JimboMo

A small update since my last post. I have four galaxy rasbora and two chili rasboras remaining in my tank, since the death of the Koi guppy last month I've had no other fish loss (fingers crossed this continues). I've noted that the remaining fish appear to be far more active , are eating well and have good colour. One of the remaining chili's look small and as strange as this is to try and explain, 'long'. This is how I received the fish from the LFS so i don't believe it's anything in the tank that is causing this. Shrimp and snails continue to thrive which is great to see. I'm going to continue monitoring for another month before I do anything else. I've short-listed a few UV sterilizers but have held off for the time being - this is to try and eliminate anything in the water column that could be impacting the fish....I'm feeling that this will be my last resort before a complete tank deconstruct. If all is well in a months' time I'll start thinking about getting new additions. This time following a strict quarantine routine. I've been reading up on the quarantine advice given by Aquarium co-op, great advice just a shame that getting the treatments recommended is a challenge if you live in the UK. Thanks to everyone who has contributed in this thread. Really appreciate it ❤️

@PineSong this feels like the path i'm going to have to take if it is TB. Just noticed this afternoon that my last Koi guppy is missing, i'm assuming it's passed away and has been eaten by the snails/shrimp 😞 so strange, it was eating fine, looked active enough and the next day it's gone.

Thanks @Colu - i've been using Fluke Solve for treatment of the internal parasites https://www.vetark.co.uk/products/fish/fluke-solve-aquarium it's going to be two weeks since my last treatment (have done 2 rounds so far). I've read up about Esha Ndx and from what i can see it's not shrimp safe? I have lots of shrimp in my tank. @PineSong That is really sad, sorry to hear about your tanks. With fish TB is it the case that it's not treatable and the best thing is to not add anymore fish? Sounds really bad 😞

Thank you everyone for your comments. This has been really helpful. @Rube_Goldfish and @JettsPapa - thank you for your comments on the water hardness, i won't look to change anything and will keep testing GH/KH as part of my regular testing schedule. @sumplkrum @PineSong and @Colu. Infection and/or parasites is my diagnosis now. As i've mentioned , i've treated my tank with two rounds of Vetark Fluke Solve and i'm hoping this is going to stop anymore fish deaths. It's difficult to get expel p in the UK unfortunately. So far there has been no more fish deaths however i'm concerned with two of my galaxy rasbora who are looking skinny and look to be getting a curved spine which causing alarm as i believe this is a symptom of Fish TB?

Hi everyone. My API GH & KH test kit arrived today. I've completed the test following the instructions closely. The results are: KH , 6 ºdKH (107.4ppm) GH, 11 ºdKH (196.9ppm) I'm trying to understand what this means, my current understanding is that the KH is ok but the GH is too high (?). If this is the case, is there a way I could go about reducing the GH? Many thanks

Hi Tanked, thanks for the message. The Api test kit I have doesn't include those tests. I've ordered the GH and KH tests and will follow the instructions

Hi AtomicSunfish, Many thanks for your suggestion, i've just checked if my LFS has a test kit for hardness and they do. Will be looking to pick this up later.

Hi Tlindsey, apologies i'm not clear in my original post. Nitrites are 0ppm. I'm on top of water testing via API master test kit. in terms of quarantine the new fish - no, and i know that's a big mistake and a lesson learned for me. I'll currently setting up a quarantine tank.

Hi Flumpweesel , thank you for the reply. Yes all the fish are from the same shop, this is due to the fact that it's the only shop available where I live . I have a good relationship with the shop, they get their fish from a reputable whole seller in the UK. On arrival they are transfered to me without going in the LFS selling/holding tanks. In terms of the older fish, the two mollies I had have recently died aged 1.5 years. The oldest fish in the tank is probably around 10 months old now. During feeding, all fish are interested in food. Even the Mollies before they passed were eating.

Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could please have some guidance/help on an issue i'm currently experiencing in my community tank. Apologies if this is in the wrong sub-forum, i saw the disease sub-form and did think about posting my question in there but trying to get clear pictures of my nano fish has been challenging. I've had my community tank setup for two years now and I'm struggling to keep my fish alive which is really bringing me down. I've tried various different things ranging from a filter change (done safely by running the old filter until new canister filter was established) , changing foods and keeping on top of regular tank maintenance. I tend to stick to nano fish and recently in the last 3 months brought some galaxy rasbora , a honey gourami and koi guppies to add to my chilli rasboras, endlers and two mollies that i had. Slowly over these 3 months i've lost a lot of fish. The symptoms of the fish tend to be the same, the fish start looking skinny, perhaps not as active but still feed, when I return in the morning i either see that a fish has passed or they have gone completely. I'm putting disappearance down to the shrimps and snails doing their thing. The shrimp and snails in my tank seem to be doing great, lots of new baby shrimp from the cherry shrimp, Amano shrimp are doing great and the nerite snail has been doing well since i got it last year. I've assumed that there is an internal parasite that has been introduced. As i have shrimp/snails and i'm based in the UK i've been limited with what treatment I can put in the tank. I went with Vetark Fluke Solve Aquarium and have just finished a 2nd round of treatment (2nd round completed after 3 weeks post a water change). Parameters of the tank are fine. 0 Ammonia, Nitrite and between 10-20ppm for Nitrates - should be good for a planted tank. PH is 7.4. My tap water is very high in Nitrate at over 40ppm so i tend to do water changes with a bit of treated tap water and RO that has a re-mineral powder mixed in with it. I'm stuck on what to do next , i only did the second round of treatment last Friday so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that in the event it was a parasite then it's been treated. In the meantime, what else can I do? There will be no more fish introduced until i feel confident that i've sorted this problem out. Thank you for any support/help