sick fish

hi I need help my malawis are all getting snowy eyes and they are very lethargic and looking sick.....I added some salt to the water.....how do I fix them?

 

so has nobody got any advice?

 

Poor water quality do more frequent water changes at least 20% per week


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I do 50% water changes weekly

 

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I'll go past my lfs tomorow and get something

 

Seen this many times, its fouled water. Also check your ph, I had a tank drop to below 4 in the past in just a few days. I had to add coral chips to my filter to get it balanced again. 50% weekly is not always enough, I have to roll my tanks twice a week to keep my water from fouling and they contain only one fish each. Do 20% water changes daily to bring up the ph and dilute the NO3 slowly for the first week. On week 2 do it every second day, after that do 50% twice a week. Your fish will recover and will grow much faster with this routine. You can scale it down after that. My tanks keep good quality water with only a 30% and then a 50% weekly.

I wouldn't add meds yet as clean water normally sorts this out but if you have too seachem paraguard has anti fungal and anti bacterial properties and isn't hard on the fish if dosed correctly.

 

ok thanks....they looking worse for wear today...I'm very upset....going to take off half day to try sort them out today......I'm not a happy chappie

 

It's never a pleasant when you experience something like this happening.
All the best, and hope you get the problem sorted quickly.

 

thanks pezulu....I need a miracle as this is a first for me so I really don't know what to do

 

I believe in ParaGuard, but it is expensive, and I don't always have spare cash lying around to dose when things go south.
My wife knows that I stock up each month with something different just in case something happens.
Apart from an Ich outbreak a few months ago I have been lucky in that regard.

Best is to dose with ParaGuard if you have, and to the water changes as suggested, and hope things turn for the better.

 

thanks I'll go buy some

 

Yes its a very good product. Be carefull not to dump too much water at once as you will raise the ph instantly and stress your fish even more or even kill them. The trick here is taking it slow with clean water everyday. Good luck man and do let us know how things play out.

 

ok s9 a 50% will be ok?

 

You have been doing 50's so it should be fine, keep them smaller (20%)for the next few days after that though, the eye's normally clears up within a week or so. The thing with ph is that every number is 100 times more acidic or alkaline the the previous number so if it's running at 4-5 and you nuke the tank and it sits a 8 when you're done it's going to be very bad for the fish hence the smaller changes to bring it up slowly. It's hard to tell if you don't test the tank and the tap water but going with 20% daily for 5 days is the safest.

Also taking fish from high NO3(nitrate) and organic load to almost zero in one go can stress them and stress is the last thing you want to do them right now.

 

Do you vacuum your tank bottom?

 

yes vis I do vacuum every second week.....and reedfish I shall test the water today and check it out

 

I agree with @Reedfish, meds are a last resort. Frequent clean water is the way to go.

 

so not even para guard?