kent

Please help me save my fish! I am a beginner and have made some mistakes but I can't figure out what to do. Here is the info:

The setup: 5 gallon tank, 4 zebra danios, 2 platys, 1 otocinclus, 1 charcoal/biological filter (hang on the back type), 2 kinds of plants, 3 snails

What happened:
I am a beginner and about 2 months ago I started this tank. I had the water in there for 4 days, then fully cycled the tank with the zebra danios.

About three weeks ago I bought the platys and the otocinclus. I didn't quarantine them. Everything was fine for a little under 2 weeks when I noticed ICH. I've been treating the tank for Ich with medicine containing Malachite Green and Nitrofurazone. The package says to treat only twice with a 48 hour gap in between. I have treated 3 times and will treat again today to make sure I get them all as recommended on this site. I've also increased the water temperature by using an incandescent bulb to speed up their life cycle. All the Ich seems to be gone - I see no white spots.

Two days after I started the Ich treatment I noticed one of the Danios was gasping for air at the surface, sometimes at the bottom of the tank. He was hardly moving around and other fish would harass him. As he was floating, his tail would start to sink & droop, and he would have to swim a bit to get parallel to the surface again.

I thought the problem was ammonia poisoning or something related to the medication, in part because 1) I cleaned the biological filter under the tap (which I now understand is bad), 2) I had waited too long between water changes and 3) because that seems to fit the symptoms. I have not tested the water yet but I will once I get a chance to buy stuff from the store. The water smells fine. So, I changed about 1/2 of the water. Two days later I changed 1/2 again. I will do the same tonight (i.e. 2 days later).

Now I am getting worried because 2 other Danios (3 in total) are exhibiting the same symptoms: just hanging in the water, gasping for air, tail drooping. The 4th Danio is now harassing all the other 3 in a serious way. The first fish to get sick is still alive after 5 days. The new fish (2 platys & 1 otocinclus) are fine.

I think it is too late to quarantine, but it would be good to know what the problem is: 1) ammonia or other water stress, like being too hot? 2) remaining Ich? 3) Other disease? 4) too much fighting?

I would really appreciate any advice!

kent

Cody

well i wouldnt do 50 water changes that much..maybe once after having ich..but thats it..other wise do a 15-25 percent change ever 1- 2 weeks some go longer...you have a 5gallon and the rule is 1 inch per gallon..that could cusae the ammonia posioning. you sound like you are concerned and you are trying..thats good some people that come on here view fish as nothing and dont care to much about them..they veiw it as oh i can just buy more..i hope you continue to use this site..dont give up...and ther are people here taht know alot about disease..im not one of them i know some basics and thats it..but dont worry stick around and more help will come..

good luck

cody

lili70

Hi. Sorry.
The quality of water is the most important one at this time. Buy some Prime which will treat the tap water better than other products and do frequent water changes and tests. Buy a tester (liquid) for amonia and nitrites, at least amonia. Keep the water 0 for amonia and 0 for nitrites.Also increase aeration with the smallest air pump you can find and a tub +stone.
I didn't have ich in my tanks ... yet, so I don't know about that but others will tell you.
L

kent

Thanks for the advice. Thought I'd give one more piece of info:

There is a sac of about 20 eggs on the bottom of a plant. They are mostly see through and very small. Could that have something to do with my biggest Zebra Danio being so aggressive? Or maybe they are just snail eggs.

lili70

Wow. What a busy 5 gal you have !
Don't know what they are. Can you get a picture ?
Try to get the water on good parameters again and maybe they will hatch ....
All the best,
L

Cody

the eggs are most likly the snails..it could be the dainos though..but snails reproduce like crazy

Jessie

It's most likely the snails. They love to lay there eggs on plants. They usually look like a kind of clear jelly. And I could be wrong but I think Danios are live bearers. I'll look it up though.

Cody

no danios are not live bearers...gupies mollys sword tails endlers, halfbeaks, and more but not certin of the names..im sure if dino sees this he can name the rest

Jessie

Nope they do lay eggs, but it says that they will eat them if you leave them in the same tank.

COBettaCouple

welcome to Fishlore!

Your tank is that the tank is severely overstocked, a 15g tank would be in order for the 14" (adult size) of fish. The snails are big waste producers and only make that worse. The cramped quarters is part of the aggression problem.

Cories tend to like at least 2-3 to be happy, but you'll need a bigger tank before new fish would be a consideration.

Ammonia poisoning is very likely. The tank is probably uncycled now. Do you have a liquid testing kit? If not, I would get the API master Freshwater kit at Petsmart (take in a printout of their web price on it) and see what your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are.

Unfortunately, fish used for cycling often die or are very prone to disease.

Ich needs to be treated by keeping the water temperature at 82-84 for 2 weeks. The only treatment that I'd use would be Ich-Attack as meds usually aren't needed for treating ich. It's the warmer water that kills the ich. Also frequent water changes and cleaning the substrata help.

I would recommend putting an air stone in the tank, raising it's temperature and treating all water with Prime. Be sure no carbon/charcoal is in the filter. If it's at all possible, I would consider another tank - either a 15-20g tank to put all of the fish in or a 10g tank to put some of your fish in.

manjil

Yes!
Your tank is too much overstocked.

As mentioned above. You need to do a lot of research before adding any fish in the tank.
About their adult size their compatible mates.

So get a new bigger tank to let ur fish live happily.

kent

Thanks for the info. Not surprisingly, the fish store guy said that the amount of fish I have is fine. In fact, he even said I could buy more fish. Wonder why he would say that ...

Anyways, what is the best to do in the interim? I can't really buy another tank right now and nobody will take fish from a tank that recently had Ich. I currently have about 7 inches of fish in a 5 gallon tank. What should I do: get more plants? water change every week? less light hours? take out the snails (but then what do I do with them)?

BTW, the fish seem a little happier today after the water change and putting the temperature down a bit. Hopefully it will stabilize without losses...

Cody

do small water changes a few times a week..just to keep freshwater in and that will slowly start removing the bad water.but yuo dont want ot take to much out or else you will mess up the tank.and put it in a mini cycle..reall even just a small 2.5 gallon would help ..just taking a fish or 2 out would help alot..i had amonia problem in my 20 gallon and i took 2 fish out and it helped alottt

susitna-flower

Hi Kent, it' been said before, but WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

We are happy to try to help you sort this all out.

First, what ARE your water parameters?

Temperature? For Danios it should be 64-74 F, Platys 68-79 F, Otoes 74-79 F. Do you have an aquarium heater? That is not listed as part of your equipment, and if you are trying to heat the tank with a light, that is very inconsistent!

Ammonia? This is probably a huge problem, but you will never know unless you test.

Nitrites? Just as lethal as ammonia, what is the reading?

Nitrates? An indication that the tank is cycling, but what is the reading.

Lots of water changes can help, but until you know what the readings are, you really don't know how often to change the water. I wouldn't be afraid of 50% changes IF you do 2 - 25% changes a day! That cuts the stress, but you HAVE to treat the water you are putting back for chlorine (unless it is untreated well water), and make SURE it is the same temp. as what is in your tank!

Do you vacuum the gravel? If there if a build up of waste in the gravel it can cause the water to foul. This should be done weekly.

What kind of snails are in your tank? If they are pond snails, and you are seeing eggs on plants, that if probably what they are. These can be a problem in your tank.

Ick - as stated one cure for this is to raise the temperature, but as you can see above this MIGHT be hard on danios, as they need cooler temps. Those other two types of fish can survive the 82 - 84 F it takes to kill ick, BUT with this you have to do your water changes, and have added air via an airpump and airstone, because warmer air carries less oxygen, and the fish suffer.

Any time you choose new fish, always find out if they take the same conditions as what you have, it just makes things easier.

Good Luck

COBettaCouple

It's pretty sad the way they can lie right to your face, or simply not know better in some cases.

For now, using Prime to treat the tap water and doing 25% water changes 2-3x a week. More live plants would help with nitrates at least. You could leave the light on the same. Taking the snails out would help too, but I'm not sure what you could do with them is the problem there. The main thing would be keeping the water cleaner with the more frequent water changes and locking the toxins with the Prime to protect the fish from them.

kent

Update: Everything is ok and I didn't lose any fish! The worst two slowly got better and now everything seems pretty normal. The zebra danios are less aggressive and just play around now.

I actually measured my tank - it is 10 gallons NOT 5 gallons as I said before. So, for now the amount of fish is ok. Now I only have non-lethal problems like too many snails and a sexually harassing platy.

Thanks everyone.

COBettaCouple

glad to hear they've gotten better.