They're Dropping Like Flies - Help

[JoanneH]

Hi,
Been having probs for a week now if any of you have read my post earlier this week??
Well more bad news, 1 glowlight has died, the other 5 have bad fin rot. I had to put the blk phantom to sleep as he had deteriorated further, bulging eyes, red lines on his body and the start of fin rot. 1 gourami , who looked fine up to an hour ago, is now at the bottom of the tank laying at an angle, so looks like he's a gonna, plus most of the platies havesome sign of finrot, but just mild at the moment. am treating the tank with myxazin (last day 2moro). amonia still up after probs of last week (see my posts)
amonia 0 - 0.25, so mayb a little improved. Nitrites - 0, nitrates 10 - 25. Still doing small daily water changes. Had long chat with good lfs who say I am doing everything I can. Very distressing
Gourami been swimming around again, but looks paler.

 

[WILDER]

Bad bacteria infection in your tank, i would try and get a stronger med like this one as it sounds like the other one isn't doing much.

http/www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/treat2.htm

 

[JoanneH]

Thanks wilder, I will go to my fav lfs 20 miles away 2day to see if I can get some. I am going to see if ican afford a hospital tank setup, i have read the pinned post onthis, it says around a 10 gallon tank. It also says to just run this when you need it, this would be better for me as I havent really got the space to keep it out allthe time.
Can only see 4 glowlights this morning, so I think another has died inthe night. the gourami seems ok, he has fed well this morning.
thanks.

Hi again - I've got a number of the questions answered by the lfs, I'm off to buy a hospital tank this afternoon, fluval uno 500, 37 litre tank. I'm gonna strip down my main tank next weekend, transfer all the fish to the hospital tank, and start again with whatever of the fish survive this infection plus new additions in time. Thanks for your help, I'll probably be asking for more advice before too long!

 

[voo]

If you do start again make sure you use the same filter otherwise your tank will start to cycle and you'll have ammonia/nitrite problems to deal with as well.

 

[JoanneH]

This is my plan, please tell me what you think -
I'm putting a piece of the new filter media inside my existing filter today to kick start it with bacteria.

Next weekend I am gonna transfer water from my main tank to the hosp tank plus the filter media of course and all my fish temporarily, i realise that I will have to watch out carefully for amonia as the sponge will not be fully mature.

I am then gonna empty my main tank, put the filter in a bucket of tank water and keep it running.
I shall remove all the sand and replace it with new. I shall do the same with the plants. i shall boil the bogwood and wash out the tank with diluted bleach solution and rinse out well.

I shall then re-fill the main tank, re-plant it and put the filter back and monitor the water carefully. When the readings are ok I shall return the fish that are looking well and keep the remainder in the hosp tank until they are recovered.

Once all the fish are back in the main tank i shall pack the hosp tank away as i don't really have room for it to stay out (I will steralise everything)
I will keep a piece of media in the main tanks filter to use if I need to repeat this process another time (I'm sure I will!)
How does that sound? I have been given lots of advice today by my lfs who are brilliant, but any additional tips would be welcomed. Thanks.

 

[JoanneH]

Bad bacteria infection in your tank, i would try and get a stronger med like this one as it sounds like the other one isn't doing much.

http/www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/treat2.htm
[/quote

I've had a good look at their website, as far as i can work out, myxazin is the only med they do that covers finrot etc, it just comes in different concentrates depending on what size tank you have, the bigger bottles are better value for money, but are more concentrated and you have to adjust the dosage accordingly.
Thanks tho for the info.

 

[WILDER]

All the tank stuff sounds fine to me.
I use this but it will wipe the bacteria colony out in your filter.
http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...bb88ecadf913bd8

http/www.jbl.de/uk/aqua/uk_10032.html

 

[JoanneH]

Do you mean to use in the hosp tank? What happens then when the good bacteria gets wiped out and the fish are still in the tank, don't they suffer from raised amonia levels then?

 

[WILDER]

I used it a few weeks ago mine were fine did the 50% water change, added the black carbon for two days, then took some sponges out of goldfish tank and the tank water quality was back to normal.
Leave that med it will just put you back to square one again, carry on with the myxazin and sorry you might have to be prepared to lose some, it that or cycling the tank again and losses again, you are really in a no win situation as that myxazin might not be strong enough to clear the bacteria infecion up, as they are not strong med, a good strong med like antibiotics are meant to destroy the bacteria in the filter.

One company advised someone to use the double dose, i would contact waterlife and tell them what going on and ask if it possible to add a stronger amount of med to the tank like a double dose.

 

[JoanneH]

Hopefully next weekend when I start the hosp tank i will have a few more options, and even if its too late this time, it will be helpful another time and for quarantining new fish in the future.
How long before the water quality will be back to normal when i've stripped out my main tank, bearing in mind I will keep my original filter going in a bucket while I sort it all out?

 

[WILDER]

Would need to look at stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate to answer that question, yes a quarantine tank is the way to go, alot of us have to learn the hard way, most of us have been in your situation, and you lose fish, learn by it and then don't have to many losses anymore.
It will get better, the more you learn the happier the fish, good luck.

Don't know if you have read this.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=128869

 

[JoanneH]

Yes, thanks, i read that this morning, thats what made me decide to go out and get one, couldn't really afford it this month, but good old plastic helped out!!

The reason I ask how long it would take is because I shall be starting from scratch except for the filter. New sand, plants, water, it will be a busy day, but worth it to rid the main tank of any infection. Because i'm using the same filter, will the water be ok straight away do you think?

 

[WILDER]

I would run your filter in a bucket of tank water for two days but add some flakes to keep the bacteria alive,and also the heater as if it goes cold you will lose some benefical bacteria, i wouldn't bother saving any of the tank water as it will be deseased, fill it with fresh, then after two days put the filter back in, but keep the bacteria alive by adding some flake food, good luck.

 

[JoanneH]

Hi ,
I wasn't planning on keeping any of the old water, except to fill my hospital tank with where the fish will be going.
Will it not be ok to put the filter back into the main tank straight away, why would you leave it in a bucket for two days? Sorry to ask so many questions.

By the way, another glowlight has died today, the last 3 are looking very sick. Only 1 platy seems to be mildly affected, 3 of the barbs have mild signs of finrot, the corys appear fine as does the bristlenose, the male gourami isn't his usual self, resting at the bottom quite a lot but is still feeding, the female is ok. On the good side my water stats are back to good - Amonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, Nitrates 10 - 25, so that's good news I suppose.

 

[WILDER]

Thinking that the new clean tank water might knock your bacteria colony, but could be wrong, never had to do it your way.