I need HELP with my 75 Gallon Tank!!! ASAP!!

The tank is pretty heavily planted. I have a corallife 9Watt UV Steralizer, we run it after water changes over night. We thought that was doing something to the tank so we stopped using it everyday. After the fish showed signs of sickness we started using it again, running it every other day. We have it hooked up to the Fluval, just because we bought it new and know it runs good. The GPH I am not sure on, we are trying to find the GPH Regulator that reads it (I forgot what they are called at the moment LOL). None of our LFS carry one, we are going to order one from Dr. Fosters & Smith. I do want to say I don't think the Blue Ram with Pop-Eye was due to a injury from aggression, because both eyes were protruding from the start. And sad to say he is not looking to good and I think this could be his last day. And Maybe the Blue Paradise's lip was from someone biting him. The only thing was that he stayed at the top of the tank mostly or by himself, he never chased anyone and no one really ever bothered him. He even slept at the top of the tank. Also, I have not "Decided on things". it is just that I am asking what could be going wrong with my tank with Parasited, and bacteria and where this would be coming from and what to do. I understand that everyone has different views on how to stock a tank, but we don't have these fish in a 10 gallon tank. They are ina 75 Gallon palnted tank with MANY places to hide and get away. I respect everyones views on my decision on how to stock my tank, I was just wondering if you could help me on what to do on how to NOT have any more fish DIE!!! I am not worried about the Paradise Gourami anymore...because he is now gone. I am worried about my other fish having been in with sick fish. Or if maybe there is something in my tank that keeps recycling. I am trying the best that I can. and I will watch for any signs of injury with my other fish. Usually when we see agression we take them out of the tank. The problem is we don't see any and the Blue paradise was the only one with an injury. None of the other fish even have nips taken out of there fins, or any other signs of injury. They don't even get aggressive during feedings. I just don't know what to do, and am pretty much ready to give up on this big tank. We have other tanks that we have NO problems with and have never had disease. Even out dwarf puffer tank is doing great, and we bought them in bad shape and basically nursed them back to health.
 
Trust me, all of us can understand your frustration. A few thoughts:

1) Your UV Sterlizer is not doing anything other than helping the tank.... IMHO, this is one of the most under-rated and under-utilized tools for freshwater use. I would let it run 24/7, especially during this period of uncharacterized disease, assuming it is not interfering with the flow of your filter.

2) Since you are experiencing active deaths in the tank, my suggestion is to quarantine those fish you feel are showing disease/distress (if you have not already done so) and treat with a broad spectrum anti-parasitic like Jungle Parasite Clear. It could very well be bacterial instead (in which case antibiotics would be appropriate), but you haven't really provided enough information for us to make that determination. My hunch is that this is parasitic, but there is no way to tell for sure based on the information provided. Dose per the product instructions. Alternatively, you could elect to treat the entire tank if you prefer or if you don't have a QT tank. If possible, I would QT those fish that are sick and keep them away from your puffers.

3) I have to agree with others here that have said there is likely agression in the tank occuring (at night especially) that you are not seeing. Long term, I would recommend re-homing the puffers into a species only tank if at all possible. The concern is that the stress/injuries are allowing these diseases to blossom (due to weakened immune system).

4) Commit to providing your tanks with extra clean water by performing a water change daily. There is something very wrong with a reading of zero nitrates. Possible explanations include:

a) Your tank is not cycled or is experiencing a mini-cycle.
b) There is something wrong with the test kit or your testing method (expiration date on bottom of API test kit?).
c) All the plants are using the nitrate resulting in zero read (I seriously doubt this).
d) You measured after a very large water change.

If you see improvement with the parasitic treatment, let us know. If not, it may be appropriate to switch over to a broad spectrum antibiotic. Again, sorry you're experiencing these troubles.
 
FYI... GSPs are not ever freshwater.. they can survive in it, but they are brackish as juvies and full salt as adults. ;)
 
Okay so not having any nitrates is a bad thing right? I thought it was a good thing to have zero of everything? What does this do not having any nitrates in your aquarium? Sorry everyone at the LFS's have always told us that 0 even nitrates is a good thing, but most people can rarely get it down to 0. So this is why I am asking....
 
Oh yea one more question about the UV Steralizer (Which I have also gotten many different answers on). Does this kill Parasites and disease or not? Also does it kill your good bacteria? This one LFS here (I don't really like the store LOL) told us that the UV's don't kill Parasites or Bacteria, and that they mostly just kill your good bacteria? I think someone else told us this and my boyfriend got nervous and turned it off thinking that was the culprit of all the deaths.
 
I wouldn't know anything about puffers, but the internal parasite sounds a bit like hex, which is common in discus and angels. I'm not sure if other fish can even catch hex...
 
roxy885 said:
Okay so not having any nitrates is a bad thing right? I thought it was a good thing to have zero of everything? What does this do not having any nitrates in your aquarium? Sorry everyone at the LFS's have always told us that 0 even nitrates is a good thing, but most people can rarely get it down to 0. So this is why I am asking....
Click to expand...

Did you read the instructions carefully? You are supposed to shake bottle #2 vigorously for at least 30 seconds before adding. Then you are supposed to shake the whole mixture vigorously for at least a minute without stopping.
 
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