New Fish Dead In Quarantine Tank By Day 6 Leaving Mystery Items

[StormyRen]

 Sorry in advance this is so long. 

I recently bought 13 fish from my lfs on Wednesday September 30th. I had already set up a 5g quarantine tank for them because I refuse to introduce new fish to my shrimp tanks without quarantining and medicating them to make sure they're okay. I bought 8 rasbora hets (3 jumped out of their acclamation vessel so ended up with 5), the last 4 kubotai rasboras, and a blue platy  (for hair algae control). I was already skeptical about purchasing from my lfs because just by looking at their stock over multiple visits I could tell they were not being correctly taken care of. After my purchase I had asked the owner of my lfs if the water systems were shared between tanks because I noticed that some rams had very bad ich. I hadn't even had time to let him know that some guppies and other fish looked out of sorts before he gave me the excuse that he had changed too much water out of the rams tank and that each section of tanks shared their own system. That's when he let the cat out of the bag, "I never medicate unless I HAVE to." .....uuuuhhhhhh, what?! I kept thinking no wonder these poor things look like crap most of the time I come in here. He also gloated about how their tanks had been updated to planted tanks, an "all natural system you've never seen before," were his exact words in conjunction with not medicating unless he had to..... Yeah, I've seen systems like that before, and just because your tanks have plants doesn't mean they magically heal your fish when you get them in. Needless to say I'd rather drive ALL the way to petsmart to get fish than shop there again... so sad. So I got my "rescues" home and set them up with a quarantine med schedule. I used General cure, erythromycin, and ich x. By day 3 everyone was fine so I fed some frozen daphnia and micro pellets. Day 4 one of the rasbora hets disappeared and another began to act very odd. It would swim with little fin movement then suddenly would jerk its head violently for a while. After this it would swim off like nothing happened. The platy and kubotai all seemed fine. They were active and seemed normal. By day 5 I was missing a kubotai and and 2 hets. The remaining fish seemed fine except a kubotai began to swim and jerk erratically like the het that had already passed away. Within a few hours of noticing the kubotai behavior it was dead. This morning, day 6, after I got home all I have left alive are 2 hets and the platy. Viewing their current behavior I'm not sure they will be okay, and I have found very odd looking items on the floor of the tank. They look like fish poo, or maybe large worms (possibly dead ones) that the fish passed. I'm hoping someone may have an idea of what they are from the pictures. Truthfully I have little hope the 3 remaining fish will make it through quarantine. 

[Brandy]

Poop I think...tho not healthy poop. My test in the poop vs worm debate has always been to poke it with a stick. If it is poop it will disintegrate usually, a worm that large will retain its shape and you should be able to lift it from the tank intact with a skewer or forceps if you are gentle. Possibly you could even net it. Once out of the tank with magnification it should look like a worm with defined ends.

[StormyRen]

Unfortunately I don't have a microscope. 😞 I'll see if it will fall apart though. So far the last 3 fish (2 rasbora hets and the platy) are still alive. I'm going to be doing a water change then letting them rest for at least 2 weeks before I dose the quarantine meds again. 

 

Update: 

Make that 1 rasbora het and 1 platy. One of my hets just died... I'll never buy from my lfs again other than non live items and frozen foods. 

Edited October 6, 2020 by StormyRen
Lost another fish within 2 hours of last check.