Please help!! URGENT!! dying fish :(

please help me, i am only 18 and new to all this fish keeping but i had a batik/zodiac loach, weather loach, and 2 goldfish. the other nite i noticed the batik loach had pink fins and the base of its dorsal fin was red, when i got up the next morning it was dead.

i did full water change but when i removed the weather loach and one of the goldfish i noticed they also had fins tinged pink!! i googled it all i could come up with were bacterial infections of parasites! the thing that swayed my decision to parasites were that when i was cleaning out the tank i noticed some stringy white transparent poo that is often associated with parasites so i went to pet shop and the gave me methylat blue of sumthing like that (turn whole water blue) i noticed at the surface of the water around the rim of the tank are small white stringy things stuck to the glass, could this be parasites dying? i really dont know what to look for as i've never experienced this before.

my weather loach was a bit chirpier today but none of my fish seem to be eating and the goldish is in a right state with a big red mark - sort of rash like - at the base of the dorsal fin and around the gills, white stuff has also started to grow ontop of this at the fin and gills and around some of its face!! i'm not sure if its fungus or excess mucous. the tank was trated with melafix a week or so ago for one of them had ripped there fin, this contains antifungal tea tree so i would not expect fungus to grow so soon. please someone help me i am terrified these fish die to as i love them to bits i spent the whole day crying yesterday just coz my batik loach died!!! the looks i got.

i also noticed when i removed his body that his gills looked filed with blood.. please please help me. i have foned aqarists and vet and nobody seems to help me. i dont want to take fish out down to the vet as this stress could be the final push that kills them!!!

oh i also added a little aqarium salt to help with the gills since these sem to be a target of the infection (usually around day 2) by about day 3 the fish seem to die so i need to act quickly

my nitrite is 0, nitrate is 0 ph is 7 not sure about ammonia conc. temp is 22degrees celcius( my room temp) is this too warm for the fish? if so how can i lower it? i like in lanarkshire scotland and our water here is really fairly soft no limescale on kettles etc etc. please someone help me. i have been to vet and everything, one laughed at me the other said they didnt really deal with fish. local aquarists say they need to see the fish but i cant take him there it will stress him far too much!!

PLEASE HELP ME!

 

To 3Reef!!!​

Sorry dude, can't help you either. :-[ That FW stuff is all a great mystery to me. Hopefully someone here will be able to help you. Would be much easier if you switched to SW.

The Tao of Marine Aquaria
Tips for Our Hobby and Life

© 1997 Adam H. Whitlock
Edited By Elizabeth M. Lukan 11/25/00




​

 

While I cannot offer you advise on how to solve your problem, I wanted to tell you that I am sorry for your loss. Some people don't understand that fish can be just as much of a loving pet to you as a dog or a cat. IMO, you've come to the right place, this is a great site that does include many people with FW knowledge and I'm sure that you'll be receiving lots of help. At the time of your post, many people were at work. Good luck!

Linda

 

thirteen-osmonds , can you post any photos of this problem you are having .
Is there anything dead in your tank?? and welcome by the way !!!

 

Hey dude, welcome to 3reef. Ok, so you're having some problems, let's see what we can do... first, have you treated your fish for ich? if you haven't, try that, if your fish have white tiny dots/spots on them, it's a sign of ich, very common desease in fresh water fish. Never under any circumstances do a full water change, you'll be killing all your bacteria. How often do you do water changes? and how much?You are supposed to do a 20% water change every two weeks, change carbon cartridges, vacum gravel and scrape glass/acrylic. Now that you have done the full water change, I suggest you buy some bacteria and add it to the tank, check for ammonia and if it's high, which I'm sure will be due to the full water change, plush fish waste, etc, I suggest you buy Ammonia Detox, or any other you might have in your area. Also google for "fungus" and "ich", do a comparison and act accordingly. Do not worry, your fish will survive if you give them the right medication. I think it's ich. But without pictures is hard to tell.

 

First thing I thought of was Ich or fungus also BUT bro get some pics up theres a bunch of really smart people here that can diagnose it as soon as they see it. WE NEED THOSE PICS!!

 

Treat the tank with a broad spectrum over the counter anti-parasitic.

helpful links Tropical Fish Centre - Fish Diseases

Freshwater Aquarium Medications

these are UK links since you are in Scotland, just thought it might be easier than trying to source medications through a US supplier.

 

I don't see any symptoms of ich or parasites, but I do see serious symptoms of oxygen deprivation and bacteria infection which often go hand in hand.

If you don't have enough surface action then you don't have enough oxygen in the water and harmful bacteria will soon become a problem.

If you have a lid on your tank remove it asap.

Also, you should be getting a reading for nitrates; this tells me your tank is not completely cycled. If you can; get a water pump that sits on the bottom of the tank; this will increase the supply of beneficial bacteria in your tank and the pump will also deliver much needed surface action. Unfortunately, medications often push fish farther away from good health. This might surprise some of you huh? If I were you; I'd be performing daily water changes of 20% for the next few weeks. This will improve your water quality until you get that water pump. They come in all sizes.

After 2 weeks of water changes you should salt your tank. This will take care of the bacteria and help heal the fish.
Salt: use aquarium salt or sea salt or pure Morton's rock salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon per 10 gallon (do not use if your goldfish has raised scales)
Epsom salts: 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons
Baking soda: 1/4 teaspoon per 10 gallons (do not use if your pH is high)
MelaFix: 1/2 teaspoon per 10 gallons

Dissolve salt by grinding up in blender; premix in hot water and then premix in fresh water tub.

The salts will be removed gradually as regular partial water changes are performed; allow tank temperatures to remain normal.

Never mix salt and medications

 

Sounds like ammonia Poison. Check your ammonia. What size tank is it? Depending on the size of the goldfish they need 5-10 gallons per goldfish as they are waste machines. Ammonia burns up their gills which will cause them to breathe rapidly at the top. It also causes them to bleed internally which causes the red streaks. If they are pooping white stringy stuff that is the first indication of an internal parasite, not an external parasite. Only thing I have found that works for that is Pure Metronidazole. They make medicated flakes, but if the fish is not eating it is almost impossible to get the medicine in their body. Unlike saltwater fish, freshwater fish do not drink water, so alot of the times just putting medicine in the water will not get into their body. I soak food in a metro liquid when I import freshwater rays, so when they eat they ingest the meds and flush their system out.

If you have ammonia in your tank and you use ammonia detox, prime, etc... DO NOT put salt into the tank. Reason being ammonia is made of hydrogen & nitrogen. When they are bound together NH3 they are harmful to fish. AD, Prime, etc.. seperate the molocules two into plain Nitrogen and Hydrogen when is non toxic to fish when they are not bound together. Salt makes the seperated molecules re bind making the ammonia toxic to fish again.