New Tank, Ich and Dying Danios

[DianaHart]

I set up my ten gallon, planted (anubias, hornwort, indian fern, bacopa monnieri, saggitaria), with diy co2, tank on April 13th.

There was a female and three males, and they were breeding every morning, totally active...perfect. I did 25 % pwcevery morning, ammonia never got over .25 ml/l and Nitrite never over .3 ml/l (according to Tetra test kit)
I bought three zebra danios to get the cycle started ( i should have done a fishless cycle, i know now), and they were wonderful until April 27th, when the ich came.

I treated with Rid ich, continued pwc's before treatment. There were no spots after four days, I continued treatment for few more days, then put the carbon back in the filter to remove medication. 3 days ago ( May 4th) all 4 of my danios were either on the bottom, hiding under a rock, or at the top of the tank, very lethargic, at times flashing, swimming erratically, reddened gills, gasping heavily. ph 6.8 , ammonia 0, nitrite less than .3 (lowest the test kit goes), nitrate low but visible at less than 5, temp 23 celsius.

The female died first the night before last, and this morning, one of the males has spasmed his way out of the world.

So now I have two danios...i see that there is a spot on of them (ich has returned, or never went away, probably because the temp was too low) , so more Rid Ich this morning. They are not at the bottom of the tank anymore, but are still acting slightly lethargic at times.

Levels are Ph 7.0
Gh 4
Kh 1
ammonia 0
nitrite - less than .3
nitrate under 5
temp 23 - 24 c

Water conditioner - Hikari Ultimate X
Food - Omega One colour flakes
- frozen bloodworms (Hikari)

I understand that the fish could have irreparable damage from the cycle, and that they have been weakened.
Is there anything I've missed, other than the fishless cycle?

Thanks for any ideas.

[Phillyb]

hey man i was always told about bumping the tempt 80-84 and adding lil aquarium salt.

good luck philly

[DianaHart]

salt can work but apparently danios can't handle salt...i'm slowly raising the temp..it's at 24 now...

[szavi]

I set up my ten gallon, planted (anubias, hornwort, indian fern, bacopa monnieri, saggitaria), with diy co2, tank on April 13th.

There was a female and three males, and they were breeding every morning, totally active...perfect. I did 25 % pwcevery morning, ammonia never got over .25 ml/l and Nitrite never over .3 ml/l (according to Tetra test kit)
I bought three zebra danios to get the cycle started ( i should have done a fishless cycle, i know now), and they were wonderful until April 27th, when the ich came.

I treated with Rid ich, continued pwc's before treatment. There were no spots after four days, I continued treatment for few more days, then put the carbon back in the filter to remove medication. 3 days ago ( May 4th) all 4 of my danios were either on the bottom, hiding under a rock, or at the top of the tank, very lethargic, at times flashing, swimming erratically, reddened gills, gasping heavily. ph 6.8 , ammonia 0, nitrite less than .3 (lowest the test kit goes), nitrate low but visible at less than 5, temp 23 celsius.

The female died first the night before last, and this morning, one of the males has spasmed his way out of the world.

So now I have two danios...i see that there is a spot on of them (ich has returned, or never went away, probably because the temp was too low) , so more Rid Ich this morning. They are not at the bottom of the tank anymore, but are still acting slightly lethargic at times.

Levels are Ph 7.0
Gh 4
Kh 1
ammonia 0
nitrite - less than .3
nitrate under 5
temp 23 - 24 c

Water conditioner - Hikari Ultimate X
Food - Omega One colour flakes
- frozen bloodworms (Hikari)

I understand that the fish could have irreparable damage from the cycle, and that they have been weakened.
Is there anything I've missed, other than the fishless cycle?

Thanks for any ideas.

Sounds like this is quite a new setup and might have needed a bit more time to establish its bacteria colonies. Once established you should have 0 readings for your amonia and nitrite. Ich likes to rear its ugly head when fish are stressed and if your tank insn't properly cycled fish your fish could have been stressed. I have also found that too much water changing in a small tank before properly being cycled can also cause fish stress. Do you used biological booster like API Stress-Zyme or Seachem Stability, these help to rapidly establish your bio filter.

If you do get ich I would recomend Seachem Para Guard. Check out Seachem's site and follow their on line dirrections exactly and you'll rid your tank. And it does take 10-14 days to kill all the parasites, as the free swimming infectious stage is the only time they can be killed.

Go to their site and read for yourself, the aswers to most questions can all be answered, plus their tech support will get back to within 24hrs with any other questions.

Good luck,

Sean

[DianaHart]

I haven't used any bio boosters, just time and some ehiem rocks in the filter...Is ParaGaurd safe for plants?

[szavi]

Absolutely, No problems just follow the instructions.

Please read all you can about seachem's products. There are tons of great articles from begginer to advanced. You'll learn alot. There is even great articles on tank cycling.
Check it out as I suspect your tank may not have been properly cycled. Remember cycling is not just 20 days then full speed ahead. You need to go gradually, adding fish slowly so bacterial colonies can grow in relation to your biological load.

Sean

Go Canucks Go

Join the fun, join the VAHS

[DianaHart]

I have been doing some reading on SeaChem products... they're marketed well.
I'm not sure I have to change the medication though, I'm rasing the temp slowly and going to dose with Rid Ich tomorrow.

I did a 50 pwc today and it seemed to ease the stress on the danios

I was trying for a silent cycle, and I never did get any ammonia spikes. Nitrite got to .5 at the highest. Ammonia has been reading 0 since April 21st and Nitrites 0 ( less than .3) since April 25th.

[Nanokid]

hey

sounds like your tank is new, that happens. i find the older and more bio-diverse tanks are the most stable.

is your PH changing a - lot? you problem sounds like PH fluxuations. how did you cycle the tank?

[DianaHart]

My ph has been pretty stable in the 6.5 to 6.8 range from the beginning. It went up to 7.2 on May 5, 7.0 yesterday and today it is back in the 6.5 -6.8 range after a water change. The first fish died on May 4th, and the Ph was higher than it has been.
It is a very new tank, the fish went in April 13th, so not even a month old. I am starting up a little 4 1/2 gallon as a quarantine tank at the moment, and I'm going to cycle with Ammonia, no fish.
At the moment, the Ph is back to 6.5.

[rescuepenguin]

When you do your ich treatments, bump the temp. up, that will speed up the parasite life cycle, do a vacuum on the gravel, hopefully that will suck up eggs in the substrate. Bleach and declorinate your vacuum and bucket.

If you do lose your fish, clean out your tank and you can use pure ammonia for a fishless cycle. There have been several articles written on the subject.

Steve