ammonia level:?
nitrate:?
filtration:whisper filter
Additives:tetra aqua: aquasafe ,maracyn-two
food:wardley goldfish food
tank size: 20 gal.
Ph level:?
water chane every 1 and a half weeks, 25% percent
9 fish averageing 2 inches

the fish seem okay and then the next day a fish dies, no reason, i had my fish for 6 months and then a couple of them die only a month ago. the fish that died today, had this weird parasite thingy on it and it was swimming around and stuff.please help me, i don't want any more to die.

Hey there Jimmy~

Well first, everybody is going to have to know your PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels before they can knowledgeably help you. Because a lot of things can go wrong as a result of your tank levels. Secondly, did I read that right that you have 9 fish in a 20 gallon tank? Are these all goldies? It sounds to me like one of your big problems could be that you are REALLY overstocked. All that waste can cause really high ammonia levels and can kill fish if left undetected by you. Rule of thumb is 10 to 20 gallons at least, per fish.

Post up what your levels are...If you don't have testing supplies, go to your local pet store and they should have a variety to choose from.

Secondly list out what kinds of fish you've had in your tank...i.e. goldies, loaches; along with there size and such.

This way the everybody can be informed and give you the best advice possible! Post back soon!

As mentioned before, nine fish are producing alot of waste, too much in that space, and this could be what killed some of your fish. You mentioned there was some type of parasite on your fish; what did it look like? Was it round, green and disk shaped, or was it long and thin and attatched by one end? Have you noticed anything else on the other fish? Have you recently added a new fish to the tank? A new fish may have introduced a parasite into the tank.

Please post back soon and answer all these questions to the best of your ability.

the parasite i saw was roundish was very small.i can see them on the fish moving around and stuff.It was dark green or black

Sounds like fish lice...here is a great article about it and how to treat it.Good luck

Fish Lice

i found 4 fish which had lice on them, taking it off them was hard and i don't have don't have any medication for them.Since i'm just a kid who isn't old enough for a car.... what should i do?

There's not an adult that can or is willing to assist you?

I would speak to your mom or dad and see if they can help you.

As the above posters suggest, you have a set up that is not ideal for as many fish as you have. Hopefully you can read up and when you go to the store you can get the items you need to help.

Tests for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and PH to start. Water conditioner. And of course aquarium salt.

Obviously keeping the 9 fish you have in that tank is way to small. Hopefully you can work out something and either get rid of some fish, or get a bigger setup.

Good luck. Fish lice can be a pain to treat.

Hi Jimmy and how horrible - I too have had to deal with fish lice. All I did was quickly set up a qt with very clean ph and temp matched dechlorinated water then grabbed some tweezers and gently removed the lice placing the deloused fish into the clean qt. I had to do this to 2 fish. Then i slowly raised the temp to 78degrees and salted to 0.3% - thats 1 teaspoon of salt (any kind that doesn't contain yps) per gallon then in 12 hours, another 1 teaspoon per gallon and then repeat again in 12 hours. It was touch and go for a while as lice carry aeromonas and other bacteria on their feeding stilletto and infect each fish they bite. These are very nasty parasites as they cause a lot of wear and tear on tissue and they cause intense irritation for your fish.

Once you have removed the lice from your fish and have them in a different qt or tub, you will need to medicate your main tank as they lay their eggs in tubular structures on the glass and ornaments... these eggs will need to be destroyed. I'm not sure where you live but there's several readily available meds that can do this -one that springs to mind is anchors away or the one i used - wardley's para-ex. You will need to remove them quickly or the outcome is poor i'm afraid

I hope this helps a little

what does the eggs look like?

do you guys think macyrn(sorry if i miss spelled) is a good brand?

The Maracyn products are great. I am not sure how well they work on lice, but I trust the products for other things.

Yes, try and find a med that says it cures fish lice; otherwise it may not work. Is it possible for you to get a quarintine tank? I know it's hard to get things for fish on a limited income or allowance, but you may be able to find one at a second hand store such as Goodwill; then you have to disinfect it. Also, you can use containers such as Rubbermaid ones, but this will be hard to see any new infestations on the fish. If possible, try and buy a spare tank so you can treat both the fish and the original tank seperatly.

Best of luck!

Hi jimmy - how are your fish doing today? Here's what fish lice looks like and have also posted a pic of the eggs. Lice eggs are hard to see but i found them on the leaves of some of my plants as well as on the top of one of my ornaments. Maracyn would definitely help your fish with any secondary infection but to destroy the eggs you'll need to get something that specifically destroys argulus (fish lice).





Hope this helps

<shudders> That is one nasty looking bug. Hate to have that on me.

Keep us posted on with whats going on. Hopefully some one was able to help you.

To be objective, they're actually amazing critters. They hover through the water like little swimming pool creepy crawlies and when i pulled them off my fish, i put them in a specimen jar and watched them. They only stayed alive for about 28hrs after as they had no host to feed off but the interesting thing is they dropped flourescent eggs on the bottom of the jar.... so i soaked them in bleach. As guests in a fishtank - they're a true menace . I had no idea what they were at first so dipped in strong salt, tried to rub off with a kebab skewer then did a search on the net and found them to be lice. That's when i got my tweezers out, cranked up my 4" angle grinder and sharpened the tweezers to a relatively fine point to dive right in and pull the nasty things off...

Jimmy, i hope you're having some good luck with these guys and pulling them off is nerve wrecking but i guess it's a case of shortterm pain for longterm gain.

ya they are very troublesome to take off, the fish keeps on moving and stuff.
How big are the eggs? Do you think if i cleaned the tank super good i would get rid of them?

I don't think so unfortunately. It's just too risky but to be honest. I'm just not sure. I did do an enormous amount of research on them when my fish had them and every indication was they need parasitic meds to destroy them once they hatch. From what I can gather, you can't kill the eggs with meds, it's once they hatch they are destroyed. For example, when i used the para-ex, i waited until the 7 days had passed before administering and while i didn't actually see them hatch (as they're miniscule) the para-ex worked well to destroy them all.

How did you go getting all the lice off? and are you fish faring a little better?

i used tweezers to take them off, the fish a lot better they are eating and stuff.
Hey i saw a very tiny white worms in my tank you know what it is?Well not really a worm but little slugs or something.
I found some medication that from wardley called"complete remedy"
it says
"-effective for controlling external parasites, fungi & bacteria on aquarium fish"

do you think this would work for lice?

I'm glad to hear your fish are doing ok But sadly Wardley's complete remedy won't kill lice . The best meds to kill lice are dimilin, diflubenzuron or trichlorphon (an anticholinesterase compound) whereas i think your complete remedy deals more with general bacterial, fungal and parasitic diseases (ie. costia, trichodina etc)..... To give you an idea, the meds to use for fish lice can't be touched or inhaled as they're extremely toxic to humans.... they are specifically designed to kill copepoda ie. anchorworms, lice and gill flukes but is not to be used for viral or bacterial infections - of which complete remedy is.

They are a bugger to kill which is why you need such strong medication... I know it's rough

As for the tiny white worms - I'm not 100% sure but i think they're harmless..... hopefully someone else can jump in here but if what you have is what i've seen before, then they're ok

Jen is right, dimilin, diflubenzuron or trichlorphon are the best meds to treat fish lice. A commercial product like Anchors Away is probably the easiest way to treat them. Just follow the dose on the bottle.

The white worms should be harmless. They normally feed on solid waste in and below the gravel bed. If they start to appear above the gravel bed, it usually means that you need to carefully clean your gravel bed as there are too much gunk in there and that can lead to poor water quality and growth of bad bacterias.

Jen, angle grinder? Sharpened tweezers? You are full of surprises!!

I'm just a tomboy at heart just don't put me in the kitchen (cooking in my family is more of a science experiment - the results of which should never be consumed by humans who want to live )

Sounds like you should bottle your cooking and sell it as fish lice treatment!