# discouraged



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

HAve been having issues in my 20 gallon for about 3 months now.
I bought a couple of gouramis and added to tank.tank is well established(4 + years) Gouramis did ok for a while and then up and died from what we decided on the fish forums of hemmoraghic septicemia. treated tank with antibiotics and everything went well for about 6 weeks. Then my other dwarf gourami started to fade and started to spiral thru the water. He died.
Everything ok for a couple of weeks and then a loach wasted away .
just got over this and am treating the tank currently for internal parasites in case laoch had worms.
Now I find my betta is leaning on the sides and is having balance issues.
I think maybe the parasite meds are too strong for her -just a feeling. All other fish seem ok. 
One sae is passing white and green poop. Also treating with antibiotic food, but it is not taken well -- nasty taste?
Can't see the poop of any other fish as they are all egg layer or bottom fish and they are hard to see.
Plan is to treat with the maracins after the deworming.
Any other ideas? I may have to just let this tank run its course until they have all died I guess. Maybe strip it down and bleach then?
ammonia and nitrites are 0, nitrates <20. temp is 76, water ph about 8, hard water.
I read that levamisole is ineffective in high ph water so maybe the antiparasitic meds aren't so effective.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

The best way to deal with a situation like this is to start again, but with making extra precuations.
If you can't quarentine your fish before adding them to your tank, make sure the lfs that you're buying from is reputable and all of the fish are healthy while at the same time the tanks are clean, preferably without substrate as this is where all the parasites and nuisanse critters live.
It's best to either have corse grain sand with an efficient filtration sytem or if gravel is to be used, vacuuming it at least once a week with 50% water changes of decholinated water will prevent the tank from being a death trap.
Heavily planting the tank, using peat in the filter, and good hygine are all garenteed to prevent the fish from catching the same thing in the future, provided you buy healthy stock and keep up good hygine.


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