hey, i recently got a 55g of my friend. i set its been set up for about 3weeks now, since then i added 6 live plants and a piece of driftwood. i had 18small cichlids, 3 gorramis, i pleco and a catfish. Shortly after i added the plants i have rapid death in my tanks, i would wake up to more and mroe dead fish, i am now doiwn to 8 cichlids and the catfish and 2 gouramis. all the fish that dies have white ugly spots all over them covering them. one of my friends said its called ance but i dont know. everfish that has it died, right now the only fish that have it are the cichlids. and they are dropping like flies. also when they die, a thin see through bubble forms around them. i have raised my tank to 85degress and put in aquarium sol med, that is soposed to treat fish disiseas. also i did a little water changes. my ph is 7.4 and amononia=0. i know the tanke is not cycled yet soo my quess is that is probly the problem. please some one help. what should i be doing, will the ance spread, i have a emtpy 10g that has a little leftover melafix in it, should i move them to to there for treatmement, and one please help
Tank in Desperate NEED OF HELP
- Thread starter Zelda000
- Start date
that sickness is called 'ich' and yes, they get it cause the tank wasnt cycled when you put them in... also from having too many fish in at once... treat with ich meds, raise the temp, and once its gone make sure your tank is cycled completely before adding any new fish... then only add 2-3 small or one large one every 2 weeks or so.
Yah...I was going to say ance in your pance!LOL
Your tank was not cycled, therefore causing ill effects for your poor little fish...but this should happen only once and then we learn. As well, the drift wood, is it from a fish store off of the beach? If off of the beach, it could be full of contaminents that could have killed your fish too.
As you mentioned you turned your heat up and added salt, when you turn your heat up this has to be done incrementally not all at once as rapid increase of heat can also cause stress on your fish. Gradual heat increases, how I do it, is I turn the heat up until the light comes on, let it run and do this to a MAX of 85 otherwise the water is too warm which causes the depelection of oxygen in your water causing affixiation in your fish. If I were you, I would stop what you are doing. Don't try this med, and another med or empty your meds into the tank as this can become toxic.
One...buy disired ICK med ( I like aquarisol), I would cut down on your feeding, lights out (on only to observe the fish), water temp 80-84 MAX, remove charcoal, and medicate as recommended. With aquarisol, You need to continue medicating until the spots are gone, then again in10 days (?) as the spores of ick are in your tank and will hatch within 10 days. They say to do this but I have never done this but I have not had a serious case of ick.
Secondly, I would ask your LFS or if you know someone that has an established tank for a piece of their filteration or about 1/2 cup of gravel, transport the gravel home in some of its original tank water. Put the gravel in unwashed and unused nylon or you could buy a reusable media bag, and set it in your tank. This will assist in the cycling process.
Your tank was not cycled, therefore causing ill effects for your poor little fish...but this should happen only once and then we learn. As well, the drift wood, is it from a fish store off of the beach? If off of the beach, it could be full of contaminents that could have killed your fish too.
As you mentioned you turned your heat up and added salt, when you turn your heat up this has to be done incrementally not all at once as rapid increase of heat can also cause stress on your fish. Gradual heat increases, how I do it, is I turn the heat up until the light comes on, let it run and do this to a MAX of 85 otherwise the water is too warm which causes the depelection of oxygen in your water causing affixiation in your fish. If I were you, I would stop what you are doing. Don't try this med, and another med or empty your meds into the tank as this can become toxic.
One...buy disired ICK med ( I like aquarisol), I would cut down on your feeding, lights out (on only to observe the fish), water temp 80-84 MAX, remove charcoal, and medicate as recommended. With aquarisol, You need to continue medicating until the spots are gone, then again in10 days (?) as the spores of ick are in your tank and will hatch within 10 days. They say to do this but I have never done this but I have not had a serious case of ick.
Secondly, I would ask your LFS or if you know someone that has an established tank for a piece of their filteration or about 1/2 cup of gravel, transport the gravel home in some of its original tank water. Put the gravel in unwashed and unused nylon or you could buy a reusable media bag, and set it in your tank. This will assist in the cycling process.
It does sound like Ick and as posted befor me a few days of treatment with ick meds will clear it up. 'Quick Cure' or somthing simmilare will clear it up in 2 days.
But it is not directly caused by an uncycled tank. An uncycled tank will cause the fish more stress and THAT makes them more suseptable to any disease. Any major stress could have lowered their defences to it and caused them to get it easyer. Or you could have brought it home with the water the plants were in. A way to reduce the risk of that is rincing the plants thouraly in a bucket of old tank water.
But even in the best of tanks there are diseases, it just take stress to make the fish more suseptable. Kind of like us...when we get to run down we become more vulnerable to the flu but when we are in good form, well rested, we can fight of a host of flus.
But yes, folow Pierre and James advice.
(remember to remove charcoal as it will remove the meds as fast as you put them in!) Also try changing the water more often during the first few months. I would do 25% every week at least.
But it is not directly caused by an uncycled tank. An uncycled tank will cause the fish more stress and THAT makes them more suseptable to any disease. Any major stress could have lowered their defences to it and caused them to get it easyer. Or you could have brought it home with the water the plants were in. A way to reduce the risk of that is rincing the plants thouraly in a bucket of old tank water.
But even in the best of tanks there are diseases, it just take stress to make the fish more suseptable. Kind of like us...when we get to run down we become more vulnerable to the flu but when we are in good form, well rested, we can fight of a host of flus.
But yes, folow Pierre and James advice.
(remember to remove charcoal as it will remove the meds as fast as you put them in!) Also try changing the water more often during the first few months. I would do 25% every week at least.
You appear to have two separate problems here. The first is related to the cycling problem, and the second is the ich infestation. We can make a few suggestions, but in order to help the most we will need some more information, such as: what kind of cichlids are these that you have; what kind of filtration are you using and has it been set up on another tank before; what kind of filter do you have on that 10gallon tank you mentioned; how large and frequent are the water changes you have been doing; and where and when did you get the fish that you put in this tank.
Ich treatment, by the way, should definitely continue for 10 days at a minimum, to catch all of the parasites as they hatch. The life cycle is about 4 days, but they are only vulnerable when they are free-swimming, so you need to treat over several generations in order to interrupt their reproduction. Also, since the primary site for ich infestation is IN THE GILLS, where it can't be seen, just not seeing spots on the fish is no indication that the problem is gone.
By the way, your temperature does not need to be 85 degrees to treat this disease. Temps have to go to 90 to actually kill ich (and that's even harder on the fish), and while the ich life cycle speeds up with temperature increases (thus decreasing total treatment time), this effect slows down considerably at any temperature above 75 or so. So don't stress your fish; keep the temp around 80 and you'll be better off.
Hope to hear back from you soon.
Ich treatment, by the way, should definitely continue for 10 days at a minimum, to catch all of the parasites as they hatch. The life cycle is about 4 days, but they are only vulnerable when they are free-swimming, so you need to treat over several generations in order to interrupt their reproduction. Also, since the primary site for ich infestation is IN THE GILLS, where it can't be seen, just not seeing spots on the fish is no indication that the problem is gone.
By the way, your temperature does not need to be 85 degrees to treat this disease. Temps have to go to 90 to actually kill ich (and that's even harder on the fish), and while the ich life cycle speeds up with temperature increases (thus decreasing total treatment time), this effect slows down considerably at any temperature above 75 or so. So don't stress your fish; keep the temp around 80 and you'll be better off.
Hope to hear back from you soon.
thanks everyone, i followed all your advice, and it seems that the problem has gone away, i will countinue to treat the tank for 10 days, there in just ony problem now and that is the smell. ever since i got the ich fish started dying and the smell was horrible, i though this was due to the dead fish in the water, but i cleared them out, any advice would be greatly appriciated
One thing about ich meds...and, I'm guessing that this might be a little late in coming, but make sure that they are CATFISH SAFE. Many of them are not, so you may lose the rest of your cats before you are done. If you have to start over again, start with just a gourami in order to do the cycling, and then slowly add fish. Also, 18 small cichlids in a 55g might be a little excessive, if not for the waste capacity, then for the behavioral capacity. Remember, small and docile as they may be, cichlids are cichlids, and they will kill each other if they feel crowded. Depending on the cichlid, even the 8 currently on hand could be too many for the tank. Also, the catfish type is not specified, but they can produce enormous quantities of waste, which is especially deadly when little to no bacteria exist to mitigate the amount.
That having been said, I hope that your tank recovers, and that your remaining fish make it.
Matthew
That having been said, I hope that your tank recovers, and that your remaining fish make it.
Matthew