water smells like mildew,fish died yesterday,fish gave birth today

[preggoguppo]

yesterday i had a platy die, so i scooped him out yesterday, then last nite i notice my one guppy male had these little white dot things all over him(i thought it was itty bitty air bubbles stuck to his skin maby) and this morning my female guppy had her babies, the water now smells like mildew, and another fish i have is starting to get the little white dots...what is it?! i want to get rid of this ASAP before it kills any fish or my newborn fry!

thanks! Erin

 

[phOOey]

the white dots are most likely ich, nearly every fish keeper goes through atleast one out break in their time. there are a lot of ich meds out there, so just go to your lfs and pic one up, if you use the correct doseage your ich should be gone within a matter of days.

 

[punkrockfish]

def ich, can easily find medication at your lfs, and only thing i can ask about your water smelling is when was the last time you did a water change?

 

[preggoguppo]

*SICK* i havent changed the water for like a year, every friday i siphon the bottom (about a gallon) and replace it with a gallon of spring water... i did some research and i think i have Ich or velvet... i dont have a spare tank, so i dont know what to do, i called hte pet store and he told me my babys and alge eater in a bucket because it will die with the treatment... he told me to get a bucket and put my alge eater and babies in and buy a bubbler thing and put it in the bucket, then treat the tank... he said i have to take the filter out because of the carbon? but i dont want ot but another bubbler thing, so can i just take the filter pad out so the water just pours out of the filter without going threw the filter pad? can i do that? this is such a pain, i never delt with disease before, i never thought it would happen to me...

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

How big is your tank? If you change a gallon of the dirtiest water from the bottom of the tank every week in a 10 gallon tank then I would say you have a pretty ogod water change schedule.

Ich is treated several ways, and there have been a lot of threads on here about it. Search through the archived threads using the Search page and enter:

ich​

or

ich; scaleless​

in the search box . I posted a thread a while back about how to treat ich in a tank with scaless fish, shrimp, and live plants, a tough challenge. Some stand by something called Kordon+, some stand by the salt and heat method. Either way, it'll likely take a couple weeks to get rid of it.

Nobody ever thinks it will happen to them, but that's what happens when we don't use protection. If you don't have a QT, you are sure to get ich, again, and again, and again. It will just keep getting reintroduced to your tank from new fish.

Read this, it is my thread from a couple months ago about ich with scaleless fish: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25961

 

[punkrockfish]

yeah treating the whole tank when you have scaleless fish is a problem b/c it can kill them. water change doesnt mean taking out all the water and replacing it, what you are doing by taking some out every week by using the syphon and replacing it is a water change, and is good. general rule is 20-25% of water a week in a water change. the reason to remove the carbon from the filter is that it will absorb the medication. you can take it out and still let the water circulate through the filter just for water movement.

 

[FroggyFox]

Personally I think I'd just treat the whole tank for ich...even the babies. The water in your tank should have an earthy smell...but not BAD. Usually if its bad its because there's something molding in the filter...or maybe food that has dropped in the crevices at the top of your tank and is rotting. You might take things apart and do a really good hot water and elbow grease clean.