Weird disease

Question
QUESTION: A couple weeks ago my gourami died out of no where. Yesterday my female guppy look sick and "pale". Today it floats and I think I will lose it. At that time I saw my black moor. ( 3-4 inches fairly large) was stuck to the filter and turning white. I think it may go to. Please help! I have around 10 tropical fish and I dont know if the disease will sweep the whole tank or not. Other than that everything's perfectly fine. nothing.

ANSWER: Hi Emily,

I will be happy to help you but I need a lot more information first.  How long have you had the tank?  How many and what kinds of fish do you have?  How many gallons is it?  What is your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?  Without this information it's impossible for me to tell what exactly is happening in your tank.

The first thing that strikes me so far is that you have a black moor (coldwater goldfish) in with tropical fish.  That is the first major no-no as coldwater goldfish are only compatible with other coldwater goldfish and they have very different tank set up requirements and size parameters than do tropical fish.

Thanks!  April M.

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QUESTION: Well I used to have a goldfish tank and I was wanting to switch to tropical. But that tank if like 4 years old. Then I gave some of my goldfish away that can be a potential threat. No one was able to take it so I kept it. Around half a year ago I switched and no problems came up until now. The tank is around 29 gal. There are mollies, guppies, platies, and gouramis and swordtails. Nothing is irregular. Although since I have plants, there is a snail problem but I dispose the ones I see.

PS the moor died.

ANSWER: Hi Emily,

The goldfish aren't exactly a 'threat' to tropicals, they simply aren't compatible.  The best thing to do when you have a coldwater set up and want a tropical set up is to just to start a second tank.  Taking on fish is just like taking on the responsibility of any pet like a cat or dog and any owner should be prepared to be in it for the longhall.  

Goldfish produce an enormous bioload and to keep them healthy, stress and disease free you really need to keep them with other goldfish only and in a tank where each goldfish has at least 20 gallons of water for one, 10 gallons for each additional fish with double that in filtration.  Plus, they need extra aeration and a temperature of 64-72 F, something that tropical fish cannot withstand.  Any less simply cannot sustain the bioload over time and they end up stressed, diseased and finally dead.  When kept in the proper set up they will live 20+ years.

How many of these tropical fish do you have in your 29 gallon tank?  It could very well be that you are overstocked and this is causing ammonia/nitrite/nitrate problems which in turn causes stress, disease and illness.  This is why I needed to know what you have and how many.  

Tropicals require a pH of 7.0-7.6, and a temp of at least 76, with 78 being much better.  This was definitely something that over time would have stressed the moor out.  Ammonia and nitrites should always be 0 and nitrates 5-20 ppm.  I still don't see your water test results but if your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates or pH or temp was off in any fashion this is definitely what caused the stress and illness.  Until we know what they are, it's hard for me to give you advice on how to correct them or exactly what is killing your fish.  It's imperative that you test for all of these asap, this 100% holds the key to what is happening in your tank.

Good luck : ) April M.

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QUESTION: Well...hmm I dont know how to say this but...How do you check ammonia nitrites pH levels for the tank...I've raised fish for plenty of years and nothing seems to gone wrong out of no where like this. Most of my fish dies in like 5 or six years though. The temperature is high 70's and I got 3 platies, 2 guppies, 1 molly, 2 swordtails and a gourami in a 29 gal. Sorry I got nothing left.

Emily

Answer
Hi Emily,

You need to buy an API freshwater master test kit at Petsmart or any other local pet store.  They look like this:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754034

The $29 will be well spent.  It will last you far longer than a year and it's extremely important that you monitor these levels.  This is the key to all of your issues in your tank.

Good luck : ) April M.