fishbee Posted April 15, 2008 Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 hi...calling all the x-pert. i'm a newbie, i have an american display tank. my big oscar has some tiny growth on the base of the fins for awhile and now its spreading throughout, and starting losing some of the membrane (some due to fighting but the rest are due to this whittish growths). normally they grow back quickly, but not now and now my devil and especially all my fenestratus having similar symptoms. one day i saw the base of the largest fennie's fin turn red..(like bleeding) did water change... dose em up with everything from multi cure , rapid white spot remedy, salt, fungus cure didnt seem to do any good... look up on the net, no similar diseases.. will post pics tomorrow. thanks heaps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoWeR Posted April 15, 2008 Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 Have you tested you water? ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph etc. A lot of fishy problems come from the water. If you don't have the test kits then take a sample of water down to your local fish shop. I hope you didn't put all the treatments in together, as that would stress your fish more than help them. Have changed the tank around lately? added something new, taken something out? How and when did you last clean the filter? What type of filter? Are you fish still eating ok? swimming ok? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbeer Posted April 15, 2008 Report Share Posted April 15, 2008 red fins suggest bacterial infection. Do your tests and take a photo of your fish and post here and I think people will be able to help more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbee Posted April 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 tried to no avail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbee Posted April 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 hey guys my ph is about 7.5 the guy at the lfs said the nitrate is quite high as well, didn't give me any number though..he also told me to feed my fish garlic...has anyone heard bout this method? i actually put in a brand new tank with all new water plus conditioner and i did clean the filter using tapwater is 2400ltrph cannister by the way. vacuum the gravel before transfering them, add a pair of blackbelt, salt, couple of claypot stipped all the palstic plants and driftwoods... the end result... 400ltr tanks, big cannister filter, 2 claypots which were in the old tank, pair of devils, pair of blackbelt, 5 fennies,large male oscar and a pleco..but that was 2 months ago.. all the fish still alive, but male devil only eating once every 2 days eversince their eggs got cleaned up by the pleco 4 weeks ago, and he's nowhere as aggro as when he was single 7 weeks ago.. but still swimming normal. tried to upload some pics but don't know how.. don't know what to do.. (don't wanna lose all the fish either) thanks for any suggestions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japes Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 400L tank, and you've got.. 1 Oscar 2 Red Devils 2 Blackbelts 5 Fennies = Vieja fenestratus? 1 Pleco How big are they, because that sounds scarily overstocked. Sounds like your Nitrates are worryingly high as the LFS has mentioned and unless you're doing daily or bi-daily water changes I would not be keeping that many fish in the tank if they're around 10" each. The main cause behind bacterial growths is high nitrates and bad water quality so I'd say thats you're problem. I'd be splitting those fish up into appropriately sized tanks as soon as possible and treating the affected fish with Pimafix, Melafix and Aquarium salt at 1mg/L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbee Posted April 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 [/img] here's the sick old man... notice the white pimples like spots all over the fin and at the base of the fin [/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbeer Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 I think there is a few things happening here. Firstly have you been told about cycling a tank? Please read this linky if not sure about it all http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Beginnin ... _Your_Tank You should have a number of test kits on hand. The main parameters to test are pH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite and hardness. Good shopping place for your test kits http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/cata ... 9&catID=22 This mini kit is missing the nitrate test but a good starting place. WIth a new filter and the description you have given it sounds like you have had the tank cycle with the fish in there (cycling takes about 1 month. Lucky that nothing worse has gone wrong in all honesty.) The fish that you have look good big fish - but do need really good water quality and diet to avoid a range of illnesses - the worst being hole in the head. A good fish shop will ask you how big your tank is and what you have got before selling you a fish. A bad shop cares about the sale and tells you what you want to hear. If someone told you that you can keep that many fish - unfortunatly you have had bad advice. Please read this linky on how many fish to keep in a tank. The old rule used to be an inch of fish per gallon of water - this gives about 100 inches of fish in your tank. This rule is actually quite high and I would keep less! You have got 300+ inches of fish in your tank ....... http://malawicichlids.com/mw01019.htm So what now? I like Japes advice - but if you do not have any more tanks - I would suggest lets get them healthy and then get back to reasonable numbers. I would suggest daily water changes - can you age water in a big tub ( 200 L)? I would suggest go with the salt treatment and clean water at first - and lets see how it goes. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japes Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Well that looks like some sort of fungus or possibly fin rot, I'm not really educated in those diseases, but I imagine they stem from high Nitrate levels. If you've got the fish I listed in a 400L tank that size I definitely think you either need to start doing water changes a lot more often, or get rid of some fish. Should heal with good quality water by the looks of things. Could be wrong though, anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbee Posted April 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 thanks guys for the advice... i'll do water changes more often then.. (my water bill might go up more often too then well have to sacrifice some shower time btw anyone interested in any of those fish? the oscar is about27-30cms cost me 45 bucks 2 years ago (male) fennies bout 10-15 cms say $15 ea (1m 2f) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breeder87 Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 hey fishbee i might be interested in the fennies sent you a pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
