happycrack
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Can anyone help pls as I'm now at a loss of what to do being new to this. We have a 4 foot x 1 foot x 18 inch tank which has been setup from the first week in April and then introduced fish each weekend (not from day 1) under the guidance of our local fish store and all was fine (realise now we probably introduced to many fish to quickly but that is not my real question here). We did also follow the instructions about introducing the fish to the tank aswell (eg 20 mins in the bag and then another 20 mins with water from the tank etc) We do a regular 10% water change each weekend, test the water on a regular basis which is always within parameters although we do have a high PH in our area (about 7.8). Nitrates in our tank sometimes creep as high as the 40 range although the usual is 20 which the water changes put it back to plus we don't feed as much as we used to do which ment that has become more stable (eg 20).
Like I said all was fine until we went away. I flew out on 21st April and so did a 10% water change as per usual. My other half was going to do another 10% about 5 days later when she was going to fly out but didn't get the time unfortunately which really shouldn't have made a great deal of difference as we were only going to be away for 2 weeks total.
However when we got back, half the tank had just disappeared. Someone we know was feeding them while we were away who keeps tropical fish aswell but didn't notice there was an issue with white spot in the tank. So when we got back, a lot of our cardinals were caked in white spot, as were our 1 remaining shark and our 2 clown loaches. Most of our other fish appeared to be clean.
Since then I did another 10% water change and then dosed the tank up with Interpet after increasing the temperature from 25 to 26 degrees to speed up the cycle and removing the carbon filter. The white spot seemed to get better until the 2nd dose 4 days later after which the white spot seemed to come back again.
After that we then did a 30% water change as instructed by the interpet book and then dosed up the tank with waterlife as the interpet stuff didn't cure it. Again this seems to have worked much better although during this time we have now lost the white shark, both clown loaches plus other fish aswell. Also the cardinals are still now caked in white spot. All we have left now are 6 sword tails, 8 glowlights, 4 dwarf Gourami's and the 3 remaining cardinals.
So I know we probably jumped the gun on introducing the fish initially but where do I go from here now? Now done 2 different treatments over the course of 2 weeks and the issue still remains. The problem for me is I don't know what caused the problem initially eg was it the introduction to quick, was it cleaning the filter pads 2 weeks before (done in tank water, just pressed the pads to clear out debris etc) which perhaps dropped the levels of bacteria in the tank, was it a fish we introduced which had the bacteria harboured and then it only became apparent when we were away or was it perhaps a change of diet (eg feeding flake instead of perhaps some of the frozen food we tend to feed?
The other problem is like I said where do I go from here? Supposedly its another 30% water change and redose the tank again presumably with waterlife and see if that cures the problem? Or do I remove the 3 remaining cardinals as this is where the white spot is now most previlent and then see how the tank goes or do I do both??? Normally I wouldn't even entertain the idea of removing fish but someone has mentioned to me that this may be the best solution as potentially the fish are at a point where the white spot has been around for so long now that their system just can't get rid of it. Also if I do another 30% water change a week after the last 30% change then isn't that going to screw up the bacteria levels in the filter and cause problems all if its own?
Can someone please give me an idea of what to do now and also if anyone has any general timescales about how often you should introduce fish and what time you should leave them before introducing more that would seriously be most appreciated as I'm all out of ideas.
Like I said all was fine until we went away. I flew out on 21st April and so did a 10% water change as per usual. My other half was going to do another 10% about 5 days later when she was going to fly out but didn't get the time unfortunately which really shouldn't have made a great deal of difference as we were only going to be away for 2 weeks total.
However when we got back, half the tank had just disappeared. Someone we know was feeding them while we were away who keeps tropical fish aswell but didn't notice there was an issue with white spot in the tank. So when we got back, a lot of our cardinals were caked in white spot, as were our 1 remaining shark and our 2 clown loaches. Most of our other fish appeared to be clean.
Since then I did another 10% water change and then dosed the tank up with Interpet after increasing the temperature from 25 to 26 degrees to speed up the cycle and removing the carbon filter. The white spot seemed to get better until the 2nd dose 4 days later after which the white spot seemed to come back again.
After that we then did a 30% water change as instructed by the interpet book and then dosed up the tank with waterlife as the interpet stuff didn't cure it. Again this seems to have worked much better although during this time we have now lost the white shark, both clown loaches plus other fish aswell. Also the cardinals are still now caked in white spot. All we have left now are 6 sword tails, 8 glowlights, 4 dwarf Gourami's and the 3 remaining cardinals.
So I know we probably jumped the gun on introducing the fish initially but where do I go from here now? Now done 2 different treatments over the course of 2 weeks and the issue still remains. The problem for me is I don't know what caused the problem initially eg was it the introduction to quick, was it cleaning the filter pads 2 weeks before (done in tank water, just pressed the pads to clear out debris etc) which perhaps dropped the levels of bacteria in the tank, was it a fish we introduced which had the bacteria harboured and then it only became apparent when we were away or was it perhaps a change of diet (eg feeding flake instead of perhaps some of the frozen food we tend to feed?
The other problem is like I said where do I go from here? Supposedly its another 30% water change and redose the tank again presumably with waterlife and see if that cures the problem? Or do I remove the 3 remaining cardinals as this is where the white spot is now most previlent and then see how the tank goes or do I do both??? Normally I wouldn't even entertain the idea of removing fish but someone has mentioned to me that this may be the best solution as potentially the fish are at a point where the white spot has been around for so long now that their system just can't get rid of it. Also if I do another 30% water change a week after the last 30% change then isn't that going to screw up the bacteria levels in the filter and cause problems all if its own?
Can someone please give me an idea of what to do now and also if anyone has any general timescales about how often you should introduce fish and what time you should leave them before introducing more that would seriously be most appreciated as I'm all out of ideas.
/www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/ich.shtml
