What's Wrong With My Fish?

[mislisa]

ok, here goes. sorry for the length of this, but i'm a strong believer that the more information you get, the better the results.

Tank size: 55g
pH: 7.0 or just below (colour is slightly lighter than that on the paper)
ammonia:0.0
nitrite:0.0
nitrate: > 5 mg/l
tank temp: 23 degrees celcius

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

well, when i went to feed my fish today, i noticed one of my cardinals had died, so i took a closer look at the rest of my fish... most of my cardinals look fine, but a couple have sunken bellies, where a few days ago they all seemed healthy and a bit chubby. they also are a bit pale and their eyes seem as though they are bulging. one of them was flicking as well. they are all now hiding behind my plants instead of being all over the tank as usual. my harlequins, rams and corys all seem healthy, with normal eating/swimming habits, but my khuli loaches haven't been very visible lately, and my gourami seems to be a bit lethargic. when i came home, he was at the top of the tank with his head in the corner, and wasn't moving.

i have recently had most of the snails in my tank die as well, with no known cause.

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

I do a weekly 20-25% water change

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

no chemicals recently, although i have previously used nutrafin plant grow plant fertilizer.
my media is just bio rings and sponges

Tank inhabitants:

i have 11x cardinals, 14x harlequin rasboras, 5x pepper corys, 8x khuli loaches(i hope! I'd never know if any died right now, as they hide under my wood. the ones i do see seem ok) 2x longfin rams, and a pearl gourami

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

the pearl gourami is fairly recent, as are 8 of the cardinals. the gourami was quarantined at first, as he was swimming oddly, but after a week, seemed better. i waited another week before adding him to the main tank.
i also recently added a couple of new plants, a crypt, some java fern, and another that i don't know the name of.



i also should mention that i've had the tank since january, and added my first fish in late february. i had to be away for a few days in the first few weeks and had a bad bout of mouth & body fungus on my harlequins and undiagnosed illness in my cardinals. after treating, i waited several weeks before adding new fish. everything has been fine until the snails started dying off... please help!

thanks!

 

[Baccus]

I am thinking the death of the snails and the addition of new plants are the clue here. Do you know if the new plants where kept in an aquarium with fish (most of my local pet shops set up the weed that way), because I am wondering if the weed could have been harbouring any nasties. I think the only thing that bothers snails (the average pond varieties anyway) is copper and it might pay to check how much copper is present in the fert you added to the tank, from my understanding copper wont show up on your water tests but it can be pretty toxic in high doses. Your kuhli loaches might have also kicked into eating your snails as they are apparently quite fond of them, not that mine have ever made a dint in my snail populations. I am guessing that you can't really tell if its the new tetras or your exisiting ones that have taken ill ( I only have a few neons in one of my tanks and I can tell them apart only only by their sizes). Could the rams have decided to stake their claim to a breeding site and started bullying the other fish?

Grab a coffee or tea sit back and observe the fish, maybe a preventative broard spectrum antibacterial is the answer if none of the fish are displaying any aggression to explain the hiding of the.

 

[KittyKat]

+1 above, also look for signs of internal parasites.. there is a lot of stuff that can be brought in on plants.

By the way, your tank looks lovely, given that it is a new one, and your stocking is very good (maybe add a couple more Corys eventually).

 

[loraxchick]

I second internal parasites. Pale,flicking and sunken bellies. Get a medicated food and a tank treatment. Can be a pain toget rid of but treatment is necessary.
All the best
cheers

 

[mislisa]

great! thanks everyone. any recomended medicated foods? should i still feed with regular food as well for my other fish? should i quarantine the cardinals/gourami?

i'm gonna pop by my lfs today and try to find something that will get this sorted. i had already stopped using the fertilizer, as it did contain a small amount of copper (something like .0005% or something, i don't have the bottle with me)and i was unsure whether or not it was a safe amount.

also, my gourami is still in his corner, and his fins seem clamped. he did eat this morning though, so would this be a sign of parasites as well?

i don't think the rams are going to breed, as i'm pretty sure they are both males!!
but, i may be wrong there... their colours are amazing at the moment!

i got my plants at petsmart, where they keep their plants in a seperate setup.

thanks everyone!

 

[mislisa]

i've started treatment with API general cure, which is supposed to treat several parasitic diseases. hope it works, as it seems my harlequins are now dying as well. i had about 6 fish die yesterday/last night.

 

[KittyKat]

Generally, medications for internal parasatises are not the same ones as for generic stuff.. make sure it really does mention internal parasites on the bottle. I never had to treat for these, so can not recommend a medication.

 

[mislisa]

it treats internal and external. it's a powder that you add to the tank water. there was only one type of medicated food, but i remember using it years ago (same brand & bottle) and it didn't work, as the fish wouldn't eat it. hopefully this works...

 

[mislisa]

obviously, my harlequins are sick as well.... i'm down to 5 from 14 since yesterday! i feel really guilty now, as i obviously missed some warning signs that they were sick. hopefully this medicine will work on the rest of them!

 

[mislisa]

one of my remaining harlequins is showing signs of fin rot... should i add medicine for that, or should i wait until i've stopped treating for parasites?

 

[KittyKat]

I think most medications can not be mixed. Wait until treatment for parasites is done, then do a very large water change and then have another think about whether other treatment should be added.

 

[mislisa]

ok, thanks. *sigh* this is pretty stressful. i wish i could do more for them than just dump meds in the tank... harlequins are still dropping. i had miscounted before, and still had 7, but i'm down to 5 for sure now.... no more cardinals have died yet though.