What should I do???? Please help!

S

sillyputty

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Dec 10, 2004
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Below I copied some of my post from general freshwater but I moved it over here because I have different questions about the situation and I realize this probably a better place since I am a newbie!! So hope this is ok, the repost is really for background.

What is going on with my tank? Seems like so many problems.
I used Aquarisol, was that wrong and should I change to something else? Is the "blue" stuff better? I do have tetras. Should I add more salt, I have one Tbs per 5 gallons in there now.

Update: My highfin lyretail swordtail passed on last night :sad
I thought my silver lyertail mollie was a goner too, just laying on the bottom and I almost took her out, but today she is swimming around and hungry! fingers crossed on her.

BACKGROUND
My water conditions are perfect, nitrate 20pp or less, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, ph7.2, steady 78 degrees (although I am raising it now). I do weekly 25/30% water changes. My conditions have been like this for awhile, started my tank before Thanksgiving. I seem to have had really bad luck lately with the fish I have been getting. They have all come from the same LFS, which is having all kinds of problems with ick and stuff too. They tell me they have separate filtration for each tank, though, and they don't sell the fish if they can tell they are sick and the weird thing is they all seem to die from different stuff. Neon Gourami, quit eating after 4/5 days then died 3/4 days later, silver lyretail molly seemed to have mouth fungus, died within a week and only 2 days of really showing symptoms (ended up looking like something stuck in her mouth), 5 of 10 neon tetras just crashed in 24 hours of getting them, and now another silver mollie is hanging around the top with ick along with 2 lyretail swords who have ick, one I only got yesterday! And I think my big male marigold hifin lyretail sword
who is gorgeous is not gonna make it. He has milky looking skin and milky white and redness around his gills. I've had him awhile.

So, I am really a Newbie, and trying to figure out the best thing to do, or best product, well I really feel like I am shooting in the dark. I noticed some of my fish flashing off the driftwood last week and added a T per 5 gallons of salt. Don't know if it helped any or not.

So, there is my sad story.... Now, I will not be getting any more fish till this gets cleared up, and will probably invest in a quarrentine tank after this, but jeeez, what a mess!
 
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You are adding 1 tbs of salt per 5 gallons you said, but you are also keeping Tetras. Most characins are very intolerant of salt in the water, so this may be one reason some of them are dying off (weakened immune system, etc).

On the other hand, your fish that have Ich should really be quarantined, and then treated, so you're right on the money to invest in a quarantine tank, as it saves a lot of grief.
 
Actually the tetras are doing fine now. The ones that died did so in the first 24 hours and when I talked to the LSF they said theirs did the same thing. Before I bought them I asked them how long they had had them and they said a week and a half with no problems.

I was wondering how high a temperature will the fish tolerate?
 
Still looking for some advise, please? Can fin rot look like ick? The point on my female high fin sword rotted off! lots of white stuff.
 
Hi, Fin Rot is nothing like Ich, Ich is white spots, fin rot is like tearing and rotting and pretty much disintegrating fins. Ich dies at 86 degrees Faranhieght along with most bacteria, as for keeping it like this, the fish wont like it, too hot, but if you leave the temp lke that until the ich dies theyll do fine. Does the white stuff look like flesh? have they been fighting? you angels are not in an odd pair, I've heard if angels arent solitary or paired, they will be aggressive, or it could be from other fish. Hope that helps, Be patient youll get replies soon enough ;)
 
One thing to look at is what else you have in your tank, rockwork ornaments etc.... sometimes these can have toxic ingredients that can affect fish so their immunity is reduced and they catch anything that's going, or new fish are affected very quickly. It's not always immediately apparent there's a problem which may be why your tank was OK for a while. (I'm not sure when thanksgiving is, as I from England) but assume it must be 2-3 months ago judging by your water conditions.
 
Everything I have came from LFS. Fake driftwood, aquarium gravel, two large pieces of slate, some plants.
Good suggestion though!
 
As regards tempertures fish can tolerate - although 'average' tropical temperatures are usually in the range from 72 - around 77/80 depending on species, most fish can cope with higher temperatures - for example raising the temp to 80+ is one strategy when dealing with white spot (ich).

The secret is to raise the temp. gradually (no more than 1degree per hour) until the desired temp. is achieved. However, unless you have a specific reason for raising the temp. this will again stress the fish.

Hope things settle down and you have smoother ride from now on.
 
Can you tell me how long will the white spots stay on the fish? I now have the temp at 86. I got a new thermometer (the old one was the stick on stip and didn't tell me real accurately the temp so I didn't feel too comfortable raising the temp to where I really wanted it). I have had it above 82F for sure though for 4 days.
 
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