Tetra's

[koodava]

We've had 12 tetras, 6 black skirted and 6 tiny orange ones in our 10 gallon tank for about 5 months.
When we first got the fish, we noticed one of the black skirted tetras had part of his gills skin ripped off.
It seemed healthy either then that, and we had no problems with them since yesterday.

I did my water change and wanted a change of scenery and removed one decoration and replaced it with another. I soaked the new ornament in the dirty fish water for about 10 minutes while I cleaned the tank. Please correct me if I made any mistakes!!!!

A day later, the fish with the exposed gill, started hiding in one of the ornaments and avoided swimming with the rest of the fish. As I looked closely at him, he had white spots on his tail. Along with 1 more of the skirted tetras. We immediatly euthanized the fish with the exposed gill. The other little orange tetras don't appear to have any spots on them.

I have a bottle of medicine that treats finn rot. And it says to remove the carbon filter. Now is the carbon filter the one that you buy replacements for? Or is it the other filter thing, that they say you never have to remove? i get so confused with this.

And when i treat the fish with the medicine won't the tank get dirty if i take out the filter? Or is that why they say to do a water change after 7 days of treating the fish with the medicine? Can someone explain this to me, even take some pictures to show me what i have to do. I enjoy my tetras and don't want to have to euthanize all them if there is a cure out there!

 

[Curiosity101]

The symptoms you are describing sound like white-spot as opposed to finrot. If you do a quick google for pics of white-spot you might find that is what the fish have.
If it is whitespot then the treatment for fin-rot will do no good and you'll need to pop out and get some white-spot medicine.

What is your exact make and model of filter? Activated carbon can come in several forms, normally as a black filter pad or black chips. It neutralises things such as medication that may be in the tank water, hence why you have to take it out when you're treating the fish for something.

If it is simply a case that they have whitespot then in theory you shouldn't need to euthanise any fish. Normally they recover really well.

What are your tank stats? Ie. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, temp etc etc.
These may be crutial in working out why they developed the disease in the first place.

 

[koodava]

The symptoms you are describing sound like white-spot as opposed to finrot. If you do a quick google for pics of white-spot you might find that is what the fish have.
If it is whitespot then the treatment for fin-rot will do no good and you'll need to pop out and get some white-spot medicine.

What is your exact make and model of filter? Activated carbon can come in several forms, normally as a black filter pad or black chips. It neutralises things such as medication that may be in the tank water, hence why you have to take it out when you're treating the fish for something.

If it is simply a case that they have whitespot then in theory you shouldn't need to euthanise any fish. Normally they recover really well.

What are your tank stats? Ie. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, temp etc etc.
These may be crutial in working out why they developed the disease in the first place.

My filter is an Aqua-Tech 5-15 Power filter.
as for my stats? I have no clue.
As far as I know the ph is really high and the fish tanks in the area don't carry any ph down.
We own a hot tub, and our water is bad in general in this area. If it was the water, shouldn't this have happened 5 months ago? I treat the water with a tap water conditioner and add 1/2 salt with each 1/3 water change. We have a heater and its set in the early 70's. let me know if I am doing this right. Thanks!

 

[Curiosity101]

I can't see the problem being in the tap water to be honest. After 5 months and no casualties I'd have thought they were adjusted to the conditions.

My thought was that it may have been an ammonia spike that brough on the white-spot. Did you google it to find out if it is whitespot?

How often do you do water changes?

Btw I read about your filter, apparently it should have a blue foam layer, and then inside of the 'EZ-Change' is the carbon. And then there is normal filter foam, the normal filter foam is probably white.

 

[koodava]

I can't see the problem being in the tap water to be honest. After 5 months and no casualties I'd have thought they were adjusted to the conditions.

My thought was that it may have been an ammonia spike that brough on the white-spot. Did you google it to find out if it is whitespot?

How often do you do water changes?

Btw I read about your filter, apparently it should have a blue foam layer, and then inside of the 'EZ-Change' is the carbon. And then there is normal filter foam, the normal filter foam is probably white.

Yes that is my filter, and i change the water every week. I'm heading out to get some white spot medicine right now!
Could it be from the new ornament I put in that tank?

 

[Curiosity101]

Doubt it, my money would be on an undetectable ammonia spike. Not sure why you would have had a spike...
Eitherways, if you've caught it early enough then you shouldn't loose any fish.

I'd suggest you buy a liquid test kit whilst you're out n about if you have the money. They're extremely useful and well worth the money as they will last at least a year.

 

[koodava]

Doubt it, my money would be on an undetectable ammonia spike. Not sure why you would have had a spike...
Eitherways, if you've caught it early enough then you shouldn't loose any fish.

I'd suggest you buy a liquid test kit whilst you're out n about if you have the money. They're extremely useful and well worth the money as they will last at least a year.

ok I bought the kit, all levels are good. The only thing I could think of was...we had goldfish that died with a white slime and spots all over them. After they died I cleaned out the tank and added new water and let it cycle with the filter running for about 4 weeks. then we added the tetras only thing different i did was add an ornament from when I had the goldfish is it possible for this parasite to be attached to this ornament and then go after the tetras? I since took it out just be sure.