Black Moor Sick!!! Please HELP!!

[priesman_8]

Hello everyone,

I am a little new at owning and operating a fish tank. I have had an established tank for little over 6 months now. Recently my fiance and I went out of town for a long weekend. I did a 5gal water change and scrubbed some of the algae off the front off my 26gal tank and vaccumed the gravel a little before we left. We don't have an automatic timer for the light yet so we just kept it off for the 3 days we were gone. When we came back my two fish Ginger my goldfish and El Negro Derado my black moor were acting and eating like normal. After a couple days I noticed when I was feeding them for the night that my black moor has a fuzzy/cottony film on the back of his tails and it looks like he may have a slight fin rot starting. I brought my water to the local pet store and they said my Nitrates were high, I got the med called Prime and haven't introduced it yet because I didn't want to add to many chemicals when my fish wasn't doing so hot. I also bought that stuff call primafix? Well after I got home I put the correct dosage in there and started looking at my black moor and wondering if it was maybe Ick. He doesn't have spot spots per say, just a couple areas where the white seemed thicker than others. So yesterday I went and bought Ick meds. I put that in there last night. I know I probably shouldn't have introduced the Ick meds so quickly but I wanted to treat it before it got worse. Now this morning when I woke up my Black Moor was hanging at the bottom by the air filters. He didn't come up to the front of the tank as usual and didn't have an appetite. Every once in awhile he would swim around the tank briefly but that was about it. I noticed he has white poop now this morning and is breathing really heavily. I honestly am at a lose on what to do. I gave him more of the Primafix this morning and now I am at work stressing over it. I was thinking about doing a water change but was unsure. I did take the carbon out of the filter last night and just put a brand new filter in there without carbon. Any thoughts? I could use all the advice I can get. Also when I do the water changes I just buy spring water from the store. Thanks everyone!

 

[jlk]

Welcome to AA!!! Ok, first thing is you absolutely need a liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph. This isn't an 'option'. The API fw master test kit is available at most lfs. Please invest in one as soon as possible.

The symptoms your describing are the result of water quality problems. Removing your cycled media plus adding unnecessary chemicals has likely further pushed your tank into a tailspin of water quality problems. So, we need to get your water quality back in order first. Then, your going to have a long road of daily testing and water changes until your tank cycle is back to normal. I will post some cycling information below.

Start by doing a 50% water change right now. Make SURE you temperature match and properly condition ALL new water. Use Prime (its the best water conditioner out there) as your water conditioner and do NOT add anything else. No chemicals, pimafix, salt, etc. Wait an hour or two then do another 50% water change. Do a third this evening. Use Prime every single time you do a water change and continue to use Prime for every water change in the future. Make sure dyou do a good gravel vac to remove waste and debris as well.

As soon as you have a good liquid test kit, please test your parameters and post your results and we can further advise. Few tips on the tests- the ammonia and nitrate tests are 2-step tests (make sure you read the directions carefully). All test solutions need to be very well shaken before using. The nitrate bottles need to be violently shaken and the bottles banged on a hard surface for a minute before testing (very important to avoid false results). Please ask if you have any questions!!

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

 

[priesman_8]

Thank you very much. Yeah like I said I am new at this and when things get out of whack I tend to freak and over medicate (so my fiance tells me) which I know to be true, I just hate seeing my sweet buddy not feeling well. I will be at work until about 5:30 this evening. When I get home I will do a water change and keep doing them all weekend. So I don't need any of these meds? Awesome! I hate giving them meds, it always worries me for some reason. I will start using the prime and I don't use a heater on my tank. The temp averages from 71 to 73 and thats the highest. I was just thinking the fish had some kind of infection because my other goldfish Ginger is acting completely normal. Thanks for the advice and I will keep updating the progress. I just hope El Negro Derado makes it while I am gone. Also should I put the carbon back in the filter?

 

[jlk]

If you still have the old filter media that you removed, stick it back in your filter. Lets work on the water changes (wcs) and see how everyone is doing over the next couple of days with lots of healthy water. We will be able to further advise on the wcs once we have an idea of what your tank numbers read. If your moor does not improve once the water quality issues are back in order then we can consider an appropriate med.

The largest portion of fish issues are the result of poor water quality- addressing the water issues usually is enough to affect a cure. Meds should only be used (appropriately) when they are necessary. If any point your moor takes a turn for the worse, please let us know asap! Keep us posted on how things are going!

 

[priesman_8]

Your Amazing!!! Thank you!

 

[priesman_8]

So my fish ended up passing away before I got home from work. The other fish in there is completely healthy and hasn't acted any different. I did big water change on the tank when I go home Friday and vaccum some of the gravel. Thanks for all the tips, I just didn't get there soon enough

 

[jlk]

I am very sorry to hear this