Me.... again?

[buddylove]

Hey everyone. I have a question about my tank........ all of my fish have died except the four glow fish and one alege eater. We re-did our tank today, took old water out and added new (I know that screwed up the cycle) and now we just have the heater and the filter running. I read on a site about something called "fur coat syndrome"? I think my fish had that because they were all pretty furry. The ones that died but not the glow fish/alege eater. It said that syndrome happened when the fish were in to cold of water and I noticed when my air conditioner came on it caused the tanks temp to drop. How can I fix that? Anyway my questions are........ If those fish did have "fur coat syndrome" and I put the surviving fish back into the new water (they are in a smaller tank right now with the old water in that tank) will any new fish I buy get that syndrome? Also we went to the pet shop today and the guy told us that we could be over feeding our fish and thats why the water went bad so fast. He told us to feed every other day and just a small amount.

Do you think the water will stay reletively clean if we only had a few fish in a 30 gal tank? I'd like to have a betta, alege eater and I saw some bala sharks at the pet shop today that looked pretty cool. Two of them?? Thanks!

 

[unwritten law]

I wouldn't put bala sharks in a 30 cause they need lots of swimming space and also should be in groups so that and their size makes them not the best choice. I dont know about this syndrome but without fixing it it most likely will come back. Can you move the tank to where the A/C doesn't hit it or bump up the heater. You should have a thermometer on the tank and just glance at it daily. Over feeding duriong a cycle is very bad cause your water isn't getting filtered "biologically" very fast and if you over feed its like one step forward with the filter and two steps back with the feeding. You can just feed your fish every other day and they'll be just fine. Mine have gone a week with out food before multiple times.

 

[Matt Nace]

It is indeed a bacterial infection that looks like fuzz due to the water temp being too cold. I think it needs an antibiotic ..but may not survive if there are no fish in the tank. I would either treat your living fish or at least look for signs and turn up the heater in the tank they are housed in currently.

Not certain if your cycled yet(do you test to see?) but you do need to raise the temp for your tropical fish. If your fish are ok in the temp aquarium maybe you could do a fishless cycle until you cycled in the bigger tank.

If wish to avoid fluctuating water temps in your A/c room, you may need a bigger heater(or use two smaller ones), make sure your tanks' top or glass has minimal spaces to keep the heat in. I even had to cover mine with a towel when I needed to medicate in the past cause I could not get the tank warm enough.

I agree, the shark should not be in there. I had 4 in a 29 when I first started fish keeping. They out grew that and I bought a 55 gallon for them..which they out grow and the sharks which I loved became super annoying. They would slam into everything if startled..and durring water changes they would freak out. I mean literly fly out the tank and slam into things.

The water will remain clean if you do not over feed, clean and vaccuum your gravel , do partial regular water changes and have enough filtration.