Aquarium Full Of Issues....

This is going to be a long winded post because the issues just keep accumulating.

I have a 29 gallon tank that houses a few Mollies, Tetras, Cory's, a Platy, and a Dwarf Gourami.

First, I cannot for the life of me get rid of whatever fungus/bacteria or whatever that keeps attacking my tank. And one specific fish seems to be the target of this issue. She will get better and then turn around and have another issue. She is also chronically pregnant because she is my male Molly's favorite mate. Her most recent spell has been pop eye. I have treated the tank with Pima and Mela per information I have read within threads and it seems to have helped but her poor eye still looks funky. Though, I'm not sure that it will ever truly be the same. Now, one of my tetra's is either hanging out by the heater in my tank or swimming around frantically. When it is being still it looks like its hyperventilating (best comparison I can come up with to describe what it is doing). So I have treated the tank yet again with the Pima and Mela to see if that helps. I just did the water change yesterday from the previous treatment for the pop eye.

Next, my fish are chronically constipated. I have bought different foods that are higher in fiber. Initially, I was feeding them Omega One color minI pellets and the occasional frozen blood worms. Then I noticed that my fish (mostly the Mollies) always had long strings of poop trailing behind them. I read that pellet food and blood worms were low in fiber and to try other types of food so I bought HikarI multivitamin brine shrimp, Tetra Pro cory wafers, and frozen emerald entry to provide more nutrition and fiber, but they are still constipated. I even tried the shelled peas to help with the constipation. Not sure what else to do there so any suggestions on the best food would be great.

Yesterday, during my water change I noticed that I somehow have gain a snail to my aquarium and I have NO IDEA where he could have came from, but honestly... I don't want him. I had snails in a tank years ago and they took over everything, but I don't have the heart to discard him either. Mostly, I just find it strange that a random snail popped up in my tank. I haven't added anything new in a long time either. I did almost a complete water change because the water quality wasn't the best from taking the carbon filters out to treat my tank with the Mela and Pima. I also decided to clean the filter since everything was super slimy with build up and I broke it so now I need to buy a new one and for the time being my tank isn't being filtered, only oxygenated. So any filter recommendations would be great since this is the second filter I have gone through (Granted the first one was a hand me down one that came with the tank).

Lastly, I have two fry that have swam out of hiding since they are a little bigger. (Remember the chronically pregnant Molly?) I have had the tank for about 7 months now and through all the pregnancies I have never seen any of the fry so I assumed that they were getting eaten as fast as they were having them. I bought a baby hideout grass, but it was just collecting food and making the nitrates in my tank extremely high so I took it out for the sake of my water quality.

I do at least 50% water changes once a week and I feed my fish once a day rotating between the foods listed above. I honestly don't know what else to do and I feel bad that they keep getting sick. Now that I have noticed the fry I don't want them to die. I'm quite attached to the female Molly with the pop eye after watching her so closely all this time.

I have another small tank, a 5 gallon, and it houses a betta and an albino sucker fish. I don't have any issues what so ever with that aquarium so at least I am doing something right somewhere.

Thanks for any help!

 

What are ALL the water parameters? Usually fish get these problems under stress. Their immune system lowers, making them more suceptible. Is the substrate cleaned regularly? Bad things lurk in gravel... clean substrate keeps water parameters stable. Are you de-chlorinating (treating) water before filling the tank during water changes?

 

I can't test the water parameters right now because the Mela and the Pima throw everything out of whack. Or at least the one time I tried right after treating it the parameters were crazy. When I do the water changes each week I use the gravel vac and run over the surface of all my gravel, but I don't stir things around because I read somewhere not to do that. I use the eco-complete substrate and currently have the aquarium lightly planted. I do treat the water with the API stress coat anytime I add water to the tank. I also add about a Tbs of aquarium salt when I do water changes.

So I went ahead and tested the water to see what happened and the GH was the only thing that is high. I kept looking around for what could be going on with my tetra and I'm diagnosing it with ammonia poisoning. Which my test strips don't have ammonia on there. Only pH, GH, KH, nitrates and nitrites. I added some ammonia drops to the water before I thought better of it with the other stuff in the water and there not being a filter in the tank right now. Hopefully I don't have any more fatalities, assuming the tetra will die, before I can get a new filter in the tank tomorrow evening. This aquarium has been a nightmare and I feel badly for my fish.

The neon tetra died. When I get home from work today I will be doing another water change. Any suggestions on filter brands?

 

Get a liquid test kit, like the API Master Test Kit. They are more accurate and come with the ammonia test. The strips have been known to be inaccurate. Adding in ammonia with having the fish in the tank isn't good, ammonia will poison the fish so will a nitrite level. What was the water parameters that you got from the test strip?

 

Yesterday when I tested with the strips they were:
GH: 180
KH: 120
PH: 7
NO2: 1
NO3: 20

Went ahead and bought the master kit when I bought a filter today and the values are:
PH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0 (but I put the ammonia remover in the aquarium last night)
NO2: 0.25
NO3: 20-40

I'm about to do another water change and then add the filter to the tank and retest my water.

 

Make sure you keep the original filter running on the tank or else what ever cycling that has happened with the tank will be lost. If you don"t have room for 2 filters move the media from the old filter to the new filter. Most of the beneficial bacteria resides in your filter media.

 

Water change is complete. New water parameters are:
PH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0

I did use the old filter media in the new one. I also got a new food today to see if that one helps with the constipation. It's the API tropical pellets. It has pea protein in it so I figured it was worth a shot and the API brand seems to be a good one. Hopefully this resolves my problems for a while.

Anyone have any idea where a random snail could have come from?

Thanks for the responses!

 

Somethings not quite right, you should be showing some nitrates(NO3) if you're tank is cycled.

 

My aquarium is 29 gallons and I changed about 20 galllons of water on Tuesday when I broke my filter. And then I did it again today since my fish were all acting weird and I thought it was because of the ammonia. Could that be why? I hope I didn't do more damage than good.

 

Have you been using heterotrophic bacteria into your tank?
Hetero= sludge eating that also reduce ammonia and nitrites temporarily. Those also eat the "sludge" ( your fish's slime coating) off your fish making them flip, flop, scratch, buck and bang against anything in the tank, eventually leading to a list of problems too long to mention, including 'fake' fin rot.
What you want to do is clean the entire tank thoroughly, gravel vac, clean your filter, too, because you need to rid your habitat of the wrong kind of bacteria.
Buy products that introduce autotrophic bacteria rather than heterotrophic and half of your problems (or all) will go away.
Microbe-lift states its product is autotrophic, Dr. Tim's one and only also uses autotrophic ( from what I was told by the company in person) and Seachem Stability uses 50/50 of each, which will work if you underfeed or understock.

Wish you the best of luck.

 

I'm new to the forum but would just like to add that , I love the fact that your willing to basically do whatever it takes to help out your fish, many people at this point would of jusg given up. (And some wouldn't have including me haha its the passion for fish).

Also do exactly what herkimur said, clean everything at this point EVERYTHING. I really like to use Tetra SafeStart. But I've never personally used Dr tims one and only but I have heard very good things of it. If you do go with Tetra SafeStart get the right size bottle for your tank, put it all inside the tank and don't do any water changes. Check your results every couple days. Once your cycle is done do a water change I also love using PRIME by seachem it's a conditioner, it obviously does what every other conditioner does but also helps turn ammonia and nitrites LESS toxic to the fish for a 48 hour period , doesn't kill them which still allows the good bacteria to eat.

 

Just to add to that, the good bacteria needed is in your filter not your tank, I do 80% water changes on my tanks every 6 days as long as your filter is well established you can change 80% plus,, my 800 litre tank with my arrowana in gets 70% water change every 5 days, just to get this right are you saying that your filter broke you then kept running your tank with no filter on it and then brought a new filter and put the media from your old filter in new the filter,, yer

 

I completely forget to add regarding your fish that our constipated, put them on a fast. Don't feed them for 2 or 3 days (don't worry they will not die)
And give them peas but make sure it's peas with no added salt or preservatives. frozen peas – just toss them in the microwave in a cup of water for about a minute, let them cool down, shell them, and then offer them to your fish.

Just to add to that, the good bacteria needed is in your filter not your tank, I do 80% water changes on my tanks every 6 days as long as your filter is well established you can change 80% plus,, my 800 litre tank with my arrowana in gets 70% water change every 5 days, just to get this right are you saying that your filter broke you then kept running your tank with no filter on it and then brought a new filter and put the media from your old filter in new the filter,, yer

Ya that's right , I think he ment he wasn't running any filter for a couple days. And I'm thinking his media is full of bad bacteria from the sludge , medication, fungus, disease ect.. I don't know if I would still use the same media with all the problems it's giving him. I would just basically start over . It'll probably erase all of his own going problems (cross my fingers)

 

Pimafix and Melafix are basically herbal remedies, there's no scientific evidences they cure anything. Long stringy white poop usually points to an internal parasite.

 

Running a tank with no filter is wrong, using media from a filter that has not been on and working for days is going to cause you massive problems as the bacteria you need has died and turned toxic which produces a egg like smell, these toxins can kill fish and wipe a whole tank out, use new media if this is the case and use bio start balls, if your fish have internal parasites and other contagious infections, you need to drain tank and clean with 10% bleach solution! and do the same with the filter! sometimes it's better to start again than to just keep chasing the problem, when there is to many variables you can end up making things worse and worse, allso I agree with the comments on melafix there is no scientific evidence! but I have used it many times on many different fish and I have had good results on fin damage e,t,c.... The best solution for a majority of fish problems is making sure your water is clean, if your water is clean your fish will look good and be happy, after all that's what it's all about

 

Have you been using heterotrophic bacteria into your tank?
Hetero= sludge eating that also reduce ammonia and nitrites temporarily. Those also eat the "sludge" ( your fish's slime coating) off your fish making them flip, flop, scratch, buck and bang against anything in the tank, eventually leading to a list of problems too long to mention, including 'fake' fin rot.
What you want to do is clean the entire tank thoroughly, gravel vac, clean your filter, too, because you need to rid your habitat of the wrong kind of bacteria.
Buy products that introduce autotrophic bacteria rather than heterotrophic and half of your problems (or all) will go away.
Microbe-lift states its product is autotrophic, Dr. Tim's one and only also uses autotrophic ( from what I was told by the company in person) and Seachem Stability uses 50/50 of each, which will work if you underfeed or understock.

Wish you the best of luck.

I haven't been using any bacteria in my tank. Only thing I add to it is the API stress coat when I do water changes and a little aquarium salt. I added Melafix and Pimafix when the pop eye happened. Yesterday was the first time I ever added the ammonia remover. I was trying to thoroughly clean the tank on Tuesday filter and all because of the pop eye issue. I had treated the tank for a week and then I was attempting to do a good clean. That's how I broke my filter, I couldn't get the propeller part back in and then it broke. Whenever I do a water change I vacuum the gravel, I just don't stir it up.

Thanks for all your help!

I'm new to the forum but would just like to add that , I love the fact that your willing to basically do whatever it takes to help out your fish, many people at this point would of jusg given up. (And some wouldn't have including me haha its the passion for fish).

I do know that you should be reading nitrates if your tank is fully cycle. If you parameters are reading 0 everything you probably restarted your whole cycle by removing so much water you also removed the good bacteria.

Thanks! I really do feel badly for them developing all these issues. And since I am trying to nurse them back to health I feel more attached to them. Especially my pop eyed Molly. Will her eye ever go back to normal or will it always seem kind of popped out?

Well, . I won't do that again. I was just trying to fix their water quality.

Just to add to that, the good bacteria needed is in your filter not your tank, I do 80% water changes on my tanks every 6 days as long as your filter is well established you can change 80% plus,, my 800 litre tank with my arrowana in gets 70% water change every 5 days, just to get this right are you saying that your filter broke you then kept running your tank with no filter on it and then brought a new filter and put the media from your old filter in new the filter,, yer

Yes, I was cleaning my filter and I broke the propeller part off. The tank went almost two days without a filter. I put the broken filters media in the new filter because I read to do that to keep the bacteria in the filter. Apparently, that wasn't a good idea. These poor fish.

Pimafix and Melafix are basically herbal remedies, there's no scientific evidences they cure anything. Long stringy white poop usually points to an internal parasite.

The poop isn't white. It's the color of the food I feed them for the most part. It helped with my Molly's pop eye, but its still kind of bulgy. Should I try something else so it doesn't come back? What could I get for an internal parasite?

 

I can't keep going back over thread, lol,, what size tank you have and how many fish

 

If it's pop-eye then no it will never go back to normal. Quick question do both eyes look the same or just one side?

Mardel Maracyn 2 is highly recommend for pop eye

 

Show pictures

 

Running a tank with no filter is wrong, using media from a filter that has not been on and working for days is going to cause you massive problems as the bacteria you need has died and turned toxic which produces a egg like smell, these toxins can kill fish and wipe a whole tank out, use new media if this is the case and use bio start balls, if your fish have internal parasites and other contagious infections, you need to drain tank and clean with 10% bleach solution! and do the same with the filter! sometimes it's better to start again than to just keep chasing the problem, when there is to many variables you can end up making things worse and worse, allso I agree with the comments on melafix there is no scientific evidence! but I have used it many times on many different fish and I have had good results on fin damage e,t,c.... The best solution for a majority of fish problems is making sure your water is clean, if your water is clean your fish will look good and be happy, after all that's what it's all about

Okay, so what I need to do is transfer the fish into a quarantine tank. Completely break down my tank, use the bleach solution, and start again using bio start balls? I have the eco-complete substrate for plants, will I be able to use the bleach solution with that or should I just start over with new substrate too? I do weekly water changes and was using the test strips after each water change to make sure my water was in good shape. I usually do 50% or more on my water changes because I was over feeding my fish at first and making their water quality go bad fast. Most of the fish in this tank I have had since I started the tank May or June of last year so I am kind of attached to them and feel bad that I am putting them through all of this.

 

Most likely, her eye won't go back to normal, depending on how long she had pop eye. My one Dalmatian Molly got pop eye and I noticed it the first day, put her in a hospital tank, and cured it within 1-2 days and the eye is completely back to normal

As you can see in that picture, neither eye is protruding out anymore (it was only in one eye, so you can use the view to compare the two eye sizes). As far as the long stringy white poo, sometimes that can be caused by either a sandy substrate, but mostly points to a internal bacterial infection or poor diet. By the different foods you've named off, I would cross out the poor diet because it sure seems like you have the food aspect under control, so I would look into some different products to help treat the possible bacterial infection. Jungle has some great products such as their aquarium salt and Fungus Clear Fizz tabs; pictures here:

.
. I've included the pictures of the details of the products to show what they cure and if you think those symptoms are showing in any of your fish. The only issue with the aquarium salt is that Catfish are very sensitive to salt and shouldn't have any salt added into their tank. If there's any way you could remove the cories temporarily and possibly try the aquarium salt, that would help. I've also heard Epsom salt can help with the constipation, but some ingredient in the epsom salt is apparently not good for the fish... I still used in on my goldfish and it survived, but keep in mind that goldfish are very hardy fish too. If you decide to use salt, also remember to dissolve it in a cup of the aquarium water before adding it. Fish can also be given salt baths, but I'm not quite educated on how to perform one successfully and never tried. Maybe you can research it a bit and try it on some of your sicker fish. I hope that will help a bit, and good luck!! I know it's so hard when everything seems to be going wrong Things will get better!

 

Think your going into a minI cycle. By having your media sit in water for 2 days you probably killed most of the BB. BB are aerobic thus you need running water more than 12 hours and you the BB will start dying

I suggest getting a bottle of BB as quickly as possible. Also as mentioned over 50% water change does not harm you aquarium. About 95% of BB are in your filter the rest is in the water, substrate and any decor you have.

As far as filter what model filter do you have? Another thing is I'd the HOB uses cartridge then one problem will be that the cartridge contains carbon. Carbon is used to clear water however it is also used to remove medicine

 

Oh and also for a filter recommendation, I like the Aqueon Quiet Flow filters, plus other Aqueon products have been successful for me, such as their Water Conditioner and so forth. My two favorite fish product brands at the moment have to be Jungle and Aqueon. I recently went to an event at my LFS where I traded my old filters for new Aqueon Quiet Flow Filters for free! The Aqueon guys were quite thrilled the cut the cords off my old topfin and penguin filters Also, make sure you know what kind of diets each specific fish species would be getting in the wild because when I first got my African Cichlids, I didn't realize that regular Cichlid food didn't provide the right nutrients needed and actually had too much protein which is common in killing certain Cichlids because in the wild they wouldn't receive that much protein. There is little stuff like that that would harm your fish silently, and you'll never know until their dead (unless you research it first). Hopefully everything goes well and things start looking up soon!!

 

I can't keep going back over thread, lol,, what size tank you have and how many fish

I have a 29 gallon tank with 10 fish and 2 fry. I'm trying to add pictures, but it says the file is too large. I will have to figure out how to change the file size.

If it's pop-eye then no it will never go back to normal. Quick question do both eyes look the same or just one side?

It was on one side. I noticed it when it was slightly bulgy and whitish so I went out that day and got the Melafix and Pimafix after researching it some on threads and saw a lot of people suggest that. It looked better the next day and I continued the treatment for the entire week like it suggested. Her eye doesn't have the white film anymore and its mostly flush with her body again, but it's still not perfect. Everyone else in the tank looks happy and healthy as far as I can tell. It is just this one Molly that is getting the grunt of the funk. Right before Christmas she got white patches all over her body and she just swam frantically in one place. I treated the whole tank with API fungus cure then, but it turned the water neon green.

Most likely, her eye won't go back to normal, depending on how long she had pop eye. My one Dalmatian Molly got pop eye and I noticed it the first day, put her in a hospital tank, and cured it within 1-2 days and the eye is completely back to normal

As you can see in that picture, neither eye is protruding out anymore (it was only in one eye, so you can use the view to compare the two eye sizes). As far as the long stringy white poo, sometimes that can be caused by either a sandy substrate, but mostly points to a internal bacterial infection or poor diet. By the different foods you've named off, I would cross out the poor diet because it sure seems like you have the food aspect under control, so I would look into some different products to help treat the possible bacterial infection. Jungle has some great products such as their aquarium salt and Fungus Clear Fizz tabs; pictures here:

.
. I've included the pictures of the details of the products to show what they cure and if you think those symptoms are showing in any of your fish. The only issue with the aquarium salt is that Catfish are very sensitive to salt and shouldn't have any salt added into their tank. If there's any way you could remove the cories temporarily and possibly try the aquarium salt, that would help. I've also heard Epsom salt can help with the constipation, but some ingredient in the epsom salt is apparently not good for the fish... I still used in on my goldfish and it survived, but keep in mind that goldfish are very hardy fish too. If you decide to use salt, also remember to dissolve it in a cup of the aquarium water before adding it. Fish can also be given salt baths, but I'm not quite educated on how to perform one successfully and never tried. Maybe you can research it a bit and try it on some of your sicker fish. I hope that will help a bit, and good luck!! I know it's so hard when everything seems to be going wrong Things will get better!

Thank you! I did not know that Cory's didn't like aquarium salt and I add it to my tank with each water change. I cut the recommended amount in salt in half per the advice of the pet store. So I add about a tablespoon or so each water change. I won't do that anymore. The pet store told me to do it for gill function for the fish.

 

"The eyes bulge out abnormally in pop-eye because of an accumulation of fluid either in the eye itself or behind the eye. The many causes of pop-eye include infections from bacteria, viruses and parasites, as well as from water nitrogen supersaturation (gas bubble disease), water quality problems, tumors, internal (metabolic) disorders and nutritional deficiencies"
Full text here

 

I'm glad I could help! Most fish store employees aren't very educated on fish as you'd expect, depending on which fish store you go do. I'm lucky enough to have a "That Fish Place, That Pet Place" nearby, so in the fish room they have a lot of educated fish keepers in there that can provide good information. Unfortunately, chain pet store employees don't know much about the fish, and like one Youtuber who told her story about working at a chain pet store, she knows a lot about fish but was told by her boss that they don't put the "pretty, thin female workers" out on the floor to work because they "can't lift as much and don't seem like they know a lot about pets". I know, awful, huh? So unfortunately you can never know how correct the information you're getting is, but this forum has a lot of great, informed people on it!! Glad you chose this site to post on; I'm always impressed by the great advice everyone has to offer here.

 

Think your going into a minI cycle. By having your media sit in water for 2 days you probably killed most of the BB. BB are aerobic thus you need running water more than 12 hours and you the BB will start dying

I suggest getting a bottle of BB as quickly as possible. Also as mentioned over 50% water change does not harm you aquarium. About 95% of BB are in your filter the rest is in the water, substrate and any decor you have.

As far as filter what model filter do you have? Another thing is I'd the HOB uses cartridge then one problem will be that the cartridge contains carbon. Carbon is used to clear water however it is also used to remove medicine

I bought another Tetra Whisper since I already had cartridges for it. When I treated the tank with the Pima and Mela I took out the carbon filters because it recommended it. I was thinking about ordering the replacement part for the filter that I broke that way if something like that ever happened again there won't be a long period without proper filtration. I have one of the LED bubble hoses running along my tank so at least they had that running while the filter was MIA, not that it probably made too big of difference.

The eyes bulge out abnormally in pop-eye because of an accumulation of fluid either in the eye itself or behind the eye. The many causes of pop-eye include infections from bacteria, viruses and parasites, as well as from water nitrogen supersaturation (gas bubble disease), water quality problems, tumors, internal (metabolic) disorders and nutritional deficiencies. Treatment of pop-eye is based on identifying and treating the underlying problem.
Gas Bubble Disease is a result of supersaturation (excess levels) of the water with the gas, nitrogen. Supersaturation occurs whenever the pressure of a gas in the water is higher than the pressure of the same gas in the surrounding atmosphere. When there is this difference between gas pressures, the gas gets pulled too quickly out of the bloodstream, leaving gas bubbles behind. This is what happens to SCUBA divers who ascend too quickly and create a big difference in gas pressures, which leads to the diver getting gas bubble formation or the “bends”. In fish, gas bubbles can accumulate behind the eye, making it bulge outward.

Water in a newly filled tank will be supersaturated with gases and you will see the gas bubbles covering the inside of the tank. The more that the water is agitated as you are pouring it in for the first time, the less supersaturation you will have. Agitation of water releases gas from it. Normal aeration will speed up the time that it takes for this excess gas to leave the water. When the bubbles on the tank disappear, then it is safe to put your fish into the new water.

High-powered powerheads, that shoot streams of air into your tank’s water, can lead to nitrogen supersaturation. Treatment in this circumstance would be to turn down the powerhead water stream adjustment to its’ lowest setting and allow the air pump to be the only source of air. For the next few days, observe your fish. If the pop-eye starts to go away, then it was due to nitrogen supersaturation. If there is no change or the condition worsens, then the pop-eye is most likely due to an infectious cause and probably a bacterial one.

An excess of nitrogen gas can also occur as a result of a large build-up of nitrites and nitrates in the water and has been seen in deep wells and frozen-over ponds and lakes, but probably does not happen to a significant degree in the aquarium. It is always important however to maintain excellent water quality for your fish. Under normal circumstances, there should be no measurable nitrites and the nitrates should be kept at 25 ppm or lower for all but the most sensitive species.

The bacterial causes may manifest themselves as septicemia from such organisms as Aeromonas, Pseudomonas and Edwardsiella, all gram-negative rod bacteria. To diagnose septicemia, you should look for red blotches or red streaks on the body and fins. Bloody splotches at the base of the pectoral fins are often the first indication of septicemia. It is when the bacterial infection attacks the internal organs that the eyes begin to collect fluid. If your fish is still eating, treat by feeding antibiotic food. The most effective medicated food is Medi-Gold, which contains three antibiotics, including kanamycin. Romet B and Tetra Medicated Food for bacterial infections are alternatives to use, but the Tetra brand food may be less effective due to bacterial resistance that has developed to its’ antibiotic, oxytetracycline. If your fish has stopped eating or seems to be quite sick even with medicated food, then he should be treated with antibiotics in the water. The antibiotics minocycline (Maracyn-Two) and kanamycin (K-mycin), have gram-negative rod bacterial coverage and therefore kill the bacteria which cause septicemia.

Other bacterial causes of pop-eye are from Mycobacteria (fish TB) and Nocardia. Fish infected with these bacteria tend to waste away and may have open ulcers on their bodies. Few studies have been performed to determine which antibiotic is best to treat fish TB. There has been some reported success with minocycline (Maracyn-Two)

The only notable thing going on with with the one fish is the pop eye. I will bit the Maracyn-Two, but first I will try and get a picture of her uploaded so yall can see how it looks. It doesn't look bad anymore, so I'm not sure if I should keep treating it. Thanks for all the information! I didn't know a lot of that.

 

Before you do anything else and start adding more treatments make sure you know what the problem is, othwise you are just throwing money away, also allot of treatments available don't always work, if it's not contagious and your fish seems happy sometimes it's better to just let it be,, I rescued a gar of someone a few months ago and a peice of its lower jaw was missing, I treated it in a medI tank for ages I tried everything. then I realised he was happy and not bothered about the bit that was missing from his jaw, so I left him be,, and he is loving his new tank. If you love your fish a few imperfections won't bother you,,

 

I'm glad I could help! Most fish store employees aren't very educated on fish as you'd expect, depending on which fish store you go do. I'm lucky enough to have a "That Fish Place, That Pet Place" nearby, so in the fish room they have a lot of educated fish keepers in there that can provide good information. Unfortunately, chain pet store employees don't know much about the fish, and like one Youtuber who told her story about working at a chain pet store, she knows a lot about fish but was told by her boss that they don't put the "pretty, thin female workers" out on the floor to work because they "can't lift as much and don't seem like they know a lot about pets". I know, awful, huh? So unfortunately you can never know how correct the information you're getting is, but this forum has a lot of great, informed people on it!! Glad you chose this site to post on; I'm always impressed by the great advice everyone has to offer here.

I have being reading the forums on here for months trying to find things that applied to my problems. This forum and one other. I finally decided to just ask for myself since I had so much going on and I really want to get it fixed. I had my Betta tank first and it was so low maintenance and he loves to swim up to me when I go to his tank that I thought it would be awesome to have a larger community tank. Now several months later I have this high maintenance tank that makes me feel like a bad fish mom. I thought about giving the tank away to someone who could do better than me, but like I mentioned in a previous thread, I am attached to them now.

I should have known better than to trust what the pet store said. I am the one who taught them how to tell the difference between a male and female Molly. Only reason I found out is when I got the fish I just picked some out and then they all started fighting. So I researched it and figured it out. Come to find out I bought 3 male Molly's and 1 female. The male molly I have now killed the other male Molly's despite my efforts to add extra hiding places and plants to escape in and the female is the one with the issues now.

 

Demon012 Popeye is actually an accumulation of Bacteria behind the eye, not from fluid. Besides that, I didn't know about all that other stuff!

 

Before you do anything else and start adding more treatments make sure you know what the problem is, othwise you are just throwing money away, also allot of treatments available don't always work, if it's not contagious and your fish seems happy sometimes it's better to just let it be,, I rescued a gar of someone a few months ago and a peice of its lower jaw was missing, I treated it in a medI tank for ages I tried everything. then I realised he was happy and not bothered about the bit that was missing from his jaw, so I left him be,, and he is loving his new tank. If you love your fish a few imperfections won't bother you,,

She seems as happy as can be. She never lost her appetite and she will come nibble on my hand when I am cleaning the tank. I just don't want her to die. It would upset me. Now that I got the better water testing kit, perhaps I will just see how this week goes before I mess with them anymore. I will get the stuff tomorrow to help my tank cycle since it has a brand new filter. I went ahead and put the new media in it too since putting the old stuff in there wasn't a good idea. However, I rinsed the old stuff really well the day it broke so it didn't have an odor or anything. I just read that instead of swapping out the media all the time that it is best to just give it all a good rinse at least once a month and keep reusing it until you absolutely have to change it out. Is that true?

 

From what I've heard, it seems to be best to not swap out the filter like the boxes recommend. Like typical products, they suggest what makes them more money rather than what saves you money and what is more beneficial for the aquarium. On my box of filter cartridges, it says change every 2-4 weeks, but you would be losing all beneficial bacteria for 1, and 2, it's really not necessary when you can just rinse them off. Most people say to rinse the filter cartridges off with a cup of aquarium water, but I think that's a little overboard and not quite necessary. I've rinsed mine and left them in for a little over a month at a time and never had issues. Just once when the bag was washed too often and ripped, dumping all the carbon down my sink drain

 

Filter pads and sponges can last a long and a lot of bio media too, carbon needs to be changed every 6 weeks I think it is, I haven't used carbon for a couple of years so I might be wrong, the white floss needs to be changed every week if you use if,

What filter are you using

You can wash old media that you think might be contaminated in reduced bleach solution, wash media in the solution then rinse it well, let it dry out completely then repeat 3 times till you can't smell bleach any more, last rinse use your water safe that you use when adding water to aquarium

Allso I think carbon is a waste of money,, I have 2x 800 litre tanks 2x 180 litre tanks 2x 250 litre tanks 2x 500 litre tanks and iam running 10 external filters without carbon, and have been for years, and my tank water does not smell, carbon takes up room in the external filter where you could be using a higher grade bio media or mechanical media, but fair play everyone likes to set there filters up how they think is best,,,

In response to message about washing filter cartridges of with tank water, I agree that's overkill, I clean my filter cartridges and trays with a jet wash,,, they are dry tho before I put media back in

Iam going out on a limb and sticking with Bacteria and infection causes Popeye but the actual swollen eye is caused by a build up of fluid in the eye or behind the eye, I might be wrong,,, but it's always nice to chat with someone serious about the hobby,

 

I’m not sure where I read about the bacteria build up behind the eye rather than fluid, but either way, it still needs to be treated and that's all that matters Plus, either way, its still caused by bacteria and should be treated right away.

 

Off cause, but it's always nice to have your fish knowledge tested,,, lol

 

The swelling of the fish’s eye is caused by tissue fluid leaking behind the eyeball. Pressure builds up as the amount of fluid increases, forcing the fish’s eyeball outward. bacterial infections commonly occur. The cloudiness of the fish’s eye is caused by damage to the cornea (the transparent layer of skin that covers the pupil).it is most frequently caused by continual exposure to chronically poor water conditions and most common in aquariums that are overcrowded or receive infrequent water changes
Source:

 

The only good product API makes is the Master Test Kit. Use Prime and Stress Guard both made by Seachem.
I see you keep mentioning API products, they are all garbage. The StressCoat made by API has Aloe Vera in it and in a short time will build up on ALL your decor, your walls and completely clog your filter and its piping.

I know you're probably saying well what about their slime coating? I want to protect my fish!
We're going back again to the 2 different kind of bacteria being sold by many companies.
You must add autotrophic bacteria from the very start of your set up, those are the ones that are beneficial and do the nitrification cycle, not the other ones that only eat food waste and sludge (including your fishs slime coating), and 2 days later your cycle starts all over again because you're breeding the wrong kind of bacteria.

You will know they're wrong when your glass keeps building up a white slime, floating food particles have white hair and the skin on your own hands are dry as heck every time you're done sticking them into your aquarium water.

 

The only good product API makes is the Master Test Kit. Use Prime and Stress Guard both made by Seachem.
I see you keep mentioning API products, they are all garbage. The StressCoat made by API has Aloe Vera in it and in a short time will build up on ALL your decor, your walls and completely clog your filter and its piping.

I know you're probably saying well what about their slime coating? I want to protect my fish!
We're going back again to the 2 different kind of bacteria being sold by many companies.
You must add autotrophic bacteria from the very start of your set up, those are the ones that are beneficial and do the nitrification cycle, not the other ones that only eat food waste and sludge (including your fishs slime coating), and 2 days later your cycle starts all over again because you're breeding the wrong kind of bacteria.

You will know they're wrong when your glass keeps building up a white slime, floating food particles have white hair and the skin on your own hands are dry as heck every time you're done sticking them into your aquarium water.

Sorry, I actually have a quick question for you , is seachem safe guard good to use? I currently use PRIME which I really like. But was wondering if safe guard would benefit my fish? (Their are not injured or anything)

 

You mean Stress Guard not Safe Guard?
If you meant Stress Guard then yes, absolutely it is good to use even if you don't see any damage to the fish.
Since you had all these issues it is always good to apply a 'bandage' onto the skin and cover up ulceration so small, they're invisible to the naked eye.
That is for example how fin rot starts, people usually only notice it when it's already spread over 50% of their fins.
It's like cancer in humans, it takes awhile to develop problems and get diagnosed most often too late, when most cancers actually take years to develop.

Prevention goes a long way, especially since once a fish shows symptoms visible to us, the decline is FAST and most often it's already too late.

Use Prime together with StressGuard every time you do a water change. You can taper off SG once all of your problems seem to have vanished.

 

You mean Stress Guard not Safe Guard?
If you meant Stress Guard then yes, absolutely it is good to use even if you don't see any damage to the fish.
Since you had all these issues it is always good to apply a 'bandage' onto the skin and cover up ulceration so small, they're invisible to the naked eye.
That is for example how fin rot starts, people usually only notice it when it's already spread over 50% of their fins.
It's like cancer in humans, it takes awhile to develop problems and get diagnosed most often too late, when most cancers actually take years to develop.

Prevention goes a long way, especially since once a fish shows symptoms visible to us, the decline is FAST and most often it's already too late.

Use Prime together with StressGuard every time you do a water change. You can taper off SG once all of your problems seem to have vanished.

Oh okay thanks, btw I didn't write this post lol, I was just wondering because you had mentioned it. My water is good,all parameters are good, fish are happy, but was wondering if I should start using stress guard? I've heard many great things on it.