Need help quick! Please!!!

Just a wild and maybe a stupid question, but have you been doing regular water changes or just topping off the tank? I ask this since you stated you just did a 50% change because "the filter was nasty". I read this as if that is the indicator for needing a water change.

What are your water parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte? Do you have test kits to sample the water? What kind of filtration?

This info will help us, help you! :clap:
 
Hi everyone. Im so sorry I forgot I'd posted this. Ive had such a time lately with my 29. Sadly the next day or so my loach died. Im pretty sure now that it was velvet cause he was covered completely and so fast with fine little dots with a bit of yellow tint. My neon is still hanging on though. In bad shape still. It must be that disease they get. Dont know how to treat it though. Lfs told me to flush him so I dont harm the others. I just cant do that.
When I say water changes I mean cleaning the gravel and all too. I just forgot about the filter cause my sister got toxemia with her baby and about lost them both. Taking them and my Dad to alot of doc appts. and no time here at home. Starting to calm down now though and Ive been trying to get back in the habit of things.
 
Also I have a 55 gal. tank that I had planned on putting the loach in. Lfs told me it would be ok once I moved the gold fish. That I could keep the 4lined pimadelia cat and pictus cat with him. Well Ive done reserch and that dont sound good to me. Also was going to buy more after research here. Then he got sick. Id had him so long. I wasnt feeding him right I dont think. Just found out I need to give them frozen shrimp and I didnt know that the whole time I had him.
Anyways 2weeks after he died and no more signs of ich I was at the lfs and they talked me into buying another one. Said it would be fine as my fish wasnt showing any illness. Then few weeks later my tetras and neons are sick. So here I am worrying about him also. I love loaches but looks like Im gonna give that up If he gets sick too. I cant keep platys alive either and love them. So I just admire them at the stores.
I have a 30gal. tank Im setting up tomm. Just got all the stuff I need to start the cycle. Im going to use the water from my 10gal. tank since it has never had problems. My 55 gal. tank has 4 gold fish and my hubby dont think your able to cycle with gold fish water and then but tetras and so on in it.Anyways wish me luck!!!! After its cycled I will move my fish from the 10 gal and then use it as a QTank in the future. Do I need to keep it running at all times even when theres no fish sick ?Ive never had a QT before so its completely new to me.
Also how long will a loach be ok in a 29 gal tank before it needs to be moved to a bigger one?
Thanks everyone for the advice. Shannon
 
The one thing about loaches.. they get ich very easily. Could just be the stress from the trip home from the store. When I buy a new fish I always put in a preventive med for ich.. aquari-sol (I do not have a quarentine tank yet) which is copper salts.. I never had a problem.. When my loaches did get ich I used the malachite green. I cannot use salt because I have an elephant nose in my tank. I always only use half strength though and raise the temp. It has worked fine for me and I have never (knock on wood) lost a fish to ich.
 
trkyhunter91 said:
I have a 30gal. tank Im setting up tomm. Just got all the stuff I need to start the cycle. Im going to use the water from my 10gal. tank since it has never had problems.
Using the water from another tank isnt going to help your cycle. The bacteria you need to cycle your tank dont live in the water, it lives in the gravel and filter media. What you should do is use a filter cartridge from one of your tanks. If there is enough good bacteria in there it will seriously speed up your cycle. If you are still having problems with ich in your tank. IE new fish are getting it, then you should do 1 1/2 to 2 tsp of salt per gallon and raise the temp of the tank to 86* When I did this, loaches and all the ich was gone in 3 days. It hasnt returned. Then I just did my regular water changes to get the salt out of the water. The only casualty I had was one mystery snail and my tank was seriously overstocked at the time. You should always dilute salt in treated tankwater before adding it to your tank. And you should add it very slowly so as not to shock your fish. If the actual salt grains touch your fish, it can cause burns. I dont know if you already knew all of this, but I thought I would post it just in case you didnt. Good luck with your new tank!
 
Purpledaisy456 said:
The one thing about loaches.. they get ich very easily. Could just be the stress from the trip home from the store. When I buy a new fish I always put in a preventive med for ich.. aquari-sol (I do not have a quarentine tank yet) which is copper salts.. I never had a problem.. When my loaches did get ich I used the malachite green. I cannot use salt because I have an elephant nose in my tank. I always only use half strength though and raise the temp. It has worked fine for me and I have never (knock on wood) lost a fish to ich.
Please read the post I made earlier in this thread.

The main ingredient in AquariSol is Zycosin (soluble copper salts).

Here's a post on here from the Skeptical Aquarist:

"Of the people recommending or disrecommending AquariSol, how many have noticed the active ingredient is "zycosin?" What percent of those people did a brief www.google.com search: "zycosin?"

The following gem of zycosin information/gossip definitely warmed my skeptical heart!
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/unsubstantiated.htm

"silver? copper? ah, whatever! we'll still call it "zycosin!"

I wonder whether people who found Aquari-Sol didn't work for them were using dechlorinators that have conditioners included? "A little extra dechlorinator never hurts!" Do you see what some extra chelator molecules dissolved in the water might do to "zycosin?"

Is everyone aware of the pH dependence of copper toxicity? What happens, after you've used a whole bottle (!!!) when your pH drops six weeks from now, from whatever causes? Mysterious toxicity, eh?

All this talk of brand-names, and so little mention of ingredients. It's the ingredients that are important..."​
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=58852&postcount=7

Read the response from Kordon at the link he provided. That's pretty scary stuff.

FWIW, always research medications before you add them to your tank. I highly advise you to stop using AquariSol and hope you can get all the copper out of your tank.

Roan
 
Thanks jodimartin I didnt know about the water cycling. I did find out about a week ago of dissolving the salt in the water then adding to tank. I didnt know they would burn them though. My poor fish would go after the salt before.
I put a teaspoon in 3 gallons of water ,let it dissolve, then dump it in the tank when I do a water change/gravel vac. Is this still wrong?
 
Well it has been about a month or so since I used coppersafe in the water. Since then theres been many many water changes/grav. vacs done. So I hope I got all that stuff out.
I used this when I brought home the sad shaped fair goldies and they was back in good health in a few days. They have been through alot (cats nipping at them and so on) and these babies are not gonna die without a fight. LOL ...glad they made it. Those fairs are so cruel to the animal prizes they have. Seen them just dump out a huge batch of goldies after the fair was over. Seen them release an iguana to the wild and not care!!! Im in Ohio and well it gets cold here. Thanks for all the help everyone.
Shannon :clap:
 
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