Recurrent disease

[sebvad]

I've got a 60 gallon hex tank, freshwater (angels, neons, swords) that's been established for 1.5 years. The problem is, *every* time i add new fish, they all break out in ich and fin rot, and die (I've even killed 2 plecos, and that's never happened!). Every time, every fish - neons, swords, angels, mollys, gouramis, plecos, snails, silver dollars..). Treatment keeps the established fish from catching it, but i'm literally batting a thousand (perhaps striking out is more appropriate) with new additions. The tanks at about 86 F. Any ideas as to what I can do to minimize this in the future are greatly apprecaited. I've had fish for decades, this is by far the roughest go of things I've ever had. We do live in a new state, perhaps there's something inherent with the water (it's well water, very low in nitrates, neutral pH, no ammonia, etc)...

 

[Joviella]

How many fish do you currently have in your tank?

 

[Flippin'thing bit me eye]

Sounds like a touch of old tank syndrome, check this article

http/www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html

 

[sebvad]

I currently have 10 fish, 3 small-medium angels, 1 neon, 5 swords (4 newly added), one gourami, one small cory cat.

All my chemical levels are spot on - i test them regularly. I even have access to an ICP (inductively coupled plasma - I'm a chemist) and have run elemental metal levels, all are good. I've long since taken the carbon filter out (found i had more probelms with the carbon in than w/o), and have just this week started u sing slime coat enhancers (have never used them in the past - guess i always thought them to be more marketing than anything..i'm trying more out of desparation than anything!)

 

[wetwetwet]

Sorry to hear you're having such a tough time of it mate

Can you give some more info on your water change and maintenance schedule? and actual parameters?

If you are happy with the water quality and you seem to know what your talking about - more facilities than most of us - still don't what an ICP is then maybe it could be related to decor affecting water quality therefor stressing the fish and making them more susceptable to disease....

what do you feed them?

Sorry about the q's but it may help...

btw welcome to the forums



www

 

[sebvad]

I'm feeding them standard flaked food, nothing special. The decor is small pebble groundcover, fairly large piece of driftwood (fish store purchased, not taken from the wild), approx 6 pieces of lava rock, 2 pieces of petrified wood, and two plastic plants. Oh yeah, my daughter just had to have one of those gawdy pink crab fixtures that sits on the pebble floor.

Regarding changing schedule, i do approx 15% every month; we'r eon well water so i don't use any chlorine or chloramine neutralizers, and have only just this week started using slime coat enhancer.

I was under the impression that ich didn't thrive very well at higher temperatures. If i'm waiting 2-4 months between new fish additions, and ich shows up every time, wouldn't that suggest that it's being introduced along with the fish, and not inherant to my tank?

 

[The-Wolf]

any fish that has had (and cured of) ich, will now be a carrier of the disease.

I'm sorry you are having problems, but to the forums.

 

[CathyG]

That is a high temperature which will inevitably shorten the lifespan of your fish, and I would also recommend you do a 15-20% water change a week.

That said, you have kept fish for years...I am wondering, have you asked the stores where you buy new fish what their water parameters are? Maybe you need to allow more time for your new fish to acclimatise to the well water, and the temperature. I also wonder about Old Tank Syndrome...

Is your tank setup 18 months old? To illustrate:

I usually change about 20% a week, but let us say 15% for comparison (since this is the volume you change).

If I changed 15% of my 220 litre (47 UK gallons) each week (which equates to 33 litres or 7 UK gallons) in an eighteen month period I would have changed 2,574 litres, or 572 imperial gallons. At a rate of 15% a month, that comes down to 594 litres over eighteen months (or 132 imperial gallons). Just a thought...