Sophism

So last week one of my fish died in the 36G tank @ work. One of the other fish didnt look so well so I did a test of the waterparams and noticed elevated ammonia (2PPM). I immediatly did a 50% water change which brought the level down. The next day I did another 50% water change while cleaning about half the gravel etc. I cleaned my filters in used tank water etc. The weird thing is despite having ammonia spikes I still have Nitrates so my cycle must be working no?

Well come monday morning my tank looks like a battlefield just about everyone has passed execpt for the 2x bala's and 2x tetras. I am going to move these guys into a small container with the filter running until I can get the main tank sorted.

temp at 76
specs of the tank are under my aquarium info.

Any ideas what could have happened?

Sophism

Ohh forgot to mention. I tested the ammonia after taking the fish out this morning. Its back around 2PPM but that is to be expected considering the state I found the fish in. (they must have passed very late friday or early saturday)

Shawnie

im sorry for your losses for some reason, you had a mini cycle and the ammonia before it was caught, probably got them...continue with the changes of 50% daily and see if you can get some prime or stress coat+ to use with the changes as it will make the ammonia non toxic for 24 hours until another change...what test kit do you use? and the bala's are going to have to come out eventually as they get way to big for the tank...but they do grow slow

Sophism

Yeah I have plans to eventually move the Balas. I use the API Master Test kit and it has not expired. I have used stress coat+ on every water change including thurs and friday. I added more today. I figured the ammonia would have been a lot higher considering the number of dead fish that have sat for at least a day.

Edit: Would something like Ammolock work better then stresscoat+?

Shawnie

stress coat+ does what ammo lock does and more...it also helps with chlorine and chlorimydes in the water so id stick with that ...

Sophism

Also, I noticed some white-grayish fuzz growing on all the fish that where dead + some of the rocks. Any idea what this is?

Shawnie

decay im sure

cerianthus

Fungi? Remove them w/ water changes (suck them out with hose)

capekate

After you had the spike in the ammonia, believe it or not, taking out the filter media was probably not a good idea. You rinsed out a lot of the beneficial bacteria that was needed especially when you had the spike in ammonia. That may or may not be why you had more casualties on monday morning. Tho I also agree that the previous ammonia level may have just been too toxic at that point to save them anyway.

Sophism

We have dual filters and I only rinsed the one (in tank water) I was under the impression that this *should* not harm the bacteria..

anyway, I noticed this white bit on both of the remaining tetra's...

Some sort of bacteria or fungus?

http://flickr.com/photos/sophism/3247869140/sizes/l/

Those white bits where not there last week. I will try to get a better picture but his fins are a bit white as well. The fins on the Bala's appear to be fine.

Shawnie

it looks like ICH from being stressed from the ammonia....turn up the temps slowly to 83-84F and add an extra air wand for oxygen in warmer water is less...do a couple gravel vacs as ich spores fall into the gravel..do this for two weeks and your water changes as well....goodluck!

capekate

Sorry for the misunderstanding on the filter rinsing. When I read your post it mentioned that you 'cleaned your filters in used tank water etc' so I was under the impression that you cleaned all your filters. Well, you did the right thing in only cleaning one of the filters. Im sorry your fish are sick..
and if it is a fungus, there are meds out there that should help, such as the API Fungus Cure.
best of luck...

Sophism

Looks to me like a fungus. I will pick something up in about 10 minutes or so to treat it.

Do a 50% water change this afternoon and do the fungus treatment.

Also my pH has been pretty low for several months. I kept trying to get it up but ever since I added a lot of live plants its been impossible to keep at a normal range. Any suggestions for this? I had read several posts here that said it was just better to leave the PH low as opposed to having it constantly fluctuate.

capekate

What is your normal PH reading and what has it dropped to? PH normal range is around 7 but fish adjust fine, and as you said, its the fluctuating PH that can cause more problems.

Sophism

The PH has been below 6 for a while now. my test does not test below 6.

Shawnie

I respectfully disagree..that looks like ich and not a fungus...meds will deffinately kill the cycle process so deffinately make sure 100% that its a fungus and not just ich

Sophism

Well I looked at the box for the API fungal treatment and it looks exactly like what the 2 tetra's have. Theres no little "Spots' which leads me to believe its not ich. The fins on the tetra's are a little white on the end and around the mouth. I did some googling and this looks like its a fungal infection. I got the medicine but will wait until this afternoon to administer it. (I want to do a 50% water change + vacuum out some funk from the fish that passed.)

My Iphone takes pictures but the tips of the fins on that tetra are almost solid white.

Emory

Do you want me to come look? I'd have to shower/dress but I can be there in an hour or so. You or Jon would have to let me in.

Shawnie

I was only referring to the pic you had I didnt realize you have more fish with it..that pic does look like ich.....the white on the fins could be fin rot from the ammonia but around the mouth and it doesnt look like grains of salt, maybe it is fungus...or maybe its from the ammonia ....either way, you have to do water changes to get the cycle back on track so maybe the meds will help ...goodluck in whatever you decide

Sophism

I ended up taking out all the media that was in the filters because it was pretty bad. I replaced it with filters that have no carbon. I cut away pieces of the old filters and put those in with the new ones. I made sure to get all the carbon off and chose sections that where not bad. I then did a 50% water change and then administered a dose of Fungus Cure and Melafix.

Most of my co-workers agreed that the fish appeared to be suffering from a fungus infection. Its hard to get a decent picture so I really hope this course of action was the correct one.

After administering the Fungus cure the 2x balas and 2x tetra's where swimming around nice and active. I will not feed them tonight as I doubt they would eat anyway.

Ammonia levels now at 0PPM.

Sophism

Well they survived the night. I guess that is a good sign.

Emory

How are things this morning?

Sophism

Well we lost that one Bala yesterday. So far today things are alright The remaining Bala is not acting nearly as stressed.

Question: The directions for the Fungus cure say to repeat the dose after 48 hours. Can I do a 50% water change today before adding that second dosage?

Emory

I would, if it were me. Adding more meds without doing a water change would just increase the density of the med. Too much could be poisonous.

But wait for someone else to come along. I really don't know.

Sophism

Yeah the directions dont say. They say it needs a second dose, and they say to do a 25% water change and add carbon filters to scrub the meds out (thats after the second cycle).


Some images.. I noticed that there is some "fungus" or something growing on a lot of things.

These pictures are pretty horrid but the green cloudy water makes it difficult to get a decent picture.



In the center of the picture above there is a root protruding from the rocks and has fuzzy stuff growing all over it. This is similiar to what is on our rocks and mixed in with the other plants.


Another picture of the fuzzy root.

Any of that look out of the ordinary?

Shawnie

oh no!! im so sorry for the loss of the bala as far as the meds, some say do the water change and some say do not change until after all the days have been dosed ..so read the back and it will tell you what it recommends for that...I really hope the rest of the babies do well!!

Sophism

the directions say

"For each 10 gallons of water, empty one packet directly into aquarium. Repeat dose after 48 hours. Wait another 48 ours then change 25% of the aquarium water and add fresh activated carbon etc"

One thing that concerns me is I cannot test my ammonia levels because the water is green. I wonder if a cup of tank water with some carbon in it soak up the green? I wonder if I could get an accurate reading of the ammonia then.

If I dont do the cycle I can keep adding large doses of stress coat+ and hope that neutralizes enough of the ammonia. Since the last 50% water change we only have 4 fish in the tank (3 now) so the bioload can not be anything near what it was when it was fully stocked.

Shawnie

i would go the one more day with the dose as it says then do the water change after the 48 hours has passed from the second dose...when you do the water change, do at least 50% with the prime or stresscoat+ and run the carbon for 2 weeks...

Sophism

Lost the other Bala today I noticed before he passed that he didnt want to move around a lot and around some of his fins it looked almost like the scales where rotting off. I could see a patch or two of scales that was missing. He did not have that the day before

I am going to move the 2x tetra's into a bucket with a filter heat etc and continue trying to treat them there.

A couple people suggested I should drain the tank completely and give everything a good wash with 90% water 10% bleach and a very good rinse. Wash the gravel etc (I know this will trash the cycle). I was thinking of saving some of the gravel but I am not sure if that is a good idea. (I can probably get gravel from a friends tank anyway)

My plants where a lot of work and I would not like to start from scratch. That same friend mentioned dipping them in ice cold water for a few seconds which should kill anything off.

I guess I will be coming in and doing some work this weekend.

Emory

Would plants tolerate a quick dip in a mild bleach solution? Just wondering.