Med trio issue? Cloudy water, fish possibly gasping at top of water.

[Brenden Mitchell]

I am entirely new to keeping fish, but have been keeping planted tanks for over a year. I have a 20 gallon long which has been running and planted for 2 months and 3 weeks. It has a sponge filter. I bough 7 white cloud minnows and put them in the tank 7 days ago. I have been feeding once a day, a couple times twice a day. They gained some weight. I've monitored my nitrite and nitrates every day, nitrites have been 0 ppm and nitrates have been 10-20 ppm. I decided to give them the med trio as a precaution, since it was recommended. 

Before I gave the med trio my tank looked and acted perfectly fine. Two days after dosing the meds I have come home from work to a very cloudy tank. The fish were breathing heavily, constantly opening and closing mouths, swimming erratically, and going to the top of the tank and gasping for a bit, then going back down and swimming erratically. 

I tested for ammonia with a liquid test, which I bought just for this issue today. I have 0 ppm ammonia.

I have moved the fish to my second tank, a planted 10 gallon w/ ghost shrimp. They are now acting themselves and seem very happy, hunting whatever microscopic critters are swimming around in there. The shrimp are terrified though. 

Anyway, I'm not sure what happened. I followed the Aquarium Co-op video for medicating with the trio to a dot. I double checked everything. After quick research, it seems like this same issue has happened to people before, using these same meds. My fish seem fine, but I'm concerned about the med trio and how intense it might be on a tank/fish. It seems to have really rocked my 20 long. 

Just for extra info, my tanks stay at 7.2ish ph. KH is 80-120. GH is 180ish. The hardness on my test strips always comes out wonky, but I know my water is pretty hard because it leaves calcium on everything. Right now the 20 long has some elevated Nitrite, it's at about 1-5 ppm - this is not normal. And the nitrates in the 20 long are 10-25 ppm. This is normal. 

Edit: Just in case it's relevant, my tanks are consistenly at 70-72 degrees F, I do not heat them. 

This is the cloudy 20 long. It was crystal clear just yesterday. ^

My fish are now happily in the 10 gallon, acting normal. 🙂

 

Anyone have any thoughts or experiences like this?

Edited September 29, 2022 by Brenden Mitchell
typo in title (fishing to fish)

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Drop an extra airstone in there when medicating as some medications change the viscosity of the water which in turn makes it hard for fishes to breathe. For a 20 gallon tank, I’d recommend using 2 air stones if at all possible.

Anytime a fish is medicated, it causes stress on the fish. As such, it is sometimes advisable to use one medication at a time. Aquarium salt also helps in conjunction with medications, as it stimulates slimecoat (protects the fish) and provides electolytes.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Brenden Mitchell]

Will aquarium salt damage my plants?

Thanks for feedback, I appreciate it. I think I will use the medications only if necessary. They did not show any signs of bacterial or fungal infections that I could recognize, so I felt the medications were purely preventative. If they are this stressful for my fish, I think I will use them slowly over time or only in response to an infection.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 9/29/2022 at 7:51 AM, Brenden Mitchell said:

Will aquarium salt damage my plants?

Yes.

On 9/29/2022 at 7:51 AM, Brenden Mitchell said:

I think I will use them slowly over time or only in response to an infection

That’s what I do. I buy fish and observe them in quarantine and only treat based off of what I see. Sometimes just salt as my preventative at the lowest dose (1 T/3gal)

[_Eric_]

Use meds only if you need to as it can be hard on the fish and some of the other things in the "ecosystem" of your tank.  It isn't a bad idea to use the trio when you get new fish in (preferably in a quarantine) but if there hasn't been any signs after a week, they are probably ok.  

The antibiotic used in the trio doesn't have as much effect on the nitrifying bacteria as it targets gram positive bacteria and the nitrifying bacteria is gram negative.  However, there are several other beneficial bacteria in our aquariums that do other things than the nitrogen cycle.  When these get out of whack, bacteria blooms in the water column can happen.  I expect that the antibiotic or some of the other meds put something off balance in your aquarium which allowed the bacteria that is blooming to thrive.  If that is what is happening, the bloom will likely go away on its own eventually as things get more in balance - probably a couple of weeks after the meds get out of the tank.  You can remove the meds through partial water changes or chemical  filtration (carbon) - just know that this won't fix the cloudy water.  It will just start the clock on the couple/few weeks for it to go away on its own.  A UV clarifier will accelerate the clearing of the water as it will kill the bacteria that is in the water column.  However, you could just wait it out and save the money.  If you do want to go that route, I've had success with the green killing machine.

If what I expect is happening is really happening, then the tank is safe for your fish while this works out.  Sounds like the meds stressed them though so I wouldn't reintroduce them until you get those out of there.  

Also, yes - salt will harm your plants.

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by _Eric_

[Brenden Mitchell]

Wow you guys are really helpful. 😁 Thanks I really appreciate the insight. I will just water change out the medications and leave the tank alone until it returns to normal.