TB outbreak cycling tank

[mululah]

I have recently bought a new tank 8.4UKgal (9.4USgal) and decided to use zebra danios to help cycle it before re-homing them (for my hospital tank). My sister also did the same. Between us we bought 12 danios from the same shop and same tank in the shop. Within six days all of my danios had died and all but one of hers had died. We have been searching forums for the possible cause of death. Water quality is good Am, nI & nA all at nil. We several suspects for the cause of death the worst being fish Tb as they have exhibited several signs, but they have also exhibited signs of strep. Main symptoms - listlessness, unwilling to feed, bleeding around fins, disintegration of fins (all of mine lost all their tails!), thinness, scales protruding and coming lose (but no bloating -not dropsy), mouth parts disintegrated, slow heavy breathing, erractic swimming (mine swam tail down and head up backwards) and staying at the bottom of the tank about 2cm above substrate with tails drooped,arched back. As mine have all died and she only has one left that doesn't look good what should we do before reusing tanks?- such as aquatic plants, gravel and ornaments - how should we treat them. Also she has three other danios from the same batch in a different tank on their own - how can we treat as there are no signs as yet that they carry the disease?

[rollie]

i do not think it was tb. i would say it was ammonia. did you check your ammonia level. also did you check your ph level.

[mululah]

Checked the ammonia level it was nil. Ph is about 7.6 (just above neutral). Sister had her fish disagnosed at lfs as i had already disposed of mine.

[rollie]

not nameing names, but some pet shops should not be selling fish. i see things like this every day.

[CoryCat]

*Jumps on Mululah's head* Hello Sis, found the site, said my hellos and jumped on you... what do I do next?.. oh yeah I join the plea for anyone to help us in how we should go about stripping the tanks down for re-use, my last remaining Danio is looking like he is on the way out and to be honest if he gets any worse I will use clove oil and put the poor little blighter out of his pain :(

The symptons seem to match so many of the various illnesses that it is really hard to say what it is, but the lfs guy said it sounded like TB and that we should take all the precautions, what he didn't say was how the heck to restart.

Any info is greatly reieved and appreciated, thanks mateys XXxx

[rollie]

emply the tank. wash it out with salt. wash everything that was in tank useing salt and water. if you got gravel or sand boil it. then put all back in. and you good to go. next time only buy 2 or 3 fish, to begin with.

do not think it was tb. why, i got tb and spend over 2 years in hospital.

[CoryCat]

emply the tank. wash it out with salt. wash everything that was in tank useing salt and water. if you got gravel or sand boil it. then put all back in. and you good to go. next time only buy 2 or 3 fish, to begin with.

do not think it was tb. why, i got tb and spend over 2 years in hospital.

Regular salt, or should we use the aqaurium stuff? I have a natural immunity to TB and never had to have the vaccine, and both me and my sister are extreamly careful with the tanks anyways, we always use antibac handwash and scrub after messing in the tanks, as I have 4 I always do this to avoid cross contamination from tank to tank, even when they are healthy. The risks from fish TB are very small, you must have been really unlucky hunni, I am sorry you were ill for so long XXxx

[rollie]

you say your fish was bleeding around fins and scales protruding. scales protruding point to either a high or low ph. bleeding around fins would point to reded of the skin. Pimafix will help that.

[CoryCat]

you say your fish was bleeding around fins and scales protruding. scales protruding point to either a high or low ph. bleeding around fins would point to reded of the skin. Pimafix will help that.

Mine weren't, and the PH in the tanks is arounf 7.6/7.5 so neither high nor low :( The whole thing has us both stumped and more then a little upset at loosing so many and not being able to do anything about it. Thanks for your help Rollie, you have been great in replying so fast :) Raised and loose scales are a sign of sevreal diseases and so are many of the other symptoms which is why it has been so hard to diagnose, they fit so many illnesses, we only thought TB becauase of what the guy said and the fact the symptoms match with more of TB then any other. Tis a mystery and one I hope is not repeated ever again in any of my tanks or Mul's. XXxx

[tieu]

my fish were also dieing and the fish shop owner guy told me to use rain water since then none of my fish including danios have died. wonder if that would help :)

[William]

Did you wash the tanks before you set the up ? with what?

Did you use any water treatment on the water when you set the tanks up?

To add to Rollies advice
[quote]
emply the tank. wash it out with salt. wash everything that was in tank useing salt and water. if you got gravel or sand boil it. then put all back in. and you good to go. next time only buy 2 or 3 fish, to begin with. [quote]

I would like to suggest buying fish from another store next time if you have the possibility. Can't say wether it was anything wrong with the fish but as rollie saud. Some shops shouldnät be selling fish.

[mululah]

I should clarify some info for you. I have three tanks a 90l which has five goldfish,six minnows and originally 6 danios. I also have a small tank 19l (which did have three coreys, three neons and three head and tail lights - I lost a neon and then one of the coreys looked sick - water checked and levels through roof so fish went to my sister's cycled tank to recover - they are all doing really well and i want them back) - becuse they got ill and we saw a really good deal on a larger tank 38l we bought one and to cycle it in readiness for my coreys etc i got six danios. As i had already had a close shave with the coreys etc we decided we could shift the dans out of the coldwater tank to cycle my small tank (as a hospital tank) - they will be reintroduced back to the goldfish when everything has settled. The fish that I have lost were the ones that were cycling the 38l tank. All of my other fish are fine and all of the tanks have been set up exactly the same - except the goldies don't have a heater.
I have used tapsafe - a dechlorinator available at most lfs here and everytime i do a water change i use it accordingly.
I would think this would suggest there are no problem with the water straight from our taps and that it was the fish that were the problem.

Thanks anyway for all the advice you have given, sis and I will keep you posted on the remaining danio she has at her house, the new set-up I am attempting.- what should we do with the plants?

[CoryCat]

My tank was rinsed with hot water, as have all my others upon setup.

I use a de-chlorinator and chlorime remover in all of my tanks for set up and every water change.

I am not going to buy fish from that store again, although I know one of the guys that works there, he has no control over the fish health etc, as he is just staff, so no dissrespect to him.

In short I did absolutley nothing different from when all my other tanks were set up, I have over time had one or 2 losses, but hey haven't we all, but nothing of this magnetude has ever hit my tanks.

When I restart the tank I am going to clone it from my 55gal, I have brought a new filter sponge for the new tank and I will just chuck away the other one, this new filter sponge is neatly tucked indie my 55gals filter right now and will be transplanted when I restart along with gravel etc from the 55gal and the 13gal hex.

I am very wary of the new tanks ornament and stuff and although I know that washing them would most likey kill any disease left I thinks I may just start fresh with everything and throw out all of the stuff, I may be being overcautious but I would preffer to have to buy all the gravel etc again then risk loosing anymore fish in this tank to whatever it is in there :(

The tank itself I will srcub right down with hot salt water and dry it out before the restart and keep my fingers crossed that this is enough to kill it.

[rollie]

lol. i know you was a female by how you wrote. but like you say, better to be safe than sorry. you might want to threw the plant out.

[DemonShark]

Hey I just thought all of us are males except for like two lol

[CoryCat]

Hey I just thought all of us are males except for like two lol

Nahh.. us girlies keep fish too :P

I did lose the remaining Danio from my tank and now have done a complete re-start, the tanks was washed in dilute bleach as suggested by my fish keeping mate - he has 27 tanks!!! Man he has more room then me!

The whole thing was dried out and rinsed, rinsed, rinsed. :) I threw out everything, gravel etc.. and have re-done the whole thing :) I will leave it up a week before seeding/cloning (there is no point putting my filter media and the bacterial colonies in until there are fish to keep the cycle going) When I add the filter media I will leave it 12 hours , test the water and then add fish :)

Me and my sister both have others tanks, and have not had problems like this before, I just wanted to clarify we are not brand shiny new to fish keeping, just having a few problems with new tanks and some sort of, still undentifed, outbreak that wiped the new tanks out :(

Well, it is over now, and we are starting again, I am relieved in a way, because if it was fish TB, Obviosuly I had to take even more care then usual about going from tank to tank,a nd it least with it gone (I hope) there is less risk to my other tanks, even with my precautions :)

Thanks for the help peeps, I am just sorry we lost so many, it is really frustrating when you don't know what is going on in the water :(

CoryCat XXxx

[mululah]

Yeah go girls!!

I have finally got some fish in my fluval tank - washed and scrubbed clean and left for seven days with nice clean water in (and a few snails!)
I have added three very hardy danios, they came from my goldfish tank and have been cycling my hospital tank. Am making them work hard for their keep! lol. I will be reintroducing my trpoical fish (into my smaller tank 19l) over the next few weeks -sorry sis they gonna have to bed and board with you a bit longer. How many should I reintroduce at a time and which ones - there are three corey catfish, five neons and three head and tail lights - who have been terrorising my sister's community! They will all eventually go in the fluval tank (38l) and the danios will go back with my goldfish - I think! i may use them to continue cycling my hospital tank and flip them out if a fish should become ill!! Any advice taken gratefully

[William]

Doesn't matter which order you enter those species in. Enter all the fish of one species at once since you have so few fish of each species-

[mululah]

thanks for the advice. Have taken my corey cats and head and tail lights back. Think the neons will stay with sis till my fluval tank has cycled properly and then will have them all in the fluval (38l) tank eventually. Might get some more corey cats to keep my smaller tank cycled.