Well, it seems the question is moot - I may get to restart this tank soon
after all. It looks like ich or columnaris has settled in. It's strange,
I've never encountered this problem before (granted, I used to live in
Colorado, now I live in Florida...) As I may have mentioned, we only killed
2 fish from gross negligence or natural causes before... I came home to find
the three tetras and three of the rasboras dead, dead, dead. The other
three rasboras look unhappy (white spots, hyphae from the gills, etc...)
And the plecos (we have 2 in there now) aren't very active either. I just
added some fungicide and salt, and some 'aloe vera' fish coat (by Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals, from the dreaded Wal-Mart which was the only thing open).
I feel really bad, I've never had a mass-death before. Oh well. I don't
feel bad about the rasboras so much (they don't have a lot of personality)
but the plecos would break my heart. Then again, if they do go belly up, I
can just start over.

Well, thanks for answering my post before. Chalk one up to newbie learning
experience no. 65,243. Cross your fingers and pray to whatever gods you
worship for the souls of my remaining fish!

Thanks,

Noah

Well, it seems the question is moot - I may get to restart this tank soon
after all. It looks like ich or columnaris has settled in.

It's probably because your tank is cycling. Cycling a tank is extremely
stressful for fish, and you chose some fish that are rather delicate, and not
suited for cycling a tank at all.

Next time, please consider a "fishless cycle." Much easier on the fish.

I just
added some fungicide and salt, and some 'aloe vera' fish coat (by Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals, from the dreaded Wal-Mart which was the only thing open).
I feel really bad, I've never had a mass-death before.

Fungicide won't help. Columnaris is not a fungus, though it looks like one.
It's a bacterical infection, which is generally only a problem if tank
conditions are very poor. Ich is a parasite; if that's your problem, you need
something like Rid-Ich or Quick-Cure.

If you don't understand what I mean by "cycling," read this article:

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html



Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

Thanks for your help. I didn't realize it, but I guess the fish we had last
time were a little more robust than the ones we picked this time -- it
seemed like they didn't even notice when we dropped them in. For the
record, they were tin-foil barbs and dwarf gouramis.

Thanks again, this has been a learning experience.

Noah
"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
Well, it seems the question is moot - I may get to restart this tank soon
after all. It looks like ich or columnaris has settled in.

It's probably because your tank is cycling. Cycling a tank is extremely
stressful for fish, and you chose some fish that are rather delicate, and
not
suited for cycling a tank at all.

Next time, please consider a "fishless cycle." Much easier on the fish.

I just
added some fungicide and salt, and some 'aloe vera' fish coat (by
Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals, from the dreaded Wal-Mart which was the only thing
open).
I feel really bad, I've never had a mass-death before.

Fungicide won't help. Columnaris is not a fungus, though it looks like
one.
It's a bacterical infection, which is generally only a problem if tank
conditions are very poor. Ich is a parasite; if that's your problem, you
need
something like Rid-Ich or Quick-Cure.

If you don't understand what I mean by "cycling," read this article:

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html



Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/