4 replies to this topic

[Fielding]

Had my first run in with fish health problems, still new to the hobby but learning.

Keeping african variations atm, i have 12 atm in a 180-200L tank.

 

No live plants limestone rocks and some slate, 

mixture of gravel and about 5kg of limestone sand

aqua one 2500 air pump

Sicce whale 500 external filter.

 

Over the last week lost 5 fish, one of which a suicide, through a hole no bigger than an inch! and he was a healthy one!

 

Blue peacock (suicide) idiot!!!

Obliquidens zebra

Altolamprologus (gold compressiceps)

bristlenose cat

peppermint cat

 

Im assuming due to stress from treating the tank for white spot and bacteria.

 

All fish were still feeding and being active, apart from the Zebra.

feed twice daily, mixture of cichlid gold and spirulina, started giving them frozen food only fed them a few times so far on this once a week.

previously %25 water changes weekly

Water tested weekly at LFS, all good outcomes with tests never any issues other than a lower PH around 7.5

last test was done on tuesday and all was good apart from the lower ph @ 7.6 and slight ammonia increase, assumed from the dead fish in the tank. No ammonia issues since cycling the tank.

I was away for the weekend so the dead could have been in there for more than a day, they were picked to pieces.

tank bumped upto 30.5 deg

Water changed %30 every three days with the white spot treatment. currently on its third treatment.

Also treated the tank with melafix for two weeks prior to the white spot treatment.

and put in some PH up over period of a couple weeks

never saw any loss till i started the white spot treatment.

 

First Noticed the white spots on my little borleyi a little over a week ago when i started the white spot treatment.

Then i noticed them on my Zebra Obliquidens after he was acting sick for a week or two, much longer than any of the others (also had a sunken belly) i had a feeling he was on his way out. Im thinking my obliquidens had the spots for longer but was hard to notice them on his head. 

And now the borleyi looks to have a bit of a sunken belly. 

Would i be right in assuming the Zebra he was the culprit of the infection?

 

Now my rescued fish, some sort of blue peacock species was kept in poor conditions, had a sunken belly which i thought was from malnourishment that has slightly improved but seems to be a healthy fish. He was dull when i got him but has gradually put on more colour. Probably the most active of the group.

Could he have a problem or just have a sunken belly? could he have given it to the others?

 

And with the last two, my fav altolamprologus and the peppermint. They were bought from the same store, had them for two weeks before the tank went cuckoo. Absolutely no signs of stress, no spots, no sunken belly, nothing and they were the first to go, could they have been the infection?? 

They were of the smaller fish in the tank, around 3 cm but not the smallest, possibly subjected to stress from the other fish?

Not sure but i do remember another customer taking home a bristlenose, while i was there they returned and said it was gone by the time they got home, sick fish possibly?

 

And last the bristlenose, had him from day one, seemed fine growing well, my wife noticed him grazing the day before, and the next, gone!

 

Is it normal to expect some loss when treating a tank like this?

 

All others seem to be doing well and improving, Fingers crossed!!

 

[dazzabozza]

The cause (introduction of white spot) will be hard to determine. Whether there was a water quality or temperature issue prior to treating that allowed the white spot to take hold (stressed fish) that's a possibility.

As far as expecting casualties once white spot is in the tank that's a definite yes. Breathing can be laboured and raising the temp to 30deg adds to that so u need plenty of aeration.

What was WS treatment used? Catfish are more sensitive to meds / salt which could explain why they went.

Good idea to keep an eye on the water parameters just in case the treatment knocks out the beneficial bacteria in your filters.

pH around mid 7's not too bad you don't want any lower. Don't worry about trying to bump it up because ammonia is more toxic the higher u go. Limestone in tank should be enough to stop the pH crashing.


Daz

[malawiman85]

Also with treating whitespot:
Tank to +30 and that should be all you need to do. Treatments in my experience are entirely unnecessary and are just an extra cost and a pain in the arse because the usual malachite green based meds stain clear silicone and tank decor. Melafix is a rip off. Might be ok if fish have wounds but in reality there shouldnt be problems with wounds healing if the water is clean.
The only other treatment for whitespot that I would reccomend is Bunnings Pool Salt at 6ppt which equates to 3kg per 500ltrs. Only problem with salt is the effect on catties, loaches and plants. The upside is if you need to treat thousands of litres its way cheaper and easier than getting all that water to +30.

[Bostave]

Copper sulphate is highly effective to treat white spots but the alkalinity of the water should be atleast 100. This treatment will kill the protozoan in the gills too. I have used this treatment in treating fish in fish farms and marine hatcheries and found to be the most effective treatment to treat white spot.

[Fielding]

Just an update on my tank, treatment was completed and temperature kept up for another week, the wife is doing well at keeping up water changes and feeding as im away for work in port hedland for a month, she says they seem happy and no one seems to be behaving "crazy" as they were.
And no more losses.
Once we are happy tank is healthily established again i'll be getting a quarantine tank before thinking about adding anything again.
Heres to a healthy tank.

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