The Puffer Forum

My fish tank is acting weird...?
I've got a 30 gallon. 4 male guppies, 6 female guppies, 5 fry, 5 cories, 6 harlequin rasporas. I added 3 Junge Labs Fizz Tabs Parasite Clear tabs last night. Today I found the water cloudy and 1 of the females dead. (now I have 5) The males are all acting fine, but 1 female is only hiding, she wasn't like this yesterday thought, and is breathing very hard. One doesn't move much, just floats around. One is kinda shy but otherwise normal. The last one is acting super active and uber healthy. What gives??

P.S. I took the carbon out before treating. I put it back this morning hoping it would clear up the cloudiness. It didn't help at all so I added another one about 3 hours ago. Nothing changed. Seriously, what gives??

P.S.S. I saw the female that is freaking hiding pooping the day before, was white and stringy. I didn't overdose, it says each fizz thing treats 10 gallons, I added 3. The fry and the males are acting fine. I was thinking maybe the females have IP's and are pooping it out or something??

Hi. There are so many things that can cause cloudy water and fish die-off, but since this happened right when adding the anti-IP medicine, my first thought is that the ones doing poorly had a large IP infestation. When you treat for IPs, and the fish has a bad case of them, the mass dying of the worms can cause its own problems. Ultimately, though, you need to supply the info requested above (in the pink area) before anyone can help you a whole lot.

By the way, I see in your profile that you have a couple of puffers in a five gallon tank, but you didn't include what kind they are. I can't help but be curious - after all, being proud of what you keep is part of the fun!

I forgot about the red!! Will do. Oh, and its not a 5 gallon, its a 10 gallon, I'll change it, with 2 dwarf puffers, Bullet and Bug (boy & girl).

1) Don't have one. I'm so sorry! I've got enough money now, all I need to do is pick one up today, and I'm actually going today to get one so I'll do it when I get home tonight, woo!!

2) 30 gallon~ 5 cories, 6 harlequin rasporas, 4 male guppies, 5 female guppies, 5 fry in a breeder net and 1 fry on the loose.

3) 50% every other week, I use Tetra Aqua Safe for dechlorinizer and Junge Labs Parasite Clear Fizz Tabs.

4) None

5) Been up for a month, I "supose" its cycled, but I can't prove it, I don't have a test kit. Cycled with 3 year old tough-as-nails platy. Still have it.

You're not adding Parasite Clear every time you do water changes, are you? Probably not, but it just seemed to almost suggest that from what you wrote above.

Do a massive water change. 80% would be good. My guess is that the cloudiness is from ammonia.

Okay. After, oh, a week. The cloudiness is 100% gone. No I don't add the Parasite Clear every water change. Just once. So far 2 more females have died. I could tell that with them they had something comming out of them. And they were both heavily pregnant. Perhaps they died during birth? Anyways another only 3 females remain, with 4 males. Uh oh. 3 males are super, 2 females are super, but one female looks like shes bleeding in the inside. Only one side too. She's not swimming much either. One male has fin rot and his whole tail is falling dieing, he's acting slow too. I also got 3 ghost cats on Sunday.

Oh, and guys, I'm not going to be on nearly as much now. You know, school. So it basically limits me to evening/early night if homework's done.

Fin rot is the result of poor water quality. You probably have ammonia in there. Daily water changes may be in order.

If your other fish were sick, then why on Earth did you get more???

On Earth they were really cool. I can always get them rehomed. I did a water change, 25%.

With ammonia and/or nitrites in the water, you need to do a much bigger change.

You bought them because they were cool, without consideration of their welfare? What if you can't find a suitable home?

Woah. My female guppy has a huge gash on her side! I don't think a guppy could do this, I think it was the ghost cats. If my friend won't take them, I'll just have to enthusize them. Properly, of corse. With ice and water.

I'll do a water change in the morning before school. Bigger this time.

I'm sorry LilGreen. I was doing good for awhile but now.. not good for my rep.

Why would you euthanize them? Can't you just return them?

Use one of those old empty tanks you have and seperate the catfish! You should also isolate the injured guppy. Remember that when these fish are in uncycled hospital/isolation tanks, they'll need big water changes every day.

I can but my mom isn't driving this week or next week. You mean set up the spare tank in my room? My mom would NEVER allow me to do that, I'm suprised she even let me get teh 30 gallon! Well, I did enthusize them. I had the female with in a breeder catcher but she died this morning.

If your parents won't let you set up a spare temporarily or do big enough water changes, then you really have a problem. Please don't get any more fish until you are no longer living with them.