Sick Fish

[Trillian]

Hello. I've been reading all I can before posting and I've gotten a lot of helpful info but our tank seems to be a bit of a mess at the moment so I thought I'd ask for more specific help.

My husband and I have a 30 gallon tank. He's had it for 15+ years but it spent the last year and a half at a friends house as we moved out of province for a year. We just got it back 2 months ago and are having our first probelms. Although he's had the fish for 15 years or more I'm pretty new to fish owning so I'm trying to learn all I can.

1. Water parameters. nitrates <0.1, PH = 7.4
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms. - Yesterday when I got up I noticed one of our platys and one of our neon tetras had died and our male dalmation molly was upside down on the bottom of the tank. I also ntoiced that the dalmation mollies and the platys have white specks on their tails and fins that I had not noticed before (and I spend a lot of time watching them) and all the tetras look a bit duller and greyer. On the advice of our respected LFS I started treating with Ich-rid (after a 50% water change) and the male dalmation Molley seems to be doing better. He is a bit wobbly at times but he's upright and eating and looks a whole lot better than yesterday. Today I noticed that the mollies now also have white/clear stringy poop and the males lower fins are a bit ragged. The female that was heavily pregnant (though she never had babies) is looking much less pregnant by the day (I guess she's aborting them??)
3. How often you do water changes and how much. ~50% every 4 weeks (+ vaccuming of gavel)
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water- water conditioner to remove chlorine
5. What tank mates are in the tank. Remaining are 2 aquatic frogs, one small algae eater, 3 dalmation mollies, 2 platys, 5 neon tetras, 2 black skirt tetras and two strawberry tetras.
6. Tank size 30 gallons.
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish- we got the frogs and the dalmation mollies 3-4 weeks ago, nothing new since then.

Other - our powerhead for the undergravel filter broke this week and we currently are using an aerration stone while my husband tries to fix the pump which will hopefully be back in the tank later today. While the filter was broken though we were testing the water a lot t make sure it was ok and and it seemed fine.

I adore these little fish and want to do everything I can to help them get through this.

 

[WILDER]

Can we take a look at your others stats in ammonia and nitrite.
Whitespot looks like grains of salt on fish, plus parasites can cause bacterial infections on top.
White stringy poo can mean, constipation, internal parasites and internal bacteria infection.
What do you feed the fish.
I would give them some shelled peas, boil some frozen peas for a few minutes, let cool down, pop out of shell, mush between fingers and add to the tank.

 

[Trillian]

Can we take a look at your others stats in ammonia and nitrite.

Oh whoops I made a boo boo in my earlier post. I said Nitrates were < 0.1 but I meant Nitrites. Sorry. I don't know the other stats though as those are the only two test kits we have. We were told those were the only two that really needed monitoring.

The spots do look like salt. At first I thought they were little air bubbles.

Peas? Really? Wow I've never heard of that before. Is that in case of constipation? I'll definatley give it a go. I think we may even have some in our freezer.

 

[WILDER]

Have you moved the frogs as they don't tolerate parasite meds.
Ammonia and nitrate test kits are very important as that the biggest killer of fish.

Yes peas are very good for fish and i feed mine them twice a week keeps them going to the toilet, so it daphnia frozen, a water flea which helps the fish digest it food.

 

[Trillian]

I didn't know that about the frogs, they are now in a separate tank and seem to be doing well.

I can get a test kit for ammonia and nitrate but since we changed tha water yesterday I don't think there will be much to report at this time

I tried the peas and none of my fish would touch them. They nibbled at them, spit them out, then ignored them. I can try the daphnia next time I'm at the fish store.

Oh I didn't answer your question about food. They get fish flakes and bloodworms (meant for the frogs but all the fish eat them too)

 

[WILDER]

Need a better diet, to much protein there which can lead to swim bladder and constipation problems, need more frozen foods and veg in there diet.

 

[Trillian]

Oh wow I never knew that. So other than the peas (which I'll keep trying) what other foods should I be giving them??

 

[WILDER]

Frozen foods like daphnia which is very good for digesting the fishies food, brimestrimp, microworms, tubilex worms, there is a frozen pack you can buy that has five different frozen foods in it.
Plus veg like broc,cabbage,sproats,spinach,lettuce,cucumba,grated carrot but have to boil for a few minutes, and most fish like algae tablets.

 

[Trillian]

Oh I forgot to mention I do actually give them algae tablets already, but I will definately try adding some of the other foods you mentioned. Thanks so much for your help!!

The water treatment seems to be going well though we did unfortunately lose another two tetras. We got our filter up and running again and there are definately fewer spots on my fish. My male molly is swimming much steadier and though I'm not sure if he'll survive, it looks a lot more promising.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.

 

[Trillian]

Well sadly we lost all three mollies in the last few days, the male I was kind of expecting the but the females were really sudden. They looked great and when I checked on them half an hour later they were gone. One of the platys now looks really skinny so I'm not sure if he's going to be next.

As for feeding they won't touch anything I give them but the fish flakes and bloodworms. I keep trying though. I'm so sad and stressed over our tank right now, I'm not sure what to do.

Today is the last day for our ich treatment (haven't seen any spots in past three days). What is my next step? Wait a few days and do a partial water change? When would it be safe to put the frogs back in? When would it be safe to buy more fish (I don't want to go through this again or harm any new fish) or should I even buy more fish. If I do get more fish, should I add anything to the tank when I introduce them (I know about quarantine).

 

[WILDER]

How long have the fish been going thin, is it due to not eating.
Once fish stop eating not good news, parasites can cause bacterial problems on top.

 

[Trillian]

All the fish are eating really well (the flakes and the bloodworms only though), even the skinny one. Last week he looked a lot plumper so the weight loss has just been recent, and he's the only one who went thin.

Today was my last ich treatment, should I try treating for internal parasites as well?

 

[WILDER]

Being thin can be internal parasites or fish tb, check the amus of the fish to see if it looks red and inflamed, or enlarged, and what colour is the poo when he goes to the toilet.

 

[Trillian]

There is no redness or swelling and poops look the normal brownish colour. (the one fish I had last week with white stringy poops passed away)