Help with nitrate battle!!!!

[jughead]

if the fish arent turning the sand over all the way to the bottom,youre gonna have anaerobic bacteria setting up shop in your substrate,you can count on it.if the sand at the very bottom is clumped-compacted,thats bad.2" layer is a bunch of sand,unless your jd's are keeping it moving.

[Nzg62ol]

I only stir the sand with my siphon while cleaning and pick up all rocks to clean under them.

it seems to be some sort of parasite in my tank attacking my fish..
I have gotten my nitrates and ammonia back under control for he most part with the extra eheim and water changes but will test again tonight to be sure

[Nzg62ol]

Ok it has spread to all fish and is no longer only EBJD showing symposiums. My severums are showing same symptoms and all fish seem to be hungry and want te too bit it is as if it is too hard to swallow anything. I saw my biggest severum grab single blood worms and spit it out as if it hurt and would move his gills and mouth as if chewing after he spit it out....

[SunnyHouTX]

After reading through the thread, my opinion is that your fish are getting internal bacterial infections brought on by bad water quality in the form of high nitrates. I think the high nitrates is due to the number of fish in the tank being high, not enough water changes (or water changes too small) and also feeding with live/raw food , maybe overfeeding in general.

To treat for the bacterial infection, you'll have to use a broad spectrum antibiotic like nitrofurazone, bifuran or nitrofuracin green along with metro. Best to stop feeding for the time being and doing a large water change before treating starts.

After you get the symptoms under control you'll have to make a few decisions to move forward. Get a bigger tank or reduce the number of fish being the most important. Secondarily, you'll have to change how you feed your fish and also increase your water change routine (think 70%+ at least once a week).