Tank Plague
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:45 am
Sooo.... heres whats up. I had 8 swordtails, now I only have 4. I had 10 tetras, now I only have 7. I had two variatus, now I only have 1. I had a GSP, but now he's gone. This all happened within the last month, and manly in the last week. I lost 2 tetras in a day. I lost a swordtail and then less than 24 hrs later I lost my puffer... WHAT'S GOING ON??? I have a golden algae eater and a pleco, and a 2 inch turtle.
So I have 22 fish and 1 turtle in a 40 gal. tank with a rena XP3 canister filter and sand substrate (that I turn once a week). The nitrates are at about 40, ammonia is at 0, the nirtrites 0, PH at 9, KH 240, and hardness at 180, salinity about 1.003. The PH, KH, and hardness have been this way for a long time, the only things that have changed are the nitrates and the salinity. Could the non- brackish fish be dying from the salinity?
One swordtail had a strange infection that I was not able to identify. It seemed as though the scales from the back portion on one side of her body were falling off, yet I never saw scales on the bottom of the tank. It also seemed as though she had a fungus, but one unlike any I have ever seen. It looked like there were thin white strands on her, not a cotton ball like growth. The puffer didn't show any external signs, neither did the tetras. Only one other fish in the tank has external signs of an infection, and that's the pleco, and all he has are small white patches on his sides (not ich). But then I wonder if those white patches could be caused by turtle bites. He is the only live and well fish that he wants to get, and I was planning on taking the pleco to a store to save his life, but I won't risk other fish dying at the store, and honestly I don't know if a store would take him when he might be sick.
I have recently discovered that my turtle has figured out that other fish in the tank are potential food. But heres the thing, he can't catch a fish unless it's dying.
So I am trying to figure out what exactly is going on... When the tetras were dying they did vertical circles with their heads facing down, flipped upside down or sideways, and then did horizontal circles as well. They are the only fish that I saw die besides my puffer, and I caught him dying right at the very end, all that happened with him was that he was being pushed by the current.
I am seriously stumped. I looked at all kinds of pictures and I've tested my water a ton of times. The deaths all seemed to happen after I got my GSP which was almost a month ago, so could everyone be dying because he brought in a disease? or could they be dying because there is too much salt in the water?
One of the weirdest parts about all of this is that the fish would eat normally and then either hours or a day later, they would die. I've noticed some flashing going on, but it's not very extreme.
Is there some type of internal disease that can cause this? I'm mostly curious, but if I could prevent my fish from getting sick, I totally would, because, seriously I don't want them to become turtle food!
So I have 22 fish and 1 turtle in a 40 gal. tank with a rena XP3 canister filter and sand substrate (that I turn once a week). The nitrates are at about 40, ammonia is at 0, the nirtrites 0, PH at 9, KH 240, and hardness at 180, salinity about 1.003. The PH, KH, and hardness have been this way for a long time, the only things that have changed are the nitrates and the salinity. Could the non- brackish fish be dying from the salinity?
One swordtail had a strange infection that I was not able to identify. It seemed as though the scales from the back portion on one side of her body were falling off, yet I never saw scales on the bottom of the tank. It also seemed as though she had a fungus, but one unlike any I have ever seen. It looked like there were thin white strands on her, not a cotton ball like growth. The puffer didn't show any external signs, neither did the tetras. Only one other fish in the tank has external signs of an infection, and that's the pleco, and all he has are small white patches on his sides (not ich). But then I wonder if those white patches could be caused by turtle bites. He is the only live and well fish that he wants to get, and I was planning on taking the pleco to a store to save his life, but I won't risk other fish dying at the store, and honestly I don't know if a store would take him when he might be sick.
I have recently discovered that my turtle has figured out that other fish in the tank are potential food. But heres the thing, he can't catch a fish unless it's dying.
So I am trying to figure out what exactly is going on... When the tetras were dying they did vertical circles with their heads facing down, flipped upside down or sideways, and then did horizontal circles as well. They are the only fish that I saw die besides my puffer, and I caught him dying right at the very end, all that happened with him was that he was being pushed by the current.
I am seriously stumped. I looked at all kinds of pictures and I've tested my water a ton of times. The deaths all seemed to happen after I got my GSP which was almost a month ago, so could everyone be dying because he brought in a disease? or could they be dying because there is too much salt in the water?
One of the weirdest parts about all of this is that the fish would eat normally and then either hours or a day later, they would die. I've noticed some flashing going on, but it's not very extreme.
Is there some type of internal disease that can cause this? I'm mostly curious, but if I could prevent my fish from getting sick, I totally would, because, seriously I don't want them to become turtle food!