Please help!

I had my tank running for about 7 weeks and had fish in my tank for close on 3 weeks. I bought some fish from a LPS on Friday and let the bag float on top for about an hour and let the fish into the tank with the water from the bag. Friday night I noticed that some of my perfectly healthy Livingstonii started to react funny, spinning around and gasping for air. Since Friday night till this morning I lost 4 Livingstoii’s,2 small Oscars,a compressicep and a tinfoil(was floating upside down while still alive this morning). I tested my PH and Nitrate levels yesterday and they are perfect. I also did a 25% water change and added conditioners yesterday and added some salt.

I mailed Slayer this morning about the above and he said that it might be that the water from the LPS that I let out into my tank with the Bala shark and 2 Silver dollars might be the cause of the problem. My tank is 26 degrees. The other fish in the tank seems fine but I cannot afford any more deaths as it brakes my hart to see my fish die from no apparent reason.

Please any advice or treatment possible will be greatly appreciated.

Slayer also suggested doing water changes this week every second day…

 

I would say, try general tonic, that has worked for me in the past when I didn't know what was wrong. The water changes are also very good, continue with that....
Good luck though, I also hate when my fish die, and I can't tell why...

 

Test the water to see whats wrong. Your selection of fish isnt compatible at all....

 

maybe try a 50+% water change whatever got into your water must get out. There is also the chance that the new additions might add a heavier bioload than your filter can handle at the moment. What filter are you running and what are your tanks specs. Sorry for your losses i know how you feel man.

 

Do a 50-80% water change immedietely. There was obviously something in the water from the LPS that has made your fish sick. Get a product called Stability from Seachem. This will add benficial bacteria to the filter to aid the cycling.

Then do 20-30% water changes every day.

Make sure you add dechlor to the water.

A LOT of fish diseases can be cured simply by giving the fish TOP NOTCH water quality.. which is the main goal of what I am trying to advise here. If within a week the deaths are still occuring rapidly, you would need to do some research on what could be causing the problem, and rectify with medication.

If you going to go with a general tonic as GG recommeded, you would need to take out any charcoal that is in the filter.

Snyper could be correct in the fact that the bio-load could be too high.. but I doubt it would have happened so quickly. Test your water again, as Henk has said. If you have any Ammonia or Nitrite spikes, (anything above 0 ppm) then your tank isn't fully cycled, and the spikes in ammonia/nitrites could be the cause.

 

I have a 2 meter tank with a sump filter, when I started the tank I bought cycle bacteria and had the tank running for close to 3 weeks before introducing any fish so I believe my tank was well cycled. I have a 100 liter sump filter with a 4500l/h pump.
I did test the water and the PH and Nitrate levels are fine.

I will go and do a 50% water change immediately, should I add the general aid after the water change?

 

Hoyt, stop for a moment. Just adding fresh water might create another set of problems here. Look at the fish and tell us what they look like. Marks on them, spots, growths, etc.

 

That’s the strange thing, no spots or marks whatsoever, the fish hasn’t even changed color and showed any physical irregularities.

 

then everyones assumption is probably correct. Do a 50% change. What has probably happened is that the fish you added created an ammonia overload. The bacteria that existed in the system was only enough to deal with a certain bio-load, and that load was exceeded. What you could try is to take 1 fish and add it to a bucket of fresh pre heated water at the same temp as the tank. Just remember to treat it for chlorine. See how the fish reacts. If it improves do the water change. You could go and get an ammonia test kit to make sure but this is probably your problem here.

 

I'm not an expert but the main 2 reasons that i don't add the water from the LPS is because 1:there could be a parasite,dangerous bacteria or a disease in the water,2:I always had the suspicion that if my de-chlorinate and the LPS one were to mix it could be dangerous to the fish,don't know if it is though.

 

Do the 50% water change and do another one on Wednesday if you don't see any improvement in the fish by Wednesday then after the 50% water change you add the general tonic. I use Tetra's product, they have always worked for me. I know some members disagree. you have to follow the instructions step for step and please remember to remove all carbon it the tank.... when you have finished the course of meds then you do a 50% water change and add the Carbon back.. this should solve your problems... I really hope this helps you.

 

I did the 50% water change, and I added general fish aid. I really hope this will solve most of the problem. There is one Tinfoil that looks like if he is gasping for air while he is swimming (might be my imagination), but the rest of the fish looks normal. Please hold thumps. I will keep you posted…

 

Hoyt, if this has solved your problem it means you are going to end up having the same problem again. This will keep happening until a sufficient colony of bacteria exist to deal with the ammonia inside the water. I suggest you go buy an ammonia test kit. Problem is that with all these water changes you keep the ammonia levels low, which in return prevents the need for the development of beneficial bacteria. Its going to result in an endless loop effect.

 

No one going to point of that South American fish and African Rift Valley fish shouldn’t be kept in the same tank due to the water parameters?

 

Just wondering

Hi henk, most people use tap water for their tanks, whether malawi or south american cichlids, i am sure that less than 10% of people add the buffers etc to their soft water when keeping malawi`s (if you have soft water coming out of the tap ofcourse). Now i am not suggesting to keep these fish together but just trying to make a point about water parameters, if you know what i am saying.

 

You are right Henk but thats not whats killing his fish. . . If he has solved the problem he can then address that one. Then, on the other hand getting rid of some of them now would ease the biological load, which would also solve the problem. Maybe you right, thats where I would start, less fish!

 

Hoyt,

Can you give us the readings for your parameters? pH, kH, gH, nitrates, nitrites etc?

Also, a list of whatfish you are actually keeping?

As Henk pointed out, you have Hard Alkaline water fish mixed with Soft Acid water fish. This alone could be the cause of your problems?

As for ammonia, I doubt that will be your problem in such a short time? The only way I would think ammonia was the route cause, would be if you added a lot of fish at once!

Also, when adding new fish, it is best to house them in a quarenteen tank first for at least two weeks. This will help reduce casualties considerably! If like most people you don't have space for a quarenteen tank, then add the fish via a net without adding any of the water from the bag to the tank, and this too will help reduce infection of the tank!

Regards
G!

 

How ? I think it is simple, the water quality is just not up to scratch. How often do you change water and how big is the water chnages that you do ?

 

I think we need a full rundown of the tank

Tank size
Filtration size (l/p/h) + what's inside the filter
What fish are in tank
And all the chemical readings (Ph, nitrates etc etc)
Maintenance schedule

We are all guessing here, and starting to fight because everyone's answer is correct, BUT only under certain circumstances. We all assuming... hense making an ass out of u and me!

 

I agree it could be the water, but if the fish are being kept in the wrong parameters, this is going to stress the fish, and make them suseptible to disease! Then the slightest knock on the water quality will affect a lot!

If they are spinning, it could be a number of things, but could be a swim bladder problem, or pH shock to name but a few things!

Without parameters its like trying to find a needle in a haystack?

Infact, as Zoom pointed out, we could also do with a run down of whats being used in the tank, even to the point of substrate etc?

Regards
G!