I've killed a fish, and not sure how... let me explain...

[Decz]

So here's the situation:

I have been treating my fish for what I thought (and still think) was Gill Flukes. The reason I thought this, was because a number of my fish have red gills. No bleeding, no scratching, just looks very red and inflamed. So I bought a new medication for this, one I had never used before "Life Bearer". It says to treat with 1 drop per gallon and repeat in 24 hours. I did this 3 weeks ago, then again 10 days ago. The fish still have red gills, actually, MORE of my fish have these red gills.

In the meantime, I have still been doing 30% water changes on this tank. (I started the Gill Fluke treatment directly after a water change, and did another water change 6 days later).

Anyway, 2 days ago, I noticed one of my fish had some sort of fungas. So, I started treatment with "Aquari-sol", which is a product that I am very familiar with. Directions are 12 drops to 0 gallons, every day until disease is cured. I only medicated with this once, before I found a dead fish.

The fish was healthy before I medicated with EITHER med. I checked my water, and my nitrAtes were insanly high. The day before, they were non-existant. I highly doubt it was the Aquari-sol that raised the nitrates, as i have used it for years and never had a problem. I am currently finishing off a 50% water change on that tank.

Any suggestions as to what spiked the nitrAtes? Process of elimination leads me to think that it was somehow the aquari-sol. I kinda wonder if somehow it was the "life bearer"....

I just don't want anymore dead fish, so I would like to figure out which one it was and not do that again... :(


Anyone with any experience with either of these med's?

Is it possible, that even with the frequent water changes, I just used to many things within a short time span? (3.5 weeks).

Any suggestions or opinions are greatly appreciated! :)

Thanks in Advance!

Decz.

btw, everything else was normal. ph 7.4, kh 4, gh 3, ammonia 0, nitrItes 0. water temp was raised to 84 to treat as directed by Aquari-Sol.

[mwood322]

You might want to get a new bottle of Aquaroisol. I had a bad batch once, and it killed off an entire tank in 3 days. The only thing I noticed later was there were white strings in the bottle, that floated around when you shook it, whereas my old bottle was perfectly clear. I never tested for Nitrates, as all the fish were gone very quickly.

--Mia

[Decz]

I don't think it is a bad batch of Aquari-Sol, as this is the same bottle I have been using for 8 months now. And, I have used it to treat ick a number of times, between 4 or 5 different tanks, and I haven't had a problem until now. I haven't used it in about 2 months thought.

Is it possible for the Aquari-Sol to have gone bad? I just noticed that there is no expiration date on the bottle. I would think it would last longer than 8 months, after all, it's a 4 fl. ozs bottle, and at 12 drops to 10 gallons, it's not like i could have used THAT much.... There's probably only 1/8 used. sheesh, if that is the case, what a waste of money................ :rolleyes:

[Cichlid Woman]

Might mixing the meds have done it?

-- Pat

[JeffP]

I am not sure about your fishs' ailments, but healthy fish have bright red gills. I am not sure how you determined they were inflammed.

[Decz]

Originally posted by JeffP
I am not sure about your fishs' ailments, but healthy fish have bright red gills. I am not sure how you determined they were inflammed.

well, none of my fish have had red gills before. I recently bought a new female cherry barb. she developed the red gills, about a week after i introduced her to the main tank. then, within a couple of days, more of the smaller fish developed red gills. then, by the end of 2 weeks, all the fish in that tank had red gills. personally, i didn't know what it was, and i'm still not sure if it really is gill flukes- i just know that whatever it is, it isn't normal for my fish.

i read up online as much as i could, and the only thing that i found that could make sense was gill flukes. also, many friends in the aquarium club up here had the same thoughts....



Cichlid Woman, as fort mixing the meds, i wondered if that had been a problem, but i had been very carefull at the time.. frequent water changes, and carbon used right before a water change for a day. so, i didn't think it was possible for any med's to be left over in the tank... is it????

[Ashes]

I've read about studies that have been done regarding nitrAtes. They seem to show that even high levels of nitrAtes have no real effect on fish, and that they're only used by people as a way of gauging when water changes should be done (if the nitrAtes are high, unmeasurable organics are probably high too, something along those lines).

I'm sure someone else can elaborate, though.

[khuongtran69]

how often do you change your water? and how much do u change each time. I think the nitrate spike might be from the dead fish

[platytetrafan]

hmmmmmmmmm I used Aquarisol once when I first introduced fish to my new tank. LFS told me to use it for 4 days I was worried that two of the danios I had introduced had ich I had returned the fish to the store and they told me to use it preventatively so I did and I used aquarium salt and to also keep the temp of the water about 82-84 degrees. I had no problems with that medicine. Sometimes if you're not sure what disease the fish have use aquarium salt is a good thing to use if your fish can tolerate it it also helps with gill function. LFS told me if you are not really sure it is best not to treat with medicine unless you are absolutely sure at what you're looking at and to see how things go. They also told me that if you decide to treat with medicine stick with one if they end up getting mixed it can surely kill your fish. As far as Nitrates being up I am not sure they say overfeeding and fish waste can cause it to go up. How high was it? Were your nitrites and ammonia up too?