Nothing but trouble. Help please!

I upgraded my tank about two months ago and things have been awful since. First, I got incredibly cloudy water. I quickly discovered (thanks to 3reef) that this was directly caused by the way I carried about the switch. The water cleared up and looked good for a month. No fatalities and everyone seemed happy.

I decided that things seemed stable enough to add another fish so I got a gourami. Immediately, things started going downhill again. The gourami was sluggish within the first 24 hours and within the next 2 days, two of my platys weren't looking so good either. I revisited the LFS to ask for suggestions, only to find out that the tank I'd purchased my gourami from was very sick. All acting the same: hanging out near the bottom of the tank, swimming vertically, clamped fins, etc. No physical signs of disease. I treated for four days with paragaurd, upped the temp, added salt and not only saw no improvements in the gourami or platys, but also lost the gourami. Yesterday, I lost a guppy and today, my water turned slightly cloudy. The sickest of all is my baby platy. Clamped up, thin, and I recently discovered a very small black spot below his eye.

I've got a 30 gal tank. At present, I've only got the dip sticks for water testing and all appears to be in the generally accepted ranges.

 

I should also add that they seem to be rubbing against things in the tank. Everything seems to be pointing to parasites yet the paraguard did absolutely nothing.

 

you need to do some water changes
first off do a 50% followed by some smaller water changes
not sure what paragaurd treats
you need a parasite or bacterial med (possibly fungal probably not (black spot?))

 

Hey, thanks for your reply.

Wow. Can I ask why such a big water change? How frequently should I do the smaller ones?

This is paraguard: Aquarium Fish Medications: ParaGuard

 

cause it will hopefully remove 50% of the problem

the smaller ones i dont know like 1 a day?

that looks like it should be an ok med never used it myself though

 

Hmm, OK, I'll give it a shot tonight. Do you have a recommendation for a parasite treatment that I can look for tomorrow?

 

not really sorry i just have meds for bacteria and fungal infections
i think your paragaurd should work fine though