Poorly Fish

[LauraB]

Hey all,

I have had a situation with my cold water aquarium (i dont know if this is relevant for a tropical fish forum, but i amd desperate) for about 1 year now i have tried everything to resolve it. But nothing is working.

I also have a tropical aquarium which is completly healthy.

What is happenning is that one of my gold fish gets white fur over him once every two weeks, i change the water and he is fine again, but recently it is getting more and more frequent.

What i have tried... 1, gravel cleaning and removing older silk ornaments.
2, 50% water change
3, smaller water changes of a 3rd.
4, anti slime and velvet.
5, internal bacteria treatment.
6, waterlife, white spot and fungus treatment.
(all treatments spread out over the course of the year and have realised it is most likely the water)
7, tested water. Everything fine but notice high acidity with the ph test after the water has been in the aquarium a week which is realy confusing me, as when i tested the water from the tap it was perfecto after leaving it sat for 30minutes before testing.

I have a juwel aquarium with inbuilt internal filter, it is working fine. And the only other thing i can think of is the gravel which is amethyst stones ?

Please help, i cleaned them out a 3rd water change 2 days ago and he has got it again today it is getting more and more frequent but the only thing that works is changing the water.

thank you for you time reading this.

Laura B.

 

[LauraB]

Hey all,

I have had a situation with my cold water aquarium (i dont know if this is relevant for a tropical fish forum, but i amd desperate) for about 1 year now i have tried everything to resolve it. But nothing is working.

I also have a tropical aquarium which is completly healthy.

What is happenning is that one of my gold fish gets white fur over him once every two weeks, i change the water and he is fine again, but recently it is getting more and more frequent.

What i have tried... 1, gravel cleaning and removing older silk ornaments.
2, 50% water change
3, smaller water changes of a 3rd.
4, anti slime and velvet.
5, internal bacteria treatment.
6, waterlife, white spot and fungus treatment.
(all treatments spread out over the course of the year and have realised it is most likely the water)
7, tested water. Everything fine but notice high acidity with the ph test after the water has been in the aquarium a week which is realy confusing me, as when i tested the water from the tap it was perfecto after leaving it sat for 30minutes before testing.

I have a juwel aquarium with inbuilt internal filter, it is working fine. And the only other thing i can think of is the gravel which is amethyst stones ?

Please help, i cleaned them out a 3rd water change 2 days ago and he has got it again today it is getting more and more frequent but the only thing that works is changing the water.

thank you for you time reading this.

Laura B.

I have just done a nitrate test and seen it is high about 75 on the scale dark orange in coulour nearly red on the test. and the ph is 5 yellow in colour on the test, i also have planarium (spelt wrong) hairlike worms i see them whenever i clean the aquarium but i have been told they are just an indicator of a problem not the cause, Nitrite 0 and ammonia 0.


As i have had no quick responses i am going ahead with a 30 percent water change and gravel clean now i hope someone can help, i dont know what to do.

 

[WILDER]

Sounds like columnaris if the fungus is like cotton wool.
Myxazin by waterlife and pimafix.
Don't add med till you no what you are treating for it can do more harm than good.

How many gallons is the tank.
How many fish and which type.
What filter are you using besides the juwel powerhead.

Do you preform a gravel vac once a week.
When did you last squeeze a filter sponge in old tank water.

 

[grumpysteve]

water change is a good idea, get the nitrate levels down to below 40ppm over the next couple of days (preferably lower, but not too quickly as the fish may get stressed from sudden changes in water quality). i'd suggest you're probably over feeding them, or the tank is over stocked. hence the high nitrate levels and planaria. feed the fish just enough, once a day for a few weeks and see how it goes. or starve them alternating days. try and re-home enough so your not over stocked

as for the pH issue, try filling a tub with tap water and leaving it at least 24 hours before testing it. if not fill a tub with tap water and put some gravel in there too, leave for 24 hours and test it. try this with all your decor and you'll be able to find out whats causing the pH drop. i have a similar problem which means when i do a water change i have to fill a tub with the water i'm going to put into the tank, and leave it overnight with a heater. mine rises to around 8. unless you've got particularly delicate fish you shouldn't worry too much as they don't know what pH the water should be. just try not to let the fluctuations in pH happen in the tank if possible

 

[LauraB]

Thank you to both of you!

Yes i gravel clean once a week i do notive amethyst dust where the stones has been crushed from gravel cleaning leaving a fine heavy amethyst powder which wont suck up the siphon,

I think you are both right, i must over feed them. I alternate food, i find with goldfish they are always so hungry i alternate between freze dried food and flakes and fish sticks, and the cory has catfish pellets and i think that is where i go wrong, as the goldfish eat them before the cory has a chance to find any so i tend to drop a load in to confuse the goldfish and they disapear i assume they get eaten but there is a corner of the aquarium i cant reach easily with the siphon because it is too small it is possible food gets stuck there.

I have 3 fish one pepper cory catfish, one 3 inch shubunkin and one 6 inch comet gold fish, at present they are in a 2ft aquarium which is 12 gallons, (i did used to have 2 cory's and 2 comets), but it is the old putting the fish in before it cycled story and not knowing about that process at the time.

There is also an air stone in there nearish the outflow of the filter could this be stopping the filter perhaps working properly? The filter itself is a juwel internal filter thing that is siliconed inside the aquarium (that is the only way i know how to describe it ).

What size aquarium do you think i should give these 3 fish? There will be a 24 gallon spare in about 6 weeks when the occupants of that aquarium are upgrading to an 86 gallon which is cycling at present.

I think the leaving the bucket out every time with different objects in is a good idea and also testing it after 24 hours. I will do that.

I wash their filter media in their old water but not inside the aquarium but in a bucket when i do a water change

Thank you for your help, i was panicking a bit when i wrote that messgae they are just such lovely fish i do not want to see them come to any harm they are so friendly.

All the best, Laura B

 

[WILDER]

At least a 30 gallon for your 3 fish.
60 gallon filter as goldfish are massive waste producers.

How are the fish today.

 

[LauraB]

The fish were fine for one day with lower nitrates and now they are high again. so i did a small water chang and took some gravel out to be tested. i will test it this evening.

I wont be able to get a 30 gallon , i have had them for 3 years i dont know if i can part with them but maybe i should, the only thing is that i dont think anyone else will want them, as one has always had a lump above its eye and the other has always had a wonky mouth, i felt sorry for them, that is why i got them 3 years ago at the start of my hobby.

Everytime this happens one gets white fur and the other sits on the gravel looking droopy and the cat fish goes a bit crazy swimming up and down. i left it once before overnight and nearly lost the one that gets fur. but did a 50 percent water change and he they all recovered and were fine for 3 weeks, the problem is getting more and more frequent, and i am more and more frequently changing their water because of it

The funny thing is they had no problems in a smaller aquarium i had for 2 years and then they go up in size a little and then all these problems, i did not used to clean the gravel when they were in the old tiny aquarium.And i never had one single problem. I am even wondering if Juwel filters are not as good as they claim to be, as if the gravel comes out as not the cause of the nitrate spike then i think it must be the filter itself that is rubbish but as they siliconed it in the aquarium i will have to get a new aquarium rather than just a filter.


Also dont forget i have a tropical aquarium with a 11 inch plec and 12 other small fish in the 24 gallon (they are upgrading to 86 gallon dont worry) so they are also over crowded more so than the goldfish and i dont have the same problems that i have with the goldfish aquarium. I think that is what is confusing me, as i have one that is fine and one that isnt so i dont think it can be the water. The only thing that has changed is the gravel and the aquarium itself.

we will see after the test what the results say. Thank you for you time.

Laura B

 

[Davo86]

Hi there

Whilst you are waiting for the 24G to become free, I would do the following;

Remove the gravel completely and keep the tank as a bare bottom setup - This will allow you to see if you are overfeeding and will also remove any toxic material that has built up over time.

Remove any artificial plants or ornaments that catch or get clogged in debri, This type of object will limit the effectiveness of the filter.
However keep one or two pieces of bogwood or debri free ornaments in the tank where the fish can still feel secure.

Keep the airstone running, this will be helping, The more flow in the aquarium the better,

The best way to do this is to drain half of the water off into buckets, put the fish temporarily in a bucket,
Remove the rest of the water, gravel and debri catching ornaments, (no need to touch the filter)

Dechlorinate the new water and half fill the tank

Add most of the 50% mature water back to the tank, poured through a strainer of some kind (if possible) may help to remove any planaria or debri in the water,

Reintroduce the fish and top up with the last of the mature water

 

[WILDER]

Also I would buy another filter to help cope with the goldfish waste.

Did you add any meds to the tank.

 

[LauraB]

thanks you two, i am sorry it has taken so long for me to reply.

Update...

I did a test with a bucket of their water a bucket of tap water and a bucket of tap water with the gravel in. the results were that there water had high levels from the test kits and the tap water was fine heatly on all tests and the gravel with tap water was also high on the tests

So i came to the conclusion it was the amethyst gravel and removed the lot, i kept the fish in there they did not mind i did it slowly anyway as i have M.E so eventualy the gravel was out and they now have no substrate and a mangrove root ornament and log with airstone.

I did a small water change 3 days later and since then (touch wood) the planaria have nearly diaspeared i have only seen one, and that was 5 days ago, and my fish has not had any more fungus they are so much more active too

I do think that it is a good idea to get an extra filter i will be doing that as soon as possible.

Touch wood again that my 86 gallon aquarium is cycled with one fish moving in tomorrow and hopefully the 24 will be available january

There was a lot of debris in the gravel even though i siphon it the glass botom is actualy very good for seeing how much food they eat, i noticed after i fed them most of the flakes fell to the ground, although 1 minute later they had disapeared hehe.

The only problem i have now is some (like a couple of pinches) like amethyst dust that is too heavy to be siphoned i keep tring to scoop it out with no luck, i shall find a way.

Thank you for your help

Laura B

 

[WILDER]

Thanks for the update.
Hopefully someone else can answer your dust problem.