# Fish lose Fins and die



## Medora (Jun 21, 2007)

Tank size: 56 US gallons
pH: OK
ammonia: OK
nitrite: OK
nitrate: OK
kH: OK
gH: OK
tank temp: 76F
Filter: canister fluval 304 brand new

Fish Symptoms: Fish loose their fins and, there are no spots, treatment for fish rot doesn't work, fish die within 24hours after fins start to disapear. One male swordtail had trouble closing his mouth, one female developped and ulcer on her back. 5 other swordtails died with no other symptoms.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 15% every 7-10 days

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: charcoal in filter, salt (1T/10 gallons) and Fish start (aloe vera based product)

Tank inhabitants: 1 asian catfish and 1 female swordtail. They seem to be immune to the disease, any other swordtails we have tried to add die within 24 hours - 1 week. We tried a beta and he died within 24 hours. 

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): This is a new tank. Gravel is new, 2 decorations bought on ebay and 1 fake plant also bought on ebay one fake plant bought at pet store.

Exposure to chemicals: None that I know of, unless the decorations are toxic but they are supposed to be for aquariums.

We are very discouraged that we can only have 2 fish in this big aquarium. Has anyone experienced this before? Should we restart the aquarium? Take out the decorations? HELP!
Medora :withstup:


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## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

Medora said:


> pH: OK
> ammonia: OK
> nitrite: OK
> nitrate: OK
> ...


Did you take these measurements? What are they? Do you know about the nitrogen cycle and "cycling" your tank? 

When you do water changes do you add dechlorinator? Im not sure what fish start is... maybe a dechlorinator also?

Just some additional questions to help out.


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## SBDTHUR (Jun 15, 2007)

Well if Fish Start is a aloe vera product maybe it's similar to stress coat? Im unsure I just know the Stress Coat has aloe vera in it. How long has the tank been set up? One thing I can think of is there's stickers on the bottom of the fake plant's maybe that's getting them sick? Im just throwing that out there. More information would be helpful.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The only time I've seen severe fin erosion without disease is with very low pH or very high ammonia


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## bomb- (Jan 30, 2007)

I don't trust eBay with fish stuff. You don't really know who your buyer is and there may be chemicals all over the decors. You never know, but I'm not sure if that's the problem or not.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

No, it's not. 
Your most likely culprit is some nasty bacteria., with columnaris being at the top of the suspect list.
You MIGHT have a problem with Trichodina, which can also give these symptoms, but it's so rare compared to Columnaris that it's hardly worth mentioning.

Some serious meds might fix this, but not wimpy stuff. A total tank teardown/sterilize/restart may also be in order if the antibiotics don't finish the job. Sometimes this stuff is very hard to get rid of the easy way.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

I think they also say it is a new tank so it might also be new tank syndrome.( uncycled tank)


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

> Should we restart the aquarium?


If the last fish dies, add bleach to the tank run for 24 hour, breakdown and restart. 

If you think something toxic could have gotten into the tank, do back-to-back 90% water changes, this would dilute anything 99%. If this doesn't help, then I'm with Salt, go get out the serious meds.


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