I feel like I need to start all over!

epicfish said:
Have you separated the ones that are fighting each other?

When did the fish start to look sick and when did you start to medicate? If the medication hasn't been working for a while, and if it were my fish, I'd get new carbon like pugwash said, to clean out any old medications and then do 30-50% WC.

However, if you want to continue medicating the fish, make sure to take out the carbon filter. I'd medicate according to the instructions and do a WC every 7 days like they said.

I think it depends on if you're thinking the medication has worked (depending on how long you've tried it already) or not.

Good luck.
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Sigh ... I am only on day 2 of Melafix and have not seen any changes in their skin. The guppies still seem happy and eating. I only noticed the scales missing on Saturday.

I did not seperate the fish bec I only have 2 tanks. The gourami is in the other one.

Someone recommended I do this:

Syphon all the gravel out of the tank and rinse well ( a little at a time) using 10:1 chlorine/water bath. Take all plants and give them a 20:1 chlorine/water (19 parts water:1 part chlorine) dip for 2 minutes.
Put all fish in seperate hospital or quaranteen tanks since you are treating for more than one disease.
Empty all water from main tank. Remove filter. Rinse tank once or twice with fresh water but do not scrub or scrape glass. Keep the layer of bacteria on glass. Don't let tank dry out. Refill complete with de-chlorinated water immediately. Clean filter, complete and refill using new floss, etc...clean heater, replace all. Return cleaned gravel to tank. Let tank run for 24 hrs to stabilize temps, gasses. Watch for minor bacterial bloom that will last only a day or two.... (maybe!) You might have to recycle. Replace all plants.
Don't add salt or any other meds to the main tank(s). Never borrow anything (gravel, water, filter material) from another tank... its just asking for trouble.
Always keep a small amount of nitrates (10-15 ppm) in your tanks (ammonia, nitrites = 0).

Problem: You have been running a tank since June that cycled but never stabilized because of all the different meds added. Now you have sick fish because guppies and gouramis are sometimes incompatable (especially when gouramis are kept singly or in a small tank). Seperate the two species in a hospital tank of their own (1g gatoraid bottles with the tops cut off will work for guppies) and treat for whatever they have. Fungus for the gourami and body injury (could lead to columnaris, fungus, septicemia, velvet, ich) to the guppy.
Only when all fish are healthy should they be returned to the main tank(s). Put one or two guppies (ONLY the healthiest) in the newly cleaned tank to keep the cycle going. Tank temps ~ 75-80f. Only medicate a fish when you know for sure what you are treating... hit or miss with this and that kind of Rx will only make it worse.
Patience and time are the biggest healers.
 
actually that seems like good advice.

given that the cycle in your tank is questionable.

water changes with the right additives(dechlorinators) should not hurt the cycle.

partial water changes reduce the ammonia, nitrites etc and do not remove them..there still should be plenty to feed the bacteria
 
I printed off and followed the guide lines at Badmans Fish Store.I did a total of 6 or 7 pwc water changes in 27 days.Everything seemed to go according to plan.I used 3 Dwarf Gouramis and a Pleco and plants.
 
Yea, that wouldn't be a bad idea....re-cycling your tank while you fish are being treated...try to get some media from someone so that you can jumpstart the cycle process. You can try to do a fishless cycle too.

I just got old filter media and a bunch of gravel from someone who had an established tank. Cycled it, checked ammonia and nitrate levels, dumped in my own gravel and gave theirs back (diff. colors. =P)...been going find since.

I don't know how sensitive guppies are to cycling, but I used two feeder goldfish.
 
Whew!!

OK

I took EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY out of the tank. I put my aggressive blue guppy in a container by himself and the other 2 in another container and will treat them with melafix for the missing scales.

I cleaned all decorations and fake plants in 1:20 ratio of bleach - let it sit for about 10 min. Then rinsed, rinsed, rinsed. Let it sit in treatwater, empty and let it sit in treated water and rinse ...

Meantime, I rinsed (with treated water) most of the gravel and empty 1/2 the tank and swished around the filter in old tank water, put in new carbon.

Put everything back in with treated water (Prime) THEN did another 25% water change (just to make sure everything is rinsed and no bleach) and raised the heat to 80.

I will let this tank sit for 24 hours and then put back the healthiest guppy.

I didn't do anything to my 5g tank with the gourami.
 
perhaps it wasn't a good idea using bleach, the stuff is very strong and even a trace could be harmful. Put the fish in, and, as well as using Melafix, (which won't be masively helpful on it's own) do the big water changes people have suggested.
did you take ALL the water out of the tank? Because then wont it have lost benificial bacteria needed for the fish's survival? Or am I talking a lot of rubbish? lol
I hope the fish survive and you won't have to start again.
I know it's frustrating (I went through a similar experiance) but keep on going and it should get better.

oh sorry, I didn't read the post right, you emptied half the water, ok then.
 
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Kathryn said:
perhaps it wasn't a good idea using bleach, the stuff is very strong and even a trace could be harmful.
Click to expand...

Hey there - I know bleach is very dangerous. That is why I rinsed a bunch and let the stuff sit in treated water and why no fish are in the tank yet. I will do another wc mainly to make sure there are no traces of bleach left. I am also running a poly-filter by marine that helps to pull out harmful elements in the water.

This is actually how I clean the 5 gal qt tank that the gourami is in.

I'll keep you guys update and see if everyone is getting better or worse!!

I do have another quick question .... Are the guppies OK sitting in their containers for a couple of days getting treated with Melafix? How do I change that water?
 
guppygal said:
Are the guppies OK sitting in their containers for a couple of days getting treated with Melafix? How do I change that water?
Click to expand...

Hmm, I guess they'd survive. What's the ambient temperature of the room they're in? No idea where in the world you are.

With regard to changing water, you could syphon off some with an air hose or something and then replace with treated water. No idea how big/small these containers are though.

Hope this helps, and good luck. We all have disasters sometime in our fishkeeping years.
 
update

I cleaned out the main 10g tank and let it sit 24 hrs. In the morning I did another 20% water change and added the healthiest guppy.

The 3 guppies were is 2 seperate containers overnight - treated with Melafix. The blue guppy is still in his container being treated.

In my 5gal my gourami had died this Morning!! That surprised me! So, I ran a filter with carbon to remove the melafix/did a 50% water change and added the next healthiest guppy to this tank. Should I clean this tank more thouroughly?????

I will not be getting any more fish until I feel like things have settled down. But I will not be getting a gourami again. Maybe just guppies and cory catfish.


I'll test my water params later and post.
 
for missing scales use melafix
 
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