Dead Mollies

[JimTurntable]

Things were looking good but that didn't last. I lost the last bloodfin today, and my one highfin variata (I think that's how you say that) has developed what looks like a fungus infection. I went to my LFS earlier and got medicine for it, the kind you put in the tank, and he told me to take the filter cartridge out in the meantime. Hopefully that won't muck with the levels too much. They remain consistent, I did a water change before I put the medicine in as well. I raised the temperature also.

I couldn't find a test kit for the gh and kh anywhere. And now I'm on medication for an injury and won't be driving for a few days so I'm going to have to work with the test strips, which like I said before, have continued to be accurate when compared to the API test kit. I'll try to find one this weekend if I can get a friend to drive me around.

Given the fact that I've lost 6 fish in less than a week and I only have seven left, I'm not very optimistic about their future.

 

[JimTurntable]

sigh. The fish with the fungus thrashed about the tank for a bit and now he's laying on the bottom breathing heavy. I'm assuming he's just about done for...

Should I continue with the fungal treatment for the rest of the first to be sure?

 

[NeonFlux]

Would be great if you just ask the LFS if you can borrow some of their media from filters;would be a instant cycle and less stress for your fish. Well Jim keep up with the water changes. And sure, go ahead and use the fungal treatment; what brand are you using though? I highly recommend maracyn 1 and in conjunction with maracyn 2

 

[JimTurntable]

Why should I keep with the water changes? Won't that kind of defeat the purpose of putting the medicine in the water if I'm taking the water back out?

I'm using Maracyn, it has no number behind it.

 

[mel_20_20]

(excert from previous post)

" Keep in mind... your fish have been exposed to toxic levels for certain periods of time between the water changes you've been doing. Based on the test strips, we don't know which kind, how often, or for how long.. and neither do you. So even under ideal conditions, you may still lose some of the fish you presently have due to diminishing health factors that develop slowly from these exposures. Just wanted to give you a head's up there, just in case. If that happens, you don't need to look for new reasons or causes. They may also do fine from here on out. It's just a rather iffy question now. "


Jim, don't give up. What's happening now is your fish are showing the effects of poor water quality. You're trying hard, that's obvious, just keep doing all that others have advised.

I don't want to be negative Jim, but prepare yourself for the possibility that you may have more fatalities. We all have learned from our trials and tribulations. There will be losses, but things will get better.

I know it feels sickeningly grim. Hang on Jim. Tonight, just make sure, through water changes, that you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and less than nitrates around 20 or less. If you have trouble getting 0, then for tonight use the emergency dose of Prime, which the bottle states can be up to 5 times the regular dose. It will detoxify whatever is in there, until you can go at it again tomorrow. Good areation, lights out.

Others with more experience in treating disease can help you more tomorrow, and if needed maybe you can try to get a friend to go get proper meds for bacterial infection.

The members of AC will hold your hand and help you through this. No, I am not the PR person for AC. I'm only going on like this because I can see in you the level of desperation I have felt on more than one ocassion and they helped me get through it.

Take a deep breath... try to relax. It may help you to know that everyone here went through something like this in the early days of their fishkeeping efforts.

 

[mel_20_20]

Clean water, clean water, clean water! Prime!
Whatever is going on, these things are vital. It may be that you do have a bacterial infection in the tank due to the fishes immune system taking a hit from the water quality issues. I speak from experience as I lost fish due to this.

Is there a fluffy white, cottony appearing substance on the fishes mouth? May be columnaris, which is bacterial. The med you mentioned is good, really good, but the most important thing you can do to try to save their lives is make sure the tank has 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.

Prime can be given in the emergency dose. Read the bottle. It will detoxify the ammonia and nitrite giving you more time. You can do more water changes tomorrow if you dose with Prime.

They've got to have clean ammonia and nitrite free water. They don't stand a chance if they keep having their gills and skin burned by ammonia, and nitrite blocks the uptake of O2 in the gills. They suffocate. All those things will contribute to infection worsening, if it is infection

 

[JimTurntable]

So even though I'm medicating I should do water changes? That seems contradictory.

Just lost the fish with the infection too.

 

[KarlTh]

Keep the temperature in the lower range for now; the infection was almost certainly columnaris rather than fungus (most aquarium "fungus" infections are) which is much worse at higher temperatures. This should slow or prevent the infection moving on to any other fish.

 

[JimTurntable]

A quick update if anyone is wondering, sorry for the excessive posts but I worry a lot and I work in front of the computer all day!

No additional infections have made themselves visible yet, I removed the dead fish just minutes after it passed. I'm going to continue with the Maracyn for the five days, changing water if needed before doses.

I'm going to be able to leave the house in a few, will try to get that Prime stuff, the conditioner I have now does remove ammonia, so if I can't at least that's something.

I should probably disinfect the buckets and net I'm using right? What can I use for that? Also, I have two live plants in that aquarium, should I remove them?

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[mel_20_20]

Please don't ever think you can post too many times! Everyone here wants to help. Looks like you are doing a great job. Sorry for your losses, but keep up the good work.

*********************************************************

The Prime does detoxify the ammonia and nitrites present, for a while. According to the manufacturer - Seachem - appx 24 hours. It doesn't, however, remove them from the water. You still need to do that, within the 24 hours. It does help to buy time for convenience sake.

I think the plants are ok in there, but you can disinfect the buckets, syphon tube and hose, nets, etc., with bleach water. Just be sure to rinse, rinse, rinse the residue off with tap water.

The gh/kh/ph issue is very interesting but extremely complex. I'm still trying to fully understand the relationship between general hardness (gh) and carbonate hardness (kh) and total dissolved solids (TDS), and how they impact the effect of ph swings on fish, and can cause osmotic shock. whew!

KarlTH and other knowledgeable members have covered this issue on several threads here on AC, in there efforts to help others.

Makes for very interesting reading, and extremely educational, too. I would do a search for that when you have time. Or, I bet if you asked KarlTH or Flarringshutter, or any one of the other pros here about it, they could point you in that direction or maybe give you the link to one or two of those discussions.

Leeser28 is a great lady, a chemistry professor, who loves to share her knowledge
of chemistry and I'm sure she would help, too.

EDIT: spelling correction and added an attaboy, lol.,