# PLEASE HELP!!!!!!! fish are NOT ok!!



## PhsychoFish (Apr 10, 2011)

Yesterday we got a new fake plant and heater for my 20 long full of happy, healthy fish. the plant is for babies to hide in and the heater is because the other one died. i totally re-arranged the tank and removed the bubbler (because it, too, stopped working) and put in the new heater. before i went to bed i saw one of my male platys sit in the bottom corner not moving, and i assumed he was sleeping. (my other sunset wag male got ick and we moved him to a hospital tank a few days ago, but no one else seems to have it.)
when i got up this morning ALL of my platys except for a newborn sunset wag were sitting at the bottom of the tank! i was worried, so i showed mom, and we did a 5 gallon water change. a few hours later we did another one, but they seem to be getting worse!!  With the new heater, the water is staying at 75. 
it's weird, because Samael (my betta) is fine and then later NOT fine... we just fed them and most of them are slowly eating... PLEASE HELP?!


----------



## CallieDaNerd (Jun 8, 2011)

Are you sure the heater is working? Did you remember dechlorinator? If 1 fish has ich they usually all get it because it ends up in the filter media and on plants and such that the fish was rubbing on.


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

raise your temp to 84 and treat with aquarisol...plus...always remember to rinse new additions such as plastic plants and decorations well before putting them into the tank..
the first 2 places fish get ich is in the fins and the gills..when it comes to certain things like ich and parasites ; never bother to isolate a fish from the others...always treat the entire tank...


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Thanks, guys. I called her while she was already at the pet store to pass on your advice.  They will be treating everyone for ich.

I also strongly agree that it could be at least partly due to the new plant. When I was on the phone with Psychofish, she said that the base of the plant was painted the same way her skull decoration is.... and the paint has been chipping off that thing for a while. I have experienced a plant leaching chemicals into the tank, and it sucks.


----------



## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

The new heater MIGHT also be discharging small amounts of electricity into the tank. Not likely, but possible.


----------



## physasst (Apr 3, 2011)

Check Ammonia levels too...

The OP mentioned moving everything around.

The few times I've done that it's disrupted the biology of the tank, and I've gotten an ammonia spike.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Oh! I hadn't thought of that.

I think changing half the water will have helped with that a bit.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Sweet baby Jesus, I think we just solved this one. And it's odd. You guys ready for this?

Last week, Psychofish stayed at my house... cuz she's my little sister. When I took her home, I sent her along with two adult platies and a baby platy, some malaysian trumpet snails and a couple baby apple snails, some dry foods, and an extra bottle of water conditioner.
I was just now talking to my Mum and we were trying to figure out all the variables that had changed. New platies, they came from a healthy tank. No symptoms in that tank at my house. New heater. Slim chance but possible. New plant... Mum looked it over thoroughly, sniffed it, rinsed it and scrubbed it, and left it out of the tank to be rinsed and aired out some more. But there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. New snails, many from my house, others from the same store I bought some of mine from. New water conditioner, a brand she had never used. But I use it all the time and it treats for chloramine and chlorine. I thought maybe she should call the city and ask if they've changed what they treat the tap water with, because there was recently flooding in the area.
And then it dawned on me. She was describing the platies' behavior as I was looking at my rescue tank, and it sounded like she was describing my own fish to me. Identical symptoms. I recently obtained a platy (the only remaining of three) and a betta from my boyfriend's brother's fiance. They had really tatterred fins and were behaving oddly and she couldn't figure out why and couldn't afford meds. I posted all about them in the betta section. I believe mold spores were the culprit. Their house is very dirty and smells veeeeery badly of mold. So I figured it had maybe made it's way into the faucet and was being rinsed right into her fresh tank water.
And then I realized *drumroll* The extra bottle of water conditioner had come from her house. She had been storing it... under the kitchen sink. 

That platy and my sister's platy are showing all the same symptoms. I have not used the same cleaning stuff on the tank where I got the platies out for her as on the tank with the rescues. So the ONLY connection is that water conditioner. We are convinced it is contaminated.

So as I type... that bottle has been thrown away and they are doing a really big water change and crossing their fingers. She lost a couple fish tonight.


----------



## PhsychoFish (Apr 10, 2011)

meh, i thought I was going to say the good news...


THEY'RE OK! *yay* though i lost 3 :C


----------



## PhsychoFish (Apr 10, 2011)

We did about 80 percent water change - and before we were even done filling the tank back up - all of the remaining fish were swimming around normally


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

I did leave the good news for you. Dork.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Well, that was a weird one.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

It was indeed. At least now I know for sure what was wrong with my rescued fish! And we learned an interesting lesson...


----------



## PhsychoFish (Apr 10, 2011)

:c 5 more died! ???


----------



## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I just lost a bunch of fish too.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

What?! Crap. 
There is still no doubt it was the water conditioner. You guys did three water changes with that bottle, and they kept getting worse. Then they were all just laying on the bottom when you did the big water change. Mum told me you had to nudge them out of the way to avoid sucking them up. And then you started adding back water with a different bottle of water conditioner and they immediately started to perk up. And the one with really bad ich that was put in a different tank and never came in contact with the tainted conditioner is totally fine... That's pretty conclusive evidence...

Unfortunately, I think those five more must have just been too poisoned yesterday.  I hope you don't lose too many more, little sister. Do another big water change today! And keep treating for ich!


----------



## Hansolo (Sep 10, 2010)

Betta man said:


> I just lost a bunch of fish too.


According to your signature your down to 1 Cory. That's to bad. Sorry for everyone's losses


----------



## PhsychoFish (Apr 10, 2011)

:C *hugs*


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

I am so incredibly sorry that you lost almost all your fish. Even though the cause was so bizarre, I can't help feeling some responsibility. But I really look forward to seeing how you stock the tank next,and I'm excited to share some of my babies with you! So... Many.... *twitch*


----------



## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i still think that your losses could be from ich ......especially when you add in the contaminated conditioner factor...
when one fish in the tank gets ich ; they all get it to a lessor or greater degree..weakened by one or the other of the problems allows the other to have a much more profound effect...

quit playing games with conditioners...keep things as simple as possible...just buy "Dechlor" by Weco....1 drop per gallon treats chlorines and helps to neutralize many of the heavy metals....and 2 drops per gallon will remove chloramines..
and it is cheaper than all that other crap...


----------



## Zane_uverworld (Jun 19, 2011)

did you wash the plant in hot water? since it's fake a quick deep in hot water kills any bad things. a 20 gallon long is pretty big even if a small amount of toxin got out the fish shouldn't just stop moving. add in aquarium salt and use the 1.5 amount of prime. than add in a little stress coat. thats what i always do when a little emergency arises.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Hey, now loha,nobody was "playing around." It was the same brand of water conditioner I've always used. It was free. And mum was fresh out....

Zane, my mum and I have always used our conditioner a little liberally, especially since most of the state recently flooded so the amount of chemicals being pumped into our water supply has likely increased. That day, they did three large water changes before figuring out the conditioner was tainted. That's plenty enough toxin to kill a bunch of fish already weakened by ich. The reason we initially suspected the plant is because sometimes, a hot water rinse isn't enough. I had a new plant, rinsed in hot water, leach white goo into my gravel and gave my fish ulcers. It can happen if the plastic didn't set quite right..


----------

