.. this includes amonia and nitrate. Also check the PH of your water. and compare to the water of where you get your fish. Huge changes of PH when moving fish can cause real stress issues and durther weaken your fishes imune system..

Off to read up on what filter you bought..lol B)

Just put it down to begginers bad luck and work on getting things stable... then and only then add just a few fish at a time.. checking water at regular intervals.

All the best..

Nikki

Just had a quick look at the filter system you bought
Ermmmmm..lol what can I say..lol other than bugger me no tank is ever maintainance free..lol
Ive never seen or heard anything about these so maybe someone else can jump in here and give advise on these.
I'm very "old school" when it comes to fish keeping.. you cant beat gravel sand and plants.. thats the way nature intended. and fish are at their happiest.

I'll dig a little more on line and see what others have to say on this so called Wonder Product..

 

[FreshwaterFishie]

You said they were covered in a white film? I had this happen when I owned a small 5 gallon tank. I was not sure what the disease was, but it killed them. I think it was because I didn't cycle my tank and just added some African Dwarf Frogs and Tetras.

Was the fish covered in the white film while they were still alive? It could be a number of external baterial diseases or a false external baterial disease. Do you have a picture? I guess it is hard since the they have already died.

I would do a water change. Do you have a conditioner? A great one is NovAqua Plus Instant Conditioner or the regular NovAqua is fine too.

Did you cycle your tank? If you didn't you could by BioSpira and add it to your tank. Also, where do you live? In some places it is hard to find it.

Do the other fish have the film too??? Please keep us updated and we will be glad to help you!

 

[Lady_L]

Thanks for the advice.

I'm definatly not getting any more fish for a while at this rate! totally trying to keep my remaining ones alive. As i have whitespot now, should I keep the temp at 82 for the time being?

I've been leaving the light on as long as possible after my oxygen problems, but perhaps I should turn it off for 12hours if that may be stressing out the poor fishies.

The white film on the dead fish, this only appeared on the dead ones and was about 3mm thick and it looked like they'd gone into some kind of cacoon. The live ones havn't got the white film, but some of them still have whitespot, I wondered if it was whitespot going crazy on the dead fish or something.

If any more go throught the white film death i'll take a photo and post it, all the dead ones are now buried in my garden.

I thought about a water change, but i'm only 3 weeks into the cycle so I don't really want to stress them out any more, I changed about 10% of the water a few days ago and used a conditioner.

Perhaps I should get some biospira? i live in manchester, should I just go back to the pet shop? or is there a website you can recommend?

thanks again for your advice

 

[diademhill]

Biospira is not available in the UK.

You need to start doing daily 10% water changes - add dechlorinator to the new water & match it's temperature.
You should have been doing this forom the start when cycling with fish.

What fish do you have left?

The white on dead fish is normal & nothing to be concerned about - why they died is another matter & it is either ammonia or nitrite poisoning or both.
What test kits do you have? What are the actual readings? (in daylight or under fluorescent bulbs)

 

[littleme1969]

Hi again...
I would slowly reduce the temp to between 80 - 81 until the white spot treatment is complete. Usually you dose twice with a 4 day interval. The white spot should dissapear by the 4th day and the second dose is just to kill the water born spours and stop them re infecting your fish. White spot is very common and if caught early..totally treatable and nothing to worry about.
Do your tests and post the results.. so people can help diagnose the problem and help you with a soloution.

Water changes are good, but only if you have a water problem. Changing too much water too often when there is no reason can cause uneeded stress to the fish. So do your tests.. PH KH ammonia Nitrate and get that temp down a little. Primafix is a good cure for a lot of fish ills related to stress. Its available in the UK now and is the bigger and better brother to Melefix. I have used it with great suceses after stress related problems. Its good for al types of fugal infections and internal bacteria problems too. But keep a check on water perameters when using it, and do a 10 - 15% water change every other day.

get the results to us and we wil take it from there. Hope you have had no more deaths...

Nikki

 

[Lady_L]

Ok thanks guys.

So I need to buy a test kit (oh dear I hear you groan) again- the pet shop said not to bother and just take in samples to them when I need it doing. So i'll look for a basic kit that does pH, ammonia, Nitrate and and KH (what's that), any specific recommendations?

the fish i've got left are 2 tetras, 3 platys, an algae eating catfish, and a siamses figher who looks really upset.

The whitespot medicine said 1drop per 7 litres every 48hours, should i reduce the dose and do it more regulalry?

 

[diademhill]

You need kits for ammonia, nitrite & nitrate but it is usually cheaper to buy a multi kit that does these & a couple of others.
Your tank is still cycling so you have to do water changes to dilute the toxins - add the medication according to the directions after water changes.
I wouldn't trust any shop that sold that mix of fish in one go.

 

[FreshwaterFishie]

Ok thanks guys.

So I need to buy a test kit (oh dear I hear you groan) again- the pet shop said not to bother and just take in samples to them when I need it doing. So i'll look for a basic kit that does pH, ammonia, Nitrate and and KH (what's that), any specific recommendations?

KH is Carbonate Hardness (not sure where the K came from?) Most basic kits come with ph, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. I had to buy my KH kit separately. If you find a kit with all 5 I would buy it. They are pretty simple. I reccomend the liquid and test tube version instead of strips; it is more effective. You collect water in the test tube supplied and add the liquid. Then, the water with turn a certain color and you can use the color graph to see what your results are. It is easier than it sounds and kind of fun.

 

[littleme1969]

Hi again.. just in case you not got sorted yet you can buy a master test kit Here (bottom of page) that will do all the main ones you need including PH. For the KH/GH you will need To go here The KH/GH test kit is half way down the page. Aquatics online is the cheapest I have found on the net for pretty much everything. Great on delivery too. You can also get the Primafix I mentioned on that site here. Primafix again is one of the best all round cures I have found. Alot of fish importers use it by the bucket load to treat fish that are suffering from stress realted conditions assosiated with being transported. Thats how i heard about it. It cures both bacterial and fugal skin infections on scaled and non scaled fish(catfish) and is also good for internal bacterial infections too. A great all round cure that wont damage your plants or your bilogical filter.

The reason I said KH test is its good to know what your KH is. If like some areas of the UK you have a very low KH this can cause PH crashes which will inturn cause your fish to become unwell and also if left to go below 6.5PH this can kill the bacteria that has built up, that the fish rely on to deal with ammonia.
Understanding water peramiters and how they effect bacteria in your tank is half the battle with keeping fish. Once you get your head around that the rest is just keeping an eye out and catching problems as early as posssible.

You never stop learning in fish keeping!!