massive sickness.

[Aquarijen]

I posted this to the other group as well, but there sometimes seem to be
more people here, so I will post this here as well.....

Boy, did I learn my lesson. I bought some more fish - 5 Buenos Aires
tetras - to put in with my blue gourami, 5 pink kissing gourami, yellow
pl*co, 6 zebra danios, angelfish, 8 rainbows and various clams in my 135
gallon tank.

They looked healthy and for some reason, I decided not to quarentine them.
I am kicking myself now.

They were not healthy. They had parasites. Massive fish sickness two days
later. Weirdly, the tetras looked bad, but did not die.

Most of the fish got what looked to be tail rot as well and stopped eating.
Most have ick and white poo and were resting at the bottom of the tank or
floating very near the surface.

I took out all the fish and put them in hospital tanks according to need
(clams can't have most medications, tetras get half dose of quick cure, so
they went into a separate tank). I raised the temperature of the hospital
tanks (two ten gallon tanks and a 20 gallon tank) to 80 degrees, dosed with
melafix to help stop the fin rot and quick cure for the ick and parasites
and I have added a small amount of aquarium salt. I have isolated the clams
in a 2.5 gallon mini tank with only aquarium salt 80 degree temperature. At
first, I thought they were all going to die. They were all either sitting
on the bottom of the tanks leaned over and not moving or eating or some were
floating at the surface and not eating. All looked horrible with fin rot
and white-ish dull patches around their necks. It was a long night. I did
lose 3 danios, a pink gourami and a turquoise rainbow the first night. The
second night I did not lose any more fish but they did not look much better
either. The third night (last night) they were swimming normally and
eating. There are still white patches and fin rot, but they look so much
better.
Question...
There are no fish in the 135 gallon tank now, but it is heavily planted.
What can I do to erradicate whatever may be in the water? I have done a 25%
water change three times (daily) so far to that tank. I can't add salt as
it will mess with the plants. I have raised the temperature to 82 degrees,
but am afraid to raise it more than that due to the plants. Will Cuprimine
(by SeaChem) kill the biological filter? Should I put it in anyway and then
get biozyme or? How long should I keep the fish in the hospital tanks?
These hospital tanks have not been cycled...

The big tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 3ppm nitrates.

Thanks!!!
Jennifer

[Brian S.]

Hey Jen,

Parasites typically have to have hosts in order to survive.. at least that
is what I've read on the newsgroups previously. Those individuals indicate
that without a host, the parasites will die fairly quick.

However, since you have a planted tank, I'm not sure if those parasites
could live off of the live plants or not...?

You might do some research on the type of plants you have and see what kind
of temp conditions they can live in. They might be able to tolerate the
86-88 degrees for a few hours, which is all I would think is needed to kill
any parasites/bacteria.

Don't know if the temp increase would kill your bio filter though since it
is bacteria...

Brian S.

"Aquarijen" > wrote in message
...
> I posted this to the other group as well, but there sometimes seem to be
> more people here, so I will post this here as well.....
>
> Boy, did I learn my lesson. I bought some more fish - 5 Buenos Aires
> tetras - to put in with my blue gourami, 5 pink kissing gourami, yellow
> pl*co, 6 zebra danios, angelfish, 8 rainbows and various clams in my 135
> gallon tank.
>
> They looked healthy and for some reason, I decided not to quarentine them.
> I am kicking myself now.
>
> They were not healthy. They had parasites. Massive fish sickness two
days
> later. Weirdly, the tetras looked bad, but did not die.
>
> Most of the fish got what looked to be tail rot as well and stopped
eating.
> Most have ick and white poo and were resting at the bottom of the tank or
> floating very near the surface.
>
> I took out all the fish and put them in hospital tanks according to need
> (clams can't have most medications, tetras get half dose of quick cure, so
> they went into a separate tank). I raised the temperature of the
hospital
> tanks (two ten gallon tanks and a 20 gallon tank) to 80 degrees, dosed
with
> melafix to help stop the fin rot and quick cure for the ick and parasites
> and I have added a small amount of aquarium salt. I have isolated the
clams
> in a 2.5 gallon mini tank with only aquarium salt 80 degree temperature.
At
> first, I thought they were all going to die. They were all either sitting
> on the bottom of the tanks leaned over and not moving or eating or some
were
> floating at the surface and not eating. All looked horrible with fin rot
> and white-ish dull patches around their necks. It was a long night. I
did
> lose 3 danios, a pink gourami and a turquoise rainbow the first night.
The
> second night I did not lose any more fish but they did not look much
better
> either. The third night (last night) they were swimming normally and
> eating. There are still white patches and fin rot, but they look so much
> better.
> Question...
> There are no fish in the 135 gallon tank now, but it is heavily planted.
> What can I do to erradicate whatever may be in the water? I have done a
25%
> water change three times (daily) so far to that tank. I can't add salt as
> it will mess with the plants. I have raised the temperature to 82
degrees,
> but am afraid to raise it more than that due to the plants. Will
Cuprimine
> (by SeaChem) kill the biological filter? Should I put it in anyway and
then
> get biozyme or? How long should I keep the fish in the hospital tanks?
> These hospital tanks have not been cycled...
>
> The big tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 3ppm nitrates.
>
> Thanks!!!
> Jennifer
>
>