# Fish getting sick after new addition from the stores



## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Hello to everyone,
I just recently got into the hobby and have homed new fish for about 4-5 weeks now. My wife talked about getting few fish and it turned out now I'm the one that is asking for a bigger tank and our 10gal seems over stocked already.

Anyhow first time when we got some fish from Pj Pet Store they end up getting sick with a bacteria that was eating on their fins, got some antibiotic and that helped with in a week. 
Next time I got few tetras from Big Al Mississauga and after 2-3 days all of my fish got ick, So now I'm trying to get rid of that and pumping meds into them, again. All that with in 4-5 weeks. 

Is it expected ? do I need to set up a quarantine tanks every time I buy fish (don't really want to set up another tank unless it's ~50 Gal that I would put in basement) I know it would be good option but is there any other way ?

Cheers All


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

I think its recommend that you quarantine new fish but its not always possible. Not everyone is able to find extra tank and filter to keep the fish for few weeks. Three are few things you can do before buying fish from local stores, make sure there are no dead fish in the tank. Secondly, look at the fish and see if you can find anything weird about them like not very active or swimming sluggishly. Don't buy any if you see any of the problem. Even then its a risk you will have to take.

However, in my experience, Big als Mississauga is pretty good. Not all the staff are knowledgeable but they have decent ones to take care of their fish.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Easy solution, buy a bigger tank and use the current 10 gallon as a quarantine tank. You already mentioned wanting a larger tank, this is your excuse.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

The best way to prevent this incident from happening again is to simply have a good hard look into the tanks. If you see a single sick fish, don't purchase from this tank. Same goes with tanks that have "floaters" even though they sink half the time.

Sorry your tanks are getting issues, never fun when you're starting out. Just look for healthy, active fish, with good colors and that are able to swim without issues. If possible, ask to see the tank eat infront of you, a reputable store should be able to entice the fish to eat, regardless of if they were fed mere hours ago.


Edit---> Also............. +1 to Pyr


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## GAT (Oct 8, 2011)

pyrrolin said:


> Easy solution, buy a bigger tank and use the current 10 gallon as a quarantine tank. You already mentioned wanting a larger tank, this is your excuse.


as long as you don't get MTS  This was my plan when i upgraded but instead of keeping the tank empty i added shrimps and no more room for quarantine tank.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Very good idea and excuse for bigger tank 

in all honesty I will pay much more attention now as before I just looked and asked them to get me couple of these...

Lessen learned at least about paying more attention.


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

one question id like to ask is how many fish were in your tank? and what filtration was it?


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## aniroc (Aug 23, 2012)

Have you cycled your tank?
Too often we blame the store for selling sick fish. 
Relocating a fish is very stressful, that weaken their immune system causing ick and fin rot. A tank is not a sterile environment, there are plenty of bacteria there to infect an already stressed fish.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

As to what I have is 4 neon tetras 4 rummy nose tetras 2 Gold fish really small still (not my favorite fish but well ... wife pressure) 2 pleco's L082 (about 2") and L104 about 1.5" I know it's a bit of fish but doing testing of water and everything seems to be ok with weekly changes of water of about 25%.

Tank was cycled for few weeks with guppies that were given away later. 

Not blaming the store as well could be my tank still going through stages but for sure will pay more attention next time when I'm picking up fish. I do have a hard time thinking that Big Al's rummy nose that I got had ich (had initially 3 and got 1 extra from Big Al's) Could have been coincidence; or I have too many fish and they will be getting sick all the time


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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

seeing the stock for your fish in the tank to me it really just seems like a ticking time bomb. and you are mixing cold water fish with tropical fish. What's the temperature in your tank?


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

xriddler said:


> seeing the stock for your fish in the tank to me it really just seems like a ticking time bomb. and you are mixing cold water fish with tropical fish. What's the temperature in your tank?


Is it because mix of fish ? or too many of them ?
temp is pretty much on a dot 25C (the heater that came with the tank is not adjustable)
The gold fish is the only one that is cold water one as far as I can think if I'm correct and 25C they seem eat and sh... 24/7 so I would say it doesn't bother them (hope this doesn't sound harsh) but I'm mainly concern about the other guys cause gold fish didn't get any of the fin rot or ich.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

temp is good. Goldfish are very dirty fish, looks like you need even another tank to put the goldfish in.

Since the tank has been cycled, have you ever seen ammonia or nitrite on your tests?


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Ammonia and nitrite both at 0 pretty much.

I'm not getting any more until the bigger tank comes in few months so I can move things around so will see if they will stay healthy or not if they will keep sick it's definitely something I'm doing wrong.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

One thing to remember is that many organisms that can cause illness are always in the water. They don't cause problems unless they have an opportunity to do so.. hence they call these opportunistic infections. 

Stress is a major reason for fish to become ill from such organisms. Ick, on the other hand, is a parasite that must be treated to be got rid of. High temperatures are part of the treatment, and salt is often used, but not all fish can tolerate this. 

But it's pretty common, so always look closely at a tank of fish in a store, trying to see if there are any little spots on the fish. Like tiny grains of salt.. if you see that, don't buy them. As well as don't buy if there are dead ones in there. 

It is better in the long run to isolate new fish for a few weeks if you can. If you can't, you take your chances. Mostly you get away with it but not always. Once you have added a new fish, keep an eye on the tank for the next couple of weeks, just in case it did bring something with it. The sooner you catch whatever it is, the better the chance of treating it successfully.

And it would be best to find a new tank for the goldfish. Nothing against them, I had one myself once, but they are dirty, they grow fast, and they need colder water to live well and healthy. They can be stunted permanently if kept in too small a tank for too long. But like many fish, they are adaptable, though at a cost, usually in length of lifespan. They will continue to eat even if they are too warm. I've seen gold fish kept at very high temperatures.. they eat, but they spend all their time at the surface gulping air too, because the their water is so warm there is not enough oxygen in it for them. They really are not happy with higher temperatures that are needed to keep tetras healthy and content.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Thank you again for all the replies more I red and educated my self it seems that the ich could have just got them because there were weak etc (specially after I just treated couple of fish for fin rot)

What you guys think on the medication (API super ick cure) it said to treat water then after 48hrs treat again and another 48 hrs due the 25% water change and put in carbon filter. I noticed that they still have spots after that so I decided it to run them on meds for bit more as it seems that it can only be killed when it's in a certain stage (not the one that I see on fish) anyway fish seem ok with additional day and a half of meds so I will keep 48 hr meds and 25% water change rotation until I don't see the spots on them. Do you think that's alright strategy or just I should let it be and the remaining medication will kill them off ?

As to gold fish ... I wouldn't get them in first place but wife likes them so more or less she got them. I see if I can gift them in a bit to my parents  and tell my wife how bad they have it in this small 10gal tank and warm water.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

You are a quick learner so you already picked up that Ick are only vulnerable at a certain stage of a mostly 7 days life cycle. The proper way to completely get rid of Ick is to continue to treat your tank for 7 days after you stop seeing spots from the fish. This way, any that you miss will eventually roll in to that 7 days, making sure you wipe out the disease for good. Cut short of 7 days and it will leave some residual cyst unseen, only to come back again in a month or 2. This is the biggest common mistakes for newbs. And worst, there is a chance that the new Ick might build up an immunity to your med.
There is a stain out there that is called the super Ick. These have a 15 days life cycle. Very very difficult to treat this type. And you need to use a toxic Methylene blue based medication. This med is carcinogenic and are ban from some states in the US, it's a last resort treatment as it will save your fish, but know that your fish will live a much shorter lifespan.
Here's what it looks like: http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/m...s+Quick-Cure+Parasite+Treatment+(3+4oz.).html

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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

After reading few of the post here is advice from the person who had similar situation in 10Gl tank until I upgraded to 30Gl one. But I was able to run my 10Gl successfully overstocked for few years until I converted it to shrimps only tank.

1. I also have rummy nose tetras and neons and I love them. They are the first ones to get Ick due to overfeeding as they not that often get up to the top of the tank and pickup what has been pushed down by the filter. I had that issue as well when my tetras and neons got Ick because I had too many fish and overfed it. Your gold fish will eat a lot and you will need to feed it a lot. The other problem is it will grow to 4-5" and rummies and neons will start hiding as they will be afraid. I do recommend moving your gold fish to gold fish bowl. Will be easier to maintain both your tetras and gold fish.
2. I usually use Tetra's Ick quire to quire Ick as it cheaper and more effective that API. I used API before for fungus and it did not quire it and also killed my plants. It is overpriced ineffective medicine. Only their liquid water tests are good. Or just increase the temperature in the tank gradually to 30C (But gold fish will not like it) for a week or so.
3. I would recommend replacing your filter with Aquva Clear 20 filter as it is much better for overstocked aqiuariums and putting some life plants in it to observe fish waste to ease your overstocking problem. Also try to introduce algae woffers for the plecos.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Last post is spot on, tetra seems to be the first one that got it and got mostly infected with it. I'm starting to dislike my wife's gold fish just after reading about how messy they can be.

To my sadness this morning I found pleco that I got 7 days ago was dead. Not sure what did it, the meds, maybe the temp (24-25C too low for him). It was sold as L082 but looking at price ($25) I'm pretty sure it was some type of snowball pleco L201 or L102. He was very active and not shy eating algae waffles and some zucchini seemed to hang out with the clown pleco I got. I wanted to try some carnivore waffles in next day or two as due to not exactly being sure which kind it is to best give him what he needs to eat but... gone now.

Next on the list is heater that I can adjust, would probably help me with fighting the ich.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Hi guys want to add update to my saga. 

After getting a nice heater i slowly increased the temp to 30C or 86F and put an air stone to help with O2. It was good for couple days and then I found 2 tetras dead thought I give it another 2-3 days to see what happens and found another 3 dead today (probably died within last 24hrs). I decided I will lower the temp couple deg C as soon I'll be only stuck with two gold fish (they seem to be doing great)

Signs of ich were gone after 3 days of heat but I'm sure I may see it back on my fish; once I see the spots I'll try to go back to medication+ increased temp as with meds at least they didn't die. (I had the tank at 86 for about 5 full days so maybe most of the parasite got killed off)

Bottom line is the 86F heat treatment is possibly good option for bigger tank and fish that are ok with higher temperatures. Combination of 10gal tank tetra and 86F didn't work out so well for some of them.

Btw I love the Eheim heater I got


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

damn, that sucks. I once had ick kill most of my stock in a tank.

Did you try some aquarium salt to?


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Not really, I decided to try increase in temp I red that tetras are pretty sensitive to salt. I guess my option would be some salt and maybe temp of 28C or so. Plus I finally got hold of some quick cure for next time to try out as well.

Anyway I'm still so new to this that I will have more causalities on the way until I get to learn how things work and so on.


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## colio (Dec 8, 2012)

I got a betta, in a 10 gal with neon tetras, and he got ick. I upped the temp to 86 or 87, and everyone was fine (except my ghost shrimp, who mostly died). It depends a lot on what condition the fish are in when you start rising the temp, and its important to make sure you raise it slowly, over a few hours. But with ick, and other problems, it can be very hit or miss.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Almost everyone get hit with ick when they start out. I had it a couple times in my first few months but I have not had any problems in the past year or so now. Not sure why exactly but not complaining.


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## alstare2000 (Feb 16, 2013)

Another update, I left the temp at 86 after all, and no sings of ick and fish are doing good probably a bit hot. Possibly the ones that died were weak and bit more infected not sure but all is well now. Another options maybe the jump of temp I didn't it not slowly as it should have been done that's why I had 2-3 go after first night.

Also convinced wife to give up two gold fish that are growing like they are on roids. So add is going on Kijiji tonight hopefully someone will grab them free to good home. 

Thanks again for all good advice, beginnings tend to be tricky


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