Sick Fish

[DWhitehead]

I have an aquarium which has suffered a bit lately, with several fish dying. I am left with a guppy, two mollies, seven neon tetras, a congo tetra, a cory and a very sick dwarf neon gourami. The water quality is good.

My betta died covered with what looked like a white fungus, and one molly seems to have a bit of white stuff along the top of its tail. The gourami lived through the cycling period and seems pretty tough, but he's nearing the end. His tail is down to a nub, and under the aquarium lighting he appears to have whitish spots all over the front of his body.

I took him in to the local store so that they could tell me what they thought was wrong with him. The answer: finrot. The man was less sure of whitespot, as that is not so visible in normal light. But I thought finrot tends to be a secondary infection -- I'm not sure that it explains what is afflicting my aquarium. For what it's worth, the two dead x-ray tetras had poor-looking tails at the end.

I'm just finishing an extended treatment of ESHA 2000 and ESHA Spot Stop. The good news is that the remaining fish seem peppy, except the poor gourami who struggles to keep himself upright. The bad news is that I don't see any improvement on any visible symptoms, for example the molly's tail. The guy at the shop suggested Myxazin after looking at my gourami; the instructions say to give it for up to five days or until the symptoms disappear, but the gourami's symptoms don't seem likely to disappear. Perhaps the molly's tail could improve.

So I'm wondering what to do. Sure, I could do the myxazin treatment. My biggest concern is to curtail the epidemic and run a clean aquarium again. I don't want to just remove the gourami (thereby killing him unless the fish store will take him), but I'm wondering if his presence keeps disease in the aquarium. I can keep pumping "medicine" into the water, but I'm not sure it's doing any good. So how do I go about clearing the aquarium of disease?

To forestall any questions: ph 8.2, no ammonia, no nitrite, 40ppm nitrate. 70 liter tank. I read the article somewhere else on this site about "ich", and in preparation for the "spot stop" treatment I raised the temp to 29.

 

[Puffdaddy]

Sounds to me like your problem is over stressed fish and poor water. The fin rot and other symptoms you are describing is likely cause by way to high of a PH for the fish that you are keeping. lower the PH to about 7.0. If you have a hospital tank but the the Gourami in it to treat. If you don't have one this is what you should do. Find a large bowl or a bucket, really anything that will hold at least 1gl (3.78ltr) and use this for a salt bath for the Gourami. To do this ad 1gl of water dissolve 2.5 - 3 tablespoons of aquarium salt (dissolve completely before adding fish). Put the Gourami in the bath for 20-30mins, keep an eye on the fish if it starts to turn belly up take it out. After the bath return the fish back to the main tank then treat the entire tank with a broad spectrum antibiotics for bacteria and fungal diseases.

You must lower the PH to 7.0 (neutral) or a little lower if you want keep a healthy tank for your fish. Lower slowly over a few days. Also I'm truly sorry about your fish and I hate to say it but the Gourami probably won't make it and is now the cause for the secondary symptoms in the tank (it might be best to euthanize the Gourami and focus on the remaining fish, although that is a judgment call you alone will have to make, to end the suffering).

P.S. after using all these meds your tank will likely cycle again (a lot of meds will destroy the bacteria colonies). Keep an eye on your water parameters. GOOD LUCK. If you have more Q's just ask or try the emergency section of the forum

 

[entersandman]

I thought (after reading a lot on here from the people in the know!! defo not me!!) that as long as the PH was constant and didn't go up and down constantly it wasn't to much of an issue if it was 7, 7.5, 8 or whatever??? Please correct me if i'm wrong though!!

 

[Puffdaddy]

That is true your buffering capacity is more important than the actual pH although in this case the high pH is most likely the cause of the problems. A pH of 8.2 is an indication that he also has high kH and gH (hard and alkaline)

Alkalinity (kH) refers to the hardness derived mainly from carbonate and bi-carbonate ions and directly reflects the buffering capacity of water (can be removed by boiling)

Permanent hardness measures ions such as nitrates, sulphates, and chlorides (cannot be removed by boiling)

General hardness (gH) is the sum of both and refers to dissolved concentration of calcium and magnesium ions.
When fish are said to need soft or hard water this refers to gH

soft water means low gH
hard water means high gH

Dwhiteheads fish should be kept and will thrive in soft-neutral slightly acidic water