Tail of woe for my tanks :(

Well testing times at the moment for 2 of my tanks.
1 of the tanks is a 90 litre, internal filter consists of molly fry (six month plus but somewhat stunted growth I feel), female guppy & guppy fry (fry in breeding net),1 male & 2 female cherry barbs,3 bronze corys & 3 hong kong plecos,3 neons & 4 cardinals. Had bamboo shrimp and cherry red shrimp but have removed them from the tank at present.

Problem arose last week when I noticed whitespot afflicting my tank,the neons are the main ones to show symptoms,the other fish arent showing much signs,however I feel it is certainly whitespot disease. I lost a male molly during this period also. I removed the shrimp and treated the tank with white spot cure medicine. I could only dose at half the amounts due to my corys and plecos. Neither could I turn up the temp to 28c as the hong plecos would not cope.
Ive down the doseage as mentioned on the bottle and have seen no major improvement (white spot not as evident however still showing,the neons are also showing some slight fin rot. Ive done another water change tonight and intend to do 15% each night for the next 3 or 4 days.
Tank readings are all fine at the moment and I havent neglected tank changes recently or anything.


Now I have also gone about setting up a quarantine tank,I didnt have one set up all along but do have a tank should such a senario arise as indeed has happened! Now follow me here,Ill tell you what Im doing with the quarantine tank in a moment.


The second tank is a planted (no Co2 however) South American tank of 160 (or 180 litre,cant remember!). The sand has recently began to go green in patches,it is algae to the best of my knowledge,no big issue I thought until I saw fin rot on my angel fish. Again all tank readings are fine etc, Ive treated the tank with Melafix for past few days but no real improvement,to the best of my knowledge all the other fish in the tank are fine etc..
I did a large clean out tonight on the tank,ie. cleaned filter which was I admit quite dirty (Tetratec ex 700), also replaced filter floss as it was v dirty!
Again water readings are fine so Im stumped! I know that the symptoms of the above 2 tanks point to water issues,I havent introduced any new fish in recent weeks so cant figure out how it came about,I mean if I was asked by someone what was wrong I would say your water is the problem....not so in my case I feel as I do keep v clean tanks and have continued to do so. Anyhow Ive done a large enough 35% water change on this tank as well as the filter clean and hope it will improve the angel fish and eliminate the algae problem,Im also going to reduce my lights by an hour now that its brighter in the morning(not a problem I feel but will do it anyhow).

As for the first tank,well Ive had to set up a quarantine tank,Ive taken water from the South American tank and put it into the quarantine tank (remember only 1 angel showing signs of fin rot so I have no reason to suspect this water isnt ok),I have some unused gravel that Ive put into the quarantine tank, I cut some sponge from the external ex 700 and have placed it into my small filter for the quarantine tank (also placed a cut of the new sponge into the tetratec to seed for future need!). Ive the quarantine tank now set up and heat on etc...My plan is to remove the corys and hong kong plecos, then re-treat that tank for white spot and increase the temperature, I am also going to have to possibly check for worms as I have noticed some of the molly fry have long trails of poo on them (anyone any ideas on this).

So there you go, spend the last few hours doing the necessary changes,hopefully it will work. The fin rot I think will go itself with the tank now cleaner and filter etc,Ill keep up regular changes this week if I have to.(no fish in the tank would nip the angel either). The white spot is more of a concern for me and hopefully the quarantine will keep the corys and plecos happy while I treat the other fish.


Gavin

Ps: Sorry for length of my post. Anyone have any ideas or comments on the above then let me know what you reckon I should do.

Putting some rock salt may also help

Yes it sounds like water quality, but as you say it tested fine.
My second guess would be stress. May be you are adding cool water during water changes (very cold from tap this time of year). Having the heat in the house on so much it increases the temp in the tank. Fluctuating heat will stress the fish. May be the PH has changed coming from the mains resulting in a change in PH in the tank. The long trailing poo can also be stress related. Check the food is right for the fish. These are just guesses.
What treatment are you using?
Dose this white spot keep coming back?

The Algae can be delt with by stirring the sand and leaving the lights off for a week. If it returns try again, but if it keeps coming back you will have to find the source of the problem. Bad quality food, frozen food not toughed and the juices removed or the wrong dose/mix of plant fertz.

I would remove the gravel from the quarantine tank. Wipe the bottom and syphon dirt when changing the water.
I would also still treat the cory's and hong kong plec's with the 1/2 dose.

platty252 wrote:

May be the PH has changed coming from the mains resulting in a change in PH in the tank.

Have to say, I noticed this last week myself. Had a 200lt water tank heating up for my Rio 300 and before putting in treatment chemicals, I tested it. The PH was 8.2! My other tanks were 7.4 last week! I'm in north county Dublin. Not to sure where your from Gavin, but assuming you've not done so yet, test your tap water.

Hiya Gavin
Sorry to hear about your problems,I'd agree withe platty about the gravel and take it out of the QT,one less thing to keep an eye on in the tank,also makes it easier to keep the tank clean
Best of luck
Lar

Well the quarantine tank was only to keep hold of the plecos and corys,thought they may like a bit of gravel,I intend on either binning the gravel afterwards anyhow or alternatively will give it a good boiling.

Also its only a small scatter of gravel,so will be easy to clean nonetheless.While cleaning the tank out last night I also came across 5 guppy fry!! Have them in the breeding net now along with the other 7 or 8!!

Will test the PH of water,Im in Co.Cork so different to Dublin. I think it was fine last time I tested it but I guess it can change on a hourly basis dependant on the local water authority.
The temp change could be something interesting alright,I have noticed mine can go from 24 to 27 during the course of the day in one of the room. I try to keep an eye on it. As for water added during water changes,I add within a degree of the tank temperature so shouldnt be an issue on that front.
I'll also keep lights off on the South American tank this week.

Gavin

Gavin

Well Im still baffled as the Angels fins are still torn somewhat,but water surely isnt an issue considering my Golden Ram just spawned eggs with my German Blue Ram guarding over them now. So guess water quality is good after all,just hope the angel begins to pick up.
The algae is still returning on the sand,it actually clumps the sand together also ? Im leaving the lights out on the tank for the next 7 days in a bid to eliminate the problem. Hope it works out for me. The other tank has seen the white spot reduce significantly however I will wait for another few days before removing the Corys and hong kong plecos to the quarantine tank (I want to make sure it is cycled,even though I have seeded it etc,must test it later also).

Gavin