Major Problem!!!!!!! Please Help!

[SpyderSpy6]

If anyone has been following my situations... I had an issue with my pH dropping about a week and half ago... now I've run into an even worse situation.

Everything was great, plants were growing very well, and fish looked great. I did a water change today and everything went south, really fast. All of a sudden my discus started acting dull, their fins are tucked down and two of them seem to have formed minor patches of clouds on their eyes. Everything I've read has told me that it is because of poor water. Then, 4 fish died on me... 3 rummy nose tetra's and 1 algae eater.

I immediately started with a 2nd round of water change and cleaned my filter out to help offset the situation.

My hygrophilia, which grows faster than I can usually trim, has started to droop on the top. The other plants seem ok, but those have all started to wilt a little.

A couple things I think may have made a difference...

1. I recently removed a water softner pillow according to advice I received, and I also added Chemi-pure. *still fish have been fine for over a week with these conditions*

2. In my water change I added PimaFix & MelaFix to help with some of their fins. They have been picking at each other quit a bit and I thought it would help with some of that scale re-growth.

Because of the instant change I put some carbon in my hang on filter to remove the PimaFix & MelaFix, and put the softner pillow back in my canister to help lower the hardness of the tap.

*Another long shot is that I have a puffer tank that I use the bucket for and some salt residue may have been in the bucket. I always rinse it, and I've done this for 2 years now with no issues though. If it is because a little bit of salt got in there, what do I do to take it out???

I don't know why this is happening... all of a sudden in the past two weeks I have had some major fluctuations with my tank and I don't understand. If anyone has any ideas please let me know!!!!

PLEASE HELP!!

[gm72]

Wow, you've got major problems that I don't understand. I'll be eager to hear some of the responses here. I truly wish I could help!

[Kaga's Kritters]

a little bit of salt in the tank won't hurt.

have you tested the water you are using to do your water changes? is it tap water or well water? do you use a water conditioner?

[Fishalicious]

It sounds like too many changes too quick over a short period of time.. what are your test readings? I would test the water... let us know...

[Lady Hobbs]

Oh MY gosh. Look what I just found where searching today.

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1601

Possibly this could be what happened to you too?

[Lady Hobbs]

Doing a bit more reading and found some posts that recommend if using PimaFix or MelaFix on loaches or Discus to only use half doses. I find no reason to ever use both these products at once. They treat different things so why do people always dose with both, I wonder? It is very strong smelling.

Frankly, I would use something very mild for your Discus like stress coat and not Melafix or Primafix.

[sailor]

Sorry to hear of your losses and your problem. Are you on city water? There has been the odd occasion when the city will unexpectedly put an extra amount of chemicals such as chlorine etc in through the system with out any forwarning. It plays havoc in a water change if you don't know about it. There is a member of another forum who lost his entire colony of wild caught frontosa because of a situation like this. So maybe give your city a call and see if something like this has happened recently.

Sailor

[SpyderSpy6]

Thank you to everyone that replied! Thank you Mrs. Hobbs for the link, that did help, just a little too late. I've thrown out my medication and will never use either again. That among one other reason, is the only thing I can think that would have changed the stability of my tank...

In respone....

1. I have learned to never use salt in a discus aquarium. Doesn't mean you can't, I've been told that it will damage their biological "slime" coat.

2. Multiple water changes on a discus tank are a must. Changing the water as often as I did was not out of the ordinary. I did increase my water changes the past 24 hours because the fish responded to the changes, but only for a couple hours and then back to bummin'. In fact, I think it was the only thing keeping them going until I talked to my local fish guy and began an antibiotic regiment in the tank.

Narrowing down the issue...

I believe it was wood shrimp I purchased a little over a week ago to help filter a little bit of the debris in the water. It died a couple days after putting him in there. The next day all this began. I believe the bacteria had time to multiple and just took off because of the temperature I keep my tank.

I have a puffer tank that I use the same water for, and that tank is crystal clear with no issues, fish are amazing. I keep a strict water changing schedule and rarely make any changes to my habits. I can only think it to be the shrimp I bought. It also became more apparent reason when I realized that the last time I bought a tank mate from this specific store, it made my tank sick.

WORD TO THE WISE--> Find a local fish store that is of very high water quality, fish look good, and don't see any problems... STICK WITH THEM! I have a local fish guy and it seems every time I go to another store and actually purchase a fish, something will go wrong.
*That could be coincidence, but after the issue I've had, I've decided it's not worth saving $20 bucks on a tankmate!!!!!!!!!!!!
*************

Since this fiasco, I have began a regiment of Maracyn and Maracyn II. My discus are showing signs of both a gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial infection. I also wouldn't be able to handle losing these fish :o) so I'd rather be safe than sorry. I checked to make sure that mixing the medicine was safe and I've began the recommended dosing and my fish actually showed some signs of normality about 2 hours after I had dosed the tank.

Unfortunately I did lose a handful of homie's, but I think I have caught it soon enough for my discus to recover.

I will keep an update of what's going on and if any other situation occurs, until this thread is closed. THANK YOU to everyone that responded! The community here has been more than helpful!

[Lady Hobbs]

I would love to hear how it goes for you so please keep us updated. I wouldn't have tossed the Melafix and Primafix. Just not used them on the discus.

Good luck to you and your fish. I sure hope they recover.

[snapdragon9]

Does your LFS sell R.O water? We use R.O whenever we do water changes on discus and do it often.