# Sudden death after using Melafix



## Vic (Apr 19, 2011)

Hi All,

I will try to make this short...

I added a new African Butterfly fish to my 55g, horrible mistake. He took a big chunk out of my Dwarf Blue Gourami and mutilated 3 other fish. I got rid of him immediately! Did a 50% water change 2 days ago, then added Melafix yesterday. My LFS assured me that it would be safe for my other fish.

Withing 2 hours one of my red minor tetras dropped dead, no marks or odd behavior at all. Then a white spot appeared on my 3 lined (or Julii not sure which it is) cory. He was DOA this morning. He was fine up until yesterday!

Now I'm not sure what to do, all the other fish seem fine but so did the 2 just before they died. "Blue" looks good, his wound seems to be healing ok and he is doing good. I'm worried about infection tho.

I just had a DG in my quarantine tank and from his symptoms I'm afraid he had that DG disease so I am concerned about putting Blue in there till I know it's safe.

What should I do? continue treatment, or do a 50% wc and put the carbon back in to try to keep from hurting any other fish? I did see the sticky post on the Melafix this morning so I'm wondering if that's what did it.

I don't know how old the cory was I inherited him with a tank I purchased. He came with a buddy and I am fairly sure they are several years old at least.

Water today
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
NitrAtes 10-20ppm

Current fish
2 Cory cats
2 Pictus - small 2-3" 
1 Yo Yo loach
3 Rainbows - 2 1/2"
4 Red Minor Tetra 
1 Red Wag Platty
1 Pleco about 5-6"

I usually do 30-50% wc weekly
The tank has been up for 4 months

Thanks for any help, Blue is one of my first fish and he is my favorite! 
Vicky

Sorry they are such poor photos, it's from my POS phone. 
Injured Blue


Cory


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## mikeandjensreef (Jul 15, 2011)

That's very odd, I've used Melafix several times with my cichlids if they get fungus or any strange marks and none have died so far. Maybe lessen the concentration of how much you put in. On the bottle it says one tsp or 5ml per 10 gallons. If it's killing fish I'd probably say discontinue use or halve your doses. Judging by the nitrates and ammonia levels you posted everything else sounds fine. Also do you use aquarium salt? Maybe try that instead of the melafix.


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## Vic (Apr 19, 2011)

I'm wondering if that could be fin rot on the cory? Have another 1 that's dying now and looks like his tail rotted.


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## mikeandjensreef (Jul 15, 2011)

Well the melafix is supposed to reverse that and has for my golden ram, and has removed fungus from my parrot cichlid. Is your ph in your tank okay? Mine usually ran around 7.5 on the tester... now 8.5 for my cichlids since they like higher ph.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You have a few different fish that are somewhat sensitive to meds (gourami, loaches, cories, maybe more). You can't treat with all meds without doing a little research to see if there may be a different way to dose and still not affect any sensitive fish you may have. A generic way could be to treat with 50% dose, but treat for twice as long. Fin rot may not take that to cure though. I have treated for just 3-4 days with melafix and it was gone. All your fish could still be stressed out from the predator that was in there.


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## Vic (Apr 19, 2011)

My ph is at 8.0, I know that is high but that's how it comes out of my tap. It has always been this way.

I was wondering about the stress causing this? It's just odd that it's happening so fast. Fine one minute, dead in an few hrs... 

I've never seen fin rot before, does it cause death so sudden? I checked them all out very closely after I got "killer" out and didn't notice this on any of them.
Could stress cause fin rot?

And yes, I was really worried about using any meds with those fish in there. I also have 4 glass cats I didn't list. 

Now I just don't know what to do? Should I give another 1/2 dose today, or wait? At this point I'm afraid to move any of them to different tanks in case there is something going on.

I will post a pic of the 2nd cory in just a sec. He is doing bad...


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## Vic (Apr 19, 2011)

This is from today, he was fine yesterday


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## Lil Gashog (Dec 1, 2010)

Is he dead?He looks starved IMO not trying to offend you.


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## Vic (Apr 19, 2011)

Starved? No, you did not offend me. I'm to find out what it is I am doing wrong. I don't think that's it, seems odd that he would be fine and then die the same time as the others if that was the case. And the other cory was far from starved. He seemed to eat with the others and was active. 

I've got another pic, yes, he is dead now. 



If anyone has any suggestions I'd like to hear them.


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## mikeandjensreef (Jul 15, 2011)

Okay I agree with jrman83 about the dose sensitivity, I am also curious as to what type of tank conditioner you use. I have two that I use on a regular basis during water changes. API stress zyme (purple), and stress coat (orange). Do those sound familiar?


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## Vic (Apr 19, 2011)

I use prime. But I'm afraid I neglected the most important, stupid mistake I made. When I returned the other fish I got a replacement and I didn't QT him! I know, very foolish. Now I may loose my entire tank. I think he may of had cotton mouth n the fish were already stressed and picked it up very fast. I lost a glass cat today and the new rainbow last night. There is a very small white spot on one of the other glass cats and my 2 pictus are bloated (a lot more than they are after eating) 

The new fish got a white spot on his lower lip, it swelled up so much he couldn't close his mouth then died. His tail looked like it was starting to rot also. 

I picked up some API Fungus cure and am going to do some research about using it with the pictus, cory, and glass cats. 

I tried to get the one glass cat with the spot on it out thus am but I couldn't and it was really stressing the pictus out. 

I did add aquarium salt at 1 tspn / 5 gal. And 1/2 dose melafix. I think at this point if I don't do anything they will all die....

Any advise is much appreciated.


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## Vic (Apr 19, 2011)

Btw, the glass cat didn't seem to show anything other than turning white.


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