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I have three tanks( see profile below.) two are doing well and one is a nightmare.

now in the thirty five practically everything is dying or has died. half the zebra danios the Rainbow shark,two angel fish, neons, sliver tips. these deaths have ocurred over a period of months, with about three different attempts at stocking. i stress this has taken a long time.

this tanks seems to have some kind of bacterial disease - this is my theory. i do test the water and it is cycled. the tank itself has been set up for just over a year, the problems started when i inherited some fish from a friend in janury - they were pretty much in a mess, neons probably had neon tetra disease and died off over a month or so. the sliver tips died in the same way at the same time.

the angel fish(about six weeks later)had a balance problem and the rainbow shark got a "bloody nose" and died after a day. the danios just disappeared.

it maybe a pH problem - it reads as between 8 and 9?!?!

i have tried two different shops, so it might not be a supply problem(except i do think it came from my friend's tank so that supply might be the problem)

plus which my livebearers tank is not having the same problems. one male guppy died(fighting) and one female (giving birth)

I have loads of babies and basically am wondering if i can risk putting them in the 35G. i don't want to buy more fish only to have them die or introduce new diseases, equally i don't want to kill my babies but my babies seem to do VERY well. my molly fry(all grown up now)survived in that 35 G despite everyone else dying(the neons). and the fry tank is thriving.

so after all that these are my questions

do you think fry born in "your system" survive better against diseases?

can anyone identifiy the disease and possible treatment? i am reluctant to use meds i have never found anything that works,

in the 25 i have salt(mainly live bearers) do you think that makes a difference?

thank you for you help and patience

GFG



_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

Once Neon Tetra Disease occurs in your tank, it remains...

Spores are produced by sick fish, eaten by other species and the beat goes on.

Some species will not contract the disease no matter how many spores are eaten with fish food, probably a natural immunity to the spores.

The tank must be broken down and all equipment and contents soaked in a 50-50 Clorox and water mix.

The tank is wiped out with the same solution, rinsed and left empty for two days.

This is a fine example for all hobbyists to experience what I've been talking about in past posts. This disease is relentless and will wipe out the whole tank unless immediate action is taken.

All fish that were exposed must be destroyed. There's a distinct possibility that the unaffected fish may be carriers of the disease.

--garyroland.

i would tear your tank down and clean it.

Make sure it says dry for a few days, then cycle it again with dianos or white clouds.

oh dear. i can just about cope with cleaning and redoing the tank - it looks a MESS any way.

but i have to kill the danios sliver tips and the rather big pleco ? is that right Gary? is that what you meant? they were in the tank at the time of the last outbreak.

thanks for you help, even if it is n't how i saw myself spending this week end

what's clorox by the way is it a bleach?

thanks agin
GFG

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

I forgot that "Clorox" a brand name for household bleach, is not known everywhere...

But, let's look at this way: You go to the trouble to tear down the tank, clean everything, reassemble and place the same fish back in the tank that were unaffected by the disease.

Now, if they were not carriers of the disease you have it made. If they were carriers and are producing disease spores that new fish will eat with their fish food and become sick, you have a problem.

If you have the room, you can isolate them for a month to make sure they're healthy then place them back in the host tank.

If you experience any deaths with these fish while isolated they will have to be destroyed.

--garyroland.



[span class="edited"][Edited by garyroland 2004-08-19 21:54][/span]

Right i did it , i took the tank apart chucked plants(sniff) sand, rocks,wood, and filter media.

in buckets of water and bleach i put the resin caves, plastic plants, and my filters(fluval 4 and 2)

I brought new filter sponges, new sand and rocks and some plants. i have washed everything soaked and rinsed everything. i am knackered and my hands look like prunes.

i used double the amount of dechlor in the rinsing and soaking.

it was really hard to clean the actual tank, i think i did a good job, but i HATE sand and it is every where.

i am going to set up the tank again on tuesday.

The fish are currently in a plastic bin type thing, with heater and air stone. i will test the water etc. the pleco looks miserable - is very stressed and lost his colour.

i don't know what to do with them. i don't have the guts to kill them. i can't give them away cos they might be diseased. The other fish (sliver tips and danios) look ok and maybe the pleco is just stressed.

maybe i could plant the tank and not have the fish as the centre piece?

thanks for all you advice

GFG

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

Keep them in quarantine for a bit as Gary suggested to see how they do. Hang in there buddy, I know you're stressin.. Good luck !

[span class="edited"][Edited by DaFishMan 2004-08-22 17:00][/span]

The Amazon Nut...

Ten gallon tanks here in the States are very reasonable...

They make a good temporary hospital tank.

I'm sure your efforts will be rewarded, prune hands and all.

Be advised not to reintroduce sand as a substrate because of the difficulty in handling. A good pebble gravel would be fine.

--garyroland.

2-3 mm pea gravel is a good start if you'll be adding plants

The Amazon Nut...

i ve kind of already got the sand and set up the tank yesterday. it looks good

i moved one of the filters from my 25G to the 35G and put my four guppies in. they look a bit lost. (my LFS had endlers and i have wanted them for AGES so i moved the guppies and put the endlers in the 25. )

if all goes well with the testing i will add some of the bigger babies next sunday .

the original fish are still in the bin thing. they look pretty good pleco has calmed down. don't really know what to do with them.

any how right now i need sleep

thank you so much for all you help, especially Gary

GFG

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone