Tank From He**.. Help Please!

[Mollygirls]

Hi everyone,

Once again I am having trouble with my tanks.. This one is 30 gallons and holds 6 fish in total various cichlids.. I did have a pleco in there however I have returned it to the lfs as it was sold to me with Ich.. Which leads me to my disaster.. One of my blue demonsi(sp) ended up with ich and unfourtunatly it died.. I did return it as well and in turn they gave me a new pleco and new fish. I have been treating with super ich cure and purchased a new heater that allows me to turn the heat up.. My new pleco seemed okay but as I was looking carefully at the other fish in the tank to see if ich was still present on them I noticed the pleco had a very crooked mishap tail.. Later on I checked on him again and he was floating near the top of the tank.. I instantly thought he was dead but when I touched him he took off to the bottom of the tank and scared me half to death!!!

This morning I woke up to find him floating and he was dead for sure.. Soo I now know not to buy fish from that certain lfs as 3 have died.. I am still treating with ich meds to make sure if the others have ich but its not noticable yet that it doesnt become noticable.. I am concerned at the instructions though.. It says to give 5ml per 10 gallons which would 15 mls.. but its every 48 hours for 3 days.. Then change 25% of the water.. I have done that before the original 2 fish died.. Nothing changed.. I changed the water and waited a day before starting another round of it.. So how often do I have to dose the tank before the ich is gone for good? Or is there something else I should be doing that I am not??

This is my 7 year olds tank and he is getting upset that he is loosing his fish.. Sigh..

Thanks in advance!

edited to add that I know a 30 gallon isnt big enough for these fella's and am already planning to move my tropical community into the 30 gallon and put the cichilids in the 55 gallon..

And will get water stats when hubby gets home.. He tests the tanks..

 

[Mollygirls]

a crib has died tonight.. he has no marks and nothing to tell me what has happened..

I have no idea what is going on now.. The rest seem fine.. Hopefully I dont loose anymore.. sigh

anyone have any idea's???

 

[stevethescot]

is there anything outside of your tank that could be effecting the water such as an air freshner. it is annoying when fish die without a reason and i think majority of people here go through this.

what is your tank temperature sitting before you treated for ich and what is it at now (did you increase the temperature slowly or fast ?

whitespot/ich got a similar problem myself but since im a tad bit confused aswell for treatment with scaleless fish im unsure but have you removed your carbon filter, its wise to do a water change before you medicate as nitrates render your medication less effective. by how much im not sure

48 hours for 3 days ? is that every second day for 6 days ?

 

[Mollygirls]

The tank is set up in my 7 year olds bedroom as these are his fish.. Other then an alarm clock and fish food there is nothing near the tank that could affect anything..

The tank was set at 78 degrees.. It was a preset heater so the temp never changed.. I went out and bought a new heater so I could turn the heat up now it is sitting at 82 degree's.. It was a slow process getting the heat up..

I have no scaleless fish anymore due to taking the first pleco back and the second one dying.. So now I am left with 2 blue demonsi, an electric yellow, an albino and a krib..

I cant remove the carbon from the filter as it is all in one.. I could remove the entire filter so they are only getting airflow? Will that work??

This is soo frustrating as my 7 year old is getting upset everytime one of his fish dies.. He is quite attached to them.. sigh..

Thanks for the help so far

 

[dthoffsett]

I imagine some of the problem with the treatment is that the carbon is absorbing some of the medicine. I'm assuming you have a hob filter on the tank with those all in one carbon filter inserts. The problem with taking it out is that you lose your bacteria, can you take some filter material from one of your other tanks and put it in this tanks filter in place of the insert you have now? That way you remove the carbon but not all of the bene. bacteria.

 

[Mollygirls]

All the filters we have are the all in one.. My hubbies filters let you add carbon or leave it out.. So I will see if I can take one of his and hopefully it will fit..

I have read that you should turn the lights off is this true? I have turned the heat up and told my son he isnt allowed to feed them.. I am worried that he might try and give them too much.. He is still learning how to care for them properly and seems to think they need treats everynight like the cats do..

Thanks for the insight.. I am getting so frustrated that things are going wrong.. I would have liked it better if my tank went to hell rather then my son's.. Poor guy gets really upset every time one of his fish go to fishy heaven.. Sigh..

Hopefully these meds start working soon!!

Thanks again

 

[Purity]

Have you got any Protozin? If not then get some. Treat with it as required and inform us of changes, if any.

~JY

 

[dthoffsett]

All the filters we have are the all in one.. My hubbies filters let you add carbon or leave it out.. So I will see if I can take one of his and hopefully it will fit..

I have read that you should turn the lights off is this true? I have turned the heat up and told my son he isnt allowed to feed them.. I am worried that he might try and give them too much.. He is still learning how to care for them properly and seems to think they need treats everynight like the cats do..

Thanks for the insight.. I am getting so frustrated that things are going wrong.. I would have liked it better if my tank went to hell rather then my son's.. Poor guy gets really upset every time one of his fish go to fishy heaven.. Sigh..

Hopefully these meds start working soon!!

Thanks again

I'm not sure about turning the light off, it might not be a bad idea to lower their stress levels though. Poor kid, he certainly is getting a crash course in life and death.

 

[reflexhunter]

have you tested the water?what are your nitrite,nitrate,and ammonia levels?as far as turing off your lights it seems to calm the fish down some it will help to reduce some of the stress that they are under. hope that helps alittle sorry about your fish.gl

 

[Mollygirls]

Well the good news is that the ich seems to be clearing up.. The filters from hubby's tank didnt fit but I took some stones out of his tank and put it in a filter case without the carbon and stuck it in the filter the best I could. I have been keeping the light out more often then normal and continuing the meds and water changes.. Water change first.. lol..

We keep testing the water and it is fine.. *shrugs*.. It all began with that pleco that was covered in ich.. So now we shall put any new fish in another tank for a couple weeks to make sure it doesnt kill off everyone..

Thanks so much for all the input.. I really appreciate it.. My son is starting to get attached again and wanting to feed them and watch them more then he did when they were sick and dying! Hopefully this is the last of his big lesson in life and death! Thanks again

 

[Super Dude]

I guess it is kinda late but you should quarantine all new purchases. Doing so would have saved you the whole ordeal.