HELP!!!!!!

First topic message reminder :

Ok so here is a rundown. I have a 90 gallong African Tank, I use salt, PH 8.2 and do water changes.
I added about 20 fish in the last month, only 2 in the last week. In the last week i have lost 5 fish that i know of: 2 yellow tail acei, 2 snow white socolofi, 1 blue zebra. And i have notice white stuff and sores on some of my peacocks as well as these fish that passed on... i jsut notice yesterday.. In the last 2 weeks i have, swept gravel, done 2 waters changes, added holey rock, and added two wild caught fish. Here are some pics, please help me diagnose what it is, what is causing it and how to get rid of it

Sorry. . re-read first post. A 90g with 15 fish isnt' bad, however, no offense, but Aquaclear isn't the "best" filter. 2 of them on your tank probably isn't enough filtration. We had 2 emp 400's on our 75g with 35 fish, and they did great. Overstocking isn't a problem as long as you have enough filtration, and is necessary with some types of fish. I would do another water change before adding meds and if you are using carbon, be sure to take it out. :)

micahsutton wrote:

Fern wrote:

I think one thing is that your over stocked. You need to get a 2nd tank and thin the numbers down in the 90g

I have less then 2" per gallon for sure. I thought you were supposed to overstock on African Cichlids. I am new to africans so i might be wrong.

You can overstock, we have to. But, when you overstock, you need to provide at least double filtration, right now with what you are using, you are filtering enough for a 100g, when you need to be filtering enough for 180g. . .make sense??

Raschael wrote:

Sorry. . re-read first post. A 90g with 15 fish isnt' bad, however, no offense, but Aquaclear isn't the "best" filter. 2 of them on your tank probably isn't enough filtration. We had 2 emp 400's on our 75g with 35 fish, and they did great. Overstocking isn't a problem as long as you have enough filtration, and is necessary with some types of fish. I would do another water change before adding meds and if you are using carbon, be sure to take it out. :)

I did do a 25% water change before i added the meds. And i will do another in two days. I dont feel i am overstocked but even if i am i think i do enough water changes to make up for it. I always have been told aquaclear were great? they have always worked good for me.

Raschael wrote:

micahsutton wrote:

Fern wrote:

I think one thing is that your over stocked. You need to get a 2nd tank and thin the numbers down in the 90g

I have less then 2" per gallon for sure. I thought you were supposed to overstock on African Cichlids. I am new to africans so i might be wrong.

You can overstock, we have to. But, when you overstock, you need to provide at least double filtration, right now with what you are using, you are filtering enough for a 100g, when you need to be filtering enough for 180g. . .make sense??

The aquaclear 110 is rated for 60-110 gallon and i have two. So wouldnt that be double? or do you want the low end of the range to fall on the size of you tank. Like 90-140 rated and then have two of those?

I thought they were rated up to 55g.....sorry!!:) If you think they are working for you, then keep with them. I just figure you can never have too much filtration, especially when it comes to the health of your fish. How often are you doing water changes and how large??

Raschael wrote:

I thought they were rated up to 55g.....sorry!!:) If you think they are working for you, then keep with them. I just figure you can never have too much filtration, especially when it comes to the health of your fish. How often are you doing water changes and how large??

No i completely agree and want to add a canister filter for sure i just havent had money..... or well lets say when i get money i add fish.. not filtration. My bad... As for water changes, this last month i started doing 25% water changes every week. Before this last month i was doing water changes every two weeks but i had to up it do to me increases my amount of fish by 15. I have 37 total fish, i just counted them.

25% once a week should be fine. Thats what we have always done and only had 1 very small outbreak of fin rot and it was on a very stressed fish that we ended up re-homing. I'm sure if you keep up with the water changes and treat the water longer than the "recommended" time, it will clear up just fine. I'm not sure how much aeration you have going on, but it wouldn't hurt to increase it a bit since you will have meds in the water. Just a suggestion :) Good luck! and keep us posted on your fishy's!!

Raschael wrote:

25% once a week should be fine. Thats what we have always done and only had 1 very small outbreak of fin rot and it was on a very stressed fish that we ended up re-homing. I'm sure if you keep up with the water changes and treat the water longer than the "recommended" time, it will clear up just fine. I'm not sure how much aeration you have going on, but it wouldn't hurt to increase it a bit since you will have meds in the water. Just a suggestion :) Good luck! and keep us posted on your fishy's!!

Ok thanks for your help, i will definately try what you have told me to and hope for the best. I can tell you already from the water change and the meds i have added the fish are already acting better.

No problem, hope it helps! :)

Update:

I have another one die overnight. It was my small Aulonocara baenschi

Sorry to hear that!! They don't have red streaks in their fins or down their bodies do they???

No red streaks, but like i said there is red sores around the mouth area. It seems like whatever is on their mouth got worse overnight so obviously the medicine i put in is not helping that out.

Did you use a medication for bacteria or fungus?? If it is bacterial a fungus med won't work.

Raschael wrote:

Did you use a medication for bacteria or fungus?? If it is bacterial a fungus med won't work.

I feel stupid, i thought i bought a bacteria med and a fungus med, i guess they were both bacteria meds.

Fin Rot is bacterial, so if both meds are bacteria meds, that's a good thing. Just wanted to be sure you got the right stuff. It should have some kind of antibiotic in it. What are the active ingredients??

Raschael wrote:

Fin Rot is bacterial, so if both meds are bacteria meds, that's a good thing. Just wanted to be sure you got the right stuff. It should have some kind of antibiotic in it. What are the active ingredients??

The tablets: Nitrofurazone, Furazolidone, and Potassium Dichromate

The drops: Formalin, Malachite Green

Also i got a quick question, I use malawi african lake salt, do i need to use regular aquarium salt as well?

Ummm. . . I'm not exactly sure what kind of salt mixture malawi african salt is, but I am sure it is adequate. If you are using just a regular amount of african salt, I don't think it would hurt to add aquarium salt, but it will make it harder for the fish to breath. So, again, more aeration would be needed. I would recommend finding tablets that have tetracycline or erythromycin and/or using Melafix. I know that Petsmart carries a lot of the API products and I have always had good luck with them. If you want to switch treatments, just put carbon back in for a while to remove the meds that are in there. Feel free to stick with what you are using, I just haven't heard of those tablets. They may work though! Keep us posted! :)

The tablets are Jungle Fungus Clear, i think someone recommended them. I have used them before and they worked well. The salt i am using is Seachem:
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/CichlidLakeSalt.html

The only problem I have with the tablets is that they are "fungus clear" and fin rot is bacterial. . .not fungal. So, I am not sure that they will work to cure the fin rot. I would just keep using the salt you are using.

Ok well i have had fin rot before and it fixed it, it says on the package it will fix it too, but it is really bad this time. What do you suggest? I will try anything.

I would recommend finding tablets that have tetracycline or erythromycin and/or using Melafix. I know that Petsmart carries a lot of the API products and I have always had good luck with them. If you want to switch treatments, just put carbon back in for a while to remove the meds that are in there.

Ok i think i will try to find some of those but i will definately get some Melafix

Good luck!! Melafix worked great for us and fast.

penicillin will also be a good one to look for, some stores only carry one type of antibiotic. Any of the 3 will work.
Side note; don't get one you or your family is allergic to, I avoid erythromycin like the plague.

Thanks for the help everyone, hopefully i get through this without anymore deaths...

UPDATE:

Switched to the Melafix/Pimafix combo on tuesday. Too little too late.
My big baenschi and Red top Lwanda called it quits. So now everyone that was infected didnt make it minus the red in the pics, he is doing good. Days like this and news like this is what makes it hard to keep trying. In the last 4 days i have lost $100s of dollars, and spent about 50 just on meds. I hope it gets better....