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Mystery deaths

Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
Day 4
Fully optimistic now ... Planning a 80% water change tomorrow am. Still going to feed my metro infused flakes until Wednesday just to be safe...
I think I finally have this thing beat.
It was an expensive way to learn about the different medicines but it will be a lesson not so forgotten ... I am fully looking forward to my new flametails, and Taiwan reefs for this tank at the meeting.(they will still live in my holding tank for a week)

Thank you for all of your help everyone threads like this one make me glad I joined CCA



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cichlidaddicted

cichlidaddicted

Members
I'd still feed the metro for another week, I've learned the hard way that out of sight shouldn't be out of mind. If your feeding twice a day maybe cut back to once a day mid week.

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Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
I'll do that. Kens sent a huge bag of metro flakes so I have more than I could ever use.

Contemplating feeding it as a safeguard when adding new fish also, but at the same time I am concerned of immunity to the product if I use it to often.


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Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
Day 0

Back to square one. Lost my blue dolphin overnight.
So far I have treated with:
Poly guard
Metro+
Malofix
Quick cure
Metro infused flakes
Kanaplex
And salt

The blue dolphin appeared in good health as of 12:00 last night.

Planning on a water change today then adding more poly guard. And salt
What else should I add


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Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
I am taking all of the river stones I added a month ago out today also... They were scrubbed thoroughly but I want to eliminate any possibility of contamination... I will leave the tetra cotta pots in there tho so the cats have somewhere to hide.... If I am still losing fish next week I will probably pull all gravel also... Idk don't know what else to do... The only thing is that this will cause a spike in aggression I will have to deal with


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Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Sorry for your long running problems with this tank. The only symptom seems to be a death every couple of days or so. You did not describe any other things like trailing poop, sores or lots of flashing. And the fish must be eating.

Overall this points to velvet as a possible maybe even a probable cause. Look up velvet fish disease on the internet. The Wikipedia has many details you might compare with what you are seeing.

If it is velvet, which is somewhat like ich, but very small, it appears as only a cloudy film if you can see it at all on the fish's body. It is very hard to see. IF you have a microscope, use a cover slide and scrape the side of a fish and then view the collected scraping on a slide. You should see lots of little round things.

Velvet like ich goes through a cyst stage. The cysts drop to the bottom of the tank, lay there until the new velvet organisms develop, then they hatch out and attack the fish. Since the cycle is 10 days or so, you have to treat for at least two weeks and maybe more.

Lots of meds will kill the velvet in its free swimming form but will not touch the cysts or form that is attached to the fish. Therefore meds at effective levels need to be present in the water for at least two to three weeks.

However, salt will increase the fish's slime coat and kill or inhibit the free swimming form of velvet. Raising the temperature to the 80s makes the life cycle of the velvet happen quicker. Salt should be added one teaspoonful per gallon per day for three days so you end up with 1 tablespoonful per gallon.

If it is not velvet but some other form of parasite, treatment has to take into account of any possible cyst form, meaning treatment might have to be for up to a month.

Treatments of less than two weeks opens the opportunity for the parasite to come back.
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
Flashing or glancing off object or scratching off objects is basically how fish try to get things off their skin and can be an indication of external parasites. But it does not have to be.

Velvet progresses until the entire body is covered and then the fish become lethargic. You may still not be able to see the velvet. Death follows soon after.

Did you see any things after reading the WiKipedia write up that seems to confirm that your fish have velvet?
 
Acpape0

Acpape0

Members
frankoq said:
Things getting better? Tank looks good. How many do you have in there?
Click to expand...

Yea tank is doing great ... Ended the quarantine on it... As for how many fish are in there I don't know how many ...I am a firm believer in overstocking to keep aggression down and 20x per hour filtration to support it


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