All my fish keep dieing
- Thread starter JeffSauer
- Start date
wooden_reefer
New member
Your water has not been perfect.
Chemical water quality is only that chemical. When your water is laden with waterborne pathogens in a closed system like your aquarium, you fish can get infection and infestation of all sorts.
Against protozoans like ich the key is not chemical water quality, NOT nutrition, NOT stress, Not enhancable immunity. The key factor about protozoans like ich is the closed nature of your tank. The key factors are geometry, math, and chance. You have to accept this and the only reasonable plan is to QT toward eradication. There are many posts on this procedure. DO NOT just obeserve in QT; you have to treat preventative to eradicate protozoan diseases.
After protozoans like ich, your next greatest pathogenic threat is bacterial infection. For this, reducing concentration of waterborne pathogenic bacteria and enhancing immunity are the key.
You have to study on this and good luck.
Oh, ok. Kordon rid ich is a useless product. That stuff will not kill ich!!!! As I said before, remove all fish from your tank. Keep a cleanup crew in there and feed just enough to keep them alive and keep the beneficial bacteria growing. Leave it that way for 8 to 10 weeks. After about 4 to 6 weeks you can start a QT for your first new fish. Follow an established QT protocol, and add fish slowly after QT'in each fish. You will be alright. As posted above, DO NOT USE DT water in your QT tank.
JeffSauer
New member
The thing is i don't think its the water...as far as i can tell it cant be the water. nothing is wrong with it. I'm wondering if its something else
This.
Purchase 1 fish at a time, quarantine for several weeks prior to adding to tank.
IF tank has been empty, do not add fish. Your tank needs to cycle again. Use frozen shrimp, not live fish, to do this. This process tanks 4-8 weeks minimum. During this time, do not add fish as it will lead to stress, which can uncover underlying ich problems.
And you can you tell, exactly? Test kits test only the chemicals you test for. There are thousands of other harmful substances that could cause your problems. Do you use GAC? What other methods are you using to be sure it isn't the water? sight? Smell? Taste?
My point is, you can't be sure it isn't the water, and you shouldn't make assumptions.
What is the TDS out of your RO/DI? Where is your source water coming from (plumbing-wise)?
JeffSauer
New member
I'm about to move and haven't bought my own RO/DI unit yet and i've been buying my water from my LFS....could this really be the problem? He has several display tanks and everything seems to be fine in those
JeffSauer
New member
No, the tank hasn't been empty of water since i bought it, and i change 10% weekly like clockwork.
JeffSauer
New member
sg?
wooden_reefer
New member
IT IS THE WATER or In the water!!!
You are still stuck with water chemical quality only.
It is the waterborne pathogens in the water in a closed system.
Water chemistry is only one facet (the easy facet) of keeping fish well. There is a whole dimension about the pathogens that is concentrated in the water due to the closed nature of an aquarium.
You have to really allow this idea to sink in. Really think about it.
uhupong
New member
JeffSauer
New member
ok, i understand. I just figured that everything would have been taken care of during that 6 month fallow period i had. seriously...nothing was in it with the lights turned off for 6 months. So how would i go about getting rid of these pathogens? Is there a way i can test for it?
Do i need to do a 100% water change?
wooden_reefer
New member
6 months of real fallow period will rid a tank of ich. Did you remove ALL fish from the tank during that period?
Did you actively treat the fish in a separate tank for at least 8 weeks while you wait for the fallow period to expire?
I'm not talking empty of water, I'm talking empty of living organisms. Without their waste products, the bacteria needed to convert ammonia to nitrate die off. If your tank has water but no other waste-generating organisms in it for 6 months, it's basically a new tank.
SG = specific gravity.
Wouldn't hurt.
Whe adding fish to a new tank, think about this.
The 1st fish goes in. You have cycled the tank meaning that there is a population of bacteria equal to the bioload that you had in the tank, ie equal to a rotting shrimp, or whatever you used to cycle the tank. The bacteria population is in equilibrium with the bioload, which is slight. Next, you add a fish. The bioload doubles or triples. Suddenly, the bacteria cannot keep up with the bioload. Ammonia rises. Nitrites rise. The bacteria population grows, and slowly consume the ammonia and nitrites. Then the bacteria are again in equilibrium with the bioload. The next fish added now increases the bioload, maybe doubling it or less this time. The bacteria again are behind, but can catch up faster because there are more to start with and because you have upset the bioload by a relatively lower amount. The next fish will only increase bioload by 33%, and the system responds even faster. Eventually, you can add a couple of fish at a time and the tank will hardly notice. This is an established tank.
Your tank is new, and you need to slowly add fish, one at a time to get the tank established. I usually add a fish and wait around 6 weeks til I add another fish. And I don't add if the other fish are sick or not eating or not healthy. Once the tank is established, you can add more than one fish at a time, or add them more quickly.
When the tank gets upset, high ammonia, nitrite or whatever, chances are that your fish will get sick or die. The advice above on quarantining and ich is great advice.
Tangs are very prone to ich.
Buying healthy fish is also very important. I always make sure the fish is eating in the LFS tank. Also, I look closely at the transparent fins and look for spots or blotches or fin damage. These are all signs of disease - ich, velvet, fin rot. I also watch them breathing. Fast breathing is a bad sign. Scratching is a bad sign.
I use copper to treat ich. It works. Most other ich cures out there do not work. There are other non medicine ways to kill it, but I find that copper works just fine for me. But it will kill all inverts.
I hope this helps.
The 1st fish goes in. You have cycled the tank meaning that there is a population of bacteria equal to the bioload that you had in the tank, ie equal to a rotting shrimp, or whatever you used to cycle the tank. The bacteria population is in equilibrium with the bioload, which is slight. Next, you add a fish. The bioload doubles or triples. Suddenly, the bacteria cannot keep up with the bioload. Ammonia rises. Nitrites rise. The bacteria population grows, and slowly consume the ammonia and nitrites. Then the bacteria are again in equilibrium with the bioload. The next fish added now increases the bioload, maybe doubling it or less this time. The bacteria again are behind, but can catch up faster because there are more to start with and because you have upset the bioload by a relatively lower amount. The next fish will only increase bioload by 33%, and the system responds even faster. Eventually, you can add a couple of fish at a time and the tank will hardly notice. This is an established tank.
Your tank is new, and you need to slowly add fish, one at a time to get the tank established. I usually add a fish and wait around 6 weeks til I add another fish. And I don't add if the other fish are sick or not eating or not healthy. Once the tank is established, you can add more than one fish at a time, or add them more quickly.
When the tank gets upset, high ammonia, nitrite or whatever, chances are that your fish will get sick or die. The advice above on quarantining and ich is great advice.
Tangs are very prone to ich.
Buying healthy fish is also very important. I always make sure the fish is eating in the LFS tank. Also, I look closely at the transparent fins and look for spots or blotches or fin damage. These are all signs of disease - ich, velvet, fin rot. I also watch them breathing. Fast breathing is a bad sign. Scratching is a bad sign.
I use copper to treat ich. It works. Most other ich cures out there do not work. There are other non medicine ways to kill it, but I find that copper works just fine for me. But it will kill all inverts.
I hope this helps.
wooden_reefer
New member
He meant empty of bioload.
It is not just empty but having low bioload.
Nitrification bacteria will live only for a certain period when there is no ammonia or nitrite, their food. You do not need to worry for about three weeks, but longer than three weeks I always take measure to make sure that there will be enough nitrification bacteria.
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