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[Nickbat]

Bought some medical treatment for my tropical fish the other day.

It's only when you read the instructions on the inside of the box that it says:

"It is not a miracle cure and can not bring dead fish back to life"

Grrr! Why didn't they let me know that before I forked out £4.49 on the stuff.

[Markjay]

The always say that just to cover their back side. If you have any dead fish, just drop some of the stuff in, mark my words it will bring them 'round!  

[Markjay]

The always say that just to cover their back side. If you have any dead fish, just drop some of the stuff in, mark my words it will bring them 'round!  

I am in IT, when they say 'it is not supported' what they actually mean is 'sure, it will work just fine, but we can't be bothered to tell you how to do it and if you are a moron and can't get it going then don't come to us mate!'  

[Marks DTM Calib]

I always find that dropping a plugged in toaster in the tank gets them wriggling again.....must be something to do with the bread crumbs.

[Jimbob]

Fish are normally ill for a reason, so just putting medicine in wont help, you need to fix the problem first.

Is everything working? Heater, filter etc?
when did you last clean the filter?
when did you last do a water change?
any fish bullying the others?

before treating i would check all working, if the filter is very dirty give it a clean (use old tank water is better than tap, the chlorine in the tap water can kill the bacteria you need in the filter.)
Do you have any water test kits, ie Nitrite or PH
PH has a tendancy to get a bit acidic which can cause problems, 1/2 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda diluted in a pint of water can help if this is the case.
If nitrite shows high, it indicates your filter isnt working correctly.

If you cant do the above, do a 50% water change, then treat, likely more effective.

What are the ill fishes symptoms, I may be able to help further.

[Nickbat]

I always find that dropping a plugged in toaster in the tank gets them wriggling again.....must be something to do with the bread crumbs.

Yep, those breadcrumbs have hidden powers. I'll have to launch my own brand on eBay

[Nickbat]

Fish are normally ill for a reason, so just putting medicine in wont help, you need to fix the problem first.

Is everything working? Heater, filter etc?
when did you last clean the filter?
when did you last do a water change?
any fish bullying the others?

before treating i would check all working, if the filter is very dirty give it a clean (use old tank water is better than tap, the chlorine in the tap water can kill the bacteria you need in the filter.)
Do you have any water test kits, ie Nitrite or PH
PH has a tendancy to get a bit acidic which can cause problems, 1/2 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda diluted in a pint of water can help if this is the case.
If nitrite shows high, it indicates your filter isnt working correctly.

If you cant do the above, do a 50% water change, then treat, likely more effective.

What are the ill fishes symptoms, I may be able to help further.

Jimbob, where do I start.
OK, everything's been fine for months. Dalmatian Molly gave birth to 30 fry about two weeks ago (and a Orange Platy shed about 10 the next day!!). All the fish were fine and I was going to get a new larger tank this week.
Last Friday, I was giving the tank its usual 20% water change. Took the old water out, cleaned the filter added the usual dechlorinator and cycle solution. Went to refill and found our water had been cut of (Its since been cut off twice a day while they re-lay mains about a quarter mile away). Anyway, as soon as the water came back on, I filled and emptied about five buckets before I refilled the tank. The water looked OK in the bucket, but rather cloudy and yellowish in the tank. I didn't have time (or cycle solution) to do another change and I thought that the filter would cope with things. It did, in fact, and the tank became clear. On Saturday evening, though, I thought that the Molly mum and dad were acting a bit odd (shimmying), but thought it might just be a mating thing. On Sunday, I found one Platy dead and the Mollies were still shimmying and not going for the food as much as before. Couldn't get to the fish shop until Tuesday (due to 2yo son's illness), by which time I had lost the dad Molly. Started the 3-day treatment that day. Too late to save the Molly mum, who appeared to have a bit of a white spot near her dorsal fin.

The fish are looking a bit better, but the two small adult mollies are still shimmying a bit. The fry, the 4 blue tetras and the 4 neon tetras appear completely unaffected and are swimming and eating fine. I've tested the PH, ammonia and nitrate levels and they're all fine.

The water supply has gone off twice again today. Looks a bit cloudy in a glass tumbler. Could there be a connection between teh water outages and the fish disease? Dunno, but I don't think I've finished pulling the bodies out yet.    

[Jimbob]

Yep, sounds like water to me!
doesn't take much to upset things,
The livebearers are always more suceptable to problems than the egg layers, hence the mollies and platys suffering.
The filter appeared to cope, by straining out the dirt particles, but who knows what is dissolved in the water.
My advice would be to do water changes every couple of days, 30-40% to gradually flush out the tank.
Bigger water changes in one go can cause problems with shock.
The trouble will be getting the clean water, you may need to boil and cool it to be safe.
I doubt any medicine will really help, but a tonic type on may.

Good luck!

[Nickbat]

Thanks Jimbob. Your expert comment is much appreciated.

The water came back on again (dark brown), but has since gone off again. Having to use a scrounged Tesco Value bottle to boil the spuds for the kids' dinner. Phoned up Three Valleys and they said the discolouration was just a bit of rust and the cloudiness was just air. Nothing to worry about - just let the tap run for 10 minutes. Yeah, right.

I'll either boil water,as you suggest, or go out and get some bottled stuff.

Wretched water company. This has been going on for a week or so and we've had no official notification about the twice daily outage. Makes me b***dy cross!

[Jimbob]

I would be wary of mineral water!
nice to drink, but maybe not so nice for the fish

[MikeDundee]

Buy a water butt and fill it up, use that water to do water changes, even if you fill the butt up with tap water after 24hrs its fine to just put in the tank without treating it, been using that for the past 3 yrs works atreat, had a few fish down to just 3 silver dollars now, which is fine as they are quite hardy fish. You can also use Easy Balance to reduce the amount of water changes, and also once a wek you could put in stress zyme which also helps the fish with any possible ailmets they may have  

[Nickbat]

Buy a water butt and fill it up, use that water to do water changes, even if you fill the butt up with tap water after 24hrs its fine to just put in the tank without treating it, been using that for the past 3 yrs works atreat, had a few fish down to just 3 silver dollars now, which is fine as they are quite hardy fish. You can also use Easy Balance to reduce the amount of water changes, and also once a wek you could put in stress zyme which also helps the fish with any possible ailmets they may have  

Cheers, Mick.  
The water butt idea could be worth pursuing although, during the winter, I'd have to add warm water from the tap to bring it up to the exsiting tank temperature. Presumably I'd then still have to dechlorinate.

[MikeDundee]

Buy a water butt and fill it up, use that water to do water changes, even if you fill the butt up with tap water after 24hrs its fine to just put in the tank without treating it, been using that for the past 3 yrs works atreat, had a few fish down to just 3 silver dollars now, which is fine as they are quite hardy fish. You can also use Easy Balance to reduce the amount of water changes, and also once a wek you could put in stress zyme which also helps the fish with any possible ailmets they may have  

Cheers, Mick.  
The water butt idea could be worth pursuing although, during the winter, I'd have to add warm water from the tap to bring it up to the exsiting tank temperature. Presumably I'd then still have to dechlorinate.

To be honest I don't bother doing that, depend on how much you are changing, i normally just top it up, have been doing that for the past 3 years, never had any problems, clean and change filters regularly