Tank Help

[pickles4601]

Help! I have a well established 30 gallon tank. It had about 11 fish in it including banjo cat, striped Ralph, a few syno and 3 clown loaches and a random tiger barb. Saturday I noticed the barn MIA and cat was swimming oddly. He soon died. I did a 10 gallon change, siphoning all gravel and moving all the wood and rocks looking for a barb body. As the weekend progressed I lost more fish. I continued to do water changes, about 10-15 gallons at a time and removing all decorations. I cleaned the hob filters and replaced charcoal. Today the last feather fin syno and striped Ralph died. They were fine when I did a 10 gallon change this am. The only signs they show when sick are swimming funny, a bit of fraying on the barbles and fins and a loss of color. Also their slime coat appears to slough off. I though it was an ammonia spike possibly from the mia barb. I changed about 20 gallons of water a day though. I used some dip strips to test ammonia and it was fine. I did notice an odor (dirty/musty) to the water though. I have always used tap water and treated it w drops like I do for my 20 and 100 gals. (they appear fine)
My tanks have never really needed much attention,they have always been pretty balanced. I haven't added any new fish in about a month or two.
Any thoughts?

[PlecoCrazy]

What is the temperature of the tank? Are you sure the heater is working properly?
Did you find all the dead bodies?

If there is an odd smell then there is a problem. My best guess would be a dead fish stuck in your wood or something.

[pickles4601]

Heat is about 75 80. I have a thermometer.
I removed all the decorations. All that is in there is gravel and a plastic pipe.

[apistomaster]

Did the fish losses happen to coincide within 15 days of adding a new, non-quarantined fish or plant?

[Viktor Jarikov]

did you happen to remove or decrease aeration? has the airstone been always at the bottom bubbling as usual? loss/lessening of color means stress - one reason can be low oxygen; a temp hike worsens this condition.

[pickles4601]

I have not added any new plants or fish in over a month. I never ran an airstone in the tank, just used 2 hang on back filters. I removed everything from the tank but put in the 2 pipes for cover.

The smaller syno (laying on back) keeps trying to jump out.

I just returned from a water test at the LFS and both tank and tap water are fine.

The 2 syno are in bad shape. Ralph and banjo appear unaffected

Here are some pix of my situation:

[pickles4601]

more pix:

[Birger]

Was anything cleaned around the tank...the use of cleaners, windex on glass, furniture polishes, air fresheners can effect the tank and its inhabitants.
Now and then this is done by a well meaning person/relative who just does not know it can hurt the tank.

Birger

[pickles4601]

I grilled the wife and she says no.

the small syno just passed....burial at sea....

[Birger]

You probably know this but to prevent any further loss in your other tanks be very careful to not switch anything between this tank and your others...no buckets,nets or even be careful sticking your hand in this tank and then working in the others.
Other than that sorry I can not help any further.

Birger

[apistomaster]

They appear to me to have hemorrhagic septicemia which is usually bacterial but sometimes viral and always difficult to impossible to cure.
Usually brought on from exposure to overcrowded, dirty tanks with poor water quality like some exporters/importers tanks. They may have taken this long for the disease to become manifest and may have nothing to do with your husbandry. It is contagious even infecting healthy fish you may have had for a long time.

[pickles4601]

That would explain the redness on that syno on his belly by his anal fins wouldn't it?

[Viktor Jarikov]

From my experience and Larry's explanations of my problems, yes.

When my fish had symptoms like these, it is 99.99% lethal. In my large 2500 gal pond, though, no other fish (out of 20-30 total) got infected/affected, when one or two suffered and succumbed to this (?) or similar-in-appearance illness.

I never ran an airstone in the tank, just used 2 hang on back filters. I removed everything from the tank but put in the 2 pipes for cover.

I do not understand. I see aerators and airstones in the pictures.

[pickles4601]

I just added the airstones. I figured the extra O2 wouldn't hurt.

Should I cull the syno? What should I do w the 2 (striped Ralph and banjo) that appear un affected? What should I do to "sanitize" the tank?

[pickles4601]

I did a little research on hemorrhagic septicemia and it doesnt look too hopeful. (assuming this is what i have) It seems that this is what is killing my tank but according to what i have read it doesnt appear contagious, unless i was misinformed. All my fish (11-12) have succumbed to this. Today i came home to find that the banjo was dead and Raphs barbs seem to be getting frayed. The FF Syno is still hanging on though.

I am currently treating w/ melafix and pimafix (idk if its correct to use but its what i have on hand) but it seems that no matter what is used that the end is approaching.

Moving on;I'm assuming these last 2 will perish. What should I do to stabilize the tank and prepare it for restocking? I know to toss filter material.

Again, I really appreciate all the help yinz have given me over the past few years.

[pickles4601]

UPDATE:FF Syno is still alive and kicking. He constantly moving. when he was well he usually hid. His color looks worse though, sort of blotchy and grey. The edges of his fins are sort of frayed now and the lower part of his tail is missing. He has white fringes to all his fins and a white filaments protruding from each eye (dead skin?). He is alot more mobile though, stronger. I tried to take pictures but my wifey has my good camera in her car.

Striped Raph is also alive. His barbels are shorter and the longer ones are a scraggly white on the ends.

Neither has eaten through this. They were both pretty plump to start with. I am continuing every other day 10 gallon water changes. The odd smell persists. I am also treating w/ the melafix and pimafix at the recommended dosages. 15ml per 30 gallons

I also noticed the glass is hazy. Its always been crystal clear.

again sorry about the quality of the pix.

[Viktor Jarikov]

yikes, mate! so gruesome but so real.

Anyway, onto the O2 issues, from one of my earlier posts:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 42&start=0

My one story may be similar. At some point, I switched from hang-ons to ((oversize/overpower 200 gph)) Marineland canister filters on my two 27 gal tanks. My better half complained about the noise from the air pumps before, so I thought with such a powerfull and well directed, adjustable water flow I should not need air bubblers in the tanks. BIG MISTAKE. Some fish dealt better with being deprived of proper concentration of oxygen but ~1/3 died overnight, including several very dear ones, like Syno angelicus and giraffe cats... I did not see any obvious symptoms right away, like within several hours - to half a day. But now, I remember some fish changed color for much paler and in some, the color patterns almost disappeared.... meaning stress. Unknowingly, I have done similar things before where the fish had been on oxygen fast for months. Again, some did not make it and now, I have a very good guess why.

My lesson: It is very important to mix the water from the very bottom to the top. I added the bubblers to the two 27 gal tanks, of course, but also I added one more air pump to the existing air line with 5 bubblers in my indoor pond and added a bubbler to 150 gal and to 55 gal (albeit 55 gal tank already had a small bubbler in one corner. I even added two deep water Whisper AP 300 bubblers to my koi pond outside.

[pickles4601]

The 2 fish look a lot better today. Their skin is cleared up, Ralph is whiter than ever. The only thing is they are constantly moving. When they were in the old set up they almost constantly hid but now always moving. I'm going to attempt to redecorate the tank today with their old furniture. Hopefully it provides better hiding places and they calm down.

they also still don't seem to be eating. I drop in a bit of food and nothing. Usually they snarf it down asap.