Regular Member soky Posted August 10, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 10, 2008 [*]Test Results for the Following: Ammonia Level? 0ppm Nitrite Level? 25ppm Nitrate level? 5ppm Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)? 7.4 Ph Level (KH/GH) out of the Tap? 7.0 Brand of test-kit used? (strips or drops?) API drops [*]Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 9 gal, about 2 months [*]What is the name and size of the filter/s? Aquaclear 20 [*]How often do you change the water and how much? every few days, about 1/2 [*]How many fish in the tank and their size? 1 1" fish [*]What kind of water additives or conditioners? crushed coral, Amquel+ [*]Any medications added to the tank? .3% salt, prazi, melafix [*]Add any new fish to the tank?no [*]What do you feed your fish? metromeds [*]Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt", bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? fins totally clamped, had dropsy about a week ago, had white fuzzy stuff on him a few days ago (fungus, I think) [*]Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating,ect..? bottom sitting, weak enough to get stuck to the filter I'm totally stuck. This is the second fish to have the same problem. Happy and healthy, then starts to bottom sit, then the fins clamp more and more and he bottoms sits more often. Eventually, the fish so weak he gets stuck to the filter intake. He even looks like he's starting to curve his spine to the side like Ace. The cycle had a mild crash (after recycling itself) after the last water change, but it never got over 25 ppm. I don't know what to do. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest katie.P Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 is it stress? im a newbie but i no that fin clamping is a sign of stress, anything been changed resently? oh and the white fuzzy stuff is probable fungus?! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member newbiefishgirl Posted August 10, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 10, 2008 Welcome to Kokos! This is the place to be if you are just starting out! I am not a moderator, but I know when I first started out they told me to never put medications in the water unless water parameters were perfect. I had put meds in and had to take them out. If your fish isn't doing so well you mght want to do a water change to get the medications out of the water and start over with the salt. Hang in there. A Moderator with lots of experience will be here soon. Good luck with your fishie! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Erinaceus Posted August 10, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 10, 2008 Fin clamping is a general sign that something is wrong; it can either signify stress, or ilness, or high bioload, etc. Your nitrates are fine (i.e. well below 20), but the fact that you have any nitrites at all suggests that your tank it not properly cycled at the moment (as you mentioned yourself). Both ammonia and nitrites are very harmful to (gold)fish, so what you immediately should do is do a large water change (75-100%; "when in doubt, do a water change") and repeat this regularly (as soon as you notice it rising again, probably once a day if you can manage it), that would at least decrease your nitrites enough to protect the fish from the high bioload. More experienced members will be able to offer advice on the infection you describe, but as a general rule any degree of a high bioload (i.e. nitrates > 20, nitrates and/or ammonia > 0) can potentially make any medications you give harmful instead of helpful, and will certainly decrease your fish's ability to cope with any infection. So although I can't offer advice on the infection, I can with some certainty say that very frequent (large enough) water changes will be essential to get your fish to recover. I really hope you can get him/her back to full health . You can be sure than we will all try our best to help you get there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member vickielm Posted August 10, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 10, 2008 Alyssa, you have to get those nitrites down to zero. As has been suggested, you need to do a large wc, and if they are still up do another one. If nothing else helps, I'd add some prime to detoxify the nitrites quickly. The "C" shape is never ever a good thing with fish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member lynda441 Posted August 10, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 10, 2008 Absolutely! You must do a very large water change. I would stay with 0.3% salt and metromeds until we can get a Mod in here to advise more specifically. And, as you say this is the same thing that happened with your other fish, I'm assuming that both were in the same tank and I have to ask: do you have gravel? If so, did you thoroughly vacuum and clean that after the loss of your other fish? What steps did you take to rid the tank of any bacteria, parasites, etc.? Did you get these fish from the same tank and/or store at the same time? You say that your fish had dropsy, had fungus. Does it still? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member CountryLovah Posted August 10, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 10, 2008 Hi.. Just popping in to add two extra quick questions: Nitrite Level? 25ppm I am assuming you mean 0.25 nitrite yes?? Second, like Lynda said does it still HAVE dropsy? Because if any of the scales are sticking out, you will want to switch from the aquarium salt to epsom salt again.. Reg salt can make the bloating worse. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member soky Posted August 11, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted August 11, 2008 Thanks for the help, but he died today while I was at work. I did a water change and got the Nitrite down to 0 (yes, it was .25ppm. Oops). He made a few feeble attempts at swimming after that, but that was it. He kept "floating" on his side, just above the bottom of the tank. His tail was shredded and a little bloody from getting caught in the filter again, so I put nylon over the intake and that seemed to keep him away. No, he didn't have dropsy anymore, and I didn't see any signs of the fungus. But, with his fins clamped so tightly I could have just not seen the fungus. Sorry for the confusion when I mentioned my other fish, he died before I ever got Sunny. I have glass marbles on the bottom, but I bleached everything but the filter media, which I tossed, before doing a fishless cycle. When that was done, I got Sunny. I'd still love any ideas on what killed him, it was heartbreaking to watch two fish die (seemingly) the same way, and I don't want to see a third. The last fish had no Nitrites in the water, but maybe that was what killed Sunny, or a combination of that and other problems. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jyoti411 Posted August 11, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 11, 2008 I am sooo sooo sorry about Sunny... ...I totally understand it could be heartbreaking...I cannot really help on the possible causes...experienced members and mods can really help you determine the issue...am sure you will have success next time..don't lose hope... Sunny!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member vickielm Posted August 11, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 11, 2008 Alyssa, I am so very sorry that you lost Sunny. Possibly he was already ill or weak when you had the cycle crash, but thats just a guess. You did all that you could, hon. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member CountryLovah Posted August 15, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 15, 2008 Oh Alyssa I am soo sorry! I just found this thread now. I'm usually pretty good about reading everything, and I've been jumping around threads the last few days. I just went back to view all of last weeks posts to see what I missed and found this.. SOOOO sorry sweetie! I know you tried really hard.. I also really don't know what to say as far as exactly what it was that caused this. But I am very sorry. Sunny!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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