Miss Fish

I have just noticed most of my fish have white spots on them, and one has its eye completely covered over with white fluffy mold. Recently we have had lots of deaths. I did water change 2 days ago, another one tonight. We were told to use "MELAFIX" because a neon tetra appeared to have white growth eating it's tail. Another neon tonight was found with fins bitten off, probably by the new Siamese fighting fish my idiot boyfriend brought home last week. The fish appear far too realxed and several have died being sucked into the filter. I moved the gravel today and lots of stuff with white mold on it began floating around. Please email me IMMEDIATELY if you have any help. I have photos available of the fish with mold on its eye. SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!

Miss Fish

Thank you, my fish is now dead. The others will continue to die slowly. I need a contact number for someone to ring in these emergencies so I can actually get help.

Peterpiper

Let me start with your water changes and the testing, then we can talk about the betta your BF got.
Can you post a pic of the fish with the "fluffy mold please.
You will need to do a water change around 50% getting as much of the junk out of the gravel as you can, you need to treat the water to remove the clorine.
What are the readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? saying they are fine will not do we need readings please.
When was the filter cleaned last?
The betta ( Siamese fighting fish ) has no place in this tank with the others and should be moved to another tank. do you have a tank to move him to?
What temp are you running the tank at?

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

The Betta really does need his own tank, they're not good community fish especially with guppies or neons. The melafix can also kill Bettas.

It sounds like you've got a tank with a fungus issue. I'd recommend a product called Rid-Fungus if it's available there. If not, look for a good anti-fungal product but avoid products with malachite green or victoria green in them.

Miss Fish

Hi Peter,

I posted a photo of the fish with the fungus. Filter was cleaned 3 days ago, and a 50% water change was done 3 days ago. The temperature is a constant 27 degrees. I don't have another tank to move the betta to, the aquarium person said he would choose a corner and stay in it, not harming the other fish (which is isnt he's swimming everywhere)

Going to get readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate now. I only have a strip test and need to go to aquarium, who never tell me readings just that "it's fine".

Thanks.

bbfeckawitts

You should get a API master (liquid) test kit. Most everyone here uses and recommends it. The strips are inaccurate.

A lot of times the lfs (local fish stores) will tell you your tank "is fine" just to get you to buy more fish.
Also, if you think a fish is pretty, they might tell you it gets along fine with the other fish (as they did with the betta). If you do not have another tank a tupperware will do for the betta with daily 100% water changes until you can get it it's own tank or bring it back to the store. Try to keep it warm. Melafix CAN KILL your betta.

What did you use to clean the filter out with? If it is chlorinated tap water, too cold or too hot the beneficial bacteria may have been killed off and your tank may be starting a mini-cycle, this is why testing is extremely important. Even if you just did a 50% water change, if your tank is going into a mini cycle it may need another.

Just to be on the safe side I would do a 50% water change right off the bat and then add some medicine (fungal) into it. As long as you remove the betta, I highly recommend Melafix. Please try to get an API master test kit as soon as possible. No one can really help much with out your Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonia readings.

Hope your fish do OK.
Brianna

Peterpiper

Hi Miss Fish,
The temp is high at 27c (80.6f), lower the temp to 25c (77f).
If you can, get the fresh water API test kits, they will give you a true reading.
COBettaCouple has given good advice on treatment, so treat with Rid-Fungus.
All the junk in the gravel will need to be syphoned out.
The Betta will need to be removed from the tank, he will keep nipping and stressing the other fish. Not a good thing when the fish are already stressed.
Can you get him another tank or return him?

Miss Fish

Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate 5.0mg/l
KH 18 (too low, added KH powder)
Phosphate 1.0ppm - too high

They told me not to do another water change as I may have syphoned out the good bacteria in the gravel and I should do a 25% water change later tonight without syphoning the gravel.

I have lowered temperature to 25 degrees.

I clean the filter sponges in the same water as the tank when doing a water change. I could remove the betta but I am not convinced he has attacked anyone.

The other fish are dying now, the aquarium said not to do anything except feed them less, add KH powder and do a 25% water change later tonight. They said not to use a bacterial medication as it would kill the good bacteria that is needed to break down the waste.

Thank you everyone for your help.

Peterpiper

90% of the good bacteria is located in the filter media.
If the fish are not treated you will most likely lose them all.
I would do some reseach on Betta's
By the way, welcome to fishlore.
Best of luck with your tank and I hope your fish make it through this.
Pete

LuvaBetta

Do you know what kind of fungus this might be? It's sweeping through my fish tank right now, killing very quickly, and especially, fins and tails being eroded to nothing almost in front of my eyes. I've read a lot about fish diseases but haven't heard of anything like this!

Miss Fish

Unfortunately I don't know what kind it is. My fish are all dying too. The fish shop just tells me to wait... I've added good bacteria, melafix, extra conditioning salts to harden the water. I think the only thing t do is use anti bacteria medication, and quickly before they all die. Our fish shop is closed today so I have to wait til tomorrow to get any medication. But waiting is not the answer, it just means more die. Aparently the water is fine, so it must be a disease in the water. Looks like white dots floating around and white fluffly mould on the fish. It is so depressing, the fish have been perfect for 2 months, happy, and now they are mostly dead, except for a few sick looking ones and three mollies that look fine.

bbfeckawitts

I would get the rid-fungus as COBettaCouple said. A lot LFS people are not as knowledgeable as a lot of people on here. I will state again that the Melafix has killed many bettas and may kill yours. The betta also may be stressing the other fish out, making them more vulnerable to the disease. Many people that have bettas in community tanks say that they (the betta and fish) were fine for a long time, then they just woke up one morning and all the fish were shredded, espically males. If there is mold all over the gravel you need to clean it. By the looks of it, your tank is cycled so it should not hurt your tank at all. Make sure any carbon is out of the filter while medicating, and I wouldn't clean out the filter again right away, with changing a lot of water and cleaning gravel. Again, you should get the product COBettaCouple mentioned. I wish you and your fish the best.
Brianna

susitna-flower

HI, WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

I am not impressed with the advice you are getting from your LFS!

Usually I wouldn't say that to a person here having problems, but just the fact that they sold you a betta for a community tank, tells me that you need to STOP listening to their advice...Several things they have told you are adding to the problems in this tank.

The first thing I see is that you do not have proper filtration. Your tank needs HOB filters that will process a minimum of 800 gallons per hour! Your tank is right at 80 gallons, and the proper filtration for a Hang on the back filter would be 10 X the # of gallons of tank. I would suggest 2 Aquaclear 110's. Reason being that your tank is overcrowded. All the fish may not have reached their full growth, but many of the fish in this tank have the potential to reach 6-10 inches or even larger! You need to leave the sponge filter in until the HOB's are seeded with bacteria.

The specks of fuzz floating around this tank are bits of left over food, and fish waste that are left in stagnant water long enough to grow fuzz....you need to get out a gravel vacuum and THOROUGHLY vacuum the gravel. Change 25-50 % of the water every day.

I noticed that in your profile you are showing ammonia readings, and in the last posted readings you left this off. I suspect the readings posted in this tank are not accurate. My recommendation also is to use the API MASTER TEST KIT. There is nothing you need to do with KH.....you need to be testing ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Until you get the nitrogen cycle completed messing with other aspects of water chemistry is just stressing your fish.

Water quality is the root of the problems this tank is having....clean it up, and get the betta out, then you may be able to save the remaining fish.

Miss Fish

Hi guys, thanks for your help.

Tank is not over crowded anymore... only 10 fish left.

I found out what the problem is: WHITE SPOT

I could see it moving under the microscope today. The siamese fighting fish died today, so no longer a problem although he never attacked anyone.

I have white spot medication which I am doing after a 1/3 waterchange, and adding more melafix. I also need to leave the light off for 7 days, and have the temp at 29 degrees celcius for 7 days (to speed up the life cycle of the paracites) I have thoroughly vacuumed the gravel, there is hardly any dirt at all. I always vacuum the gravel in my "cesspool".

I know we have the wrong filter... now. The stupid person in the LFS sold it to me saying it would do enough. There is not enough surface area on the sponges to grow a large enough good bacteria colony. I wouldn't have bought it knowing this, but being new at fish keeping they tend to lie and trick you into spending more money. I will get the right filter as soon as I can afford it - my car was stolen last week to make matters worse.

susitna-flower

Miss Fish,
I really am sorry you are having such problems with this tank. Also didn't mean to offend you, hopefully you can understand it is the mis information given by so many stores that frustrates me.......

For example, ick is killed at temperatures above 82F, So 28 C is as high as you need to keep your tank not 29 which is hot enough to cause stress with some fish, but you have to hold it there for TWO weeks not 7 days, and not because it speeds the life cycle....though it does, but because in this parasites life cycle there is only one stage it can be killed. So you have to hold it at the higher temp long enough for all the different stages to reach the vulnerable stage....medication is NOT necessary, just another thing they make money on....the temperature alone will kill ick.

They were also amiss in not telling you that you have to change 25-50% of the water in the tank every day to every other day to replenish oxygen in the tank. Higher temperatures lower the availaable oxygen to you fish. Then the last thing is not just to remove waste in the gravel, but you need to vacuum the gravel to remove the dead parasites as well.

Lastly, good bacteria in the gravel will not be vacuumed away. It clings to the gravel and short of rinsing in hot/cold water, or chlorine, the amount of bacteria lost by tank cleaning will be minimal. I do really hope you can sort this all out, and I'm sorry your betta died....

Miss Fish

Thanks for your help, I am very frustrated having lost my favourite fish, Bernie, a pleco catfish. R.I.P Bernie boy.

I am changing 1/3 water every 3 days. It is so hard to know what advice to follow... local aquarium, people on fishlore... Everyone has a different strategy. I'll bring the temperature back to 28 C - it is stressing me out with it being high, except we are having a cold snap so if it drops under 28 the disease might survive. With the medication, two weeks at high temp, water changes, light off... hopefully I can kill this infestation.

Oxygen: I have a metre long airstone right at the back of the tank. Should I move this forward into the middle and turn it right up (it blows tetras around at its hightest setting) to provide better oxygen? Or get some more airstones? I'm worried about changing the water everyday for stressing the fish and removing medication.

Thats good news about not vacuuming away good bacteria. Aparently some people vacumm 3-4 times a week which I understood was too much. I vacuum once a fortnight with the water change.

Thank you for taking the time to help me. I also read the latest white spot post, which had some further advice in dealing with the problem, again, it is hard to know which advice to follow regardless of how long they have had fish for etc.

susitna-flower

Another good reason to use the temperature method of dealing with ick rather than more medications. Plecos are very sensitive to medications....they fall into the scaleless variety that can't tolerate some meds.....

I have had great luck just turning up the temp, and doing water changes.

bbfeckawitts

Miss Fish, it is not hard for me to know who to listen to; fish store or fishlore. Fishlore is right 95% of the time. LFS is right 10% of the time. It is no wonder your betta died, stressed out from being with other fish, plus you are using melafix. If you are only changing 1/3 of the water every three days, then again you are not doing what we have told you. Melafix will not kill white spot. It is for fungal and bacterial diseases. We provide the advice but it is up to you whether you follow it or not. We all tell basically the same advice. Will you listen to LFS who tell you a whole bunch of crap or will you listen to us with life experience with this problem. I had ich (white spot) not long ago. I used Maracide with turning the temp up to 82F and after that a 50% water change. The reason I got it is because my heater was accidentaly turned off. I hope you listen to everyone on here and save your remaining fish.
Brianna