Help, my tank is turning bad

[Firsttanks]

I need help!!!:eek: .

I have a 25 gal. community tank with appr. 20 fish (plecos, mollys, catfish, platys, corys, gouramis, betta, & tetras) that has been up and running now for about 2 months but a week ago I noticed something was wrong. One of my gouramis started scratching himself on plants and ornaments and his feces was white. Soon afterwards he died and I noticed that some of the other fish were showing the same symtoms so I looked for signs of Ich. My poor pleco seemed to have a blister on his stomach that was all white so I treated the tank for Ich. I followed the directions to the letter but now a week later I'm losing my fish. The gouramis are showing signs of stress as well as scratching and rubbing, also their feces is now long and white as well and I know they are eating. The mollys and platys are sluggish, except when they start scratching they just about go out of their minds. No one seems darker or lighter in colour though and I can't see any parasites in their gills or feces. I'm at a loss and I just don't know what to do for my poor friends.

P.S.- Can anyone tell my why my male betta is trying to mate with my gouramis (considering their all males).

Thanks:confused:

[OrionGirl]

How was the tank cycled?

You have a wide variety of fish in there, and it sounds like it is overstocked. The gouramies seem to be constipated; frequently the result of feeding too much protein. They should be given a high quality flake food and algae tabs, with occassional fresh veggies (peas, zucchini, leafy lettuce). For now, I think some fresh peas, squished out of the shell, will help ease the constipation.

Ich is a parasite. The primary physical sign is small, white crystals on the skin of the fish--looks very much like salt. You will not be able to see any other stage of the parasite with a microscope.
Raising the temp of the tank to about 82-84, and adding 1 tsp/gallon salt will help. Do daily small water changes, paying special attention to the substrate. Keep this up for 10 days AFTER the last visible infestation. I am not sure you have ich, however--there's no mention of the white specks. A white blister is not symptomatic of ich.

What I would do, is start doing daily, small water changes. Get a test kit, and figure out where the tank is in terms of the nitrogen cycle. Make sure aeration is adequate for such a heavy fish load. Do some research on the fish you have--you have fish from a wide variety of water chemistries, and this won't help in the long run. As for the betta and gouramies--they tend to be very aggressive towards one another. The male betta is attacking the gouramie, and trying to chase them from his territory. The gouramies may pick up this behavior amongst themselves as adults. Not a good mix.

Welcome to AC...We'll do our best to get this setup working!

[NJ Devils Fan]

What are your water parameters?

[Firsttanks]

Lost 2 balloon belly mollies, took the betta out and put him in his own tank (he was getting agressive), gouramies are listliss and not eating, one pleco looks like he may have "Velvet" around his lips. Did 50% water change last night, 20% water change today. We went to the lfs and bought an Amonia test kit and a hydrometer...1.004 specific gravity...0.05 amonia....Ph 7.5...temp 80 degrees. :confused:

[ChilDawg]

Some of the fish in there will not tolerate the high temps (and the lack of dissolved gases which comes with such temps), and some of them are just too large for that tank. I think that the fact that your tank is overstocked might be causing many of your problems.

That blister on your Plec could have come from ammonia burn.

Velvet-looking stuff around your other Plec's mouth might be Saprolegnia fungus, which is usually the sign of a more chronic problem...it is oft-opportunistic and will attack already dying tissue. You need to be individually treating that guy for fungus...I cannot tell you how to do so with Plecs, but perhaps somebody else can.

The gouramies may not be hungry for a few days as they are likely to be constipated as OG said. If they remain that way, check for visible signs of illness--other than refusing food.

I hope that I have been somewhat helpful. Please keep us all updated, but feel free to PM me if you have specific questions on the fish in your tank--most of them seem to be ones with which I have some expertise.

Good luck,

Matthew

[Firsttanks]

:( Continuing the water changes, did 20% change today, specific gravity down to 1.003, will continue with the smaller water changes until levels come down to at lease 1.001. As far as we can figure the high amonia level was caused by overfeeding. Did a thourough vacume of the gravel each time we do the water changes, and cut way back on the food. The pleco looks OK(false alarm on the Velvet, trick of the light) :rolleyes: but the Gouramies are still listless and are now starting to develop a white film on their eyes(like cataracts). Any thoughts?

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[wetmanNY]

With one hint and another, it sounds to me as though you have some ciliate skin parasites. Wamth and salt, malachite green/formalin-- whatever you choose to eliminate them with.

[Wulfy]

Specific gravity?

I thought that was for measuring salt content in Marine tanks?!?

Pls explain.

[Flohrie]

Originally posted by Wulfy
Specific gravity?

I thought that was for measuring salt content in Marine tanks?!?

Pls explain.

He may have added some common salt to reduce the osmotic pressure.

Specific gravity is a way of measuring the concentration of a solution.

But yes I always thought is was only for Marine tanks :p

[Firsttanks]

Well we seem to have beaten back the illness in the community tank:D . With some helpful advise from this forum & our lfs we ran a cycle of Maracyn 2, which seems to have killed the parasites :) ,
but they took a heavy toll:( .

The final casuality list is:

3 Balloon belly mollies
3 Dwarf Gouramies
2 Gold dust mollies
1 Gold Algae eater

Could have been much worse, the whole tank could have expired. Now the 2 Plecos have been moved into our 90 gal Cichlid tank (after a weeks quarintine) with the 11 assorted cichlids, the remaining 3 Gouramies are in their own 10 gal tank, the 25 gal community tank has 2 upsidedown cats, 1 black tipped shark (silver channel cat) soon to be relocated to a larger tank, 3 blueberry tetras, 2 Albino Corycats, 1 Gold dust molly, 3 sunset platties, and 1 Bolivian Ram Cichlid.

We also have a 25 gal hex tank with 6 Indian Dwarf Puffers & 4 Bumblebee Gobies, and I'm happy to report that all tanks are looking healthy, and the fish seem happy :D ;) :p :D (well, the Gouramies are looking a little chewed and frazzled, but they look 100% better than a couple weeks ago.:)

Thanks for the help everyone, hope to post some pics soon.