how are your water parameters
Help! Lost 3 fish in 10 days. Trying to diagnose.
I should state up front I'm newish to the hobby. Started 3 months ago. Just looking for some help.
So 10 days ago, my Blue Paradise Gourami died. From what I've been reading I think it was a bacterial infection, but I'm not 100% sure. The Gourami and my Buenos Aires Tetra had gotten into a fight two weeks prior. The tetra's nose was visibly damaged and the left side of the Gourami had multiple wounds that matched up in size to the tetra's nose. The tetra was doing fine and the gourami seemed ok, but the wounds were not healing. They actually seemed to be getting worse. On 04/12, I had to move apartments. All fish survived the move, but in the days leading up to 04/20 the gourami's wounds got more red and her belly/abdomen grew considerably in size(inflammation?). On 04/20, the gourami died. All the other fish looked fine. The tetra's nose never really got better. It was a whitish color rather than silver like the rest of his body. Fast forward to 04/27, I wake up to my leopard cory with one eye bulging out of his head and swimming very erratically...resting on plants he never got near in the past. A couple hours later, he died. Then, this morning I woke up fed the fish, dosed my usual one thread of excel. When I got out of the shower, the Buenos Aires Tetra was swimming erratically and didn't look good. He looked fine when I was feeding, but I'm pretty groggy at that point. Within 30 minutes, he was dead. One thing I noticed with the cory and the tetra was that the gills looked red and inflamed, almost bloody. They did not have any white spots or anything on them, so I don't think it was ich. I'm thinking that maybe whatever was infecting the gourami got to the other two fish, but for whatever reason it took a week to kick in. Any help or guidance would be appreciated. If its something like that, I'd just like to prevent it from spreading to the other fish. Don't want anymore deaths on my hands.
So 10 days ago, my Blue Paradise Gourami died. From what I've been reading I think it was a bacterial infection, but I'm not 100% sure. The Gourami and my Buenos Aires Tetra had gotten into a fight two weeks prior. The tetra's nose was visibly damaged and the left side of the Gourami had multiple wounds that matched up in size to the tetra's nose. The tetra was doing fine and the gourami seemed ok, but the wounds were not healing. They actually seemed to be getting worse. On 04/12, I had to move apartments. All fish survived the move, but in the days leading up to 04/20 the gourami's wounds got more red and her belly/abdomen grew considerably in size(inflammation?). On 04/20, the gourami died. All the other fish looked fine. The tetra's nose never really got better. It was a whitish color rather than silver like the rest of his body. Fast forward to 04/27, I wake up to my leopard cory with one eye bulging out of his head and swimming very erratically...resting on plants he never got near in the past. A couple hours later, he died. Then, this morning I woke up fed the fish, dosed my usual one thread of excel. When I got out of the shower, the Buenos Aires Tetra was swimming erratically and didn't look good. He looked fine when I was feeding, but I'm pretty groggy at that point. Within 30 minutes, he was dead. One thing I noticed with the cory and the tetra was that the gills looked red and inflamed, almost bloody. They did not have any white spots or anything on them, so I don't think it was ich. I'm thinking that maybe whatever was infecting the gourami got to the other two fish, but for whatever reason it took a week to kick in. Any help or guidance would be appreciated. If its something like that, I'd just like to prevent it from spreading to the other fish. Don't want anymore deaths on my hands.
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Sorry should've posted that. Only have the API kit, but they have been stable for 2 months at pH 6.0, Ammo 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 20.
How often are you doing water changes? Did the whiteness look like fuzzy like a bunny or spikey like mold? Or was it just discoloration like a bruise but white?
I do weekly water changes. Usually about 25%. The whiteness just looked like missing meat after the fight. It didn't look fuzzy or spiky. It looked like part of his nose was missing. The fight was 3-4 weeks prior to today.
You should increase your water changes to 50% twice a week and monitor the fish further. Popeye is a sign of bad water quality. Do you have gravel or sand? Do you do throught substrate vacuums when you change the water? What size is this tank? Did you Quarantine fish before introducing? What type of filtration have you been using? Have you changed any media? Do you use any aerosols in the house?
Ok I can do that. And answers to your questions:
1.Do you have gravel or sand? Mr. Aqua Aquasoil
2.Do you do throught substrate vacuums when you change the water? Hard to without disturbing my plants too much, but I do try to get as much debris as possible.
3.What size is this tank? 20 High
4.Did you Quarantine fish before introducing? No. The fish in question were all gifted to me by a friend who had no similar problems. But I did introduce two ottos, two nerites from LFS. And after the gourami passed, I introduced two dwarf gouramis from LFS. I didn't think I had an issue of further fish being affected or I wouldn't have done that.
5.What type of filtration have you been using? Biowheel 150. I've been using the regular filter media with carbon you get at petsmart.
6.Have you changed any media? I have two filter media in the biowheel at all times. After the cory died, I swapped one out for a new one.
7.Do you use any aerosols in the house? Nope. All soaps and cleaning things I have are as naturally derived as possible. Don't want that stuff around me.
1.Do you have gravel or sand? Mr. Aqua Aquasoil
2.Do you do throught substrate vacuums when you change the water? Hard to without disturbing my plants too much, but I do try to get as much debris as possible.
3.What size is this tank? 20 High
4.Did you Quarantine fish before introducing? No. The fish in question were all gifted to me by a friend who had no similar problems. But I did introduce two ottos, two nerites from LFS. And after the gourami passed, I introduced two dwarf gouramis from LFS. I didn't think I had an issue of further fish being affected or I wouldn't have done that.
5.What type of filtration have you been using? Biowheel 150. I've been using the regular filter media with carbon you get at petsmart.
6.Have you changed any media? I have two filter media in the biowheel at all times. After the cory died, I swapped one out for a new one.
7.Do you use any aerosols in the house? Nope. All soaps and cleaning things I have are as naturally derived as possible. Don't want that stuff around me.
4.Did you Quarantine fish before introducing? No. The fish in question were all gifted to me by a friend who had no similar problems. But I did introduce two ottos, two nerites from LFS. And after the gourami passed, I introduced two dwarf gouramis from LFS. I didn't think I had an issue of further fish being affected or I wouldn't have done that.
I think whatever this is came in with your Ottos and Nerite. I had columnaris come in on some Ottos, and I have heard Ich coming in on Nerite snails shells.
I think whatever this is came in with your Ottos and Nerite. I had columnaris come in on some Ottos, and I have heard Ich coming in on Nerite snails shells.
Thanks for the help. I had actually not heard of the whole quarantine method until I started researching what might be wrong with the fish. Unfortunately, this is my only tank at the moment. But I feel some MTS coming on. Wouldn't any disease that came in with the ottos or nerites have shown itself sooner though? I've had those guys for a while before any of this happened. Probably 1.5 months.
some things like Columnaris can be temperature based. I did have any problems with it till summer then it wiped out my tank. Try to keep the tank cool if you treat.
I keep a 10 gallon storage bin from target as my Q tank. I use it for storage then when needed fill'er up with water.
I keep a 10 gallon storage bin from target as my Q tank. I use it for storage then when needed fill'er up with water.
Just a tip, but a qt tank can be as simple as a food safe storage bin, as long as the appropriate equipment is attached.
Thanks for the tips!
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