Where To From Here?

[Marclau]

Well, the tank was hit last week and the last of my fish have passed away today.........

I did post this originally in my earlier post but as that was a long post, I thought I would ask the direct question.

I suspect my tank was hit with Septicemia (possible secondary) on one of my loaches......

In the past week I have already done 2 80% water changes, numerous 25% changes, cleaned my tank and rinsed plants, 2 courses of Tetracycline, a course of Pimafix and Allcure.............not sure where to go from here.

Do I now simply go through the fishless cycle process again? Would all bacteria be dead? Go through another Tetracycline course?

Please, any help here would be good...............

Do I turn of the heater so that the water gets cold so bacteria would die and then begin a fishless cycle again?

So many questions..........and family so upset..........feel like giving up.........5 year old daughter very distressed and my 10 year old son upset with me!!

thanks

 

[MHunt]

First off, sorry for your loss, it's difficult to rebuild your tank after loosing so much. You can either let it stop you, or you can see it as an opportunity to make sure everything goes the way you want it to this time.

Is the tank we're talking about the one that's in your signature? If so you've got a nice large tank to keep some really interesting fish. To start off, if there's no fish in the tank you'll have little or no useful bacteria in the filter so you'll need to start a fishless cycle again if that's your preferred method. In general i'd try and plan out your tank from an early stage. Decide what fish you're going to keep, what quantities, and do lots of research so you can achieve a nice balanced and generally peaceful system. That's what i've got with my 200L. For once I have no desire to add extra fish to my main tank as I have all the fish that I want in the quantities that I want and everythings just running nice and peacefully and is stable. What fish did you have and what fish do you think you'd like to keep in the tank. Certainly in a larger tank it's a gret opportunity to keep a group of larger fish like rainbow fish or angels. large gourami's also look impressive. I have a schoal of Congo tetras in my tank which are lovely fish, generally peaceful and look fantastic.

What systems do you have in your tank, filtration, heating etc? Just so we can suggest anything you might want to change or upgrade at this stage, much easier now the tanks empty than with a bunch of fish.

Don't let this get you down too much, I know it's hard especially if you had a large stock of expensive fish, but if you really enjoy fishkeeping then it's a great opportunity to start again.

 

[Marclau]

Thanks MHunt.......

Yes, the tank in my signature is my tank.
Filter is a Fluval 305 + AquaOne Internal Flo 200
Heater is a 200 watt internal....currently set to 24 degrees but tanks constant at 26 degrees.

Large twin tube lighting 80cms + large Blue LED moonlights 55cms.
Tank has 3 plants including a large Anubia.

Plenty of large driftwood and some large rocks.

I have approx 5-8 cm deep natural gravel from LFS.....tank has been setup for 2 1/2 years.

We are thinking of either similar setup or else single species or even just 2 or 3 species (sharks/loaches/electric blues/gouramis)

No more bettas or live bearers, no more Neons as I believe these were the ones that infected my tank.

I am determined to restart again as I simply loved my fishies.........wife enjoyed them too as did the kids.....

Since the last 2 Gouramis passed away today, do I need to do another water change and gravel vac?? or leave things to settle and begin the cycle again?
Do I add Seachem Stability to help speed up the cycle??