Alexis22 Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Hi new to this. Did my research and cycled a 5 gallon tank with 4 guppies. Lost 3 during cycling and attributed it to nitrites and the cycling. My last one I finally discovered what I think was going on is flukes or parasites. They all had the listed symptoms (gasping at top, lethargy, fin issues and weird orange poop then death) and each had the same symptoms before death. I started treating the fish and tank with Paraguard and doing dips but it wasn’t enough he passed today. My tank has been cycled for about 6 days now so I know it’s more than cycling now. I was told to leave the tank a week then vaccuum and water change and I should be ok to get new fish. Is this true- will the parasites and any eggs die in a week with no host? Anything else I can do to purify the tank without killing bacteria? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theplatymaster Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 i believe that @Colu knows alot about this subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darax Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 I'm parasite paranoid. If all my fish died off - I'd over medicate the tank for a week or two (still no fish) personally I have on hand paraguard, paracleanse, zero planaria and expel-p. - then id change the water big time, add carbon for a few days, toss in some fish food and monitor ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. - once nitrites and ammonia is zero I'd get one male guppy, and see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Paraguard isn't a very effective medication for treating flukes you would want to treat with prazipro or paracleanse as you did a fish in cycle that could be the cause of some of your losses some of the symptoms you describe can be caused by ammonia and nitrite what were you water parameters when you started to lose fish what I would do is get a bottle of Dr Tim's ammonia or add a small amount of fish food daily to cycle your tank before adding fish you want to see a raise in ammonia and nitrite then a raise in nitrates to about 10-20ppm and then zero ammonia and nitrite before adding more fish and gradually add fish don't put them all in at once add two lightly feed and test your water for a week then add two more @Alexis22 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis22 Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 I started with 2 fish then added two more after a week. But I was having trouble with my nitrites they were about 3-4 (second and third areas towards the middle of the test strips). Even with doing small water changes and adding nitrifying bacteria I was struggling with it. I suspect the water parameters stressed the fish for sure. A few might have died from it alone. However the last two certainly had the orange poop and listed symptoms. And I noticed visible scale issues. Today my tank is reading 0 ammonia 0 nitrites. Ok so do this for about a week and wait for a spike then another drop to zero? I was told I could prob get all 4 fish together since I had 4 to begin with. I’m afraid to go slow adding bc I believe that’s how I brought sickness last time. Can I do the paracleanse or expel p now to treat an empty tank? Or does it only work on the fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 (edited) On 1/20/2023 at 8:47 PM, Alexis22 said: I started with 2 fish then added two more after a week. But I was having trouble with my nitrites they were about 3-4 (second and third areas towards the middle of the test strips). Even with doing small water changes and adding nitrifying bacteria I was struggling with it. I suspect the water parameters stressed the fish for sure. A few might have died from it alone. However the last two certainly had the orange poop and listed symptoms. And I noticed visible scale issues. Today my tank is reading 0 ammonia 0 nitrites. Ok so do this for about a week and wait for a spike then another drop to zero? I was told I could prob get all 4 fish together since I had 4 to begin with. I’m afraid to go slow adding bc I believe that’s how I brought sickness last time. Can I do the paracleanse or expel p now to treat an empty tank? Or does it only work on the fish? If you want to dose the tank with with paracleanse before adding new fish to kill any suspected parasites you can do that nitrite poisoning can cause hanging near the surface rapid breathing lethargy loss of Gill colour orange coloured poop can be caused by the food your feeding you usually get white stringy poop when your fish have parasites ammonia can cause scale damage bottled bacterial doesn't do anything speed up the cycling process when you add new fish if you get ammonia or nitrite spike you want to do is test daily and daily 50% water changes and add a double dose of prime every 24hr to help detoxify any ammonia or nitrite till they constantly stay at zero Edited January 23, 2023 by Colu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis22 Posted January 21, 2023 Author Share Posted January 21, 2023 Thank you! Should I remove my charcoal filter if I dose the tank with para cleanse? And if I do won’t the bacteria die on it being out of the water? I have had the coarse sponge in behind the charcoal filter for roughly 2 weeks. Do you think there is enough on it I can eliminate that charcoal filter now for good? Also does paracleanse hurt the beneficial bacteria? My cycled tank is really new so trying to baby it. But I feel a dose would be good before any new fish come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 21, 2023 Share Posted January 21, 2023 (edited) Active carbon will adsorb any medication you put in the tank if your going to treat you will have to remove it paracleanse shouldn't harm your benefial bacterial what I would do is add a small amount of fish food every day to provide an ammonia souce to feed your benefial bacterial to keep your cycle going @Alexis22 Edited January 23, 2023 by Colu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis22 Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 Ok so I dosed the tank yesterday with paracleanse. Following the instructions for use. When I removed my charcoal filter it had some brownish banding on top. I swished it in some old water and the water turned light brown. Is this just food decaying? Or algae? I feed with super color flakes. Also this is my water sample today. Is my water too hard? I know guppies like harder water but what amount. Last I’m seeing zero nitrates is that bad? I expected to see some nitrites or nitrates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 On 1/25/2023 at 12:31 PM, Alexis22 said: Ok so I dosed the tank yesterday with paracleanse. Following the instructions for use. When I removed my charcoal filter it had some brownish banding on top. I swished it in some old water and the water turned light brown. Is this just food decaying? Or algae? I feed with super color flakes. Also this is my water sample today. Is my water too hard? I know guppies like harder water but what amount. Last I’m seeing zero nitrates is that bad? I expected to see some nitrites or nitrates I have multiple tanks with guppies, and your pH and KH look very similar to mine, but I don't know what's going on with your GH since that color doesn't look like any of the options on the chart. As far as I know zero nitrates is only a potential problem if you have plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 (edited) On 1/25/2023 at 12:52 PM, JettsPapa said: I have multiple tanks with guppies, and your pH and KH look very similar to mine, but I don't know what's going on with your GH since that color doesn't look like any of the options on the chart. As far as I know zero nitrates is only a potential problem if you have plants. I believe that shade for GH is basically off scale high. What do you call that pH, JettsPapa? Edited January 25, 2023 by jwcarlson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 On 1/25/2023 at 1:01 PM, jwcarlson said: I believe that shade for GH is basically off scale high. I suspect you're right. On 1/25/2023 at 1:01 PM, jwcarlson said: What do you call that pH, JettsPapa? In the past when I tested my water with the liquid test kit it always showed up as 8.2, so I'm going with that. I haven't used that one in quite a while, and now just use the strips to see if I need to add fertilizer (with my plant load even heavily stocked tanks frequently test at zero nitrates, and rarely over 20 ppm). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 (edited) Yep, that's all I use them for is nitrates. And to see if there's nitrites if I've got something cycling or QT tank with high load to see if I need to change water. Unfortunately, everything below the nitrite tab I don't feel is worth having for me personally. But that's because my pH is very high at 8.3 and my hardness levels are through the roof. But I absolutely love them for nitrates, so much better than the liquid tests and quite accurate when I've compared the two. Edited January 25, 2023 by jwcarlson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis22 Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 On 1/21/2023 at 5:20 PM, Colu said: @Colu So I finished the paracleanse and did a 50% water change and cleaned my tank today. I’ve been adding a pinch of food to feed the bacteria. I’ve read 0 nitrites and nitrates every day of testing for over a week. I know you mentioned to wait for a spike then decline to zero. Do I need to do that or am I ok to add two guppies next week? I’m wondering if maybe the spike can’t be achieved in a fishless tank without Dr Tim’s ammonia? Maybe my food isn’t enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 On 1/29/2023 at 1:52 AM, Alexis22 said: On 1/21/2023 at 10:20 PM, Colu said: @Colu So I finished the paracleanse and did a 50% water change and cleaned my tank today. I’ve been adding a pinch of food to feed the bacteria. I’ve read 0 nitrites and nitrates every day of testing for over a week. I know you mentioned to wait for a spike then decline to zero. Do I need to do that or am I ok to add two guppies next week? I’m wondering if maybe the spike can’t be achieved in a fishless tank without Dr Tim’s ammonia? Maybe my food isn’t enough? Have you seen a rise ammonia then it gradually go done to zero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis22 Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 No. I haven’t tested for ammonia daily but every time I have I have read zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 On 1/29/2023 at 1:15 PM, Alexis22 said: No. I haven’t tested for ammonia daily but every time I have I have read zero. I think it's safe to start adding some fish I would feed them very lightly in the first week and keep a close eye on your ammonia and nitrites if you register any ammonia or nitrites than I would do a 50% water change and add a double dose of prime to help detoxify any ammonia or nitrites every 24hr till your ammonia and nitrite constantly stay at zero after a week if you haven't had any ammonia or nitrite spikes I would add a couple more fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis22 Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 Thank you. I will do this. Appreciate all the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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