Worried about parasites

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Diablo3305

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Feb 17, 2005
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I have had my tank set up for about 9 months now. Early this week, an angel that I had since the beginning died. It was very sad. He began acting strange, stopped eating and started having trouble swimming. It appeared as if he had some kinda of coating on him, possible a mucus coating. I was told that the fish was probably producing excess mucus because it was being attacked by parasites. The week before that, I had a guppy and a platy die, and this week I lost another guppy.

Occasionally I will see a fish in the tank rub against a rock or plant. Doesn't seem to be excessive, but I do notice it. My water is pretty good, but my nitrates are around 50 ppm. I do a 25% water change about once a week. It is a 36 gallon tank. I did recently add some fish. About two weeks ago I added 3 clown loaches and an angel. The loaches seem to be doing ok, they just hide alot. I am very worried that they will get a parasite if something is in the water. I have been trying to figure out of its velvet or something like that. I am pretty sure its not ich because I don't see any white spots on any of the fish. I do see some shiny gold areas on some of the fish, such as my blue rams, however it seems like it is just the coloring of the fish. I can't tell if its velvet because I can't seem to find a good picture of what velvet looks like. Its not spotty, but patchy, but doesn't really look odd.

Anyway, I am not sure what is going on. I am worried that something is wrong and I will lose more fish. I don't know what to treat with because I don't know what he parasite (if there is one) is. I have some scaleless fish such as the clown loaches and kuhli loaches and my pleco. I also have a tri color shark that I have heard can be sensitive to certain medications. What is the best method to treat a tank when your not sure of what is going on with it? Any suggestions?

I have been trying to research it but it seems like many sites have different treatments and explanations. The information is almost overwhelming and I am not sure what to do. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
 
Just from reading through, I'd suspect that the problem is water quality, more than a parasite. List how each fish you have in that tank, along with all the test results. Sorry, but it sounds very overstocked to me, and 50ppm nitrates, with weekly water changes, is really, really high, and indicates that other pollutants are also likely high.
 
OrionGirl said:
Just from reading through, I'd suspect that the problem is water quality, more than a parasite. List how each fish you have in that tank, along with all the test results. Sorry, but it sounds very overstocked to me, and 50ppm nitrates, with weekly water changes, is really, really high, and indicates that other pollutants are also likely high.
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I had the water tested at the fish store last weekend. The guy said everything looks fine but my nitrates are a bit high, but not off the charts. He said the ammonia test was fine. I can list the exact readings later when I get home and do a test, however when i do a test, everything but nitrates lies in the safe zone, nitrates are on the border. I am trying to get them down a bit.

The fish I have are (36 gallon tank):
1 pleco (somewhat big, about 4 inches long)
1 tri color shark
3 clown loaches
1 angelfish (used to have 2)
1 platy (used to have 2)
1 guppy (used to have 4, but 3 have died over time)
2 blue rams
2 black ghost tetras (quite small)


I had suspected over crowding at one point as well as feeding too much. I have since started feeding them less, because sometimes they wouldn't eat it all and some food would lay on the bottom for alittle.
 
That's a lot of fish with the potential to seriously outgrow the tank. I'd suspect that overfeeding got the tank to the level of pollutants it's at now, and the weekly changes aren't sufficient to get you ahead of the game. Try doing 3 50% changes, back to back, and then see if things don't improve. I'd still like to see the actual test results--"Okay" is pretty subjective.
 
OrionGirl said:
That's a lot of fish with the potential to seriously outgrow the tank. I'd suspect that overfeeding got the tank to the level of pollutants it's at now, and the weekly changes aren't sufficient to get you ahead of the game. Try doing 3 50% changes, back to back, and then see if things don't improve. I'd still like to see the actual test results--"Okay" is pretty subjective.
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By back to back, do you mean every day or every other day? Isn't that alot of water to change at one time? It won't impact the fish negatively? I just did a about a 25% water change last night. Should I do a 50% tonight or tomorrow? I'm just worried about taking out too much water and causing harm to the fish. Thanks for the help by the way, I appreciate it. I'm still new at all this and trying to learn as much as I can.
 
She means all together. Like once your done one 50% change, do another, and another. Doing water changes will not have any negative affect on your fish. This is because the bacteria needed to cycle the ammonia, to nitrite, and nitrates is attached to everything solid in your tank. This includes filter media, glass, gravel, decor, etc. There is little of it free floating in the tank water.
 
Back to back, either one each day for three days, or three in one day, about an hour in between.

You can not change too much water. You'll need to make sure the parameters (ie, pH, GH) are similar, and getting the temp close is good for big water changes. But--clean water is a good thing. The more clean water, the better. You don't remove anything 'good' with the old water, just wastes.
 
Ok, thanks. I will give that a try and see how it works. Hopefully its like you said and just poor water quality. Thanks again.
 
I just got home and did a water test, here are the readings:

pH - 7.4
alkalinity - 80
hardness - between 25 and 50
nitrite - 0
nitrate - looks to be around 50 or 60. Its darker than 40, but not as dark as 80
 
You have been given some good advice... with heavily stocked tanks, more water changes seem to be better!! Do you plan on getting a larger tank for your big fish??? Good luck!
 
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