# Fishy symptoms and death



## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

In the past several months many of my fish (platty, zebra danio, tiger barb) have gotten really sickly getting very skinny then during. The poor things were holding on for a long time getting skinnier. 

Well they died I beliveve it's been 2 plat, 1-2 zebra, 1 barb

right now 1 plat is still fighting he swims all wobbly and looks rough.

Also I think my tank is snail infested how many snails is too many my husband said it's prob got 1000 snails.

50 gal, rock bottom, other inhabitants 5 barbs, 3 zebra, albino cat, pleco, rainbow shark and the1 sick plat


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2010)

you might have internal parasites.....try feeding them some medicated food to help them.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

Ammon: fine
ph: fine 
nitrite: fine 
NITRATE: BADBADBAD REDREDRED


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

I knew the snails were acting suspicious, they only come out when the water is bad. Recently they been trying to escape. Cone snails 

Did 40% change last week, doing another 25% today


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

Testin tap water now

edit: it's fine, just finishing my water change now ...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Agree with zakk, slow death with skinniness is most likely internal parasites, and I do believe snails can be carriers. Prazi-Pro of jungle-fizz tabs in the water and medicated food (buy it or add metronidizole powder to frozen shrimp or other treat).

For the snails, put in a lettuce leaf or slice of zucchini at lights out, go back a few hours later and remove it covered with snails. Repeat daily until you numbers are down.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

Nitrates are def above 40 it's hard to tell with the color card they could be 80


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Seachem Stability will help reduce nitrates.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Once nitrates get high, its impossible to to read 40, 80, 120, 200 looks alike. I would do a major (down to fish height) water change and retest. 90% water change gets 200 down to 40. Add the new water slowly (put in a gallon, come back in 15 minutes, put in 3 gallons, then wait 15 min, add 10 gallon. and so on. Clean water is good for fish heath, but doesn't cure disease.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

ok so im going to take out like 2 -3 more buckets of water...im not sure what this buck is it might be a 10 gallon i usually do 1 or 2 of those when i change water(which i absolutely neglected for a while)


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

mousey said:


> Seachem Stability will help reduce nitrates.


I would disagree. In fact Stability should rise nitrates if the tank is uncycled. If it is cycled it will do nothing. Nitrates are the last step in the aquarium nitrogen cycle. The way nitrates are removed are from water changes and plants.


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2010)

BML is right. Stability is up Nitrates. if his fish are getting skinny and dying am pretty sure its internal parasites.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

ditto, the tank is cycled, just neglected. But clean water is good medicine and its good practice to do a big water change before trying any meds.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

What if the nitrates have been high for a while wouldn't that cause them yo get sickly and skinny?


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2010)

i dunno which part of "YOUR FISH HAS INTERNAL PARASITES" you missed but i hope this clears it up. NH3 has nothing to do with them getting getting skinny and sick. if your NH3 was indeed outta control you'd see a lotta them just gasping at the surface and trust me....they'd all be dead by now. go out and get ur self some medicated fish food and hope its not too late for the fish that are still alive.

i told you....i bite!


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

I "get it" don't be an ass.


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## Cacatuoides (Feb 2, 2009)

Yes Zakk is being, well Zakk, but you are also not reading or understanding fully. He was just putting it as plain as it gets for you. Your fish have parasites, get medicated fish food and save the ones that are left. The nitrates have nothing to do with this.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

First of all no one clearly said " your fish have parasites"... Zak said maybe, other person say likely.

Second, nitrates are down to I'd say 10 today woohoo


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Try the parasite cure. Its the best thing that could be wrong with your fish. The other things (fish TB) are worse.


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## Cacatuoides (Feb 2, 2009)

Okay, well unless you are psychic then maybe and likely is as close as you can come, and you must medicate the fish to see if it helps. 10 nitrate is about normal so you are fine there now.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

Sorry all the typos I'm on my phone


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2010)

actually EMC7 2nd my post. go get some medicated food or at the very least feed your fish a lil garlic.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

Last night nitrate were down to 5. Im going to try med. Fish food hope it's not expensive


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

according to Seachem as long as you use stability the nitrates will be at 0. This is so during the cycling process and I find that it helps my nitrates stay low when I add it weekly.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

medicated fish food is a real hard sell to fish. 
You are better off with something that treats the tank like prazi pro (as well as the food.)
Some fish will eat it- but others won't go near it.


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## spammyann (Mar 3, 2010)

Didnt get to the pet store yesterday my son had 104 fever all day fishy have to wait


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2010)

ok do this.....get ur self a garlic pod. dice. take the smallest dice and dice it up well into small pieces and drop a few into the tank one piece at a time.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Wierd, agreeing with zakk again. But I was just reading about adding garlic to homemade fish food. Fish like it and parasites don't.


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2010)

garlic is a natural anti parasite med. we use it in a lot of our cooking.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Seriously, do medicate with something. Parasites kill slowly compared to bacteria, but I had one tank where one fish a month would die while I lost no fish in any other tanks. It was heartbreaking, and when the last fish died, I bleached the tank. Now if the fish even look a little skinny, I get out the prazi-pro and metro. I don't wan't to go through that again and you shouldn't either.


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