Tons Of Problems

[petitelupin]

Alright so here's the deal.

my tank (a 10 gal) apparently has something wrong with it..cant for the life of me figure it out

ammonia = 0, been that way for like a week now.
nitrites = 0
nitrates = unknown (no test)
pH = 7
temp = 78 F

i HAD 4 neons, a trio of guppies, fry and a honey gourami...
im down to 1 neon and one gourami, and all the fry

i dont understand what happened..the pregnant guppy had white splotches, gave her salt bath but she couldnt fight it off aparently..i believe the neons died from me administering meds to the tank.
Someone HELP ME!
i dont understand how all the fry are still alive and the gouami is fine but everything else is gone...even my shrimp is still kickin!

I just bought a 2 gal mini-hospital tank with a filter and overhead lighting...how do i make sure that tank is safe, i cut a piece of filter from my main setup and let it float in the small tank but will that transfer any disease?? how do i figure out if my main tank is ok, and what should i do to ensure the remaining two fish and fry will live? i did a 50% water change earlier today and added dechlorinator

this is all infuriating!

PLEASE RESPOND ASAP! THANKS

 

[Tolak]

Please fill out any missing areas as much as possible to help us help you;

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

White splotches could be many things, tough call without a photo. There are few things a salt bath will help with. What meds did you use, if anything would be sensitive to meds it would be inverts like shrimp?

How long has this tank been cycled and running? Most all neon tetras are wild caught, quite sensitive, and can be a difficult fish to acclimate, they may be unrelated to the problem.

 

[petitelupin]

Please fill out any missing areas as much as possible to help us help you;

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):

White splotches could be many things, tough call without a photo. There are few things a salt bath will help with. What meds did you use, if anything would be sensitive to meds it would be inverts like shrimp?

How long has this tank been cycled and running? Most all neon tetras are wild caught, quite sensitive, and can be a difficult fish to acclimate, they may be unrelated to the problem.

Tank size: 10 gal
pH: 7
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: not sure
kH: ?
gH: ?
tank temp: 78 F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): The guppies were the ones mainly targetted. all three had ragged tails, and white cotton-like something on their mouths..they swam very oddly..kinda like their necks were stuck? and one of the female had three or four bleachey type spots on her back. I suspect Columnaris is the culprit, but i dont know how to treat it.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 25% or more every 3rd day, i did a 50% today just because of all the problems i've been having

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: meds

Tank inhabitants: (was) 4 neons, 3 guppies, honey gourami, shrimp (now) 1 neon, gourami, guppy fry and shrimp

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals: meds

Digital photo (include if possible): (no camera)

I removed the shrimp for 24 hours after administering the meds (quICK cure and Parasite Clear)
i did the fish-in cycling with the gourami and a couple tetras, ammonia and nitrite have been at zero for a week. So i went to get trio of guppies and a female dropped fry that night! im astounded that all the babies are ok...do you think its columnaris?

 

[Tolak]

Larger white areas, especially on the back or towards the mouth are usually columnaris. The two meds you used are mainly parasite meds, columnaris is a bacterial disease.

If it is mainly the guppys that are affected, and they are new purchases, they may have already been exposed and had the beginnings of the disease when they were purchased. Stress lowers immunity, being netted, bagged, and acclimated to a new tank can cause stress. Water changes lowers the amount of water borne bacteria, and is the best preventative medication there is.

As far as medications, Maracyn & Maracyn II are commonly available in the US. This is a good place to start if you find need to treat the remaining fish. Be aware that fry and inverts often are sensitive to the full dose, they might do better dosing at half the rate.

Also, their instructions state to use for 5 days. Remed daily for 10 days with a 50% water change daily if you choose to use these meds.

Personally I would keep up on the water changes & observe for now.

 

[petitelupin]

Larger white areas, especially on the back or towards the mouth are usually columnaris. The two meds you used are mainly parasite meds, columnaris is a bacterial disease.

If it is mainly the guppys that are affected, and they are new purchases, they may have already been exposed and had the beginnings of the disease when they were purchased. Stress lowers immunity, being netted, bagged, and acclimated to a new tank can cause stress. Water changes lowers the amount of water borne bacteria, and is the best preventative medication there is.

As far as medications, Maracyn & Maracyn II are commonly available in the US. This is a good place to start if you find need to treat the remaining fish. Be aware that fry and inverts often are sensitive to the full dose, they might do better dosing at half the rate.

Also, their instructions state to use for 5 days. Remed daily for 10 days with a 50% water change daily if you choose to use these meds.

Personally I would keep up on the water changes & observe for now.

So Maracyn and Maracyn 2 are for bacteria?? I saw them at petsmart, are they expensive??
like i said, i have the 2 gallon small tank which is not heated..and i read that Columnus thrives in higher temperatures so i figured i should move the two remaining fish into that QT tank? I'll keep the fry in their breeder tank and put that in there aswell...

Should i just turn the heater off in the main tank and do a 50% water change? i should be able to get the meds tomorrow, the petsmart (unfortunatly the only lfs around here) is 45 mins away. what about the filter? is it infected with the disease aswell? should i clean it off or will that ruin my cycling bacteria?

sorry for all the questions, i normally have great quality fish at home (Chicago) and I've never had a disease break out ever! (I had an african chiclid tank for 3 years with no problems)

 

[Tolak]

As I recall they aren't too expensive, small box is under $10 I believe. This is the sort of thing PetSmart would carry.

The cooler temp is the way to go with any bacterial problem. There are two lines of though in regards to nitrifying bacteria in filter media and a bacterial problem. The first is that due to biological exclusion the nitrifying bacteria give no place for any disease causing bacteria to thrive, more or less forcing them to find a more suitable place to exist. The second is that any small amount of water, even a drop, can transfer bacteria, and cause a problem with cross infection.

Having plenty of cycled filters I go by the second. If you have access to cycled media that is not part of your tank it is probably best to toss or really clean the filter media in chlorinated water. If you don't have access to more cycled media the first choice would be an option.

Do be aware that we have a list of media donors, someone may be near you, or near enough to you to ship media pretty cheaply; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631

 

[petitelupin]

As I recall they aren't too expensive, small box is under $10 I believe. This is the sort of thing PetSmart would carry.

The cooler temp is the way to go with any bacterial problem. There are two lines of though in regards to nitrifying bacteria in filter media and a bacterial problem. The first is that due to biological exclusion the nitrifying bacteria give no place for any disease causing bacteria to thrive, more or less forcing them to find a more suitable place to exist. The second is that any small amount of water, even a drop, can transfer bacteria, and cause a problem with cross infection.

Having plenty of cycled filters I go by the second. If you have access to cycled media that is not part of your tank it is probably best to toss or really clean the filter media in chlorinated water. If you don't have access to more cycled media the first choice would be an option.

Do be aware that we have a list of media donors, someone may be near you, or near enough to you to ship media pretty cheaply; [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631[/URL]

Ok..so i should basically just clean the media REALLY well..will i have to repeat the whole cycling again?
because im not so sure how long the fish will be ok in the 2 gallon because the babies will be growing..my future roommate has a fish tank with goldfish in it and she has a filter, i could ask her to give me some media but then do i just cut out a chuck and put it on my clean filter??

 

[petitelupin]

so i bought maracyn two because Columnus is a gram negitive bacteria, and maracyn two gets rid of gram neg. any more advice? im getting filter media from my roommate once the bacteria clears up and the fry are in the QT 2 gal

 

[petitelupin]

everything seems to be running smoothly with the maracyn two
still have my neon, gourami and all 15 fry..plus shrimp (the fry and shrimp are in the seperate tank)
just wondering because i checked my ammonia level last night at it was a .25 i cant to a water change because it will get rid of the medicine and i cant put in the carbon filter either...help!
nitrite = 0
nitrates = 20

 

[glolite]

everything seems to be running smoothly with the maracyn two
still have my neon, gourami and all 15 fry..plus shrimp (the fry and shrimp are in the seperate tank)
just wondering because i checked my ammonia level last night at it was a .25 i cant to a water change because it will get rid of the medicine and i cant put in the carbon filter either...help!
nitrite = 0
nitrates = 20

Hi there. You can do a water change, just replace the appropriate amount of meds for that day ie: if you put in 1 tablet for today, do a 25% water change then add a quarter of a tablet. If it's liquid meds and you put in 10mls today do a 25% w/c then add 2.5mls of meds.

Hope this helps.