fish dying

[Brenda4]

Hi there,I have a 55g with dwarf chiclids,this week i've lost numerous fish,have done all my water changes religiously and checked all peraminters,all read Opm.I did notice a extremly small wiggly worm guy in filter system,it mush be the problem,i've never had this before.It moves in a figure 8 pattern,and is so tiny i almost missed it,just happened to be on counter when water splashed from filter.Wwhat is it and how do I treat tank? I have added new fish in the last month,but none of them have survived.Does anyone have any suggestions?all help a preciated, Thanks in advance.Brenda

[Wingin' It]

What are the symptoms that you're seeing? Are the fish eating? Thrashing about? Gasping?

[Brenda4]

I haven't noticed any thing, but by morning there is usually a dead fish,I have been reading about parasites, but I don't see anything wrong with fish,no worm hanging out of anus or gills?I have a sand bottom, the fish that have died are rusty and kribs, my multies are fine.

[Darren88]

if i had to guess i would say a parasite of somekind

[Brenda4]

I just dug around and found some parasite stuff added to tank,was'nt enough but will have to do til I get to store tomorrow.

[Darren88]

it might be a good idea to get some aquarium healing salt as well

[jvision]

I highly doubt the worm is a parasite. Parasites live IN the fish not the filter. I've seen small worms in just about every heavily fed tank I have. They are probably nematodes - harmless.

How many new fish did you add, and where did you get them? If you added too many at a time, your filter may not have enough bacteria to process the ammonia they produce; and, because they are new and experienced the most stress lately, they'd be the most susceptible.

[knifefishfan]

try checking for white poop. might be internal parasite.

[CursiveDuck]

Jvision raises a great point. I've seen tons of parasites, and they're generally internal or if they are external you'd see them attached to the fish most likely like Ich. Worms from the gills, swollen red bumps, or swollen anal areas are great indicators of parasites, but little worms in the filter doesn't necessarily mean anything. They could just be nematodes. Have you done anything out of the normal lately? Possibly to large of a water change without adding a bacterial supplement? Or what's your heat temperature at? I know I recently had to readjust all my heaters because they weren't keeping the tanks at the right temperatures anymore because it's gotten colder out. I'd look for other symptoms possibly before wasting any money trying to kill off harmless nematodes.

[Ishkabod]

I was thinking internal as well. If it was a parasite in the gills that could easily be a problem as well since you won't be able to see it but you would see 'flashing' aka the fish trying to scratch their gills repetedly against a hard surface. You also said you had rustyies and kribs. From my understanding the rusties are mbuna and overfeeding can cause malawi bloat and the main symptom in bloating in the belly combined with white stringy poop. You might have accidently over fed them due to the addition of more fish. I completely understand overfeeding so that everybody at least gets some but if you do that switch to NLS and only feed once a day and skip a day a week.

Right now we are all guessing wildly as to what it could be. Natures Corner Store reccomends Jungle Paracite clear (even though they don't currently stock it) for internal parasites. It's a good general cure but knowing exactly what we are treating results in much leass stress for you and especially for the fish(resulting in less death).

Before you add just any paracite medication be sure to either completely remove whatever it was you added last night OR buy more of the same stuff so you can complete a full doseage.

You can also add Aquarium safe salt to the tank. By gradually increaseing the amount of salt content in the tank you can kill off a wide variety of pests.

Generally speaking Healthy unstressed fish aren't very susceptable to dieing from diseases.

Good luck and i hope you find the cause of the isssue.

L

[Brenda4]

Thanks for all the information.I normally put salt in when I do a water change.It also could be these fish were to old, I've had them for a few years now,but doesn't explain the new fish dying.I have butterfly loach in the same tank and they are usually my first indicatiors that something is wrong.they are fine.I will try a few water changes after treatment and see if this stops.Thanks again.

[Jayba]

Next one that dies you could dissect it and check it over, if you have the stomach for that kind of thing

[Brenda4]

I was thinking of that,so long as I know what the differnce between an intestine and a parasite. I am looking up parasites, hopefully they have pictures.

[Jayba]

It's also tough unless its really obvious or you have a microscope and know what u are looking at.

[Brenda4]

I have a bigger problem, I fished out 8 more fish today,had to move everything to find them.I;ve only got 4 rusties, 2 albino plecos,2 red rams,some multies,and my F1 petricolas,1 krib,left. I have a large filter on for a 80gal,its only a 55g,have had on for over a year.I added more parasite med to bring up to recommended dose,It says to leave48 hrs,then do water change and add carbon?How long do you leave carbon to get rid of meds before replacing again>How much more salt can I add, without harming the plants in there.Wish I could figure this one out?