rainbows

[g.clem]

hi I am new with this but here I go. I like Australian Rainbows. I keep lots of difrent typs in a 70 gal tank. From time to time I will get a fish that starts losing its color and stops eating and also starts breathing real fast. after a bout 2 weeks of this they die. this always seams to start after a water change. eny ideas as to how to stop this? My local fish store has no idea. PS sorry I can not spell !!

[Jay]

Hey g.clem

It would be useful to see a complete set of tank paramaters.

pH; KH; GH; Nitrate; Ammonia; Nitrate;?

How ofter do you do water changes?

What type of filtration system are you running?

What is your bio-load (how many fish and sizes)?

What is your feeding schedule and type of food?

That should get us started on helping with the problem.

Regards,
Jay

[Sniperelite8243]

Originally Posted by g.clem

PS sorry I can not spell !!

no worries. i got this fancy gaming keyboard on my pc with all these fancy buttons. youl see m typing missing letters usualy or something like that.

and if i can add to that jay

how much water do you take out in a water change

you say time to time you lose a fish. but you say they die during the trime of water changes. im confused. do you only do water changes from time to time.

welcome to the forum.

[g.clem]

I do water changes every 5 days about 50 to 60 % of the water. I have about 15 fish from 2 inc to about 8 inch. I feed dry food and frozen with fresh vegies and water plants ( duck weed) and they eat a lot of it. At last check I think my Ph was 6.6. The illness starts after a water change though. I tryed using a wide spectrum antibyaotic sorry about the spelling. but had the same result. I had not lost a fish in about 5 months then recently it started again. I asked my sister who has ranbows to if she has this problem and she says yes same simtoms . She justs puts the fish in clove oil at first sine of the problem. I hope some one out there has had the problem and has a way of stoping it. O I frogt I keep some plants in this tank but not meny. The fish just eat them. I have a magnum 350 with two bio weels. I have a ultravilit light that I do not use eny more it seamed to cous more problems then it helped.

[Jay]

Whoa..Clove Oil

Something is not making sense here. Clove Oil is an anesthetic when given to fish, it is also used for euthanizing fish with terminal disease. It is certainly not a cure for anything.

With water changes every five days, I don't see a correlation between disease and water changes, the time frame is too small.

I'm speculating here but it could be an osmotic problem, temperature shock?, unconditioned water? Radical pH/GH change etc.

I think we should explore the bio-load / osmotic angle
That would fit the symptoms you describe.

You still have not given us a set of tank parameters to work with.


Regards.
Jay

[RubberFrog]

I'm with Jay. The secret is in the change water.

And we need those parameters.

[Sniperelite8243]

clove oil, it is proboly real easy to od your fish and kill them. letalone if you do this when a fish dies you will just continue the cycle. But for now, forget the clove oil. if i may try some melifixx and primafix. both are natraul meds and cant harm your fish unless you add to much. 50-60 is a bit to much water for me try about 40%. every week

good luck