Did Prazipro kill my firefish?

[Gregorjw]

Sorry for the title, but i dont know what else to blame it on.
I had 4 purple firefish in a 20 gallon tank for prophylactic quarantine.
After a week or so they were doing great so i started the first round of prazipro. They seemed completely unfazed, still had great appetites and very active.
6 days later I dose a second round of prazipro and almost immediately one starts to flash, not much maybe once every five minutes, i think maybe just the medication working or maybe some gill irritation.
So i start monitoring them pretty regularly and seem fine until mid afternoon the next day when i notice flashing in 2 more and some head twitching. About an hour after this 3 of the 4 get really sluggish and start laying under the pvc. At this point I put some carbon in the filter in hopes of removing the prazipro.
This morning i woke up to one dead, and another followed a couple hours later. The last two are just lethargicly swimming on the bottom.

My water parameters seem to be fine and i cant think of anything that could have caused such a rapid decline.

Anyone else have any experience with this, and what i might be able to do to save the 2 that are still hanging in?

 

[HotRocks]

Do you have an ammonia badge?

Do you have an Airstone and a powerhead aimed to the surface? Prazi sucks the O2 out of the water pretty quickly. I'd suspect you are light on oxygen based on the description you provided. Prazi generally won't kill fish but oxygen depletion will.

 

[Gregorjw]

Thanks, I do have an ammonia alert badge, it showed as 0 same with my api test
I dont have an airstone though. I have a hang on back filter rated for a tank twice the size. I had figured that was enough water flow, i feel so bad if thats the cause. I did just add a powerhead to help with o2

 

[HotRocks]

Thanks, I do have an ammonia alert badge, it showed as 0 same with my api test
I dont have an airstone though. I have a hang on back filter rated for a tank twice the size. I had figured that was enough water flow, i feel so bad if thats the cause. I did just add a powerhead to help with o2

That is more than likely the cause then. Definitely make sure it is breaking the surface.

 

[Gregorjw]

Thank you, it is breaking the surface. They dont seem "better" but they do seem a little more active already. They arent hiding "under" the pvc anymore, now they are swimming around behind it. Hopefully this helps. And thank you for your help.

 

[HotRocks]

Thank you, it is breaking the surface. They dont seem "better" but they do seem a little more active already. They arent hiding "under" the pvc anymore, now they are swimming around behind it. Hopefully this helps. And thank you for your help.

No problem I hope they snap back. Keep in mind anytime you are treating with anything in QT, you really need additional oxygenation. I personally use an Airstone and powerhead aimed upward in combination at all times on QT tanks.