parasite ?

Question
Hi Chris-

I have a freshwater (38 gallon) tank, it's been set up for approx 2 years now (w/ artificial plants).  I have 3 wagtails, 1 angel fish and 2-3 spot Gourami's.  Recently I bought 4-spot Gourami's, who within days were quarantined by the pet store for a parasite.  Since putting them in my tank, all my zebra snails have died as well as 2 of the 3 spot Gouramis.  Now my angel fish has tail/fin rot, white spots and eye infections.
I do 25% water changes 2 x's week and have a PH of 8, ammonia levels of 1.2 and nitrate levels of 0.1.  I am treating the fish with melafix and Quick Cure (formalin/malachite green) and my angel is getting worse (the 3 spots are eating the parasites on him).

Please help !  What do I do !
Anna


Answer
Hi Anna;

Poor guys. They are really having a tough time. Make a 25% water change right away. Do another one again tomorrow and test the ammonia levels to see where they are. It will certainly make the fish feel better. Keep doing them until the ammonia levels have gone down and stay down.

If the snails' shells were just empty and you didn't see any of their 'soft parts' anywhere, the fish simply ate them. Gouramis like to eat snails and maybe the new ones just had more of an appetite for them. If they were indeed just dead they were probably poisoned by high ammonia and/or high nitrites. When the new fish were added the ammonia level rose from the new population. Since your tank pH happens to be above 7.0 the ammonia has a much greater toxic effect on the fish. Your 8.0 pH isn't usually a "bad" pH, just bad when it comes to ammonia. It takes time for the bacteria balance to stabilize again when new fish are introduced to the system. The ammonia level will go up very high and down again before you can detect it, so it may have been up seriously high and dropped before you could get a test on it at that level. The fish will certainly be affected by that and can die.

That may be the problem with the angel too. High ammonia levels will irritate the skin and eyes, cause tattered fins, and sometimes death. The gouramis picking at him (whether for parasites or not) is a very bad thing. They will certainly stress him to death and could be the cause of the ongoing spots. The fish can become infected with bacteria or fungi from there. It would be best if you could separate that angel to a hospital tank or put a divider in so he isn't harrassed anymore.

Below is a great link to charts for diseases and treatments that may help you in deciding on the proper medication for your fish. Your fish have so many different symptoms I think it would save time instead of waiting for me to respond to followups before you can treat them. Ask as many followups as you need though. It's just hard to do emergency situations here. Sometimes it just takes too long.

http://www.nationalfishpharm.com/diseases.html

I hope things get better soon....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins