Serious Illness Been Going On For 6 Months

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orangefish

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I have had a problem in my 120L tank for around 6 months now, and have been unable to cure it even through lots of advice on here and from various fish shops, so I'm hoping to get some more advice now. There have been around 10-15 deaths as a result and I fear the death of all of my fish.
The symptoms are:
- Flicking (which is in almost all my fish at the moment but has only recently become an obvious symptom)
- Sitting on the bottom (as the disease worsens in most cases)
- Neon tetra disease
- Swimbladder
- Weight loss (they no longer have the dip underneath their stomach's, it's just from head to tail)
- Nerval problem (will sink to bottom and lie there, and then after a while swim off again normally)
- Red sores on body
- Clamped fins

The treatments that I have already used and haven't worked are:
- Interpet 9 Anti-Internal Bacteria
- eSHa EXIT Anti-Whitespot Treatment (also treats velvet)
- Interpet 13 Swimbladder Treatment
- King British Disease Clear (finrot)
- Sera med Tremazol (tapeworm)

Please keep in mind when advising on medication that I also have around 10 2 month old platy fry in a breeding trap in my tank (some of them are flicking too), so the medication must be safe for them.

I would really appreciate any advice, as I really am running out of options and fear the death of my whole stock eventually. Thank you!
 
Sorry to hear you have lost some of your fish :X

I think the first concern would be the levels of your water. Do you have a liquid test kit such as the API one? Is it possible for you to test the water yourself and post the results here?

There could be many reasons why this is happening, it will make it easier for us and your fish to get this right and testing the levels would be the first step :good:
 
Thanks for the reply.
Well I haven't done a test in a while, but my results at the moment are:
pH 7.8 (this is normal for me)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 50mg/l

Just to say, around 4 months ago my nitrates were 50mg/l, and so I was recommended by the fish shop to lower it using chemicals and denitrifying bacteria etc. as they said this was the stem cause of my problems, which did lower it to around 10mg/l. However, I have since had problems again so I concluded that the nitrates weren't the cause of it.

I also made the change a couple of months ago, as recommended by another fish shop, that the my water change of 40% every 2/3weeks was too regular and could also be a cause, so I cut back to 25% every 2 months- which could be the reason for the high nitrates in the tank. I am due a water change at the moment, but since I have been treating the tank with various medications recently I have been unable to carry it out.

Any more advice would be very helpful, thanks!
 
Thanks for the reply.
Well I haven't done a test in a while, but my results at the moment are:
pH 7.8 (this is normal for me)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 50mg/l

Just to say, around 4 months ago my nitrates were 50mg/l, and so I was recommended by the fish shop to lower it using chemicals and denitrifying bacteria etc. as they said this was the stem cause of my problems, which did lower it to around 10mg/l. However, I have since had problems again so I concluded that the nitrates weren't the cause of it.

I also made the change a couple of months ago, as recommended by another fish shop, that the my water change of 40% every 2/3weeks was too regular and could also be a cause, so I cut back to 25% every 2 months- which could be the reason for the high nitrates in the tank. I am due a water change at the moment, but since I have been treating the tank with various medications recently I have been unable to carry it out.

Any more advice would be very helpful, thanks!

If you have a good read around the forum, you`ll see that a minimum of 30-40% weekly is recommended for water changes. To be completely honest I would expect there to be problems with ammonia or nitrates with water changes as small and as infrequent as yours are.
A lfs is highly likely to give you all sorts of bad advice, they`re known for it and it`s a way of selling further products to you that aren`t really needed. Clean, fresh, dechlorinated water can fix a huge amount of problems. What dates are on your test kit?

I personally would get some activated carbon in the filter to remove the meds and then carry out a 50% wc asap, then another 50% a day later. I know it`s a pain having to do large wc`s but I think this needs to be your starting point.
 
Oh ok, well thank you for the advice.

By the way, I had a platy in a breeding trap in the tank because she seemed ill and was floating all over the place. Her initial symptoms were clamped fins, sitting at the bottom and weight loss, and I didn't think she would survive. Sure enough, 2 days on I have just found her dead floating in the trap, and her scales were sticking out (like a pine cone) and I could see these tiny red rings on the bottom of her tank. The rings could well have been poo, but they approx. 5mm in length in a curled c-shape. Could this just be poo or could it be some type of worm (a fish shop suggested the problem could be tapeworm)?

I have just done a 50% water change on the tank as advised, and will get back into the routine or once a week now. And I do agree that fish shops advise you something in order to get your money. I have heard so many different suggestions from 3 or 4 different shops and they all seem to be the most expensive medications! Thanks again
 
I`m no expert but it does sound to me like the water quality has seriously affected the fishes immune system and following illnesses are to be expected in cases such as this.
You`re by no means the first and you won`t be the last who has trusted advice from your lfs, at least now you know better :good:

Regarding your platy, it sounds to me as though it`s possibly a case of dropsy, difficult to tell when you can`t see the fish and it`s symptoms but have a look at the following link, there`s a few bit on general diseases and treatments in aquariums:
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm#Dropsy
 
Thank you again, and it does sound possible that the water conditions are the cause of these problems. Do you have any advice for getting the nitrates down, as I tried regular water changes before and that didn't seem to work much. I'm going to treat with this Tremazol just to be on the safe side, which requires a 80% water change after use, just so I know that I've covered that too. Do you think that a full dose of Tremazol would be OK with the platy fry? Do you think that if I fix the water problems, the fish will get better or is it a downward spiral from here?

I read about the dropsy link you gave me, but she wasn't bloated as suggested in the symptoms? Do you think those red rings were anything to be worried about? Thanks again!
 
Well I treated the Tremazol and I have not noticed any fish flicking since. However; a couple of days ago I noticed a bit of what looked like skin hanging off my danio, and she was an odd shape around her stomach/side. I left it and thought it may have been a fight or she had caught it on a rock etc. and yesterday there was a massive red sore on her side, and it's got bigger today. By that area she was really disformed in shape, and she is breathing really fast, not eating, and swimming in circles.
Does anyone know what this is or how to treat it before she dies?! Thanks
 
From your description it does sound parasitic (flicking, weight loss etc). Do they ever spit their food out? What does their poo look like (any white, stringy, mucousy poo?).
Doubtful it is the nitrates. A reading of 50 isnt really all that high (some people have 40 coming straight from the tap-and realistically it would need to be in the 100's before any sort of bad effect would be showing in the fish, unless a particularly sensitive species). I would do a waterchange anyway as it is the best place to start with ANY illness.
Dont give up. It can be frustrating but i think you are on a good path with meds for internal parasites. For medication look for one that contains multiple meds-metronidazole, levamisole and praziquentil. You will need medicated food as well as tank treatment (And certain parasites are a real pain to get rid of). But keep at it.
Best of luck!
cheers
 
Thank you very much for your reply. Well I haven't really noticed them spitting out food (occasionally they will but then they will go and retrieve it again- I think it's if it's too big). And I have noticed that their poo is often white and stringy. I have tried the medication Interpet No.9 Anti-Internal Bacteria, but that obviously hasn't worked. What other medication or medicated foods do you recommend for it?

Do you think there is any chance of saving my danio? Her scales now seem to be sticking out, it doesn't look very hopeful to be honest :(

How often do you recommend and how much should I do a water change? Thanks again
 
I do 40-50% water change weekly. With regards to the meds, Waterlife meds seem to be better than the interpet ones but the shops don't tend to stock them. Try doing a google search for waterlife sterazin and you should find some that you can buy online.
 
I do 40-50% water change weekly. With regards to the meds, Waterlife meds seem to be better than the interpet ones but the shops don't tend to stock them. Try doing a google search for waterlife sterazin and you should find some that you can buy online.

Thanks, I just checked it out. Do you think this could cure the problems in my tank? Thanks
 
It should as long as it is a parasitic problem which I think others have said it probably is.
 
Ok, thanks for the advice. I'll give it a shot- I've got nothing to lose!
Do you have any idea on how to treat my danio with the sore on her? Thanks
 
You should check out Fish TB;

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification.html#TB

The disease eats away at the fishes muscle tissue, affecting the fishes nervous system and attacking the immune system. Fish can carry Fish TB for a long time without showing much in the way of symptoms, while other times they die very dramatically shortly after getting it. Because it destroys the fishes immune system the fish can end up dying of other diseases rather than the TB itself (rather like AIDs does with people), which can make it even harder to diagnose (i had personal experience battling with this disease in one of my fish tanks, ended up loosing about 30-50% of my fish to it).
 

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