Help with sick fish

[kalabreeze]

Hi everyone, I recently had a disaster in my 6 gallon tank. It had 4 fancy guppies. 6 days ago I noticed that they have clamped fins, stay at the surface in the corner of the tank all day. Skin did not have any signs of desease, so I just did 30% water change. They looked even worse in the morning, I did another water change and tried to find some info online for possible deseases. They did not have any signs on the skin, only heavy breathing and clamped fins. In the afternoon I noticed that they had inflamed gills, took magnifying glass to look at fish and noticed a lot of white jumping things in the water. I though of gill parasites, went out and bought Jungle Parasite Clear tank buddies tablets. When I came home 2 guppies were dead, one laying on the bottom almost dead.
I added parasite clear right away but guppy that was on the bottom died anyway:cry:
In about 24 hours my last guppy completely recovered but before that I saw some white worm hanging from its anus. So now it is jumping things + some kind of worm? Why? I take very good care of my fish tanks, regular water changes twice a week:huh:

Jumping things disappeard, guppy was doing great but I still added second dose of parasite clear in 48 hours as directed. Now this morning (40 hours after second dose) I saw 5 worms swimming in the water plus couple of white jumping things on the glass.:22_yikes: Help! I do not know what to do. I wanted to add some guppies today because my survivor guppy looks very lonely.
Do I have to take everything out and wash this tank with bleach solution? I worked so hard on this tank, it has so many beautiful plants.
I know some planaria worms, copepodes are harmless for fish, but there was something that made fish sick.

Sorry, it is so long, I am still upset about loosing my guppies.

I forgot to mention, that I initially had 5 guppies in this tank, one was from P*co and it died two days later after I put it in the tank. It also stayed at the surface and had clamped fins. Is this the reason my other guppies got sick.. but it was 3 weeks ago:huh:.

[kamikaze_fish]

I think it's normal for it to take a little while to go from a recently purchased fish to the rest of the tank. But unfortunately, when it does, it's a big deal. I just recently went through the same thing except so far I've only lost 1. I have been watching them closely for a little while.

[captaincaveman9]

It's possible the fish from P Co was infested and shared with the other fish

When you say the worms were swimming, about how big are they? are they completely white or a little transparent? what are the water parameters?

[Star_Rider]

first thing to check is water quality. check your parameters for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
clamped fins is a sign of stress.
the heavy breathing could be indicative of a water issue.

a large water change may have helped but more help is finding the water conditions.

[kalabreeze]

Some of the worms are attached to the glass, some are swimming on the surface, different size, longest was about 1/2 inch. They are white, really hard to see, very thin, thread like, almost can't see without magnifying glass. I was trying to remove some with bamboo skewer:eek: but there is just too many. Do I add another dose of parasite clear?

My tank param. Amm 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10, PH 7.8, water temp 74F

[kalabreeze]

first thing to check is water quality. check your parameters for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
clamped fins is a sign of stress.
the heavy breathing could be indicative of a water issue.

a large water change may have helped but more help is finding the water conditions.

Yes, I checked water parameters right away, after it all started, and I am checking them every day. Everything was fine! I did two 30% water changes. Guys, I wrote it in my original post...It couldn't be water issue. Only parasite clear really helped.

[kamikaze_fish]

By the way, I like your avatar....and post count. :)

I don't know what to look for but those do sound to me like a parasite. A friend though last week was telling me about something similar he discovered once and it was some sort of white worm in his water and it was harmless. Came from the tap water. Apparently it's a Texas thing but I'm not in the Texas area so I don't know.

[kalabreeze]

By the way, I like your avatar....and post count. :)

I don't know what to look for but those do sound to me like a parasite. A friend though last week was telling me about something similar he discovered once and it was some sort of white worm in his water and it was harmless. Came from the tap water. Apparently it's a Texas thing but I'm not in the Texas area so I don't know.

Thanks, I noticed your gourami too:)
This is the only fish thank that I have with sand substrate, rest have gravel and never any bugs. Could they be coming from the sand? It is all-purpose sand from Lowes.

[KarlTh]

Parasites like these are only found on their hosts; the animals you found in the water were freeliving non-parasitic animals. Naturally enough, anything which kills tiny invertebrates will kill them as well, but I think they were coincidental.

[kalabreeze]

Thank you Karl, so you think these are harmless worms? Is it the same with little jumping things? Are they copepods? I saw my guppy eating them for lunch:)

I still have questions:D

Since Parasite Clear helped to cure remaining guppy, can I assume that my fish had parasites?

Can I add 2 more guppies tomorow or should I wait longer?

What do I do to keep my tank free of worms, bugs. I do water changes twice a week. I have sand substrate, how do you vacuum it?

[Star_Rider]

agree with Karl. who beat me to it.
;)

the worms you saw that were free swimming or out and about were probably not parasitic. most will need to attach to a host. unless they are leaches.
which will at some time attach to a host.
simply put a parasite needs a host to survive. it is usually incapable of digestion as we know it.

[kamikaze_fish]

if it were me personally, I would get eager and go buy a couple more to put in there. Unfortunately I think the book smart safe thing to do is wait a couple weeks. I don't know if it's bad to put new fish in and do another treatment on possibly healthy fish or not, but I probably would.

[kalabreeze]

Thanks everybody who answered. I added one guppy for now and they are doing great! They ate all worms and bugs so I do not have to worry about that now:)

I do have one more question though, just so next time I know what to do if fish gets sick.

Since Parasite Clear helped to cure remaining guppy, can I assume that my fish had parasites? ....there was no signs on the skin, just staying at the surface and clamped fins, slightly inflamed gills.

Thanks

[kalabreeze]

bump;)

[Neervana]

guppies in a 6 gallon...not good, IMO...probably more suitable for a betta and plants. how often do you change your water and how much? also...the heavy breathing/clamped fins maybe due to a reaction with ammonia poisoning....have you tested your water?

[kalabreeze]

guppies in a 6 gallon...not good, IMO...probably more suitable for a betta and plants. how often do you change your water and how much? also...the heavy breathing/clamped fins maybe due to a reaction with ammonia poisoning....have you tested your water?


I am amazed, I wrote that my water parameters were perfect, and I got several questions about it, nobody seems to care to read my original post, oh what in the world was I thinking, I really thought I could get advise here.:duh: