ChicagoDiscus.com     Cafepress Store

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 21

Thread: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

  1. #1
    Registered Member Lynx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Poland, EU
    Posts
    54

    Default Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    Problem

    1. Please explain the problems with your fish. When did you notice the problems and did anything unusual happen that you think started them?
    I only had 2 fish in my tank for 9 months. I called them Jessica and Brian. They were my first discus ever. The fish were almost adult. Only problems they ever had before were with the lack of appetite which I treated with metro for 10 days as I was advised here on Simply Discus and the treatment worked.
    I got a bigger tank a while ago (250 liters / 66 gallon), kept my 2 fish in it for a while, everything was perfectly fine. So I decided it was time to add some new tankmates. I got 2 new and young fish (3 months old and 5 months old) from the exact same breeder which I bought my older fish from, he has a very good reputation in my region (Poland, Europe). I put the new fish into the 100 liter / 26 gallon quarantine tank and treated them with metro for 10 days. The new fish looked healthy and were eating just fine, so I moved them to the 66 gal tank where I had my almost adult fish. Everything was fine for 2 days. Then Jessica suddenly got the pop eye disease in only one of her eyes. So I immediately moved her to a small 10 gallon tank and put methylene blue in her water because I noticed the issue at night and that was all I had. The next day I bought a medication (Sera Baktoforte S, the manufacturer does not reveal what is the active ingredient of this med, but it says it's good to treat the pop eye and kills a wide range of bacteria, it is a good German producer.). According to the instruction on the package, I treated the sick fish (Jessica) in the high dose of the med for an hour, then put her back into the main 66 gal tank with other fish and treated the whole tank with the medication I got because I assumed that if it is bacterial, it's better to treat all my fish before bad things happen. 2 days into the treatment a tragedy happened, Brian Jumped out of the aquarium when I was at work, was already dead when I came to see him. Jesicca looked horrified, she spent the next 2 days staring at the place where Brian died. But despite this, her eye was healing very very quickly, the pop eye was gone in the next 3 days. And although her eye was doing fine, she looked apathetic, didn't wanna eat, was hiding and not swimming much. Both 2 of the new fish were doing just fine while she was hiding, the youngsters were eating properly and swimming happily. So since Jessica showed no signs of pop eye anymore, I assumed her behavior might be related to the trauma she got from watching her brother die on the floor. So I went and bought a new, bigger fish, which resembled Brian a bit in hopes that his presence would cheer her up. The breeder told me that the new big guy went through the metro treatment 2 weeks ago, so I decided not to quarantine him. I put him in the 66 gal tank with other fish but added Sera Baktoforte S for another 3 days to make sure I kill all the bacteria which might had been on the new fish or still in the tank - the manufacturer of this med says it's ok to run the 3-day treatment twice in a row if needed.
    The next day, Jessica was dead. She was swimming like she were drunk for a while, then suddenly died. I removed her dead body from the tank immediately.
    Now I'm continuing the Sera treatment and will do it until the 3 days are over.

    The bigger new fish I added last looks and behaves fine, but does not eat anything.
    The 2 youngsters I added earlier eat less than they used to and swim a lot less, hide in the plastic bushes.

    Other than that they look normal.

    Now my question is - what do I do to make sure I don't lose the 3 remaining fish?



    2. Symptoms (i.e. turning dark, excess slime, not eating, clamped fins, flashing, darting, clamped gills, white/yellow/green poop, hiding, headstanding or tailstanding, white on tips of fins, rotting or fungus, blisters/white zits on fish, bloated, cloudy eyes, wounds).
    Not eating, hiding, pop eye, cloudy eye in the fish with pop eye, Jessica also had a wound from scratching against aquarium ornament a few days earlier.
    Now as I think about it, the 2 fish who are dead already did some flashing and scratching against objects, but it was not very frequent and did not catch my attention before it was too late.



    3. What medications/ treatments have you already tried and what were the results. Include dosage and duration of treatment.
    Sera Baktoforte S according to instructions


    Tank/Water

    4. Tank size and ages, numbers and sizes of fish.
    250 l / 66 gal, 2 fish are dead, the remaining 3 are 3, 5 and 7 months old.


    5. Water change regime (What percentage and how often).
    Normally I changed 50% - 80% twice a week.
    Now during the antibiotic treatment I change 90 % everyday.


    6. How long has tank been running? Is it bare bottom? If you have substrate, what type and how deep is it?
    3 months
    bare bottom


    7. Do you age your water? If you do for how long and what is the ph swing.
    do not age water. pH is stable at 7.0


    8. Parameters and water source;


    - temp 29 C

    - ph 7.0

    - ammonia reading ____

    - nitrite reading ____

    - nitrate reading ____
    ^^ there was 0 as the tank was cycled before treatment. now I can't test the water because the medication turns the water yellow


    What type of water or combinations of water sources do you use? If it is an RO/tap/well water mix, please list percentages in the mix.

    - well water 0%

    - municipal water 100%

    - RO water 0%


    9. Any new fish, plants or inverts added recently.
    3 new fish
    there are only discus in the tank



    10. Please tell us what you feed your fish and how often. This can be critical information for solving the problem so be as specific as you can.
    90% store bought food
    10% live Enchytraeidae from my own hatchery (I fed these worms to my fish for over 6 months and nothing bad happened before)
    Last edited by Lynx; 06-12-2019 at 01:47 PM.

  2. #2
    Registered Member Lynx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Poland, EU
    Posts
    54

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    https://imgur.com/WPxpIWX

    https://imgur.com/im3EyLe

    Pictures of the remaining fish

  3. #3
    Registered Member
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    27
    Real Name
    Jon

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    Besides all the contradicting information you provided. You did not QT your new fish properly which has led to these conditions. The mystery medication should probably be stopped.

  4. #4
    Registered Member Lynx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Poland, EU
    Posts
    54

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    Quote Originally Posted by LouDogge View Post
    Besides all the contradicting information you provided. You did not QT your new fish properly which has led to these conditions. The mystery medication should probably be stopped.
    I'm sorry, but which information is contradicting exactly?
    Also how do I quarantine my fish properly then?

    Also the medication is not a "mystery", it's from a well known and respected brand.
    Here it is: https://www.sera.de/us/
    Last edited by Lynx; 06-12-2019 at 02:46 PM.

  5. #5
    Registered Member slicksta's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    1,047

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    When ever you get new fish you should keep them in a separate tank for 4-6 weeks
    Then introduce one of your existing fish to their tank and wait another 3 weeks to be sure all is ok.
    This is the best practice though admittedly I've cheated on the duration.
    As for your current fish, I'm unsure of what you think is the problem at this point.
    What observations give you concern now?

  6. #6
    Registered Member Lynx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Poland, EU
    Posts
    54

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    Quote Originally Posted by slicksta View Post
    When ever you get new fish you should keep them in a separate tank for 4-6 weeks
    Then introduce one of your existing fish to their tank and wait another 3 weeks to be sure all is ok.
    This is the best practice though admittedly I've cheated on the duration.
    As for your current fish, I'm unsure of what you think is the problem at this point.
    What observations give you concern now?
    Thank you for your reply. My concern with the remaining fish is that they seem to be scratching against objects and are eating less and less, become less and less active. I don't know what disease exactly killed my old fish and now I don't want to lose the remaining ones too. I'm not sure what to do at this point to make sure they turn out ok.

  7. #7
    Registered Member Lynx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    Poland, EU
    Posts
    54

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    I mean I can sit down and read a lot and look for answers and I will definitely do that but I'm asking for help because I fear that before I read enough and find the answer the fish will be dead already... The death of my 2 old fish was very sudden.

  8. #8
    Registered Member slicksta's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    1,047

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    Ok
    I think the best thing to do would be to take a breath.
    Stop medication
    Do 80% water changes every day and when the water is clear test Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.
    If you can age your water it's better.
    If not, add water slowly and a little dechlorinator before and the rest during.
    You can also treat with (no iodine) salt to relieve stress. 1 Tblsp/5 gal (15g /20L)

  9. #9
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Moselle, MS
    Posts
    13,067

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    I agree. Stop the mystery med. Never use a med if you don't know what's in it. First off, I would do as slicksta suggested and just change a lot of water for a few days.

    I don't know what's wrong with your fish but there was something wrong with your QT. It can be a problem if you don't have a sacrificial lamb fish to add.

    The scratching is indicative of flukes. Flukes are treated with formalin or PP. The not eating indicates possible hex. The treatment is 500 mg. per 10 gallons for 10 to 12 days with huge WC every day. I don't know if that's what you should do but those things are the fix for the symptoms you mentioned.
    Mama Bear

  10. #10
    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Aussie living in Cincy
    Posts
    3,221
    Real Name
    Daniel

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    "The treatment is 500 mg. per 10 gallons for 10 to 12 days" I believe the medication Liz is referencing here is pure metronidazole.

  11. #11

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    Are you using a quality water conditioner when doing your water changes as scratching and flashing can also be an indication of chlorimine irritation even if your aging your water chlorimine will not dissipate in 24hr making a quality water conditioner essential, amquell and api are good

    Jeanne

  12. #12
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Halifax,Canada
    Posts
    2,498
    Real Name
    Mervin

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    The medication link is not a med ,rather a water conditioner, short'a like Prime. If you see a lot of micro bubbles after a WC, you may need to age and aerate your water even tho there is no ph swing.

  13. #13
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Halifax,Canada
    Posts
    2,498
    Real Name
    Mervin

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    And look at that; it even has iodine in it. MMMM and some say use no iodine in your salt.

  14. #14
    Registered Member slicksta's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    1,047

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    Quote Originally Posted by bluelagoon View Post
    And look at that; it even has iodine in it. MMMM and some say use no iodine in your salt.
    What has iodine, the water conditioner?

  15. #15
    Registered Member
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Posts
    27
    Real Name
    Jon

    Default Re: Please help me to keep the rest of my fish alive after losing 2 of them

    I think this is the Sera product being referred to by the op. The link given brings you to the water conditioner though.


    Sera.JPG

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Cafepress