# More health issues with my 55 gallon



## xerxeswasachump (Mar 29, 2006)

Ok, so i am having new problems with my tank...
One of my loreto tetras developed a big nasty rotting looking red lump on his lower jaw, my little blue jack dempsey looked like he had some popeye, and my 2 siamese algae eaters had bloat. I treated the tank with one round of tetracycline from API (the powder). The stuff made enormous clouds of foam on the surface of the tank and turned my water yellow. The tank is still yellow a week after doing the final water change and adding carbon! 

The problems have no gone away. The lump on the loreto tetra seems to be breakign apart but the fish is still breathign heavy and now he has lumps of skin hanging off. The apparent popeye on teh blue jack dempsey went nowhere but it might just be that he has big eyes or something. Both of the siamese algae eaters died. 

Now, one of my cories is missing a chunk of his face. It started off as a red swelling and then today has turned into a sizeable pit. What should i do?
I have a UV sterilizer so i doubt it is anything parasitic. The pH is 6.8, the temperature is 83 degrees, zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and about 100ppm of nitrate (no i can't get it any lower, i do 25% water changes every week just to keep it steady). I also inject CO2 into the tank through an electrolysis unit if that matters. 

Anyway, help me save my fish....

P.S. My big discus is now beating up on my smaller one even though they are a pair. The small one has trouble getting to any food. What should i do? Would adding more discus help?

PPS: My pea.**************** eel won't eat anything but live bloodworms and live ghost shrimp and hasn't grown since i bought him a year ago. What can i feed him? He isnt interested in frozen food at all and freaks out when i try to spot feed him with a turkey baster. I tried tubifex and he isnt interested in that either. 

PPPS: I have decided to switch to oto cats for algae control, how many should i get for the 55 gallon?


----------



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

don't add any new fish until tank under control!
I wish there was someone on this forum that could answer all the questions that are piling up!
I've got a prob. too and no answers.

Did you look at the disease page?


----------



## Guest (Mar 9, 2007)

Have you tried doing larger water changes? Like 50% a week, or 2 50% a week changes? 100ppm of nitrates is likely stressing out your fish and making them more susceptible to disease.

I think you may be a little overcrowded and maybe there is some aggression going on. 

Sorry I can't help ya with the treatments...


----------



## Jeromee (Feb 17, 2006)

I talked with you a little earlier in the chat room and was a little hard on you, hopefully my advice sunk in. Some pictures of the problems you are having with the fish would more then likely end you with much better answers...
Jeremy


----------



## xerxeswasachump (Mar 29, 2006)

Yeah i'm gonna find my camera and take some pictures. some of this stuff is really wierd and i have never seen it before. Jeromee, i was kind of an ass to you too. I apologize. I am gonna get rid of the blue dempsey, the black ghost knifefish, and the eel. I would like to get some more discus to diffuse the aggression, we got some great looking ones at work. I have decided to scale back the tank because i am trying to do too much at once. I want to just have 5 discus, like 25 japonica shrimp, 7 glolite, a lot of malaysion trumpet snails, and the 4 otos.

The cory with the big dent in his head died today and i flushed him, i should have taken a picture. oops. I will start doing 2, 50% water changes a week. The thing is, if i do that won't my fertilization be utterly pointless? 
Also, since my tap water has so much damn nitrate in it i dont know how much good it will do. I need to test my RO and see if it is still working. If it isn't, where do i get new membranes? home depot?

I think i am gonna start filling up my slop sink (next to my tank), with 2/3 RO and 1/3 tap. Or maybe i will do 1 water change with all RO and the next with all Tap. Anyway, any opinions would be appreciate, just no condesention.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

waitaminute.. all these fish are in the same tank???
Well, if so, there's part of your problem.

Okay, so you tried tetracycline and it didn't work. That's not a big surprise. Try something else, like Maracyn & Maracyn2. If that doesn't work, try something else. There are many bacteria which produce symptoms like these, and cichlids, especially discus, are notorious carriers of some of them like aeromonas and pseudomonas.

Bacteria come in a wide variety, and they have immunities and vulnerabilities as varied as they are. If you don't know exactly what you're dealing with, then sometimes you have to try a few times before you find what works.


----------



## xerxeswasachump (Mar 29, 2006)

Should i be worried about my biological filtration getting whacked along with the crappy bacteria? 

I am gonna remove the fish. I am clearly trying to do too much at once. What should i keep? 

I really like my discus and i think i would rather it just be a discus tank than just a blue dempsey tank. I definitely am gonna get rid of the eel and the black ghost knifefish. Unfortunately, i don't know what to do with them.

Also, is it really necessary to keep treating if the affected fish died? The cyst or whatever was on the loreto seems to be falling apart so he might be ok. The cory died. And the blue dempsey might just have big eyes, they aren't really popping out much at all.


----------



## Plyr58 (Mar 7, 2007)

I would try a massive water change, like 70% to begin with. Get some of those fish out of the tank b/c you are totally overcrowded (but everyone else has already told you that). What about a saltwater dip? I have done that before treating with chemicals and in conjunction with a massive water change and had great success. I think the saltwater kills/weakens the little uglies before medicating to kill them.


----------



## Guest (Mar 10, 2007)

> I will start doing 2, 50% water changes a week. The thing is, if i do that won't my fertilization be ut0terly pointless?


You'll just have to fertilize more often. Since you are only doing the 1 25% change a week now, start by doing a large change of atleast 50% and then just try doing 1 50% a week and see what kind of difference that makes on your nitrate level. Then, once you get rid of the other fish, 1 50% change should be fine with the bioload you'll have left. That way, you can still fertilize without using up tons of ferts. If the 1 50% doesn't work now though, you may have to do 2 a week, just until you lessen your bioload.

What are you using as fertilizer?


----------



## xerxeswasachump (Mar 29, 2006)

Ok update time:

Well, i lost that loreto tetra and 2 of my cories. Their skin seems to be dissolving. The 3rd one is showing signs of it now. It turns out i was so caught up in everything else i forgot to check my Carbo Plus CO2 unit. The carbon inside was dead. I tested my pH and it skyrocketed to 8.8 (the max on the test, could have been higher). I am not sure if this decayed carbon block caused this but i went to get a second opinion at an LFS and the results were the same. Also, my nitrate concentration was suddenly undetectable. 

Something very screwed up is going on.

Anyway, that same LFS gave me my $50 back for that blue dempsey, which was very nice of them. I will be giving away my black ghost knife and eel tomorrow. Once they are gone i would like to add some shrimp, once i get the water under control. 

Should i just forget about the CO2 thing? I really just wanted to see what pearling looked like in real life and have my plants grow fast. With the carbo unit the plants grew fast but never ever pearled. Also, the Carbo thing has been discontinued and replacement cartridges are going for $80 so screw that noise. I guess i wasted $150...

Also, while at the LFS i discovered i was using the wrong kind of lighting. I had switched out my 6700k bulbs for 10000k bulbs when i got the carbo unit. They told me that was too strong so i bought 4 new 6500k bulbs (another $100...).

Anyway, i might just bag the tank all together and sell the setup, fish, and equipment. Maybe i should just keep it simple with my 40 gallon flowerhorn thing. That is going great.

I really appreciate everyone's help so far. It seems i am about 1/4 of the way through fixing this tank. Please bear with me though this. I need the help.


----------



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

you can actually set up a very nice planted tank with little effort if you don't want real fancy fussy plants that need specific lights. I am thinking of red plants that seem to be more fussy.
I have a couple of planted tanks using vals, sagittaria, java ferns and anubias. The vals need a bit more light than the others but I run 2 wpg on the tanks for 4-6 hours a day and minimal fert-- usually just any old liquid kind once a month. i have a very rapid growth of vals in my platy tank that i must strip them down every 2-3 months.
I just use plain household spiral flurescent bulbs ( daylight kind Not soft white). My husband refitted the canopies with stuff he got at the hardware store. The retro fit kits were too expensive and this works well.
one tank that is upstairs in my fish/ computer room has a homemade canopy. We bummed some eavestrough material from an aluminum company( their garbage!) and put light fixtures in them. We used plastic sign board for the ends. Not real elegant but it works well. if I had any better growth I would have to move to the yard!!
Check out the Plantedtank.net.


----------



## xerxeswasachump (Mar 29, 2006)

Well, my nitrates are down to 5ppm, which might actually be a little low. I couldnt figure out how to replace the carbon block in my CO2 thing, so i just took it out. My pH is back at 7.6. Hardness is down to 3 degrees. The fish are all behaving well again. 

Should i be worried about a backlash over removing the CO2? or will the plant growth just slow down?

Also, i have had low tech planted setups before, this was just my first attempt at a high tech one. My 40 gallon flowerhorn setup is low tech, just 1 wpg. 

Also, my big discus is really pounding on my small one, is there anything i can do (now that things have stabilized) to diffuse that aggression?


----------



## Guest (Apr 20, 2007)

You really need an odd number of discus to diffuse aggresion


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

swordtailbreedr said:


> You really need an odd number of discus to diffuse aggresion


What?? So I cant have a PAIR in a tank?? Can you sex discus? Why an odd number?


----------

