Please help my sick fish!!!! New member

[amandab225]

I have a huge problem. All my fish are very sick!!! I have a 60 gallon freshwater tank with an aqua clear 500 filter. my tank has been set up for about 6 months and everything was fine until a couple of weeks ago..... Now all the fish act like there having troble breathing their mouths go nonstop!! All there gills have truned blue and my red devils lips are blue. We've changed the filters monthly like it says. My tank has a huge parrot fish, red devil, bummble bee, 2 oscars, and assorted chilids. I thought my albino oscar was going to die he was just kinda laying on the bottom of the of the tank and the other fish have beaten him up badly but he hasn't died YET!!! I'm treating my tank currently with some stuff call Melafix and it doesn't seem to helping. my ph is testing fine. Someone please help!! :bawling:

[Tace]

Hi Amanda,
Sounds like you have a nice set-up for the fish. What kind of water changes are you making. You made no reference to making any. Only partial water changes when done. Ok, first move toward helping your buddies out, I suggest a major water change, removing about half of the existing water (30gal) in the tank, before removal disturb gravel to remove as much debris as possible. Replace slowly and try to match in terms of temperature as best you can. Then add Melafix it's an excellent product when used properly follow instructions when adding. I'm assuming you've already given you filter a good cleaning which is good. Within the next day or two, make another water change yet only about (10gal), again adding the proper amount of Melafix. Besides all mentioned I highly suggest, getting some aeration (bubbles) and powerhead for oxygen and water movement. With or without the aeration and powerhead, the steps mentioned should help. Please advise as to how all works out for you and the gang. By the way, way to go on putting together a nice community of fish.

[Spanish Queen]

I would also suggest removing the oscar if he is being harassed too much. Do you have a hospital tank? I would also suggest taking some of your water in to the pet store to have them check your ammonia levels, to see if taht is waht is hurting thier gills. Or the nitrates. If you change the filter floss 100%, you can have an ammonia spike. I suggest taking out only 75% at most and leaving the other 25% to "seed" the new floss with good bacteria that eat the ammonia and stop the spikes. A large number of water changes will help that, until it cycles again. If you want more information about the cycling process, here is a good link:
http://www.aquahobby.com/tips/fishless.html
If thier gills are hurting, sometimes salt can help them. I hope they start feeling better soon!!
Jenn