Just a question

[Masher]

Hello all. I have not been on the forum in quite a while due to having to get rid of my tanks. My girlfriend and I moved to an upstairs apartment where tanks above 10 gal are not permitted. So my 72 gal tank went to my moms house. The tank has been set up at her house now for almost 3 months. But we are having a problem. Just about everything that we put in the tank is dying. I performed a series of water tests and also took water samples to various LFS and no one can seem to find a problem with the water. The only thing that I have found to be off is the phosphates, which were slightly eleveated. This has been brought under control by switching foods and putting numerous live plants in the tank.

But there is one common symptom that most of the fish share. On each doomed fish, the area around the mouth will turn white and will sometimes look like it is bleeding. I was at her house last night and one of the two surviving cory cats in the tank was developing the same problem. The area all around his mouth was white and in some areas it was almost translucent. And there were some areas around the mouth that seem to be bleeding and the wiskers around his mouth were blood red.

I am at a total loss as to what it could be. I tried everything I know and figured I would ask everyone out here and see if maybe you guys would have an answer. Below is a list of the tank specs and the fish that have perished in the tanks so far.

72 Gal Bowfront
TetraTec PF500 filter
48" strip light
Mix of live plants and fake plants for decoration

Fish that have died so far:

29 Neon Tetra
1 Blue Gourami
3 Small Angelfish
3 Cory Cats
1 Pleco
12 Various Mollies
5 Zebra Danios

Fish left alive

1 Neon Tetra
1 Blue Gourami
1 Angel fish
1 Cory Cat (Barely)
1 Zebra Danio

Note: Not all of the above fish were in the tank at the same time. We purchased the fish at different times and from different LFS in the hopes that it was just a bad group of fish.

Ok, I look forward to hearing everyones opinons on this. Thanks in advance for the help. :confused:

[Matt W]

Sounds like it could be 'mouth rot' which is actually a bacterial infection. I would recommend treatment with a anti-bacterial medication that contains Tetracycline Hydrochloride. Be sure to follow the directons well and use the meds for the full course that it recommends....

[blitzen25bm]

you are probably just adding more fish after the other ones died right? then whatever is killing them is still there. you should tear down the whole thing wash everything real good let it dry for 2 days or so then start it all back up. -john

[Rometiklan]

I agree with blitzen25bm. I would do a complete tear down of your set up...even if it is only for your peace of mind. I would never feel good about adding fish to a set up where the fish perennially die off. I know that is a real drag and probably not the solution you want to hear, but after losing as many fish as you have, you may not have much recourse. If you medicate to get rid of whatever disease your tank is ailing from, you'll end up killing off the nitrifying bacteria anways, so you might as well clean out your tank completely and start again from the beginning.