expatswissygirl

Thank you all, Yes, I use the dechlorinator made by Fritz and did that night. 0 ammonia in water straight from the tap, the hospital tank and the death tank that now has been running for greater than 24 hours with new water. 0 chlorine in any of the three conditions Tap shows 0 nitrate and nitrite. Lower KH and GH which I would expect since I bulk the tanks with crushed coral. I usually have some nitrate but this was taken pretty soon after a big water change and gravel vacuuming. I am on city water. I do use a python it was cleaned after the other tanks were cleaned on Wed of that week. So it sat for several days. Both of those tanks are fine. Nothing is transferred between the tanks that isn't cleaned first. The fact that it was hatchet fish that died first made me think that it was on the surface of the water or at upper part of the water column. I'll go and get an API kit tomorrow. Thank you for the thoughtful answers and condolences. Maybe it was something fluky with the water that night. I'll test with the API kit and if it shows anything different update the post.

Water Parameters:0 Nitrates 0 Nitrites 150 GH 120 KH 7.6 Ph 0 Chlorine (taken Sunday and the same on Monday) Nothing new in the 29 gallon tank that receives weekly water changes. It has been up and running with fish since March. On Saturday I completed a standard 30-40% water change. Its hard to know the volume because there is probably three inches or more of substrate. Sunday morning I woke up a dead hatchet fish. Two more, Monday morning and two were found Monday after work. The last two had a red stripe in what I could only assume was the gut. Did a 50% water change then dosed Maracyn as directed. Tuesday morning more dead. Dosed Maracyn again as directed. Came home Tuesday from work and ALL of the hatchet fish were dead and now two blue kerri tetras. The entire tank to include all the plants and the walls of the tank were covered in this white slime. It was also coming out of the filter water intake (Seachem 35) also run an airstone and a small sponge filter I was cycling for a new tank. I moved all of the fish out into the hospital tank. I didn't know what to do! Did a 100% water change in the 29 gallon. That was all Monday. As of today there are only 3 tetras left out of what was 10. There are some ember tetras, to big mystery snails and panda corys left. I dosed the hospital tank with Maracyn. I have two other tanks that also received water changes on Wed last week they are fine. I clean my nets in bleach, rinse and let set for several days before I use them again. Questions: Any ideas about the white slime? Could it be the cause of the deaths? Can I dose salt with mystery snails? Do I just scrape the 29 gallon and all the plants as a loss? Tomorrow, I am going to try and set up three species only tanks on a wing, a prayer and substrate from my two healthy tanks that are left. Please let me hear your suggestions. I am afraid I am going to lose all my little guys. Thanks, Julie

Thank you! I'll do the water change now.

So, yes, I forgot to add that Sunday we added some floating plants. I have taken those all out. On Sunday I did the meds as labeled on the containers. Yesterday, I did at least a 50% water changed and dosed the tank as its described in the article. It occurred to me as I was writing the post that maybe I had overdosed the tank. I now see that one of them has white on his eyes. I stare at these guys every day but usually they are moving so fast that I'm not sure I didn't miss it. Sigh....

29 Gallon planted 5 panda corys 7 hatchet fish 2 mystery snails 1 nerite Temp 78 Nitrate: 0 Nitrite: 0 Hardness: >300 Buffer: 180 pH: 7.6 Chlorine: 0 Ammonia: 0 Need some help. Sunday I noticed that one of the hatchet was swimming lower than the others and didn't seem to be moving his fins as much. One white dot was on his "arm pit". Treated the tank with the med trio but not as Cory describes in his article, I hadn't seen it yet. Monday morning he was dead. Picture is attached but its hard to see the spot. Monday after work another one was dead. Nothing looked strange, I looked at him under and magnifying glass. Took the remaining hatchets out placed them in a hospital tank. Gravel vac'd and changed the water 50%. Re-treated the tank know with the knowledge from the post. The remaining hatchets seem a little pokey but they are all still alive. Their water is the same as above. The corys look depressed. The smallest one is hanging out in the plants. They were fine yesterday. Did I over dose my corys? The spots I highlighted is that normal anatomy? I'd appreciate any guidance. Thank you, Julie