My fish just died of something. She had white pustuals on her wen.
What should I do to keep my other fish from getting what she had?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry chubbycheeks.

Thanks, Ed
should I do a salt treatment in my tank, or does it depend on what she had?

Chubbycheeks,

My sympathy to you...
Did it look like mold(or have a texture of mold)? More like grains of salt? Or did it become stringy after a while and disapper?? Do any of your other fish show signs of these mysterious "white" spots? It's hard for my to answer becuase it could be a few things. Do you have anymore information on the poor little guy and his behavior before he passed? Was he acting normal, or was the little guy slow and lathargic? Just out of curiousity...have you checked your water parameters??
(reason I'm asking so many questions is because the white may have just been wen growth, and somthing more serious that caused his passing) Can you give us a little more information on what been going on the past couple of days?

Hi Erica,

My poor fishy has been acting sluggish for a couple of days. Just this morning she was not eating and developed the white bumps, and they looked like a grouping of white pimples.

I have been trying to re-cycle my tank for the past 2 weeks, because I had recently changed out all my gravel and did not know about good bacteria, so I probably crashed my cycle. After that I made the mistake and got one more fish. Could he have brought something into the tank? He is acting fine though. The new fish is an oranda, and he always has some white spots on his wen and then they vanish. I think his are wen growth but not sure. My ammonia levels have been a little high at 2.0 since I crashed the cycle, nitrate is 0.

Chubbycheeks,

It almost sounds like you may have figured out a few of the possible causes of yor fish passing, i.e. ....changing all of the gravel, high ammonia levels, and possibly the new fish. Which fish passed? The oranda or the other fish?It could be possible that one had an internal infection(I don't think the white spots were the cause, that to me sounds like wen growth...especially if they disappear within a few days. I have one oranda this is VERY noticable on, and I freaked out when I first saw it.....I thought it was ich!...but 2-3 days later they were gone, and the wen began to increse in size), but honestly I have to go with the re-cycling of the tank and the stressing caused on your little fish.

I too, have tried to change all of my gravel before in the past, and thankgoodness I have two very hardy ryukins that could withstand all of that re-cycling stress and the high ammonia spike. (i'm glad I too know better now!)Sometimes you get lucky in these situations, but it's generaly not the best thing to do, as I am sure you know now.

As far as bringing another fish home, it is usually wise to put them in a "quarentine/holding" tank until you sure that all things are in the green light. Even your most trusted fish store can get a fish from time to time that has finrot or ich,(if it's a wise fish store, they don't sell the fish to the public until the animal(s) have been treated )

How is your other fish handling things?

If all goes well with the re-cycling of the tank, your other guy should pull through. Is your ammonia still high? I would recommend water changes to help aid the lowering of the ammonia(I'm trying to find a post for you on the frequency of water changes with high ammonia levels, but not having luck yet), or there is a product on the market called "Ammo Lock" It is suppose to change the ammonia to were it would be "safe" for you fish to live in, however if my understanding is correct about this product, you can still read ammonia levels in the tank after you have added the product.(Does anyone else have any information on this product?)
If you do water changes, don't vaccum the gravel for now..this also goes into the "good bug living headquartes" thing, which is what your trying to rebuild.
Good luck, let us know how everything turns out and by all means if you have anymore questions feel free to ask!

Hello Erica,
Thanks for all the info. To answer your questions, the fish that died was the small oranda that I have had for over a year. The new fish is a large oranda, and he seems to be fine. He is the one who always has spots on his wen and then they vanish.
I did see that Ammo-lock product at the pet store when I was searching for something to help with the ammonia. I did not get it because it did not say anything about bieng ok for biological filtration and bacterias. I settled with Amquel+, because it said it wouldn't interfere with bacteria.
Is it ok to use this everyday with water changes until my tank is cycled?
How long is it going to take to get cycled?
Will it ever catch up with 4 fish in a 20g tank?
Should I consider moving some of the fish into a different tank.
How often should I use the product "cycle"?
I have been changing the water at 30% everyday for the ammonia, is this too much?
When I do water changes I use the one dose of the amquel and one dose of NovAqua water conditioner.
Am I using too many chemicals at one time, could this be the cause of the fishes death?

tank cycling

Chubbycheeks,

Above is a link that Koko has posted for tank cycling....it's the easiest and best explination I could find for you on tank cycling. It should explain everything you're looking for relating to cycling and water changes. Your tank should be cycles within a month, and you should keep the fish in the tank that it is in, as it aids in the cycling process.

Is your tank still reading 2.0ppm for the ammonia?? If so, I would say the amount of the water change you're doing daily is fine. But if the ammonia is still high, I would also recommend feeding your fish less until the readings drop back down to normal,(this aids in lowering the ammonia too).

The chemicals you are using should not be the cause of the little fishies death,nor do I think they are too much for what you have been doing when changing the water(water conditioners are very important at any rate ). Cycling a tank is a very touchy situation, and many fish aren't so hardy to make it through the process. Koko states in the link above that many people will use a common or a comet goldfish when cycling a tank because they are much more durable than many fancy varieties....but if your oranda seems to be pulling through ok..I would leave him there...but test the water at least everyday!!

I'm sorry but I have no further advice to give on Amquel+ or NovAqua....I use other products to condition my water. However, there has to be other members on the board that use the same products you do....I would suggest maybe a seperate post on asking the other members about those products.

I hope everything got covered for you! If not feel free to holler at me or anyone else again!