All our fish dying! Why??

[benanddebbie]

Hi hopefully someone can help us with a perplexing problem. WE have three tanks running in two separate rooms at either sides of the house.

We have a standard 2 foot has a couple of juvies in to be fed and bulked up. In the same room we have a 4x2x2 community tank with angels etc in. In another room we have a 6x2x2 community tank with discus in.

About 10 days ago a blue ram died from our 6 foot. WE initally thought that the two rams who had been fighting obviously fought to the death.

That night I dosed the 4 foot and 6 foot with flourish iron and since then we have lost fish out of both tanks. Every day it is wake up and see what is dead.

[NOT SAYING IT IS THE IRON JUST NOTING THAT WAS THE LAST THING DIFFERENT WE DID]

All in all we have lost all our Bristle noses, siamensis (SP?), we have lost tiger barbs, guarami, rummy noses, cardinals, 2 adult discus and black ghost knife fish.

Our tanks run at - Ph 7.2 and temp 30 (using tap water) with UV.

Our nitrite, ammonia levels are low. Our phosphate leels are high and always have been. Still trying to work out where they are coming from. But combat this with frequent water changes.

In the 6 foot tank We have just done a 50 % water change with RO water and are currently doing a 75 % water change again with RO water. Hoping to bring down ph and KH.

The discus are extremly shy hiding as much as possible and fish in all tanks are off their food.

The fish that have died are out of the 4 foot and 6 foot tank. None have died out of the 2 foot but they do not look very healthy.

Today we noticed white horn looking things on the discus. Not sure if this is realted to the death of the other fish or not. Can any one make any suggestions?

[the german]

hole in the head diseas...
most times caused by hexamita,use metro so fast as you can,you find the\dosage in one of the stickies...


michael

[ILLUSN]

looks like more then just hole in the head, looks like a bacterial infection as well, whats your stocking level? how oong have the fish been sick, how old is your ro unit?

[ILLUSN]

sorry just re read your post, you were using tap water previously and have since switched to RO? At what dose did you condition water? I've been having trouble with anything less then a triople dose of "flora gro +" or a double dose of "prime" with SYD tap water. if all your tanks are afected I assume its your water quality. the RO changes should help try adding salt as well a low dose ( bout 1 tsp/4L) if you have plants and a higher (1 tbl spoon/4L) if you dont. salt will work well with metro.

[benanddebbie]

We currently have 6 adult discus in the 6 foot and a few serpae tetras (all the other schooling fish and algae eaters etc have died).

In the 4 foot we have three angels and a few phantom tetras (again all the schooling fish, algae eaters have died).

The schooling fish, BN and siamensis have died slwowly over the days. It has sort of been a case of wake up and see what has died and then fish them out of the tank. The died with no obviuos problem. Swimming around happily one day and then dead the next - no fungal infections, no fin rott or anything obvious.

We have lost two discus again with nothing obvious to note. The other discus have been a little shya nd off their food but other than that seem to be fine. Yesterday we noticed they were dark and not their normal colours and noticed the "white horn" things.

[benanddebbie]

Yes we have been using tap water and Ro water in our water changes. We use Prime at every water change. Our last water changes we are using straight RO water.

WE regularly test tap, Ro and tank water for ph, kh, po4, no2, no3, cl.

Our tanks are planted and have recently checked for iron since we bought the flourish iron.

Our family of 6 only drink our Ro water. So the Ro unit gets serviced regularly.

[ILLUSN]

Keep up the changes and get on the metro, something is tressing the fish and allowing infection to get in, cardinals, rams and rummy noses are good indicater fish when they start dieing something is wrong with water quality, siemensis and BN like high oxygen, it's interesting that they went next, do you run high CO2 or do you have air stones in your tanks

[benanddebbie]

No we do not run CO2 (although hubby would love to). We do have airstones in tank at the moment, probably for the last two weeks.

Another Adult discus has died.

Will have to ring Fish shop and see if they can send some metro out.

[ILLUSN]

Pet shops wont have it you'll need a vet or an understanding pharmacist

[benanddebbie]

we have been keeping discus for 8 years now and never needed to medicate so haven't got any meds.

Can't get it from pet shops - So I have just found out.

Vet is not in town till next week I don't think. Guess I will try the pharmacist. But guessing that will be highly unlikely in a country town.

Just cross fingers and hope.

Thanks for your help anyway[/quote]

[samir]

those white things look like anchor worms you have to pluck them out with tweezers. HITH will not instantly kill your discus it starts off as tiny pin size holes and takes some time to develop, you will notice it well before it starts killing your discus.
you said there were ammonia readings, i believe that may be the cause of the fish being shy and off food. try lowering the ph to about 6 by using phosphoric or hydrochloric acid and filter the tank with activated charcoal. If the fish perk up after charcoal filtration and low ph its probably a water issue or ammonia.
not sure if metro is necessary, how about some more pictures of the tank. you probably need to ask someone with more experience like Merrilyn on what course of action to take.

[benanddebbie]

Done another water change with RO water in the the 6 foot (the one with the discus) and dosed with salt.

I have just run a series of tests on the 6 foot and the results are:

Ph - 6.8
Kh - 2
PO4 - 5 ppm
Cl - 0.05ppm
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20 ppm

In the 4 foot (the angel community) there has been another caualty. The final tiger barb and the silver shark.

[Merrilyn]

I've replied to your PM Debbie.

You should be able to get tetracycline from your local aquarium shop, but I'm also thinking it could have been aided by combination of the ferts you added along with your high phosphate levels. I'm not sure. I'm certainly not a chemist but something just doesn't feel right. Would I be right in assuming that this is the first time you've added iron to the tanks.

If possible, empty out one of the tanks of everything, gravel, plants and especially water. Fill the tank with just RO water and tap water, your usual mix, add the medication and then add all the surviving fish.

Use this as your hospital tank and keep the fish in there till we get on top of this problem.

There's no easy fix to this one, so unfortunately it's going to mean a teardown of your established tanks, but I think it will be the only solution.

[benanddebbie]

Merrilyn, thanks for the post and the pm.

We have the 2 foot tank with the juvies in that is the easiest to strip back. It has a sponge filter in it.

If we put the all the adult discus (6 remaining) in with the juvies (7) is this enough space for that many fish. We can do daily water changes on the tank easily. Or is the 4 or 6 foot a better option.

Our local fishshop is an hour and half away in the next major centre. Will ring them tomorrow and see if they have any tetra....

Red turk is now white and flat on the bottom of the tank. Still breathing hard though.

[Merrilyn]

I think they'd be better in the four foot, if you can manage it.

[benanddebbie]

The red turk didn't make it through the night.

[benanddebbie]

HI just an update

Out of all the tanks we are down to 3 angels, 6 serpae and black phantom tetras and 1 adult discus. The discus is not well and don't expect to see him through the night.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

The next question is what should we do with the tanks. Do we drain and strerilize the tanks. If so wha does that entail? Bleach?? Never had anything like this before so would love some more advice.

[Merrilyn]

Oh gee, that's really sad news.

Did the parcel I sent help at all?

Unfortunately yes, you'll have to tear down the tanks and sterilize everything with bleach and a few days out in the sun. Move all the survivors to the two foot tank, and don't be tempted to mix them with any new fish you may get.

You'll have to start cycling the tanks all over again, and this time I'd be using pure RO water and just adding the adjusting salts. No tap water at all.

Does the RO unit remove the phosphates from the water. I know it doesn't remove nitrate, but wondering if it can remove phosphates.

Don't give up. A lot of us have experienced wipe outs, and while it's tough, you just seem to manage to pick yourself up after a couple of months and start again.

[benanddebbie]

Thanks for the advice.

HAve sent you a PM merrilyn. The remaining discus is still alive unbelievably but his eyes are so puffed up and out now he looks like one of those goldfish with the googly eyes. Not sure how long he will survive.

Thanks again for your help and hopefully we will be back up on our feet.

May even set the 4 foot up as marine....??