littlewitchblue5

Hello all:

I have spent the past few hours trying to figure out what I did wrong with my pleco's and why they are not doing so well. I have a 27 gallon tank that has been set up for 2 years and a 10 gallon hospital tank set up at all times it seems for the moment. The 27 gallon has three pleco's and three common goldfish, and they are all over 2 years old.

I watch the pH in the tank like a hawk and it is at a stable level. Due to the goldfish I know the ammonia and nitrate levels go up and down, so I play the water changes by ear, normally 10% once a week.

I am not sure what was going on in the tank but Hoover (one of the plecos) nose started to go white and then turned into an open sore, so he was moved to the hospital tank. His movment has gotten better but the open sore looks rather angry. That being said he has been in the hospital tank for just under a week but my other pleco Peter(the smallest pleco) just up and died , sinking to the bottom of the tank gasping with the same white sore that just appeared last night. Now Rocky(the largest) is showing signs of the white spot in the nose.

So far I have stripped down the 27 gallon tank, seperating the sick fish up from the healthy fish as I cleaned the tank. I took apart the Rena filter I had and replaced everything, and I filled the tank with scallding hot water (with the fish removed) twice to try to kill anything in it. I then refilled the tank and have been cycling it for the past day. I know doing a fill on water change was not the smartest idea but all of my fish including the goldfish have been having a rough go of it recently.

I don't like that I can't find any information on what my pleco's are sick with, and that I seem to be hurting my fish. Any help would be amazing.

I've merged your threads to keep it less confusing to other members since we are dealing with the same tank and issues.
Thanks!
Ken

SWilkins

Welcome to Fishlore and I am so sorry for your loss. Looks like you are overstocked a bit. Goldies and plecos really are big waste producers and needs lots of room to move around. Just hang in there I am sure somebody will be along shortly to help.

littlewitchblue5

I have recently had my three year old commet goldfish die rather abrutly on me and just need some answers.

I have a 27 gallon tank, that i know is over crowded with now three commone goldfish, and now two plecos. Over the span on the last three weeks I have and one pleco die and my comet die.

The 27 gallon tank is run in a Rena filter, I do water changes once a week about 10% and change the filter packs on time. Since all the sick fish the tank has had a complet tare down and start up in hopes of getting rid of what ever is making them so sick. The Ph is nice and level and the ammonia is well under control(I have witnessed ammonia burns and theya re so sad) as well as the nitrates.

I have a hospital tank set up at all times becuase I have one common goldfish that has got cloudy eye that will not go away and at times it looks like the rest of the eye is filling with blood. It sounds awful and it is but Mikey (2 years old) doesn't really seem to care or notice that she's blind. I also have my beloved scuzzy (4 years old) who had what i would only assume to be cotton mouth, bassically he lost his lips, it was not good, but putting him in hispital tank helped and he now has lips again. There is another fish who has no name and he never gets sick so that is beyond me. But as soon as I put mickey and Scuzzy into the hospital tank Jaws (the commet 3 years old)took a turn for the worse. I have never seen this fish get sick before and have actually had it kill other fish, not good. Either way it it took about one day form leaving for work and noticing that Jaws seemed a little sluggish from his normally mean self, to coming home form work and having his beuatiful tail half missing and him being pushed around by the current on the filter. I moved him to the hospital tank where he sank like a stone and lay gasping for over a day having momentary burst of energy where he was back to himself until he died . Recently Scuzzy pulled the same stunt, it seems like fin rot, but it is only affecting the goldfish, and by hospitalizing scuzzy strait away when I noticed the warning signs he is now better. I just feel horrible for possibly hurting my fish and just need to know if something can be done.

I never thought I was bad about taking care of my fish but at the moment I feel otherwise.

aquarist48

Hello LittleWitch and Welcome to Fish Lore! So sorry to hear that your fish are ill. Do you have a test kit so that you can post all of your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? If so what type of kit are you using? What is recommended most is the API (liquid, not strips) Master Test Kit. The strips are very unreliable.

I would like to suggest that you rehouse your Plecos as they are tropical and your goldfish are cold water species. Although they may be surviving together, one or the other is not going to flourish and thrive as they should. One or the others live span may be severely shortened as well because of improper housing.

All of your fish in this tank are major waste producers. A 50% water change and adding some Prime water conditioner may help as well. I don't feel that you're changing out enough water during your water changes. The slightest amount of ammonia can be deadly to your fish. Your readings should be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and below 20 nitrates. Anything other than this means your tank is either not cycled or going through a mini cycle. If you're showing ammonia at all, do the water change daily, add the Prime to detox the ammonia (Amquel + and Ammolock will do the same) for the 24 hour period until it's time for the next water change. Do the water changes daily until you have the readings I mentioned above.

Is your quarantine tank cycled?
Best of luck for you and your fish. I'm sure you'll get additional responses soon as well.

Cleaning your filter: your filter media should only be rinsed in siphoned tank water once a month. Use it until it's falling apart and then you can replace a little of it at a time. You never want to use tap water on your filter media. The chlorine can destroy all of the good bacteria that is needed to sustain your tank. If you use activated carbon in your tank then it should be replaced completely every 3 weeks. It sounds like you may have done some "over" cleaning and your tank is in a mini cycle with high amounts of ammonia.
Ken
Little Witch I have merged your two threads since we are dealing with the same tank and issues. This will make it a lot less confusing for other members and to keep your responses all together.
Thanks!
Ken

gremlin

The white on the plecos could be ammonia burns. 29 gallons is suitable for only one of the fish you have, no more. Simply because of the waste produced. That could likely be the cause of the deaths and the illnesses. Goldies are pretty tough fish and can survive poor water quality for a long time, then all of a sudden their bodies finally say enough. Daily water changes with Prime will help control the ammonia, You may also want to consider a product called zeolite. It is a white stone that is sometimes sold under the name White Diamond. Dr's Foster & Smith sell it. You can get large rocks of it to put in your tank from the Pond section of their web site. It absorbs excess ammonia and can help to control it in an overstocked tank.