AboutChris Robbins Expertise I have 25+ years of personal experience as a pet
store employee and manager in the family pet store
business. The main part of our business was
Freshwater Fish. I can answer questions on; Fish care, diseases,
parasites and fish identification, feeding your
fish, breeding and sexing your fish, setting up
your aquarium, cleaning your aquarium, and
"what`s this weird stuff in my tank/on my
fish" questions. I am not an African Cichlid expert, Plant expert or Brackish Expert. No Pond or Saltwater Questions Please.
Experience I worked in and managed my family's fish and pet and fish store for 26 years and maintained the 35 aquariums. My experience also has included occasional in-home consultation and aquarium maintenance for my clients.
Expert: Chris Robbins Date: 3/12/2008 Subject: Dying tropical fish
Question I have rescued 2 tanks from an elderly man who could no longer cope with them. I do not know a lot about tropical fish but am learning and am enjoying keeping them apart from the fact i keep finding dead fish.
The tank contained variety of platties (16 varyied in age...about 8 very small babies). I bought 6 Mollies and an Ancistrus pleco.
I noticed a white spotty pattern on one of the mollies tails and didnt realise it was white spot for a few days as i am new t fish! I bought eSHa EXIT anti white spot treatment. I do not think the fish like this as i lost about 5 fish when i started the treatment. The Mollie with white spot cleared up. Ever since i have lost about a fish a week the new mollies being the first to die. The last 2 fish seemed to lose the ability to swim, became slightly bent and when they died were very bent on the tank floor. The one that i found today has gone from being orange to pure white. I went ot a fish shop at the weekend and they told me to move my filter from centre to corner for water to circulate which i have done. Said most important level to check was nitrate so bough a kit and tested and it was at 0. I have been doing weekly water changes with treated water of about 10% is this right. I am at a loss...the man who kept this tank had no problems!! All he did was top water levels up with untreated tap water...it was filthy dirty and he did not check any levels!! WHat have i done to these fish :-(
I have noticed a few others tonight that are swimming about but they look to be struggling. Like their tail is not able to give them direction! One keeps giving up and sitting on bottom. Please help
Answer Hi Bonnie;
The white-spot parasite may be responsible for the deaths and not actually the medicine itself. The white spots are where the parasites are embedded in the skin of the fish. They are protected while still in the spots so they have to progress to the "free-swimming stage" before the medicine can kill them. Unfortunately, this means some fish can still die in spite of treatment if it was an advanced case. Even fish that don't look infected can have it in their gills and it kills them before you even knew. Sad but true.
Your tanks may also be experiencing a "break-in period" too depending on how much of the tank's beneficial bacteria colonies are still intact after being moved from their former owner's house. After moving tanks to a new location they sometimes need to re-establish biological balance and it can take 4 to 6 weeks for that to happen. Normally, a once a week change of 25% is enough but during break-in the tank may need it more often, sometimes daily. This is because waste toxins build up during break-in and cause stress to the fish which can lead to illness and death. You will need two more test kits to detect these toxins. Test for ammonia and nitrite. Their levels will tell you when you need to make more water changes. In an established balanced tank ammonia and nitrite are always "zero" because the bacteria colonies are mature enough to consume them completely. During break-in however, they can get pretty high and partial changes as needed can lower them enough to help the fish survive it and yet allow the process to continue. Nitrate is much less toxic than those other two and is okay at up to 40 ppm. It is the 'end result' of the process of the beneficial bacteria processing waste. Nitrate is removed by your weekly water changes. Since nitrate appears to be "zero" right now it tells us things aren't balanced quite yet. Here is a link to my page about the break-in period to help you know more about it;
There are some tanks out there that their owners just add a little water for evaporation 'once in a blue moon' and the fish seem to do okay. They usually don't though. It is best to give your fish tank a weekly water change of 25% and vacuum the gravel at the same time. It helps them grow and thrive and have healthy immune systems.
I hope things get better very soon for you and your fish...
