Seems To Be A Problem

I read the article and it definatly seems possible however I have owned none of the fish that it claims get infected
 
The bala going upside down is common for balas when stressed, esepcially if they get skittish. I have had balas knock themselves out while charging around the tank and tend to lose their ability to stay stable.

This soon clears up though.

It does sound to me like the first bala just had a massive attack of the nerves and went flying around and has probably brained itself on the tank or an ornament. They are an extremely skittish fish and the smaller the tank the worse they are. Mine are i a 6x2x2 and still try and get out through the ends, though this was far worse when they were in a 72x18x18.

Doesn't particularly sound like there is anything masively wrong with the fish, just balas being very skittish, as is their nature.

If they are showing no real signs of parasite infection (as in visible infestation) I would be loathe to treat for it. Plus, if it was a parasite I would expect the Clowns to get it long before any of the others.

One thing I did find that helps balaas stop being so skittish is to get more. Now my shoal is 8 strong they are far less skittish, though still prone to trying to jump out through the top or sides of the tank.
 
This may be true but does not explain the fact that none of the fish are eating including the usually always hungry oscar
 
And he has lost a few fish over time as well.
Need to look at your water with all the fish not eating, something not right.
Will have to start from the beginning and elimate everything to get to the cause.
Are you sure there no symtoms apart from the not eating.
Do some test on your tap water.
Also do you feed live foods before they stopped eating.
The clown loaches any of them look thin and havent really grown.
 
Well the clown loaches havent grown significantly in a while. But they are slow growing fish anyhow. I never feed live foods to stay away from diseases. When i cleaned the tank i did take out a lot of the rocks I had in there because they had a lot of algae on them. I dont know if that could have done anything. Ill test the tap water tommorow. I heard a rumor earlierin the week befroe this happened that the town drained the rust through the pipes and it might have been in the water.
 
If the fish were fine up till they cleaned the pipes out I would consider it yes.
I would do some water changes and run black carbon.
 
this is horrible, i did a 60% water change and added black carbon to my filter. I dont understand I lost another bala after it and my clown loach goes crazy digging his nose into the gravel. He was breathing extremely hard and spazing out. He was actusally shaking. Something is definatly wrong.
 
I dont think its after a water change because i think its evident that theres something wrong with the fish internally and they have been acting strange even when i dont change the water. I have been doing water changes weekly since i got the tank and have used AquaPlus the whole time so to be honest I dont think it is that.
 
To be honest iI think I would add a parasite med like clout, same as you say something not right if this is happening not just after a water change.

As to be honest don't think you have anything to lose, as the fish are going one by one.
Clout
Manufacturer: Aquarium Products
A very strong and effective medication for parasitic and protozoan infestations. Treats: Ich, Hydra, leeches, Planaria, Epistylis, Trichodina, Hexamita,Tetrahy-mena, body fungus, digenetic flukes, parasitic copepods, monogenetic flukes and anchor worms
 
I would suspect the water, check out this link for a club a few hours south of me; http://www.champaignfish.com/

BREAKPOINT ALERT For the Champaign - Urbana area: The American Water Co. will be performing breakpoint chlorination starting on September 26th and going through October 22nd. This means that there will be an extremely high chlorine content in the water from now until Oct 22nd and most likely even the following week. We all need to be extra careful of how we treat water and do our water changes during this time. A larger dose of dechlorinator will need to be used during this time if you do any water changes or topping off of tanks.

If they have been doing any sort of maintenance on your water system this is where I would start. While Aquasafe is an excellent product, if you aren't dosing enough for the additives present in your water supply it can affect your fish. The way your fish behaved after the 60% water change makes me strongly suspect the water.

My water supply will vary in the amount of chlorine, chloramine, & buffers that are added depending on the season and recent weather conditions. During the summer when there is fair weather I can dechlor with straight sodium thiosulfate, as long as there hasn't been a strong storm that churns up Lake Michigan. During foul weather, and for most of the winter I treat my water with Prime, often at double or more the dose. I also try to plan my water changes around the weather, though this is often impossible with fry tanks that need daily water changes.

Your water company's main concern is providing water that is safe for human consumption; they could care less about the aquarist. This is another thing that must be considered & worked around when keeping fish.
 
thats a fish keepers worst nightmare....get your tank right and suddenly your tap water changes.......


It does suck, during really bad weather the stuff coming out of my faucet smells like a swimming pool. I can usually tell by the smell when they have jacked up the chlorine & chloramine, I make a habit of running the water in the sink for a little bit before filling tanks.
 
Okay thanks guys appreciate the help, im going to get clout tommorow morning and treat the tank. Yea its very possible it was the water too. Im not sure at this point. But I had never thought of that when changing water. Man they dont make it easy on us aquarists
 
The water company likes to keep you on your toes, just to test how good an aquarist you really are. :lol:

In all actuality they could care less about people who keep fish. As long as no humans are getting sick, and they have decent water pressure their job is done.

Municipal water companies take test readings many times daily. It would be nice in today's age of computers if they could post test results on their web page. Large cities could easily do this, probably at the push of a button once it's set up.
 

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