Med Trio killing my fish? What am I doing wrong?

[Slash]

So I got into the hobby because of Cory and Aquarium Coop. My daughter wanted a pet so we decided on a Betta, looking for information on Betta care lead to many hours watching ALL aquarium coop videos and my own 29 gallon aquarium. I have Celestial Pearl Danios, pygmy corydoras, shrimp and 2 honey gouramis. 

I've had a lot of trouble finding Celestial Pearl Danios in my area, they are always sold out as soon as the stores get them. I still only have 5 because some have been dying. I noticed some won't eat, have concave stomachs and twitch a lot. I didn't want to quarantine my fish because it seemed like so much work, buying another setup...etc. But I got one and it had all the symptoms again so I got the med trio from Aquarium Coop.

I put it in a 5 gallon bucket with the nano usb sponge filter. I did not put a heater in but my thermometer said it was about 78 all the time, just from room temperature. I added the med trio, half dosages since it's a 5 gallon. I cut the powders into lines to divide it up. I took out the sick Danio and put it in the bucket. The filter was cycled by the way from being in my 29 gallon for a few weeks as extra filtration. The danio died about 4 hours later.

A few weeks later I bought 2 more Celestial Pearl Danios from the store. I put them in with my healthy ones. I noticed they weren't eating and they looked a little twitchy so after 2 days I got a new setup, a 5 gallon aquarium and repeated the process like I did in the bucket. They lasted about 6 hours before also dying. 

I've watched all of Cory's videos on the meds and fish diseases. All I can think of is maybe they were too sick to survive treatment, Another possibility is I added the meds too soon after the Ultimate water conditioner. I waited an hour. Could I be missing something?  I want to buy more and quarantine them properly but I'm getting discouraged from treating any more. 

 

[Colu]

What are you water parameters

[Slash]

I didn't think it was necessary to give water parameters because it was new clean water, but here are the parameters anyway:

Ammonia 0

NO3 0

NO2 0

PH 7.0

KH 40

GH 30

The PH, KH and GH are pretty consistent, as I get those readings in my 29 gallon all the time too and the fish in there are fine.

 

[Colu]

Ultimate water conditioner can interfere with some meds but they could have been to weak to be treated with all 3 meds at once I would treat with general cure with the symptoms your fish showing look like parasitic infection API stress coat is safe to use with general cure

Edited January 24, 2021 by Colu

[quikv6]

I think you should double check the temperature with another thermometer.

Also, a bucket wouldn't be ideal to observe the fish under the meds/quarantine...there may be signs of what's actually wrong, but you just can't see them in a colored bucket.

[Mr_Manifesto]

If these danios do have something, then the whole tank they have been in has been exposed, I would treat the whole tank and not worry about the bucket

[Slash]

There's a lot of fixation on the bucket. I used it once for one danio that died. After that I bit the bullet and got a 5 gallon aquarium and used it to treat 2 new ones that also died after the med trio. I'm not going to treat my entire 29 gallon. The plan originally was to quarantine new fish with the med trio going forward.

All the other fish in my 29 gallon are fine and have been fine. Since the fish I treated with the meds are died I am not going to treat the healthy ones and risk killing all my fish. 

[Lowells Fish Lab]

Hi Slash,

I've experienced the same trouble with CPD's. It's been very frustrating but after several rounds that ended poorly, I've managed to get a group that has so far been stable and healthy and are actively breeding.

I'm not an expert, but if a friend asked me for help with what you're describing, these are the opinions I would offer:

Some LFS keep them too warm because they are kept with other fish that need higher temperature. I've even received advice from a few stores that CPD need to be kept at 78-80F. This is totally contrary to the literature on their care I have been able to find. Low to mid 70's is said to be a more appropriate temperature range. I currently keep mine at 73.

Only bring home new CPD that look healthy and well-fed (round but not swollen, and active). Just because a CPD is male doesn't mean its stomach should be concave to the point that gills are jutting out to its sides. Bringing home fish that aren't already on a downhill slope will help them get through any stress from your preventative treatment. 

Assume that they are sick (at the very least with internal parasites) when you bring them home. Use the med trio as Cory has recommended (which is different than the instructions on the box) and make sure the water is well-oxygenated.

I really hope it works out for you, it sounds like you're doing everything you can. Best of luck.

 

edit: I have to second the recommendation to treat your other fish at least with the paracleanse/general cure. Whatever the issue was afflicting my first rounds of CPD, I watched it spread. Even if your other fish can survive it, they could easily transmit it back to your CPD when you introduce them to the community.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Lowells Fish Lab

[Slash]

Thanks everyone, especially @Lowells Fish LabAfter reading your post I had the opportunity to buy more CBDs at my LFS but they did not look too good so I held off. I plan on adding more eventually but I'll be more selective. 

I'm considering doing a round of just general cure(Aquarium Co-op's Frtiz Paracleanse). I must say I'm still a little afraid it might kill all my fish, but they are all pretty healthy looking. So they're more likely to survive treatment....but if they are fine then is it worth the risk?

I know he's super busy but I thought I'd tag @Coryjust in case he might weight in. I'm in the hobby entirely because of Cory and his videos.  Just got my 5th order from Aquarium Co-op yesterday with my Discus Sticker. Hoping to get the Corydora one soon, I don't know what order number that one is...

Also this might seem crazy but maybe not to members of this forum; I watched and liked EVERY single Aquarium Coop YouTube video. Took my over about 8 months! I feel like an expert now but I'm well aware there are millions of things I still don't know and will be learning the rest of my life.

[Cory]

I read the thread originally, and think you got good advice. The things I would point out. Taking fish from a store to home, is a stressful event. Typically CPDs have low body weight as their are harder to feed than a normal fish. This means that while they can look healthy even, they may not have lots of nutrition in them. Then they enter an uncycled 5 gallon aquarium causing more stress. Finally then they are hit with meds that cause more stress.

The goal I believe will be setting up an environment that is easier on the transition of the fish. We treat CPDs with the med trio virtually every week, hundreds at a time, and have a very low mortality rate. Our quarantine tanks are also pretty large space wise and dimly lit which cpds prefer and well cycled.

Also my stance on not using meds on the display fish. The trio is significantly weaker if you only treat the new fish coming in, and then mix them with fish that didn't go through the trio. The bare minimum I'd recommend is at least paracleanse on the existing stock.

[FreshwaterFacet]

I’m sorry to hear about your CPD’s but I’m glad this forum has brought about some good information. 

So @Cory, if one was looking to add some more Corydoras to a 40 gallon display tank, would it be unreasonable or unhealthy to trio treat the whole tank? Almost as a “fresh start” for the whole stock?  

I wouldn’t make a habit of this as I add new fish in the future necessarily.. I just didn’t understand the value of trio treating and quarantining until recently! 
 

Thanks!
 

 

 

[Cory]

If done sparingly, dosing the main tank works. You just don't want to continually redose meds on fish as it wear son their kidneys.