terry100

Thanks so much for your reply. The patchiness I talked about is discolouration. My ammonia and nitrites are 0, the nitrates are lowering (now at 25) with the frequent changes. I added two new dalmation mollies to the tank about two months ago and plants around the same time. My original sick fish ended up lying on his side on the bottom of the tank in a bent position on Sunday so I thought he was near his end. I put him into a fry net (still in the main tank) so I could observe him and to stop the others bullying him. Yesterday, he actually righted himself and ate a little, and today he was swimming the right way up a little bit around the net - still a far way from being healthy but I thought it very strange for him to recover in any way at all! I have been doing frequent water changes, and I also added aquarium salt to the water, (did half rate because of the tetras) My other sick platy is getting more lethargic and wobbly, so I have moved them both to a quarantine tank today - I had fry in there so it was catch 22 as to whether I move the fry to my possibly infected main tank, but then I thought it was probably best to remove the two sick ones out in the hope that it is not the dreaded fish tb and thus prevent the rest becoming infected. I see one more of my platies though has developed black eyes and a rosy tetra is swimming tail down and not looking the best. The links you provided were very helpful, I have bookmarked the diagnostic link for future use and have ordered full length gloves today also. Thanks again for your help, I will see how things go.

Just a quick update that one of my sick fish is also losing his discolouration, has patchiness going on his body and they are now both hiding in the tank. They also do look a bit skinny and I have noticed that another platy also has black eyes but no other symptons yet. I am worried it is fish tuberculosis?

Hi, hope someone can help me. I have noticed two of my platies are swimming slowly and a bit wobbly and their eyes have turned black. Also, one looks like it has a slight indent on the top of his head. They are still eating ok. Water parameters are OK except the nitrates which are high at 50. What can this be a sign of and any suggestions of what I can do would be gratefully received. All other fish appear ok. The tank is 215 litres and I have a mix of platies, mollies, and tetras. Thanks

Hi, I usually do a 25-30% water change every 10 days or so in both my small and main tank. The fish that died this morning looked like it had a white lump above one of its eyes.

Hi, I have a 20 litre aquarium that I use for my fry - Platys and Mollies, until they are big enough to go in my main aquarium. Lately the fry have been dying (various ages) and I cannot always find them and I do not know why they are dying. Sometimes they look lethargic and are dead the next day, otherwise they are completely normal and when I turn on the lights in the morning one will be lying dead on the gravel. I have tested the water and the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are fine. A couple of days ago I did a 50% water change and a thorough gravel clean (I don't do the gravel suction clean as often as I should since usually the fry get sucked up) but this time I noticed a tiny white wriggly worm in the bucket afterwards. Is this the cause of my problems? I can't see any more, but over the last two days two more babys have died. I managed to get a video of the worm, but unfortunately it is too large to upload so I cant do that. I have lost over 15 fry in the last two weeks. I am wondering if I should move the remaining seven babys to my main aquarium in a fry net that I have, but I am worried that I may cause an infection in my main aquarium. Can anyone help with what could be happening and my options? Thanks

Hi, I just tested our tap water (we live rurally so our water is sourced from a spring), the reading came back as 10-20. What nitrate testing kit would you recommend? Thanks

Hi, I have an Aqua One AR980 215 litre tank that has been running since the end of December 2014. I am now experiencing high nitrate levels. I use an API freshwater master test kit, which is giving readings between 40-80, I find it hard to tell the difference between the two colours. The levels began rising back in April. My current reading is Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 40-80 In the tank is: 1 platy approx 25 platy fry of assorted ages 9 neon tetras 2 bristlenose plecos 1 zebra loach 7 live plants I do weekly water changes of 25%. I always add Cycle and used to use Nutrafin Aqua + as well but have recently swapped the Aqua + to using Prime (in an attempt to reduce the nitrates). I also purchased a nitrate filter pad about a month ago but so far nothing seems to be helping reduce the level. The temp sits around 26-27 degrees. Also have a UV purifier that runs 24 hours a day and an additional airstone that runs 24 hours. I feed once a day, a mixture of dry flake food and sinking pellets, with frozen shrimp/blood worms as treats twice a week. I feed enough food that gets consumed within a minute. I do use spirulina sinking tablets for the plecos but only give one tablet every second day. A couple of weeks ago I lost an adult platy and now have a sick tetra (erratic swimming and darting yesterday, today alive but floating). Could these be due to the high nitrate levels and does anyone have any ideas on how to reduce them. I was thinking of trying a Nitra Zorb pouch next? Thanks

Hi, sorry to hard to see in a photo. Thanks anyway.

Thanks for getting back to me. I am new at this so all info is greatly appreciated! The UV purifier has been in the tank for two months now as we purchased it when we had algae problems in the first month. I will increase the temperature and salt and see how I get on.

Hi, hopefully someone can help me. I have a 215 litre tank that has been running for 12 weeks now. I have a suspected outbreak of whitespot going on. In the tank I have: 2 platys 20 platy fry of assorted ages 10 neon tetras 2 bristlenose plecos The tank is planted and also has an additional air stone and a UV purifier. The air stone is turned off at night due to the extra noise. The lights are on 8 hours a day. We added 5 of the tetras about a week ago along with the bristlenose plecos. Since the new tetras were added I have noticed a bit of aggression going on amongst them, (our original tetras have always been peaceful), also some of the older platy fry have been chasing each other which they never used to do. Now I have seen one of the older platys flashing and some of the smaller fry doing the same thing. They also have visible white spots appearing on their fins if you look closely. I have added 5 tablespoons of tonic salt (I only did half the recommended dose due to the bristlenoses and tetras being sensitive) and raised the temperature to 27 degrees. I also treated the tank yesterday with Wunder Tonic at half dose (once again due to the bristlenoses and also the fry). Did I do the right thing by only dosing at half the rate, or could I just be making the whitespot resistant? (I did remove the carbon cartridge). I checked my water using the API freshwater master test kit and the results were: ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20 I do 25% weekly water changes and always add Nutrafin Cycle and Aqua Plus when changing the water. At the last change a few days ago I actually forgot I had unplugged the heater prior to doing the change so it was off for about 2-3 hours before I remembered. In that time the temperature had dropped to 23 degrees. Could this have contributed to the whitespot outbreak? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks