Water change = dying fish
One that really got me about the PS in a neighboring community (closest one to me actually) - they switched from having separate U/G filters on each tank to having one giant filter (acrylic box with bio-balls) for each bank of tanks. That’s roughly 6-12 tanks per filter, depending on the tank size used in each bank. So any disease popping up in one tank then infected the whole bank through the combined filter unit. So I had to check each tank in a bank to make sure there were no signs of disease in ANY of them before selecting fish out of one of them. Made shopping for more than one species fun, especially if they were in more than one bank. Ugh….. They still have their tanks set up this way after probably 10 years of this setup. I checked last time I was in there wandering around.
The other pet store in that same community (no longer in business) had rampant problems with disease - especially ick. Turned out they were using the same net from tank to tank to tank without any chemical treatment to prevent spread of disease. Needless to say, I stopped shopping there altogether.
With regards to mixing tropical freshwater fish and goldfish - definitely would avoid doing that. For goldfish to be healthiest, they need cooler temps than tropicals require to be healthy and happy. I’ve seen people mix them often enough, and usually one or the other ends up suffering over the long term because their particular temp needs aren’t being met.
Anyway, I went back through the files to find the original post, so I’d know what the original question was since I’m a newbie to the list myself.
Daniel, It does sound rather like some bacterial or fungal infection. Other than the water change, is there any other way disease could have come in? Any fish added about that same time? Anything else going on besides the water change?
It does sound similar to fin rot I had in the past, though. That’s generally caused by stress, as the bacteria that cause fin rot are present in many, if not most, tanks all the time. Healthy fish just don’t get sick. Was there a large temp difference between the tank temp and the replacement water temp? A 25% water change can be quite a shocker for fish if the tank and replacement waters aren’t roughly the same temperature. I’ve seen that kind of shock cause these sorts of problems. In my own tanks as well as others.
>>> So my question is - if I use bottled water for my next water change, do >>> I still need to use the de-chlorinating solution? What about with >>> distilled water (the local brewery has a tap for public access and a >>> small fee, but I need a bottle so will buy the bottled water the first >>> time).
NO on the distilled water! Distilled water will kill your fish as it has been stripped of the minerals and such they need.
Bottled water is basically just some other municipalities tap water in many cases, so be sure you know what you’re buying. And I’d definitely use dechlorinator to be on the safe side as some bottled waters do have chlorine in them.
I hope everything has levelled out for you, Daniel.
Dawn T SE AZ
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
