braveotter

Hello all and good day,

I have a 55 gal tank with 5 neons, 2 zebra danios and 1 angel right now. I wanted to add 2 more angels and 2 mollies. I had kept them quarantined for a day in a 5 gal, and added them to my tank... after a day, 1 molly died and the other had white plaques on the edge of his/her fin (bacteria/ICH) and the angels did not seem happy as they were both hiding as well. My old fishes were not affected by this affliction.

After a day, I put the new fish back into the quarantine tank, where they are stuck in limbo (my quarantine tank is not cycled, so I change ~2 gallons daily).

So I don't really know what to do with reintroducing my new fishes. When is it safe? How do I get rid of whatever is in my old tank?

Please pleease help.
Thank yyou.

Brave Sea Otter, killer of a thousand clams

taffy

hi, braveotter first thing you need to do is cheque your water pH, ammo, niterite, nitrate if you have a problem with any of those correct them sounds like you,ve shocked your new fish because your old fish are ok ,also you should make sure your quarantine tank is cycled before using it quarantine fish for about two weeks or more if you can if your new fish have ich/white spot then keep an eye on your main tank because you could have past it to them dont reintroduce your new fish until their free from ich/white spot and you,ve corrected your main tank let me know if you sort things out good luck ps try taking some water from your main tank put in your quarantine tank and squeese your filter sponge into it as well to help cycle your quarantine tank .

Sonfish

If its ich you can raise the temp to above 82 or Ive read up to 86, and that will stop the ich life cycle, I think you have to raise the temp like that for about 2 weeks

taffy

sonfish is right but if you turn up your temp increase your air flow and filtration good luck.

jdhef

Welcome to FishLore!

Many people keep extra filter media in their main tank that can then be put in the filter of the q-tank when needed so that the q-tank gets an instant cycle.

I have a theory, although I've never done it, that using a product like "Cycle" may work in a q-tank. The bacteria in "Cycle" is land based and dies off quickly (that's why the instructions have you add it on a regular basis), but since it's for a q-tank that's not a big issue since it will only be set up for a couple of weeks at a time.

It's recommended to keep new fish in a q-tank for at least two weeks. If you see any signs of illness you then treat the q-tank for that illness and keep the fish in until it clears up.

Ich generally looks like salt sprinkled all over the fish, so from your description it doesn't sound like ich, it sounds more like a fungus of some sort.

Good luck!

Sonfish

ooops I forgot that, Taffy is right as warmer water has less O2 that`ll teach me to type an answer before I start my second pot of coffee lol

Prince Powder

Actually raising temps doesn't stop the ich life cycle, it speeds it up. Ich is killed when the spots on the fish rupture and release the spores. Then if medicating, the meds will kill the spores or if not medicating you can use a gravel vac to suck the spores that have fallen out of your gravel and out of the tank. As jdhef mentioned though, by the OP's description it doesn't sound like ich. Most likely a fungus of some sort.

Nutter

Information is needed. What are the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & PH readings within the main tank & how long has it been set up? Also what are the readings in the QT tank? Did you acclimate the fish slowly or just put them straight from tank to tank?

I would guess that the fish are very stressed & that's one of the big reasons why you have trouble. Once the fish are stressed they become susceptible to disease & other problems. They have been netted, bagged, transported & introduced to a bare tank. Then you have netted them again the next day & moved them to another tank, then netted them again to move back to QT. There's little point in doing quarantine for just one day. Either don't do it at all or do it for at least 2 weeks. You need a couple of weeks to study the fish & allow any problems to become visible. If there are problems, treat them, then introduce the fish to the main tank.

I agree with John that it doesn't sound like you have Ich & it is more likely to be a fungal infecton. If you could post a pic of the white bits on the fish would be great. That way a positive ID can be made of what is wrong.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!
angels take a few weeks to get use to new tanks...just because they are shy , doesnt mean they are sick......putting angels in the 5g is going to cause more stress....id put them back in the 55g and give them time to adjust to the new bigger tank by acclimating them slowly ...this link will help with that process http://www.fishlore.com/acclimating-tropicalfish.htm

braveotter

Thanks for all the replies, peoples!

pH is 7.2, Ammonia is 1.5 PPM, Nitrite is 0. I bought some anti fungal. After looking at pics online, it looks more like fin and tail rot (my new fishes have white rims on the tail fin, some on the head as well) than ich (they don't really have white spots.) I put a pic of what it looked like.

5 gal is a small space for all of them, so I want to move them back asap.

Should I treat my main tank for FATR as well or should I just treat my 5 gal quarantine for a few days and move them back? BTW, I bought some API Pimafix antifungal from my LFS. Thank god they are still all alive at this point, only one casualty so far, the molly.

Attached Images

finrot.jpg (17.6 KB, 95 views)

Prince Powder

Is that ammonia reading from your qt tank? Either way you'll need to do a water change with Prime to drop that Ammonia and detox it. The last thing you need is ammonia burning their gills and making them worse. Fin rot is not necessarily contagious but it is opportunistc and stressed fish have compromised immune systems which can lead to a fin rot breakout. High ammonia levels will make it worse and could cause secondary infections. It still looks like somewhat of a fungal infection so you'll want to qt that fish and treat it for fungus. Good luck with them I hope they make it.

aquarist48

Good morning and Welcome to Fish Lore.

My best recommendations at this point is pristine water conditions. I recommend daily water changes of 30 to 50% for any tanks that are not cycled or if they have increased ammonia levels. Fin and tail rot is usually caused by poor water conditions. Add a conditioner called Prime or Amquel + to detox levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrates for 24 hours until it's time for the next water change. Wait 24 hours to test again so that you get more accurate readings.

Fresh garlic juice added to the food, just a couple of drops, it can be garlic from the grocery store:
minced garlic in a jar..just an example for those needing it
Make sure the garlic is in water and not oil. Garlic Gard can also be used and is found at most Fish/Pet stores. Garlic is an immune system booster.

Vita Chem is good to give the fish additional vitamins.

Please note that white trim around a fishes fin may also be a sign of new growth. Check the fish carefully. Anytime I have a nipped fin it grows back white and then turns to the fishes normal color. However, I don't think that is the case in the photo in post #10. That looks like a severe case of fin/tail rot. Hopefully the PimaFix you've added will help.

Best wishes!
Ken

braveotter

No ammonia in my Quarantine, its water straight from the tap and I don't have any other fish in it. It's been hovering around 1.5ppm in my main for a while, and despite weekly 25% water changes, it hasn't been going down (~1 month). No dead fish in it, all mine are accounted for, I have some plants, they're all doing well and a piece of mopani wood and some rocks.

Aquarist, at this point I'm leaning towards disease considering one already died, my other molly just got cottony stuff growing in its mouth, yikes.

Prince Powder

If you have ammonia in your main tank then it is not cycled either. A cycled tank has no ammonia, no nitrites and a small amount of nitrates. I would also venture that it was a contributing factor to whatever ailed your new fish. Some fish just can not tolerate the toxic ammonia present in a still cycling tank. It stresses them out which weakens their immune system and the 2 most common things that fish with compromised immune systems seem to be afflicted by are fin and tail rot as well as ICH. Even if they already had the symptoms, a cycling tank would make it worse. If I were you I would not add any more fish to your tank until it is completely cycled and your ammonia is at a steady 0. Then wait a few weeks more to allow your BB colony to strengthen. After that you can start adding fish very slowly, taking the time to QT them first then properly acclimate them to your main tank water.

EDIT: Since your main tank isn't cycled yet, you'll have to do daily water changes on that tank as well using a water conditioner like Prime or Amquel+ that detoxes ammonia and nitrites for 24 hours but still leaves them available for your BB to feed on. If your tank was cycled before and you're showing ammonia readings now it might be a mini cycle. Either way, the daily water change routine still applies.

braveotter

Good day all,

An update: I added the antifungal yesterday night, the instructions say to do no water changes fore 2 days after adding the medication, then one 25% WC and then add more medication for another two days, with no activated carbon, of course. So I won't be able to do a water change. I did however do a 66% water change yesterday (before adding the medication) to remove as much ammonia as possible and added my new fish into the main tank after adding the medication. I suppose that after the recommended course of medication, I'll start being more aggressive with the water change.

They seem to be doing ok, though the white growth is still present on the fin and one of my tetras has white stuff on the head (can it still survive =( ) Otherwise the angels are doing well. Too well, I think, they like nipping on the fin of the sick fishes.

It just seems that 1 month after adding new fish in a tank that had already been cycle is a long time. How long does mini cycling after adding new fish take? Is this a common phenomenon?

Meenu

Hi Braveotter, welcome to F
A new tank can take a couple of months to cycle.
Also, as you know, adding new fish can spin a tank into a mini-cycle. You may have been trying to add too many fish all at once. Normally, you can add a bit more into a 55, but in your case, you had a pretty low bioload to start with. It's important to remember that in fishkeeping, slow and steady wins the race.

jdhef

I'm not sure why you ended up with a mini cycle, unless you added too many fish at once or changed your filter media.

Since you can't do daily water changes due to the meds, I would add enough Prime to treat the whole tank on a daily basis just to keep the ammonia detoxed.

braveotter

Thanks for everyone's help. My fish are looking better with the antifungals, for now. Since I still have a bit of ammonia, I wait about two weeks before adding new fish. I'm a bit paranoid about mini cycles now =(, but I'm planning maybe 3 clown loaches and 2 oto's as bottom feeder and algae eaters. Is that a bit much?

Prince Powder

It would not be wise to add ANY more fish until your tank is completely cycled and stable. I'm afraid I haven't read too much on loaches so I can't really advise you on them. As for the otos, I believe they prefer slightly larger schools of at least 3, but more would help them to feel more secure. They also MUST have very well established tanks. They should not be added to any tank that has not held a stable cycle for at least a few months. They are extremely sensitive to water parameters. They also need a tank that already has algae growing in it.

OK, I checked FL's info page on clown loaches http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-ClownLoach.htm. From what I read, they have similar sensitivity issues to the otos. They also will get to be quite big. 15 inches. That might pose an issue for tiny little otos sharing the same space as well as stocking issues for your tank size since they also prefer schools of about 4 or more. I think for your tank size cory cats would be the best bet for bottom feeders. If it's algae eaters specifically you want you could do a large school of otos a few months down the road.

braveotter

Thanks for the help. My other fish seem to be doing well and feeding nicely. A few months seems like a long time. Hope my tank stablizes sooner.