Sick columbian shark.

Question
QUESTION: Hi Ron

I am quite inexperienced about aquariums and owning fish but I have tried to learn as much as I can.  My only previous experience with fish is with a black moor, which had lived about 3 years and died about 3 and a half months ago.  I went to walmart with the intention of getting a new black moor but i saw the columbian shark and i fell in love with it.  i read the tag at wal mart which said they would grow up to 6"when fully grown (now i realize that is a complete lie).  It said that it prefered aquarium salt in water.  I only had a 10 gal at the moment so I thought it would be suitable for a baby columbian (thinking they only grew up to 6").  The filter that I'm using, I don't know the exact name, but I am using filter pads that fit a tetra whisper filter.  And I am now using something called Nitra-Zorb in my filter too, it is supposed to eliminate toxic ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. I don't know who makes it.  I started using the nitra-zorb in my filter after I got Rockford and Finnegan but before lil'Finnegan and the doomed shark that lasted 1 night.  I hope that helps a bit.  I have overhead blue lights too, although i don't turn them on too often because they heat the water up a lot, they are quite bright too.  Usually my fish are in very subdued lighting, either a bedroom light or light from 1 window.  So I went home and set up the tank (completely naive to everything about cycles and ammonia and nitrate and that stuff).  When i had the temperature ready went to walmart to get my columbian, it being the only one that i had saw there and paranoid someone would buy if i didn't.  i went back and discovered it had died over the night and other fish were eating it.


 I decided to get a pictus catfish instead (the closest looking to the columbian at the time) and 2 angelfish because they were apparently compatable with the pictus (his name is earl).  both of the angelfish died rather quickly and earl lived. one of them was sucked up the filter and the other one died mysteriously.

Then i was given 2 columbians about 2 weeks later.  one of them was rockford (about 2in) and the other finnegan (less than 1.5in long).  finnegan lived up until about 2 weeks ago when I added some tap water.  I always treat all of my water with conditioner.  But what I think killed finnegan was possible bacteria in the water.  There is a boil water advisory due to turbidity.  I didn't think it would harm the sharks because it was just dirt apparently, so i didn't boil the water.  Finnegan was fine at about 8pm and when I checked the tank at about 12am he was stiff and vertical pushed against a plant.  The water had no effect on earl or rockford.

I have read that columbians do well in groups of 3 or more and same with the catfish.  I am planning on getting a larger tank very soon so I bought 1 catfish (about 1.5 in) , and 2 small columbians (less than 1.5in).  One of the columbians did not make it through the night.  Which I was kind of expecting with the horrible tank conditions at walmart.  The other shark, Lil'Finnegan, is living and seems perfectly fine.  The new pictus only lasted about a week and died mysteriously.  Earl, the large pictus really didn't get a long with the new catfish.  I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the death.  

So 2 days ago i needed to add water and change some of it.  I took out 1 gal and added 2.  This time I boiled the water and let it cool completely and slowly added the conditioned water to the tank, so the temperature wouldn't jump.  I added some waste control (by nutrafin) and cycle (also by nutrafin), 1 tspn of aquarium salt, to make up for the 1 gal i took out.  I don't have a vaccum but I scooped out the top layer (1/2in) of rocks and rinsed them off with tap water, then conditioned that tap water but then i scooped the rocks back into the tank so i hopefully wouldn't get bacteria water into the tank.  

The fish went back to acting "normal" which is swimming in the current caused by the filter, except I noticed a decreased appetite.  I feed them tropical fish flakes (Wardley Essentials) and blood worms.  Lil'Finnegan who was a pig and a sucker for blood worms and would skim the surface of the water and eat all fo the worms before any of the fish could get to them, took a long time to notice any food and then ate halfheartedly.  Rockford, I noticed was eating almsot nothing.  He would graze the bottom rocks but he would lose interest and allow himself to be chased off by earl, who is also a pig and still remains a pig.  

Last night Rockford started acting like the first Finnegan, he was floating vertical and had no energy.  he was still breathing but it looks laboured.  I dont'know if the change in coloring has anything to do with the amount of sun the get, which is hardly nothing in the winter but both of the columbians appeared to be getting slightly darker.  They had tiny dark spots extending into their stomach where as before i would describe it as light extending into their top, if that makes any sense at all. Now Rockford is laying on the gravel on his side and hardly moving.  The only time he will move is when Lil' Finnegan comes and butts up against him and then Rockford will make an effort to swim a bit.

He has pale patches that look a bit dusty, and his underbelly looks a tinge pinkish.  The only clue that he is still alive is his gill slits are moving and his eyes are moving around a bit.  He looks like he's getting pale, that is all I can really say.

I don't think there is any hope for him but if there is I will try anything.  Even if he dies hopefully someone else might be able to read this if their fish is having the same problems and they can get to their fish in time.  Or if any of my fish have problems like this, then hopefully I have given you enough information to know what is wrong and then I can fix it.

I don't know if you are the one to direct this question to but you are the only one available at the moment.  I hope you can help a bit, thanks for your time.

-Teresa

ANSWER: Hi Teresa,
 Hmmm... it shouldn't be that hard to keep fish alive so there must be something wrong (besides buying Fish at Walmart -- I do not recommend buying fish at Walmart).  We need to figure this out systematically.  

 Have you used any soap anywhere near the aquarium?  Soap is very toxic to fish so you should never use any kind of soap or dishwashing detergent or anything like that to clean an aquarium or anything that goes in the aquarium.

 How large is the tank?

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I won't buy my fish from wal mart ever again.

I haven't used soap anywhere near the aquarium or on it or in it, I have wiped windex on the outside glass of the aquarium twice since setting it up but not recently.  The only thing that I know for sure has come in contact with dish soap and possibly bleach is the ice cream bucket that I use to change the water.  The one that would have had bleach in it at one point has been rinsed very well and I've been using from the very beginning.  The other bucket that I used had just had ice cream in it so it had just been washed out with dish soap.  Although I rinsed it well with tap water, this might have been the cause.  

The tank is 24in long, 10in deep, and 12 in high.

My fish did not make it, it lasted two days after I made my first post.  The shark Rockford had what looked like algae growing on him, just bits of it, and he was very white, where when he was alive, he was quite dark.  i don't know if this has to do with blood flow or what, but I noticed it because I've never seen that happen to any of my other sharks or fish that have died.  I don't know how long he had been dead before I scooped him out of the tank as I was gone for most of the morning but he would have only been dead for about 4 hours if he had died right after I left.

If the buckets were not the source of the problem, do you know anything about what is put into tap water?  Because there is a boil water advisory due to turbidity, they can't properly chloranate the water, do you know if they add other chemicals to help make the water drinkable for people when there is a lot of dirt in it?  The part that I really don't understand is my big old fish died and not the newer one from walmart.  Both of the other fish were unfazed by the water change or whatever affected Rockford.

thanks

Answer
Hi Teresa,
 It is puzzling.  The fact that one fish died and one didn't is hard to work with -- individuals can be differentially sensitive.  

 It is troubling that your water is so unhealthy that you have to boil it.  Yikes! (and not just for the fish).  

 It doesn't sound like soap could have been the culprit given that you rinsed everything out very thoroughly.  

 I think avoiding Walmart for fish might be the best lesson.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>