# Fish tank terror!!



## Reiyuu (Sep 21, 2007)

Please help me! We are losing our fish left right and center! I had no idea what it was or what was causing ut but I have now noticed that our feather finned catfish has a huge gaping hole in his back. Its white and sunken in.. almost like something with a perfectly circular biite.. however he isnt the only one with a problem. These wierd white plague has appeared on the tetra and is eating away at their funs and backs just like the catfish and there seems to be an odd mucus appearing on the fish! its all this visable damage happened over the course of today! Anyone got any idea?


----------



## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Do a million water changes. Abot 40-50% per day and get yourself some antifungal medicine as quick as possible. Follow the destructions carefully and make sure you don't panic and overdose them. Is there any large fish that could bite them or suck on them (lol like sucking loaches or algae eaters)


----------



## Reiyuu (Sep 21, 2007)

yeh we have a couple of plecos in there. but one of them is at deaths door i fear.. this white plague has got onto his eye and he's so.. still and out in plain view.. he's not dead but he is close I fear  any idea how it would have come in? we have had no new fish in over 7 months so ut cant be that.


----------



## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

They can stay dormant unless the water quality declined. You need to do heavy waterchanges.


----------



## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Turn the temps a couple of degrees up


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

tank size? and what fish, how many and what size. Also when was the last water change you did. What filter do you use, how often do you clean. and get your water tested


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

what are your test levels?... the fish dying is secondary to why it has happened. are your nitrites high? as was said you probably have a fungal infection going on in there... if you don't solve the problem it will likely come back with new fish... fungal medicine allong with water changes are in order as was said above... but finding out the cause is paramount.

always try to desribe your set-up when asking about aquatics... rotten plant matter can bring on a fungal infection along with weakened, stressed fish.


----------



## Reiyuu (Sep 21, 2007)

thanks guys... were doing a 50% change now, its a 350 litre jewel with jewel filter cleaned weekly with community 2 plecos, 1 feather fin catfish some tetra, 5 harliquiens, 2 cherry barbs, 3 hatchet fish, 1 cory 2 angel fish and 2 female fighters. We have lost so many and we had no idea why. all the visual sighns have appeared over the last 24 hours


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

how long has it been up and running? have there been any changes recently?


----------



## Reiyuu (Sep 21, 2007)

been up and runnning for about 1 year .. 7 or 8 months since any change  no real plants.. all fake and all were cleaned maticulously by the corys before they died


----------



## carisma02uk (Sep 14, 2006)

well my input would be a simple one..
up the temps about 5 degs gradually... water change at a 50% rate daily but i would add some salt to the water i belive its about 1.5 tsp per gallon..
Jon


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

did anyone put their hands in there with lotion or perfume or something on them that could have started the ball rolling?


----------



## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

Like everyone said,water changes are the key.You said you clean the filter every week,do you clean it in tank water? Never wash it under the tap!


----------



## Reiyuu (Sep 21, 2007)

Berber King said:


> Like everyone said,water changes are the key.You said you clean the filter every week,do you clean it in tank water? Never wash it under the tap!


 we washed them under the tap because the instructions said it was ok to do :S as for lotions or perfumes. no.. we only ever put out hands in when poovering and we never use lotions or anything like that :S


----------



## Snakes r grreat (Aug 21, 2006)

Reiyuu said:


> we washed them under the tap because the instructions said it was ok to do :S as for lotions or perfumes. no.. we only ever put out hands in when poovering and we never use lotions or anything like that :S


Sadly, the instructions given for cleaning fliter sponges is very poor. 

You should always use old tank water to clean your filters in. The reason for this is that bacteria build up on your sponges, and this is what breaks down all of the fish waste in the tank. Everytime you clean your filter in tank water, you kill the bacteria which allows nitrite and ammonia to build up in your tank, this stresses the fish and starts the ball rolling for deseases. 

I would feed the fish only every two to three days at the moment. Get the water tested ASAP, and maybe get some Stress Zyme to help rebuild the bacteria.


----------



## retri (Mar 5, 2008)

lots of water changes and fungal treatment, any pictures of the white stuff?


----------



## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Yeah make sure you clean your filter in a bucket of tank water. What temp have you upped it to?


----------



## mask-of-sanity (Dec 27, 2006)

it sounds like the white stuff could be the fish shedding their mucus caused buy an irratant(sp) in the water .....get your water tested for ammonia and nitrite untill then dont feed your fish and dont clean the filter lets get some bacteria building up on it ...please dont change more than 30% of the water at one time as this can also do harm ....its hard to say exact cause without water testing results but i am thinking more towards there being amonia and nitrite in the water thus causing your problems ...once back on track you only need to clean your filter every 2 to 3 weeks in tank water giving the sponges just a couple of gd squeezes is enough to much and you will loose to much bacteria


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

what i was thinking... a nitrite spike.


----------



## mask-of-sanity (Dec 27, 2006)

HABU said:


> what i was thinking... a nitrite spike.


totally agree have seen this happen many times


----------



## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

Berber King said:


> Like everyone said,water changes are the key.You said you clean the filter every week,do you clean it in tank water? Never wash it under the tap!


 I clean my filter sponges under the cold tap and squeeze until the water runs nearly clear. It just unclogs them and still has plenty of bacteria on for the tank. My present tank has been in situ now for 18 months and gets a partial water change once every 2 weeks. I do a test occasionally and find that everything is as it should be. I suffer no fish losses, no disease and the plants are growing like.....er....weeds. As you can see from the pic in my sig, it is fairly heavily planted.
Mind you I do all kinds of things which the 'experts' say not to do, like keeping a siamese fighting fish male in the community tank. He has been in it since I set it up and is thriving along with everything else. Apart from one dwarf gourami and a couple more minnows, all the fish in my tank are the ones I out in when it was set up 18 months ago.
Saying that, I would never clean the filter sponges using anything but cold water, certainly no detergents etc but a good squeeze in cold running water to clear the debris should not kill the bacteria .


----------



## Bmolle (Feb 1, 2008)

have you got a testest kit for the water
test: nirate,nitrite and ammonia


----------



## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

fenwoman said:


> I clean my filter sponges under the cold tap and squeeze until the water runs nearly clear. It just unclogs them and still has plenty of bacteria on for the tank. My present tank has been in situ now for 18 months and gets a partial water change once every 2 weeks. I do a test occasionally and find that everything is as it should be. I suffer no fish losses, no disease and the plants are growing like.....er....weeds. As you can see from the pic in my sig, it is fairly heavily planted.
> Mind you I do all kinds of things which the 'experts' say not to do, like keeping a siamese fighting fish male in the community tank. He has been in it since I set it up and is thriving along with everything else. Apart from one dwarf gourami and a couple more minnows, all the fish in my tank are the ones I out in when it was set up 18 months ago.
> Saying that, I would never clean the filter sponges using anything but cold water, certainly no detergents etc but a good squeeze in cold running water to clear the debris should not kill the bacteria .


You really shouldn't rinse in cold tap water. a lot of bacteria wil die off. It may work but don't recommend it. Much safer just to squeeze out in a bucket of tank water. Much less bacteria will die off and it's just a bit etc piece of mind for a little extra work


----------



## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

Well all I can say is that a lot of fish keepers say not to do it but in 25 years keeping fish, I've always done it this way. Surely the fact that my tank stats are good and I suffer zero disease and no losses, commends the method. If it killed off all the bacteria why would the tank, plants and fish be so healthy and thriving? I would never use hot water but cold water alone would not kill off any bacteria hence you wouldn't wipe your toilet seat or work surfaces just with cold water alone and expect it to be clean. Not being argumentative here, just debating and challenging the idea that rinsing etc is bad. Certainly in a diseased tank, I may do things differently as the disease causing bacteria would still be thriving in a filter sponge whether it was rinsed in tap water or tank water.
I'm not a scientist or bacteriologist and can only speak about my own personal experience. It's for eveyone to decide which method suits them best I suppose. Same as when I was told never to put a male betta into a community tank even though I have always had one. When I went back to tropical fish after a 20 year break and went to a fish forum to find out about more modern ways and equipment I was told never to do this and never to do that and had my confidence knocked as it appeared that despite having a thriving communal tank for years, I was doing it all wrong. So I left the forum and did what I have always done successfully and here we are 18 months later with my present tank as well as my previous ones were and my betta as glorious as he was when I put him and the other fish into the tank.


----------



## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

It's not the cold water that kills the bacteria, it's the chlorine.


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

in an old, established tank, often beneficial bacteria live on nearly every surface in the tank. it's all about surface area. in many cases, rinsing filter sponges in chlorinated water has no effects but for me it's just easy to sqeeze out filter media in the waste water from my weekly siphoning...


----------



## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

Esfa said:


> It's not the cold water that kills the bacteria, it's the chlorine.


 So hypothetically, you could simply rinse the baby's bottles out in cold water and the chlorine will kill all the bacteria and make it safe to feed the baby from? Or just rinse your dishes in cold water and they'll be clean and bacteria free?


----------



## Ally (Mar 8, 2006)

Nope, fish tank bacteria are delecate little things (not like nasties - they're strong buggers!), the chlorine in tap water will kill them off.
The reason you get away with it, is that I guess your tank is well established and the gravel/plants etc are also covered in the good bacteria. This will help keep the levels sorted as long as the fish/bacteria balance is ok - which it obviously is in your tank!

The filter gets the best water flow, so this is where new bacteria set up home. They spread around the tank from there. Kill them off before they spread and they're never found in high enough amounts to deal with the fish waste.

It sounds like the tank has high ammonia or nitrite due to a lack of filter bacteria.

Low feeding, big water changes, and leave the filter alone as much as possible - always rinse in old tank water. Also never change the whole sponge at the same time, you'll be throwing all the bacteria in the bin - cut in half and change half at a time, at least 6 weeks between changing each half.

Get a test kit so you can keep an eye on what's happening in there. Remember you may lose these fish way after your problems with the water have stopped as ammonia and nitrite can damage the gills permanantly.


----------



## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

A lot of people keep/kept goldfish in small bowls and just emptied and filled from the tap,many fish survived for years,many didnt.Still doesnt mean its the correct way to do things,like already said,you probably have a good balance in your tank with stocking and bacteria on decor,it wont take much to affect that and with effectively no filter running i predict you will have a problem one day.Still,each to their own i guess:whistling2:


----------



## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

Berber King said:


> A lot of people keep/kept goldfish in small bowls and just emptied and filled from the tap,many fish survived for years,many didnt.Still doesnt mean its the correct way to do things,like already said,you probably have a good balance in your tank with stocking and bacteria on decor,it wont take much to affect that and with effectively no filter running i predict you will have a problem one day.Still,each to their own i guess:whistling2:


Well as was explained in the post above yours, I probably have plenty of bacteria in the tank anyway on the plants, substrate etc. As for having a problem one day, since I have a master kit and test sporadically, I imagine I would be able to nip any problem in the bud. As I said before, I have kept tropical fish for <works it out>30 years apart from the 2 year break and in all that time I had practically no fish losses and no disease. With that track record, there must be something to be said for "effectively no filter" then eh?

It's a bit like someone saying that exersize will kill you and who keeps telling you this, then after you have lived for a healthy trouble free life for 75 years, you have a stoke and die. The person then turns round and tells people that for the last 50 years he has been telling the dead person that exersize will kill him and look how he was proved right lol.
No doubt at some point, I might have a problem with water quality or disease or something. If and when that happens, no doubt you'll be able to tell me that you warned me about cleaning my filter sponges :lol2:


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

every tank is different and so is every owner.


----------



## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

Fair enough.Your tank looks good in your sig anyway!


----------



## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

HABU said:


> every tank is different and so is every owner.


 and I'm way more different to most :crazy:


----------



## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

Berber King said:


> Fair enough.Your tank looks good in your sig anyway!


thanks. I fiddle about with it a lot, adding more and more plants, bits of bogwood and natural looking things and move them about when I clean the tank in the hope that the fish find it interesting to navigate a different layout. I also have 6 different types of dry foods, plus frozen food in a variety pack and in summer collect ant eggs, mosquito larvae from the water butts etc and give them as a treat. They get fed twice a day on most days but only a small amount so there is no waste to go bad in the water. I tend to run the temp' higher than recommended too and have found that this helps keep a lot of bad stuff at bay (whitespot in particular). I think heavily planted means more room to hide which equals less stress and we all know that stress is a killer, even in humans.
I do me best, can't do more and it seems to work for me. Anyone visiting admires the tank and comments on it so I'm rather proud of it. Hopefully I will achieve the same with my new lizards.


----------

