diseased fish

Question
QUESTION: I have a 10 gallon tank with three tiger barbs in it. The nitrates/ nitrites are a little high, the water is soft with a ph of 8.5, and the ammonia is a little high too. I put Prime in the tank to help with the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. The problem is one of the fish has white, fuzzy, globby stuff growing on him. I bought an antifungal treatment the employee recommended called Pimafix. I took the charcoal filter out as directed on the bottle. Within hours of the first treatment, more than half of the stuff was gone, but on the second day, it started to come back. This stuff is growing over his bottom fins and he swims sideways and upside down. I am afraid the medicine stopped working and that the other fish will get infected. I think the infection came from some dead plant bulbs I removed last week...they were growing the same globby stuff on them. Maybe it is a slime mold? Is there anything I can do to save this fish and/or protect the others?

ANSWER: Hi Christina:  you have a complex issue... two actually... the high chemical values of your tank are leading to the diseases of your fish... what you need to do is a 50% water change and clean the gravel really well.... you are going to also want to raise the water temperature to about 86 degrees and add aquarium salt per its instructional label.  The trouble comes in treating the fungus as the carbon filter is what helps to clean the toxins from the water like ammonia and nitrate... but it also lessens the effect of the medication.  If possible I would separate the sick fish to a hospital tank and treat him there with the pimafix... if you can not do that then your other choice is to do a 75% water change and replace the water with spring water... you can choose not to treat with pimafix and just raise the temp and add salt... two table spoons in this case... add some more oxygen to the water too as warmer water holds less oxygen.... please keep me posted... dave

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

QUESTION: Alas, the fish died overnight. I found him this morning stuck to a fake coral decoration. I will go buy spring water today for the water change. I have had a consistent problem with ammonia. I'm sure my other fish are still at risk, especially considering that the white stuff is growing on some of my fake plants. I have heard people use the term "hospital tank". Is that just another running tank to isolate sick fish?

As far as oxygen goes, I have an airstone that is about ten inches long and makes a curtain of bubbles. Is that enough for a 10 gal tank? It would be difficult to add more. I am waiting to see if my heater is capable of getting the water to 86 degrees. I also put the carbon filter back, for at least filtering out the stuff I stir up when I clean the gravel. I have water conditioner- do I need to use it with spring water? Am I missing anything else? I don't remember aquariums being this complicated. Also, I will break down and buy my own chemical testing kit today instead of driving to the store every time I want it checked. What features do I need to test? (I know about ammonia for sure)

ANSWER: Hi Christina: I am sorry to hear of your fish loss... At this point the best thing you can do in the long-run is to keep the tank really clean.  The high pH can be managed over time with small water changes that are replaced with good water... spring water is ok...but you can also boil tap water and then siphon off the top half of the pot and use that.  You should probably try to change no more then 2 gallons per week.  Add a small piece of cured driftwood to the tank and that will also help to lower pH over time... Your bubbler should be enough to supply a ten gallon tank with oxygen. When you clean your tank this time... pull out all of the decorations and give them a good soak in hot, hot water.  Your goal at this point is to minimize the amount of tap water that goes into your tank... and with each water change and gravel vacuum... more of the old water goes out and the pH lowers... and at some point you have a normal tank that is not as much work as the old tank was.  You should test for ammonia, nitrate,  nitrite, and pH.  Hope this helps... and keep me posted.... dave

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

QUESTION: I turned up the temp like you said, and changed about two gallons of water, and another fish went belly-up. It appeared totally healthy a few hours before he was found, also stuck to the fake coral. I am frustrated to the point of giving up. That fish survived living in a flower vase for three days with no oxygen source or filtration. It was a hardy fish. There is one small fish left in this tank and I am not optimistic of his chances either. What am I doing wrong!

Answer
Hi Christina:  You've really done nothing wrong... the working conditions that you have available for you to keep fish are difficult... once you get the tank water to balance with its pH ... keeping fish will be easier.  Ph and fish is tricky because the fish can self adjust to a point their internal workings with tank pH.  What do you have left in terms of fish???? we can work this out so that you too can enjoy fish as much as I have... dave