JK Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Guys and gals I need your help here.... I'm losing fish and cant seem get things back on the right track. The history of this problem can be seen on the link below so if you could refer to that it would be great http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/first- ... 28099.html Over the last 2 days I've done 30-40% water changes (have used combination of aged and tap water treated with aqua plus) and right throughout this problem all the checks are coming up ok but there are sick fish in there thats for sure. Latest tests today show ph at 7.0 which is a wee bit high but most likely due to all the water changes. Temp is 26-27deg, amonia, nitrate and nitrite all pretty much nil. All I have left are a handful of neons and 2 bristlenose. The Bristlenose are pretty much just chilling and not overly active at all. The neons while active appear a bit wonky. No one wants to eat so there hasnt been any feeding last few days. The gills look a bit inflamed on the neons and with the hatchets that died they had what appeared to be fin rot. Cloudy white tinges on the edge of the fins and the fins then pretty much shredded away. The tank is 105ltr with the over the top filter aqua plus style. Tank was set up in late Dec and seemed to have cycled well. The only thing I can pinpoint is that we have a robocan in the house but its not anywhere near the tank and the tank has a lid. My GUESS is that maybe the tank hasnt cycled properly and has some type of bacteria in its that is not good. Interested in your thoughts and a plan of attack for getting this thing back on track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faran Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 I have to ask - did you quarantine your fish before adding them to the tank? My Suggestion I've been through similar situations with unexplainable fish loss and if it's not the cycling then you have a bacterial infection. Treat with a strong antibacterial like Furan 2 and start cycling your tank again from scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Nope no quarantining before introducing the new fish. Only have one tank but maybe should look for another in order to get setup right going forward Just read this http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/so-how ... t1372.html Seems I may have spun the roulette wheel.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 There is no way I would want to live in a house being sprayed with insecticide every few minutes and the fish may not either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK Posted February 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 I have turned that off a few days ago to see if it makes any difference. If it makes any difference, the spray is the one with the natural petheryns and as stated earlier is in a totally different part of the house. But its high on my listed of suspected causes. The last neons are now dead and it just leaves the bristlenose. I think today I till do another large water change, treat with furan2 and then eventually start to cycle the tank again with the hope that the 2 bristlenose can get through it all. Does this sound sensible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 pyrethrum may be natural but it is not good for fish. Most insecticides also have other ingredients which may also be toxic. Botox is natural also and is one of the most toxic things known. I think what you suggest would be the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 I have 2 robocans 1 is about 5 meters from my discus tank (550L)and I have not had any probs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK Posted February 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Cheers Jim. Do you have a lid on your tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 it may not be your problem but a few years ago i had the same situation with a tank i was running we tried everything with no success, we eliminated every cause one by one until we were left with no reason for fish dying eventually i stripped the tank and changed the gravel and never had that problem again could only come to the conclusion it was the type of gravel we were using good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tHEcONCH Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Given that you are down to just a couple of fish, it might be time to do a complete stripdown/restart and run a little test at the same time. Buy some new filter pads, some filterstart / cycle / or similar, and age some water a day or two before (as much as you can reasonably store). Put the BNs in a bucket of old tank water and put it somewhere warmish for an hour whilst you completely empty your tank and filter. Wash everything (including filter) thouroughly with salty tap water (just use a handfull or two of common household salt), then take the tank outside and rinse it thoroughly. Once you are absolutely sure everything is rinsed, dry it off with a clean towel and reassemble the tank, heater and filter with new pads etc and fill with your new aged water plus a water ager if you have it. Don't put anything else in the tank (bare bottom) Toss in the filterstart and fish, and do normal waterchanges for a week or so (test for the usual signs of cycling - do a water change if anything gets too high). If everything seems OK after a week then you can probably conclude that whatever is killing your fish was in the tank and is now out; if not, then you know you have some sort of external contaminant. If all goes well then you can reintroduce gravel etc, although I'd strongly recommend you heat sterilise it (boiling water), and then new plants etc. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VinsonMassif Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Good luck on sorting things out. Here is an interesting article on Pyrethrins and fish. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/pyrethrins.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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