sorry I used ultimate NOT excel yesterday- I never use excel.
Help! fish are dying..
Hi So I have a dirted, heavily planted 28 or so gallon tank, lots of wood so a bit of tannins. Tank is about 14 months old. Mostly scarlet badis, which breed fairly frequently, and some exclamation point rasboras and recently 11 green rasboras (sundadanios). Duckweed, Anubias, Hygrophylla, java moss and more.
I had 5 bumble bee gobies that I removed, who I suspected were tail nipping badis, and causing some mortality.
More recently, Ive suddenly had a die off of the green rasboras- originally had 11 (wild caught), they had maybe a 50% attrition at the LFS, but mine were really robust and got very sturdy and did well. Suddenly I noticed a few less, then yesterday one going semi upside down, and today a different one dead, and another doing the bad equilibrium thing... 3 noted for sure in 2 days...
Additionally I sometimes have badis suddenly lose color and seem bloated and then dont last long, but the majority seem the absolute picture of health. Tank is not overstocked, I usually preform a 5 gal change about once a week but have gone longer without issues except an increase in tannin. Yesterdays change was the first I used excel and not dechlor.
Water is fairly hard which apparently the rasboras dont prefer, but they were doing really well in it. I dont have too many water test analytic to share. Fluvial 207 and aerator, fluvial plant 3.0 light. I feed them black worms which I raise and feed organic broccoli etc, live or fresh refrigerated baby brine, frozen daphnia, and for those who eat it, micro pellets.
I do have a dirted tank with organic potting soil originally under the gravel, which has now migrated up somewhat due to the snail activity. I do get bubbles occasionally which indicates some gas, and when I poke it I always get some burps.
attached is a pic of the tank and the little male badis who has suddenly taken a turn, keeps his mouth open, bloated, and has a scale or other protrusion on his head won't eat. thanks in advance
![Plant Vertebrate Organism Pet supply Aquatic plant]()
![Water Leaf Terrestrial plant Natural landscape Grass]()
I had 5 bumble bee gobies that I removed, who I suspected were tail nipping badis, and causing some mortality.
More recently, Ive suddenly had a die off of the green rasboras- originally had 11 (wild caught), they had maybe a 50% attrition at the LFS, but mine were really robust and got very sturdy and did well. Suddenly I noticed a few less, then yesterday one going semi upside down, and today a different one dead, and another doing the bad equilibrium thing... 3 noted for sure in 2 days...
Additionally I sometimes have badis suddenly lose color and seem bloated and then dont last long, but the majority seem the absolute picture of health. Tank is not overstocked, I usually preform a 5 gal change about once a week but have gone longer without issues except an increase in tannin. Yesterdays change was the first I used excel and not dechlor.
Water is fairly hard which apparently the rasboras dont prefer, but they were doing really well in it. I dont have too many water test analytic to share. Fluvial 207 and aerator, fluvial plant 3.0 light. I feed them black worms which I raise and feed organic broccoli etc, live or fresh refrigerated baby brine, frozen daphnia, and for those who eat it, micro pellets.
I do have a dirted tank with organic potting soil originally under the gravel, which has now migrated up somewhat due to the snail activity. I do get bubbles occasionally which indicates some gas, and when I poke it I always get some burps.
attached is a pic of the tank and the little male badis who has suddenly taken a turn, keeps his mouth open, bloated, and has a scale or other protrusion on his head won't eat. thanks in advance
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Thanks for the reply-
Unfortunately I dont have a great quarantine setup and they usually pass before very long...
The rasboras were quarantined at the LFS, stressed and wild caught (I dont like the wc thing much, the LFS got a second batch and they all died.) They definitely had ich and I jumped the gun and bought them with a tad still showing, but it cleared up. But like I said, they settled very well, got much bigger, then this..
Bubbles look like a few bubbles coming up.. video wouldn't attach so here's a screenshot
![Plant Nature Leaf Natural environment Water]()
. they do it when I poke, and also occasionally just come up, rarely though.
I was reading a bit about anoxic soils and gasses and it seems a minor worry from a brief perusal.
I dont have a great sense of smell so havent detected sulphur, but ill try to get someone in who does. Its just so odd for fish to generally be so healthy then turn suddenly. One could chalk it up to small fish=fragile, or lack of daphnia and getting impacted from soft food. The badis dont really like frozen daphnia and live is hard for me to find. I do occasionally get sort of "scratch" looking whitish marks on some that is way less vivid than the bright spots of ich.
Unfortunately I dont have a great quarantine setup and they usually pass before very long...
The rasboras were quarantined at the LFS, stressed and wild caught (I dont like the wc thing much, the LFS got a second batch and they all died.) They definitely had ich and I jumped the gun and bought them with a tad still showing, but it cleared up. But like I said, they settled very well, got much bigger, then this..
Bubbles look like a few bubbles coming up.. video wouldn't attach so here's a screenshot
I was reading a bit about anoxic soils and gasses and it seems a minor worry from a brief perusal.
I dont have a great sense of smell so havent detected sulphur, but ill try to get someone in who does. Its just so odd for fish to generally be so healthy then turn suddenly. One could chalk it up to small fish=fragile, or lack of daphnia and getting impacted from soft food. The badis dont really like frozen daphnia and live is hard for me to find. I do occasionally get sort of "scratch" looking whitish marks on some that is way less vivid than the bright spots of ich.
Having a fish tested is going to cost way more than a tank is worth.
What are the tank parameters?
Just because a store held the fish for a few days doesn't mean they are disease free. My local fish store has a slow killing columnaris in his center rack and maybe the other tanks as well. Same filter system on all the center tanks so I know it's floating around in there. Took me a long time to figure it out because his tanks are very clean looking. It wasn't until I watched a few orders come in with the telltale band around the middle of the guppies that I realized what was happening. I was getting very frustrated and wondering why I couldn't keep a simple guppy and some other small easy fish. Unfortunately for the fish the owner isn't the type to take anybody pointing it out well.
Dirted tank... I tried with my 29 gallon. It kept building swamp gases and was hard to effectively vacuum without sucking up the dirt. I went back to eco-complete. I know plenty of people keep them but I couldn't. Wasn't worth the trouble.
Erythromycin is mostly effective against gram positive bacteria. Most of the fish nasties are gram negative.
I figured I'd post that quick because I lost the post twice because my sleeves kept hitting the mouse or keyboard.
Maybe this will help.
edis.ifas.ufl.edu
www.americanaquariumproducts.com
What are the tank parameters?
Just because a store held the fish for a few days doesn't mean they are disease free. My local fish store has a slow killing columnaris in his center rack and maybe the other tanks as well. Same filter system on all the center tanks so I know it's floating around in there. Took me a long time to figure it out because his tanks are very clean looking. It wasn't until I watched a few orders come in with the telltale band around the middle of the guppies that I realized what was happening. I was getting very frustrated and wondering why I couldn't keep a simple guppy and some other small easy fish. Unfortunately for the fish the owner isn't the type to take anybody pointing it out well.
Dirted tank... I tried with my 29 gallon. It kept building swamp gases and was hard to effectively vacuum without sucking up the dirt. I went back to eco-complete. I know plenty of people keep them but I couldn't. Wasn't worth the trouble.
Erythromycin is mostly effective against gram positive bacteria. Most of the fish nasties are gram negative.
I figured I'd post that quick because I lost the post twice because my sleeves kept hitting the mouse or keyboard.
Maybe this will help.
CIR 84/FA084: Use of Antibiotics in Ornamental Fish Aquaculture
University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension outreach is a partnership between state, federal, and county governments to provide scientific knowledge and expertise to the public. The University of Florida (UF), together with Florida A&M University (FAMU)...
Fish Columnaris | Fungus & Saprolegnia | Treatment & Prevention
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