Newbie with random loss of life

[Joe D]

Hello, my wife and I have been in the hobby for less than a year.  Once we got through the terror of learning about the nitrogen cycle with live fish we thought things were clear and dandy.  Then one day in December we lost a guppy pretty randomly didn’t think anything of it.  A few months goes by and we lost a platy, then one of our glo fish danios very quickly faded away to nothing, at which point I thought for sure the glo fish had a parasite.  To be certain we treated all of our tanks with general cure per the instructions for a week.  I also made anti parasite food with metroplex and focus. Thought that should nip everything in the bud but now we have a sick guppy with dropsy, scales are pineconing imagine it doesn’t have much time.  Throughout this whole process ph is stable at 7.2 no ammonia or nitrite spikes and I change the water as soon as the test creeps towards 40 nitrate.  
 

The sick guppy is currently isolated with epsom salt and melafix.  Am I missing anything?  Have I done something wrong, I don’t want to keep killing fish but it seems that I keep getting them sick despite keeping up parameters.  Thanks.

 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Joe D

[Biotope Biologist]

Hmm sunken abdominal cavity and clamped fins is for sure a sign of stress. Dropsy is almost always a sign of a bacterial infection in the gut and can be an indication that the water quality is poor. How often exactly are you changing water? And how much? 

 

Where did you buy the fish from and did you notice if they had received a fresh shipment?

 

Melafix is often recommended for external body damage, not internal infections or parasites. Pimenta extract and paracleanse would be more effective at treating the conditions you describe.

[Joe D]

I test twice weekly on Wednesday and Sunday using API master kit, when Nitrates become dark orange or close to 40 I change like 1/3 of the tank.  Which is usually every 10-14 days.

[Biotope Biologist]

In a newly cycled tank I would change that much about once every 7 days. When conditions become more stable you can change your water change schedule. Nitrates are good in a new tank and in order to have a healthy bacteria colony, you will need to allow them to break it down. Plants can also utilize nitrates. I do not believe that this is what your issue is though. I have sold lots of glofish (tm) and they are almost never healthy specimens. 

 

I would go ahead with the treatment I suggested, follow the instructions for administering them. Neither of these medications will effect water quality, hopefully you can help your glofish (tm) and guppy recover.

[Joe D]

Is there any reason why you would recommend paracleanse over general cure?  Aren’t they the same thing? 

[Colu]

Paracleanse has the same active ingredient as general cure I would treat your sick guppy with maracyn as melafix is not a very effective med for treating bacterial infection 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Colu