New to Alberta

Update! Ever since cutting the tank water with R/O instead of straight tap there has been quite an improvement in the tank. The fish are showing prime coloration and seem happier/perkier. There isn't any signs of illness at all so life is good.

What is their symptoms before dying?

Good to hear and all the best of luck to you. Especially with quitting smoking - keep at it even though this was probably a very stressful day.

Yes, I have heard that myself also and seen some of the health effects of these types of rams at the LFS I worked at in Halifax. Mostly I had only observed a wasting away of health but never anything like this. I'm not ruling it out though but am worried that it is either something viral or parasitic (God forbid) or may just be something poisoning/toxic to these fish in the tap water. I only mention the tap water because it is the only differenciating factor between the tanks and the incidents occured right after a decent partial water change. I don't see any other cases posted like this though on this site explaining that Edmonton water can be adverse to keeping Rams. I'm currently researching alkalosis and possibly some type of heavy metal poisoning. Hopefully someone can help shed some light on this for me and maybe has had a similar experience. In the mean time I'm going to get my friend to start cutting his water with R/O like myself - can't hurt. I don't want to advise to start hitting the tank with meds as there are some live plants in the tank and other sensitive fish species - without a proper or reasonably suspected culprit we'd just be shooting in the dark and probaqbly make thing worse. Yikes! Thanks for the help though and if you know a good source of rams we'd appreciate it.

I agree - start doing some daily partial water changes. Those waste levels are not good at all. Any Nitrite is toxic and how it is toxic is that it makes it harder for oxygen to be absorbed in the blood. The fish might have been fighting for just enough oxygen or in a weakened state of health until the pump was shut offand then they just couldn't survive at that level. Also, cut back on feeding for a bit to help lower the waste levels. I would monitor your Nitrates on a more frequent basis as that level is really undesirable for optimum fish health. Oh and a quick remedy for Nitrite poisoning is the addition of aquarium salt which won't bother your type of fish at all or add some Prime to the tank as it also can aid in detoxifying the effects of Nitrite. Hope this helps you out. As to what caused this to happen in the first place could be a combination of things. It may have been that your waste (Nitrate) levels have been slowly rising to the point that they are at now which is extremely high. Then when you cut back some of the filtration causing your bacterial counts to drop temporarly the high waste levels at the point they had reached overwhelmed your system to not being able to process the situation causing the toxic Nitrite. Normally this would not occur in situations where wastes are kept lower. I have seen this happen many times in older established tanks where water parameters are not monitored on a regular basis and the aquarist always sticks to the same cleaning regime. All it takes over time, is running a little later here in doing a water change, and feeding a bit more here at other times, and adding a fish or two, or fish getting bigger or breeding, which slowly adds more and more waste (Nitrate) creeping up to undesirable levels for the environment. Then one small incident occurs to break the camels back so to speak and disaster strikes. I'm happy you have caught the situation before it got too out of hand for you. My heart breaks for the people who have told me that they have lost a whole tank of beloved fish. Test your water at least once a month and do some extra water changes from time to time making sure to really siphon out that gravel. I know when I kept cichlid tanks I really get in there under the rocks and stuff and move around some decor to get at that gunk hiding under there at least once or twice a year.

My friend and I bought some ram chilids from the same sources and two of his have died from something I haven't seen before in my experience with fish health. I am wondering if anyone might provide some info on what this may be as I am currently at a loss as to what the diagnosis is and how to remedy it. I am also concerned for mine even though I haven't experienced the problem in the ones I purchased as of yet. Both tanks are quite similar in water parameters as in 0 amonia/nitrite and a trace of nitrate the only difference being that I have softened my water with some R/O water and his is straight tap (treated with Prime of course). Here are the symptoms that have occured leading to death of the fish quite quickly. Fish appears a bit shy or lethergic and then is swimming weakly, laying on side breathing heavily, to losing equilibrium and flipping up side down. All this seems to take place in a matter of a day both times soon after a partial water change. The only other mild symptoms before this was a bit of a cloudy slime coat and a dark coloration patch on a surviving ram that did not fall prey to the other symptoms. We are both pretty experienced fish keepers so we have ruled out any of the typical stuff like Ph flux - toxic fish waste parameters - temp flux - aggression - overcrowding etc...and I have inspected/tested the tank myself on both occasions. Also both tanks were set up for many months before adding the rams and have other unaffected fish like cardinal tetra and rummy nose. P.S. - They rams were in the tank a few weeks after purchase before they died and I think were not of the same store.

Congrats! What kind of water parameters did they spawn in? Are you doing anything special to get them to breed? I haven't ever kept soft water species in the kind of water that comes out of the tap in Alberta before and am now trying to do so but cutting it with RO water. Just wondering on how other people are making out.

Where is the best place that will have or order parts for Aquaclear filters in Edmonton? or if you know of an easy way to just order them myself? I've looked around but couldn't find hardly anything.

From closer inspection of your pictures it doesn't look like Lymphocystis. If the Melafix isn't strong enough for a cure I'd try Moroxy.

Weird- why did that post twice. How do you delete it?

It could be an infection due to improper or poor water quality. Do lots of water changes and treat with Melafix. I like to do 25% daily water changes in situations like these. I have found in keeping these fish that they get infections if the Nitrates get too high or if the PH is wrong. I believe this particular type of rainbow likes a higher ph 7 or above. If this isn't the case then it's probably nodular disease (Lymphocystis). Uncurable - a bit disfiguring - and usually not too contageous unless it's spreading through a species. I find gouramis prone to this disease. I'd still use the Melafix incase of secondary infection at the site. If the area is red at all then it's probably a water irritant like previously mentioned. See below for a description of Lymphocystis; Symptoms: Nodular white swellings (cauliflower) on fins or body. Lymphocystis is a virus and, being a virus, affects the cells of the fish. It usually manifests itself as abnormally large white lumps (cauliflower) on the fins or other parts of the body. It can be infectious, but is usually not fatal. Unfortunately, there is no cure. Fortunately, this is a rare disease. There are two suggested treatments. One treatment is to remove and destroy the infected fish as soon as possible. The other treatment is to simply separate the infected fish for several months and hope for remission, which usually does occur. I have seen fish live a pretty healthy life with this disease when water conditions are kept ideal.

It could be an infection due to improper or poor water quality. Do lots of water changes and treat with Melafix. I like to do 25% daily water changes in situations like these. I have found in keeping these fish that they get infections if the Nitrates get too high or if the PH is wrong. I believe this particular type of rainbow likes a higher ph 7 or above. If this isn't the case then it's probably nodular disease (Lymphocystis). Uncurable - a bit disfiguring - and usually not too contageous unless it's spreading through a species. I find gouramis prone to this disease. I'd still use the Melafix incase of secondary infection at the site. If the area is red at all then it's probably a water irritant like previously mentioned. See below for a description of Lymphocystis; Symptoms: Nodular white swellings (cauliflower) on fins or body. Lymphocystis is a virus and, being a virus, affects the cells of the fish. It usually manifests itself as abnormally large white lumps (cauliflower) on the fins or other parts of the body. It can be infectious, but is usually not fatal. Unfortunately, there is no cure. Fortunately, this is a rare disease. There are two suggested treatments. One treatment is to remove and destroy the infected fish as soon as possible. The other treatment is to simply separate the infected fish for several months and hope for remission, which usually does occur. I have seen fish live a pretty healthy life with this disease when water conditions are kept ideal.

ooops didn't want to post on this topic.

Thanks for the help everyone. This will aid me in my planning.

Hi everyone! I don't know if this is the correct spot to post this question or if the answer is already on here - but here goes anyway. Does anyone know what the water paramnters for West Edmonton are? PH, Harness, etc..... Any help with this is appreciated. I will be getting some test kits eventually but I'd like a head start in my tank planning. Thanks.

How are you making out? All the best to you and your fishies!

Oh yeah! Here is another useful fact. Salt helps to detoxify the effects of Nitrite poisoning in fish. Yah aquarium salt - good for almost anything.

There shouldn't be a concern in the meds affecting the cycling of the tank too much. Parasite meds won't kill the growth of beneficial bacteria but may slow it down a bit. I dd note though once the ick is clear there is still the concern of the tank finishing it's cycling so that the partial water changes, Ammonia,Nitrite and Nitrate monitering, and sparce feeding ahould continue. Also, I feel 6 gallons may be too small a tank for the fish being kept. You have to take in account the full adult size of each fish in the one inch of fish per gallon ratio. I don't know how many fish are in the tank right now so I'll only worry about the problem at hand until I know more.

Hi, I have 4 years experience working in a quaranteen facility in a fish store and have dealt successfully with ich many times. You should absolutely do daily partial water changes - 30%. Follow the previous advise on getting an ammo remover also. This will help with that problem but you still have to worry about a Nitrite spike next so keep up with the water changes until your tank is properly cycled. Note - you have a large bio load for such a small tank which may still cause future health issues. Back to the problem at hand though - Get a Ich remedy that you dose every day so that after you water change you can treat the ich also (Ex; Clout)- then after treating the meds it's lights off as I've heard that ich is light sensitive and the meds will be more effective in darker conditions. Stop feeding - this will also cut back on you waste issue and improve water quality which is much more crucial than feeding fish that really don't require it every day. I suggest a very small amount only every 3 days for the next couple of weeks. The tetras can withstand the meds and even if they are a sensitive you have to get the ich cured or it will over come the fish anyways. Follow the prevoius advise on turning up the temp also and be very careful to use the same temp water or slightly warmer when doing water changes as fish are very sensitive to a slightly cooler temp shock. Hmmmm I think I've covered everything - oh yes - if you don't have any live plants you can do a 1tsp to 5 gal aquarium salt ratio added to the tank. Aquarium salt in combo with all the above mentioned will give you a very strong chance in killing off the ich and if used short term will not effect the tetras. All the best to you and your fish!

The most common hitchhiker a person can get in their saltwater tank is aptasia (spelling may be wrong). This is a pesky anemone that can spreed like a weed if left unchecked. It will sting your other corals and small fish, so you don't want to let them grow out of control in your tank even if it is fish only. There are a couple of ways to get rid of these guys, even critters that will eat them (easiest way to eliminate). Peppermint shrimp do a great job if you aren't keeping any preditors. Hopefully you figure out what you have shortly. Saltwater tanks are always full of surprises - mostly good though.

Ahhh hole in the head disease/lateral line disease. This is something I know quite a bit about. In my experience the most common cause is high Nitrates. These fish in paticular are very sensitive to Nitrates and or Phosphates in their water. Luckly more frequent water changes are all that's required to remedy this. Another contributer to this disease is poor diet. I would invest in some frozen food specially formulated for Discus. No worries on this being aggression as your decription of the problem is defiently this disease. Although anything that may stress out Discus can cause a quick declince in these fishes immune system so I would do some research on the proper tank environment and tank mates for these fish and follow it. A lot of fish or even overly active fish can cause health problems to occur with Discus. Hopefully this helps. If you have any other questions for me feel free to ask. Discus are lovely fish but need a certain environment to bring them to their best. P.S. You shouldn't need to medicate unless the holes show signs of a secondary bacterial infection or are larger than the size of 2mm. A clean and healthy, stress free environment should do the trick.

You could eveb transfer the media into a bucket with a bubbler or powerhead to get the bacteria going again and keep your filters active until you can get yourself a new tank.

Welcome!!!

Really good advice here guys!!! I know that Ick can be hard to spot on loaches so keep a very close eye out for it - putting the temp up should help with this. Ick can hide in the gills and not be noticed right away. This could attribute to the pale color. Keep the lights in the tank dimmed also.

My next plan of attack when all else fails to find a solution, would be to buy your next froggies from another source. It could be that the store is selling their livestock to soon after they receive them from shipment. I would inquire how long the frogs have been settled down before purchasing - atleast a week or two should be safe. Then once you get your new guys home take some time settleing them in to your tank environment by floating the bag for 10 min to equalize the temp and then slowly start adding your tank water to the bag in quarter cups every 5 min or so until you have about doubled the amount of water in the bag. Then release the frog into your tank. If you want to be extra causious, then try adding an anti-bacterial remedy to your tank for about a week after they have been added. In my 4 years experience settling down these guys in quarenteen, I have found Melifix to be a safe preventitive for bacterial infections which these little guys seem to be most prone to after the stresses of shipment. I haven't had any adverse reactions to using this herbal medication. Other then this I can't think of anything else that might be the problem without viewing the situation personally. I will only note on the careful side that maybe cut down on the size of the water changes that you are doing. Try no larger than 30% in a day.