Matti44

Recently I've added a second filter to my 29g tank, and that has helped clear up the ammonia and nitrite a bit. The tank seems to have finally cycled, and now I'm losing all my fish. I'm getting ready to do a big water change for the single remaining fish.

Where I'm confused is that I've now lost four out of five fish in the last week. The RTS disappeared a few days ago, and all three tiger barbs just died within the past hour. Looked like they had ICH, but I'm not sure; after getting them into a quarantine tank, the white spots disappeared, and you can see redness around their gills, and they started losing their scales.

I have a bala shark that remains....and seems to be perfectly healthy. What is going on with the tank? The bala is swimming around just fine, and has no discoloration whatsoever.

All I've got right now are the paper test strips... Ammonia is not gone, but there's not much there. Nitrites are gone, nitrates are low, and everything seems OK except for the pH levels, which are extremely low.... could that have something to do with it?

I'm puzzled, not to mention I feel absolutely horrible (whether it was my fault or not).

midnightwolf

it could but im not sure. i think you can buy some sort of conditioner to raise your PH

capekate

Hi Matti
sorry to hear you have lost so many fish. It must have been due to your ammonia level. The loss of scales and the red gills are big indicators that your ammonia was just to high for them to survive, even after doing the water changes. You said your PH is extremely low, can you let us know what the reading actually is to better determine if in fact the PH level may also have been a contributer to the death of your fish?

Matti44

all I can tell you about the pH, is that it was too much of an extreme to get an accurate reading... the lowest reading according to the strip is a middle-orange color for 6.2. The block on the strip was almost yellow; way brighter than the little test book showed. Going by the shades given and the shade of the test strip, I would say it was rather low, but how low? I have no idea.

I just got home not long ago to find that the Bala had some white areas on it as well. After losing the barbs today I cleaned out the bucket and started setting up a quarantine tank. According to the paper strips, everything is OK (but then again, they are the paper ones). And after putting the bala in, the white spots disappeared, and it is swimming around like mad, heh. There is a heater and an airstone in the bucket, and the bala seems to be entertained by the current from the bubbles. It still has all of its scales and appears to be in good shape for now. Maybe its the curvature of the bucket, but it seems to have grown since it's been in the bucket, heh.

I'm so worried I'm going to lose this last fish. What would explain the white spots? It looks like Ich, and has now claimed four fish in a few days.

Lucy

Hi Matti, I'm sorry for the loss of your fish.

If your tank is and fish are suffering from Ich slowly raise the temp to 83-84F. Leave it there for at least 2 week. Increase aeration to make up for the lack of oxygen in the warmer water.
Do a thorough vacuum to pick up all the spores.

Good luck.

agabr123

I think (and perhaps someone who has actually kept bala sharks can confirm or deny this) that bala sharks are better with a pH of between 6.0 and 7.0, so that shouldn't be a problem for you. That could be why he survived and the rest didn't, but I'm not sure.

However, I think that your tank may be too small for one. From what i've read, they grow up to 12 inches.

Edit: I just checked a couple websites and the pH should be perfectly fine for them, as they prefer slightly acidic, some said as low as 5.8.

Matti44

Well, so far so good with the Bala. He seems to be doing ok in the bucket. temp is about 82, and according to the paper strips everything is good. Just swimming around with the current, and no more white spots; hopefully this one will survive.

I changed out roughly 90% of the water in the main tank, and right now everything seems ok, and the pH is about 6.2 (according to these stupid paper strips... I've got to get the liquid kit). Not knowing if it was Ich or not, I should probably change it all, and give it a good cleaning (I think?). Again I'm not sure if it was Ich, because the white spots disappeared after the barbs (and bala) went into fresh water. One barb died almost as soon as it went in, and the other died about 10 minutes later (one was dead in the main tank before I had even noticed). The Bala went into fresh water and has shown no problems.

Yeah, the Balas grow pretty big. I want to get a 75g for him and a couple other fish, but I'm not going to get one that big until I can get this smaller one to work right for me.

I still feel so bad about what happened. Me and my girlfriend are going to get more once tank conditions improve, but it won't be the same. I miss those fish, even for the short time I had them.