losing interest in tanks (rather fast)

[bliss]

so here's the deal. i had a Silver Arowana, a rope fish, and 3 moon gouramis (and 3 feeder goldfish), in a tank. i had the three goldfish in there because i planned on getting an alligator gar, but chose against it and went with the arowana.

but now, less than a week later, my arowana is dead. it has white filmy/fuzzy crap growing on the fins. the rope fish has it growing now on it's tail. the gouramis are spotted with it.


anyone else have this problem, and what causes it? ALL the fish in the tank have the fuzzy/spotty crap on them. anything i can do? my arowana (which costed me a pretty decent chunk) is dead, so there's nothing that can be done there.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

You'll need to post the details of your tank - how big is it, what kind of filtration, did you cycle it, how did you cycle it, how are you treating the water, what are the water parameters, what's the temperature, did you buy any of the fish from a crappy place like PetCo in which case they probably were infested with horrible diseases before you got them and you should learn a valuable lesson from all this.

...*inhale*

 

[CharlaineC]

you have what is called ick. you will need to pick up meds for it at the petshop. Ick is comman when you dont bring the ph and othe rlvls to norms before adding the fish. but can allso hapen if one of the fish was contaminated with ick at the petshop. if you get the meds asap and treat it. you might beable to save the rest. i have brought them back from near death due to ick. i'll try to get the med names as soon as i can

 

[BishopiMaster]

right off the top of my head, methylene blue is a supposedly good med from what ive heard, although it stains silicone

 

[Taceas]

Sorry to hear about your losses. Feeder fish, around here anyway, are notorious for being infected with all sorts of stuff due to being stressed, crowded, and hardly fed.

A description or pictures of the spots would help determine its cause.

If it is Ich/Ick, I've had great success using Mardel's CopperSafe. It doesn't turn everything in the tank blue like other ich remedies tend to. But its still not safe for invertebrates, so if you have any snails or crustaceans you need to remove those to a separate tank before treating. Ich looks more like tiny white sugar or salt crystals peppered all over the fish.

The other thing that comes to mind is a fungus. You said it was white and fuzzy, which fungus generally is. I've never had a fungus issue in any of my tanks so I can't help you with what to treat it with. But from what I've read on various Google searches it seems to be related to poor water conditions and overfeeding.

 

[PrettyHate]

Could be ick- but almost certainly not seeing as it doesnt usually pick just one part of the body (like a tail)- and it is tiny white spots (like someone shook salt over your fish) and not fuzzy.

It is probably fungal (although possibly bacterial) in which case you need a medication that you can get at your local fish store. Medications vary from location to location- so head over there, and check out what they have. Look for something that treats "body fungus".

Make sure when you treat that you remove the carbon from your filter- otherwise it will just suck all the medication out of your water.

Also, if your fish make it, I would do some research on the type of fish you are mixing. I realized the Arowana died- however, if he hadnt he would have eaten the feeders and the gouramis, and probably given a go at the rope fish. Check from compatability, as well as the size each fish gets to make sure you have the appropriate sized tank (and to decide if you are willing to upgrade).

Good luck.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Sorry to hear about your losses. Feeder fish, around here anyway, are notorious for being infected with all sorts of stuff due to being stressed, crowded, and hardly fed.

This is pretty much universal, and goes for just about anything sold from a pet store as "feeders," like mice and rats. Feeder animals are nearly always kept in FILTHY conditions, I wouldn't offer the average pet store feeder rat to my python if you paid me, they tend to be covered in feces and fleas. (Whereas my frozen rodent dealer keeps a very clean house, judging by the product.)

So yeah, the feeder fish probably didn't help.

 

[aracnochicken]

Its definitely fungus , I have 2 tanks , a 120 gallon fresh and a 150 gallon saltwater reef tank . If it was Ick you would see just the white spots but not fuzzy .

There are all kinds of different Meds that you can use but I wouldn't recomend using anything with copper in it . Copped seeps into the silicone and tends to leach out latter and if you ever want to keep any inverts (crayfish,snails....) in there your gonna have a tough time .

Like PrettyHate said though , make sure you take the carbon out of the filter or all your going to be doing is wasting your money .

One last thing , you do know that arowana's get well over 3 feet long right ?

 

[Elapid]

hey man,

sorry to hear about your arowana; they are my favorite fishes! I breed freshwater angelfish and see many problems when i get lazy and don't change the water as often as i should. imo it's definitely not ich. white fuzzy or slimy is most likely a 'fungal' infection, which in fish is actually bacterial in nature.

i would recommend slowly lowering the temp to 75 degrees to slow the progress of the disease get the filthy goldfish out of there. eat them, flush em. it doesn't matter, they are filth.

use antibiotics if you want to save the others. i typically will use Erythromycin for 'fungal' infections. with the antibiotics you can leave the carbon in your filter and it won't disturb your good bacteria. another good one is Furazone.

typically, the tank will need 3 treatments over a 5 dayperiod to rid the tank of the nasties.

when you buy new fish *don't* put any of the fish store water in your tank!!!!!!!!!!
after floating/adding your tank water to the bag, dump the contents through a net and only place the new fish in the tank, disposing of the water it came in as if it were toxic waste.

HTH!

 

[dtknow]

Most important thing we need to know is tank size. This sounds like what happens when their are too many fish and water quality declines.

For the record, I don't keep many meds on hand and seldom have to use them. If you take care of the water, the fish take care of themselves. Almost all cases of disease stem from improper husbandry, which should be corrected before even considering medications. The exceptions to this rule can be avoided by starting with healthy stock.

 

[Nich]

It sounds like a bacterial infection, even if it isnt the main cause a few water changes and azithromyacin or eurythromyacin will knock it out and prevent further infection. I would check you filtration, what do you have? If your bored with fresh water then it's time to move into a small reef tank....

 

[AneesasMuse]

I have to agree with Nich on this one... Ich is always a salt/sugar grain looking thing scattered all over the fish that is infected.... and a bacterial infection is more of a stringy cottony, fuzzy type thing that may or may not cling to specific areas of the fish (before it overcomes that fish and just becomes a fuzzy mess).

It sounds very much like Columnaris.. a really NASTY beast that will most likely kill your fish. You can try sulfa drugs in combination with Maracyn (the one for bacteria.. I or II.. I can't recall now), but I have to tell you honestly.. it is not a good outlook once they are showing 20% or better with the cottony stuff.

Make sure you DO NOT cross contaminate any utensils, tools, handling, water samples, ANY thing... this stuff is horrid! It wiped out my entire fish room once... I was just devastated by the strength and speed of it, and I'm still not certain where it came in. (I had two new shipped fish come in, presenting a little fuzzy on one fin.. I mean, tiny speck.... and within 2 days, it hit my entire stock cuz I didn't know what it was and was cross contaminating, apparently.)

Good Luck!

 

[Jer]

If it is "fuzzy" as you say, it is definatley not a bacterial infection!!! It is obviously a fungal infection!!! Caused by the fungus Saprolegnia. Treatment is tough at best.

 

[Jer]

Sorry to hear about your losses. Feeder fish, around here anyway, are notorious for being infected with all sorts of stuff due to being stressed, crowded, and hardly fed.

Feeder goldfish are farmed OUTSIDE. I don't think I need to elaborate how filthy and disease ridden they are.

 

[dtknow]

Just for the record many fish from the hobby are raised outdoors in a similar manner to goldfish. The problem is they are treated so poorly that they eventually succumb to whatever disease is around.

 

[Taceas]

Feeder goldfish are farmed OUTSIDE. I don't think I need to elaborate how filthy and disease ridden they are.

And the fish inside are any different? Diseases can occur anywhere.

Like I said in my original post, feeder fish are so crammed, underfed, and poorly cared for that they're severely stressed and they die extremely easy from any sort of disease. And yet people buy them as feeders for their other "pet" fish. :wall:

 

[Jer]

And the fish inside are any different?

Well if you are talking about "inside" feeder goldfish that came from an outside pond, then no, there is no difference, because they are one and the same. But if you are talking about feeder goldfish that were raised indoors in a fish tank and not outside (which is rare), then yes, they are different as night and day in respect to disease.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

But if you are talking about feeder goldfish that were raised indoors in a fish tank and not outside (which is rare), then yes, they are different as night and day in respect to disease.

You haven't seen the average indoor feeder-fish tank, have you? Those things are beyond disgusting, I'd take an outdoor fish over that any day if I had to.

 

[Jer]

You haven't seen the average indoor feeder-fish tank, have you? Those things are beyond disgusting, I'd take an outdoor fish over that any day if I had to.

If you are referring to the 3-10 tanks of feeder goldfish that every single petstore has, yes I have seen them. Disgusting! All of the fish that you see in those tanks are fresh from an outside pond. Why do you think they are so disgusting? Overcrowding and a complete lack of care are only a minor contributor to the horrendous condition of those animals.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

All of the fish that you see in those tanks are fresh from an outside pond. Why do you think they are so disgusting? Overcrowding and a complete lack of care are only a minor contributor to the horrendous condition of those animals.

Minor? Icky cooties from the great outdoors don't fill animals with disease and filth - living packed ten to the gallon in their own unfiltered feces with no quarantine of sick animals while dead ones rot in the tank does. :?