Contagious Disease is spreading quickly...

[ClubHead9786]

Hey, so thanks for clicking, but this one might be a long one. So as i was about to sit down and finish a lot of hw that i had that is due...in like 3 hours, i encountered a problem. My albino placo died! UGH...ok. well i needed to know what was up so i decided to start researching instead of doing my homework. I observed my tank for about an hour and found plenty of abnormalities. Before we start a long explanation, i have the 15 gal tank below with those fish left...(oh yea, a mystery snail died like 2 hours later or so as well). i have a 30 gal whisper filter and a 100w heater. i also have a 20 gal air pump with a long wand running across the back of the tank and it is on all the time. The parameters seem normal, they are:

nitrate- 40
nitrite- 0
hardness- 150
chlorine- 0
alkalinity- 140
pH- about 7.2
Ammonia- 0
Temp- 82 F

I had a bad nitrate problem about a week and a half ago and ive done 3 water changes since then- 70, 30, 30. I add 2 tbs salt every time a couple of drops of the water conditioner. Ive been able to get the nitrate problem out of the way and my nitrogen cycle is fuctioning well. The water in my area is very good and clean as well. I feed the fish 2 times a day of the tropical flakes.

I also have 3 bunches of anacharis, 2 in the gravel and 1 floating. I also have a rosaefolia bunch. Neither of these plants are doing real well in may tank. The anacharis looks really light green and def not healthy and there is black decay on most of the stems near where the leaves branch off. The rosaefolia plant looks like swiss cheese in some areas and in other branches is doing quite well and looks healthy.

Anyways, Since that nitrate problem which coincedentally happened the same time my heater went out (maybe it wasnt coincidence, they just influenced one another) but everything has been fixed and up and running for a week now or so.
Now i will list all the problems with the fish that i have.

Black widow tetra- very noticeable discoloration and they seem agitated and make a lot of sudden movements, not mellow like they usually are. Also, it looks kind of like one of them has a reflecting film on most of his body and the other tetra only has specs of it on the top of his head and it shines. Maybe weight loss but its hard to tell.

Black mollies (1 male/1 female)- The female is pregnant and is def about to give birth very soon but is breathing extremely heavily but the other one is doing fine and doesnt look like he has any problems.

White mollies (1 m/1 f)- The male is about half the size of the other mollies. He used to be the same size but has lost a considerable amount of weight. also he discoloration and looks almost see through; However, his gills are blood red. Just on the gills though. He also has fin deteriaration almost as if someone bit it. This are used to have a white outline like a fungus, but its not there anymore.
--The female also shows obvious weightloss and discoloration but not as bad as the male. She has a white spot on her tail and one of her fins, but its not like a dot or speck, it looks more like a fungus. I have a picture, but im not sure how to put it up yet, so i will try later (after my hw). Also, the eyes come out a bit more than the other mollies.

The danios are fine, nothing noticable..yet, but they are pretty hearty.

The pleco that died was an albino common placo but he showed severe weight loss. He wasnt really active and his fins were thinning. He looked very ill. Also, his skin looked blotchy as if it was thinning or deteriorating and im not sure if they are supposed to have a yellowish spot on their eyes, but he did.
The other placo which is also a common placo has a little bit of that white stuff on his eyes but his color is fading a little bit and the skin is getting blotchy as well...


As an overall summary of the problems in the tank, there is deffinate wieght loss and all the mollies seem like they are gasping for air. Also, they have fin deterioration and all the fish are swimming erratically and they seem agitated, the tetras especially. Also, The color is fading on all the fish but the tetra and white mollies the most.


The mollies had the symptoms for about 2 weeks now and they are gradually getting worse and the tetra had these for about 3 days, maybe 4, ive been noticing agitation. the placo didnt come out much anyways so i couldnt really tell and now my mystery snail died all the sudden.

Ive had this tank for 6 months now and this lineup of fish for like 2 months and they were fine until now. I did add those new plants and the 2 snails.

I had a white balloon molly die like a month ago but that was probably because of the nitrate problem or the water chemistry problem that i have fixed.

I wanna guess that this is tuberculosis, however it seems like the fins have some sort of fungus.

So what do you guys think and what do i do!? I dont want my fish to die, i sacraficed 7 hours studying this stuff and trying to figure out whats wrong but i need some consensus from someone smarter than me

Well anyone who read this extremely long thread, thank you and i really appreciate any feedback that you guys can give. I am still trying to create a successful community tank and ive done some research on the fish that i have and i will be getting the tetras and placo out of there within the next couple of days because they dont belong together.

So THANK YOU in advance.

[Louise163]

Did the temp drop fast as fish can come down with swim bladder, columnaris to whitespot.
If the gills red and inflamed you could be dealing with gill flukes they can also lose weight with flukes.
Any yellow or golden spot on the fish they can lose weight with velvet.
Parasites can cause not only weight loss but bacterial infections on top.
Laboured breathing is due to parasites not good news as usually it mean the parasites have damaged the gills.
Fish will produce extra slime coat to help to protect themselves from the parasites.
Sounds like velvet to me.
Turn tanks lights out and shine a torch on the fish to see if the spots glow up.

You shouldnt be adding salt to the tank with plecs they dont tolerate salt.

[Louise163]

Originally Posted by Louise163

Did the temp drop fast as fish can come down with swim bladder, columnaris to whitespot.
If the gills red and inflamed you could be dealing with gill flukes they can also lose weight with flukes.
Any yellow or golden spot on the fish they can lose weight with velvet.
Parasites can cause not only weight loss but bacterial infections on top.
Laboured breathing is due to parasites not good news as usually it mean the parasites have damaged the gills.
Fish will produce extra slime coat to help to protect themselves from the parasites.
Sounds like velvet to me.
Turn tanks lights out and shine a torch on the fish to see if the spots glow up.

You shouldnt be adding salt to the tank with plecs they dont tolerate salt.

The whitespots on tail do they look like a greyish white with a tinging of red on the outside of the spot.

[oliesminis]

high nitrate sounds like a definate cause

any new introductions at all to the tank

ornaments,fish,gravel,plants

or have you started using different food or water conditioners

[Obsidian]

As has been mentioned a bunch of times, the pleco's cause a lot of high waste in a tank. A 15 gallon tank is too small for them and they will get stunted. Their high amount of waste is likely a large contributer to your problem, most certainly to your high nitrates.

I am not surprised that he has died, nor that the water is having a hard time coming to a balance. I am sorry that it happened. I would keep up with the water changes and I would not replace any fish lost in this process until your tank is stable for at least 3 months.

[ClubHead9786]

Sorry i haven't posted a reply yet but ive been having some computer difficulties but yea, for the most part everything stayed the same in the tank; however conditions are getting gradually worse but not too quickly.

I checked the water and here are the parameters:
Nitrate- 60
Nitrite- 0
Hardness-150
Chlorine- 0
Alkalinity- 100
pH-about 7.4 (+/- .1)
Ammonia- .1 maybe, but not 0 anymore
Temp- 80 F

The tetra calmed down a little bit but about 2 days ago, they began to twitch without control every 3 sec or so.

The white molly that does not have the red gills seems to be sinking near to the bottom a lot but doesnt seem to have as a much difficulty staying up as before, but still struggles. It is also leaning over to the side a little and im not sure but it looks kind of like it is scratching against the rocks, shell, and gravel in my tank.

The blue mystery snails are now all dead.

The rest of the fish haven't changed much.

For the plants, The rosaefolia plant also is begginning to form more swiss cheese holes and the anacharis that is floating is getting gradually worse, but the anacharis in the ground is beginning to looks a little bit healthier especially near the top.

As far as answering questions that you guys posted:

The gills that are red on the molly arent really inflamed, it almost looks like the red is coming from under the scales of the fish. All the spots mentioned are all white so can it still be velvet?
And if it still can be velvet, what would i do to heal the fish or prevent the other fish from getting it?

Yea the temp did drop because the temp is supposed to be 80 but it fell to 68 really fast after my heater broke and i didn't notice for a week. One of my white mollies, the one that doesnt have the red gills fell to the floor and couldnt really get up to the surface and stay there. He is beginning to do that now as well but is also kind of leaning over to the side.

When i did the torch on the glass test, the tetra began to shine back a greenish blue reflection on the glossy spots.



As far as new introductions to my tank:
I added 3 bunches of anacharis, 2 mystery snails that are both dead now, and one of the small bags of blue gravel. but everything else stayed the same.

btw, Thanks again for taking your time to help me out.

[Louise163]

Water change and sort your stocking out.
The nitrate reading wants getting down.
Are you maintaining the tank once a week.


Red gills can be due to bad water quality and your is not perfect.
Does it look like blood beneath the skin if so is h septicemia.

Your fish are suffering because the tanks overstocked, they will carry on to die and get desease till water quality is good, the right sized fish for the tank.

Research fish before you buy them,.
Also makes sure the fish you want that you know the full adult size of the fish.

[JustOneMore20]

You've received some good info so far.

I suggest doing a 30-40% water change now, leave the filter and gravel alone though.

How high did your nitrates go? Nitrates aren't terribly lethal until they get really high (into the hundreds...). It seems like yours are climbing almost daily though and while your tank is full, it isn't badly overstocked now. For some reason I thought you mentioned a nitrIte problem in a different thread......its easy to confuse them though.

I know you've had some problems, so keep doing atleast 1 water change weekly of about 40-50%.

I would take the roseafolia out. If it is decaying, it is adding ammonia to the tank.

Do the white spots look like grains of salt? If so, it may be Ich.

What kind of test kit are you using? Strips or liquid?