An unfortunate casualty today. one of my gold rams had been unhappy for a few days and couldnt seem to properly open its tail fins (probably not the technical way to describe it) the colours and gils were fine and it was eating normally and not being bothered by the other fish. I suppose thats what i get for trying to save it (it was slightly abnormal the day i brought it home) maybe it was some kind of paralyzing condition? Any thoughts or theories welcome.
I also believe the other gold ram has started exhibiting signs of ich (2 small white spots on the top fin) which i will add treatment for tomorrow. Can anyone suggest a good brand of treatment?
Totally my own fault for not setting up a quarantine tank and buying them from a certain not so nice large chain store (I wont say which but you can guess)...
You know, i bet after buying it from Petco, they probably hadn't taken good care of it to begin with, so i'm sure you gave it a better life in your tank, and it was too hard for it to recover... which explains why your other fish has ich now.. they were probably pretty weak to begin with.
To help with ick there are a few meds you can buy and i believe raising the temp helps speed it along. You will have to remove any carbon for the meds to work in your tank properly. Quarantine would be best, but if not, the meds shouldnt affect your other fish... hopefully they don't get infected so treat asap. Sorry for your loss.
Maybe everyone else can chime in as to specific cause of death... but give us some more info on how long you been cycled, water parameters, what other fish you have in there, anything you think will help us.
seems like it may have been a stress related issue, and if you bought it from petco or pet smart or any of those chains it's most likely part of the issue, to cure ick you can get any type of med that treats it. you will need to turn your lights off and remove all carbon filtration, make sure to bring the temp of your tank up slowly from i am guessing around 76 degrees, to 80degrees, lights out for 48 hours as ich comes out when the lights are on. the temp allows the fish to absorb the meds better also allows the chemical treatment to be evenly distributed through the water, another benefit of this is that the chemical will get down into your substrate killing the ich parasite. make sure to follow dosing instructions carefully. all ich treatments are of a formaldehyde base, so anything you don't want to be stained blue remove from the tank, your air tubing if it's clear will adopt a blueish hue and any plastic ornaments will turn color as well, all fake plants should come out. and watch carefully for the next 48 hours, use a decent led flashlight to view your fish to make sure they are cured before discontinuing treatment. ich will look like salt spots on the fins and then it will move to the body of the fish, if they sparkle like they have been sprinkled with salt when you put the flashlight on them continue treatment if they don't have those spots left over still continue treatment for the full 48 hours to rid your tank of the parasite.
oh and if you did hoping you didn't, never ever ever ever buy fish from wal-mart!!! their tanks are the worst!!!! lol
hope the first post helps
Brandon
You need to make sure to continue treatment even when you don't see the spots any more. In fact, while you can see the spots, the chemicals you put in the tank will not harm the parasite at all as it is protected by the mucus on the fish. Once it is done feeding on the fish, it will drop to the bottom of your tank. It is during this stage of its life that it is vulnerable. Once it hits the bottom it will create many more parasites and then they will head off to find fish hosts and the cycle starts all over again. With each cycle, the problem becomes worse because more and more parasites are coming into your aquarium. You must leave the medication in the tank for the entire time it says (I think the minimum is 3 days AFTER you see the spots disappear) because you have to get it when it is free swimming. This is very important. Good luck.
As for the death of your fish - it is more than likely a result of buying it at the large stores. I never buy anything at those stores for this very reason. The fish you bought probably also introduced the ich. I would suggest finding a nice local fish store or buying online if that is not an option.
I can proudly say I purchased the last Dwarf Puffer from the last stockpile to go through the doors of Petsmart, he was the only one of a shipment of 25 that survived. Petsmart no longer carries DP's. Wonder why. Maybe because they expected them to feed on "vacation stones".
As for the cause and treatment of your fish, I'm sorry I can't be much help. :(
I had the water analysis done today and here are the specifics.
Ammonia: 0 mg/L
Nitrite: .5 mg/L
Nitrate: 20 mg/L
pH: 6.8
Alkalinity: 80 mg/L
Hardness: 150 mg/L
Chlorine and Chloramine: 0
I was told these are all alright except for the Alkalinity but that it being low isnt a huge deal.
Before I take further action on treating the possible ich case I want to run it by you guys. I'v got aquarium salt that says use 1 level table spoon for every 5 gallons then grandually increase the water temperature to about 81.5 degrees. Then maintain for 24 - 36 hours. so for 35 gallons I should use 7 table spoons, slowly raise the temp then leave it for 36 hours. should i feed at all during this time? Im just so afraid something will go wrong.
to be honest i would buy some (rid ick) it's a cheap and very effective way to treat the ick parasite yes you will need to raise the temp gradually i wouldn't feed during treatment fish can actually survive a very long time with out eating, i feel that adding food is adding another unknown equation during treatment periods, so when treating fish in my quarantine tank i do not feed, this is personal preference nothing more really unless something is said on the bottle that the medicine comes in. follow the instructions to the letter and you will be fine, as for the salt, i am not sure what you have in the tank and if salt would be the best solution to the problem at hand. someone on here who has more experience than myself may better be able to advise you in this area. i used cichlid salts in my tank when i had it set up for africans. but this was just part of my normal routine in keeping the tank. after every large water change i would add about half the recommended dosage, salt does not evaporate. so gradually the salinity of the water will build up, this mind you is over time. i hope some of this can help.
Brandon
I wouldn't really call those water parameters ok unless you are cycling. You should never see any nitrites in a cycled tank so the fact that you have some is worrisome. Also, your nitrates are beginning to get toxic. Once they get above 20 ppm they become toxic and at 40 ppm you will start losing fish. I guess the bump in nitrates and nitrites could be from the dead fish if they sat in there a while, but I would still do a water change to get these readings down.
I have used the salt/heat method to cure ich before. It worked fine for me, but I don't want to tell you that and then have your whole tank die. I would feel bad. I guess do whichever you feel more comfortable with. I am guessing the medication would be a more sure-fire way to rid the tank of the parasite, but the salt/heat method works as well. I raised my temp higher than 81 though. I think it was around 83-84. Let me go look at my notes and then I will write back.
Thankyou all so much for the help. The bump in nitrates and nitrites probably is from the dead fish and i may have over-fed in the last few days. would it be ok to do another 10% water change before doing the salt stuff? I will wait to do anything until further instruction. Thankyou all again, all of your help is greately appreciated. :D
alright. fingers crossed hope everything works out. 25% water change then slowly added water with the added salt while observing the fish for any signs of stress. so far so good. the temerature is very very slowly climbing to 83 degrees. amazingly after that water change everything is already clearer AND i found what was probably contributing to the nitrates/nitrites whichever...some LOVELY mucousy slimey THING stuck to the bottom of the drift wood. that disgusting thing is gone now. :D
Ok, so I found my notes on the treatment. Raising the temp to 83 will not help you. The parasite lives to 85 degrees. Therefore, you need to at least get it to 86. You need to keep it there for 8-10 days. I would go all 10 just to be sure. Also, I used 3 tablespoons of salt per 5 gallons. Now I was treating ich with cichlids. You need to make sure your specific fish can tolerate that temp and that amount of salt. If they cannot then just do the medication thing.
Also, with that high of temp, you will be reducing the oxygen content in the water severely. Therefore, go out and buy several pumps, airline hose, and bubbling devices to use during this period of time.
There are some variants of the parasite that can live up above 85 degrees and that can live with salt so the method is not fool proof.
alrighty then. ich medication treatment sounds like it might be easier in my case. however im still unsure that it actually is ich. i'll feel really silly if i go to all this trouble than it actually isnt. better safe than sorry though i guess.
