A Question About Stress..

[edfishman]

Am I right in thinking that fish shed they protective slimy layer when stressed? And that it is this layer that keeps them protected from stress related diseases?

My fish live in the lounge where my flatemate practices her moves on the dancing pole from time to time. This causes lumping on the floorboards and im worried it may be stressing the fish. I have had quite a few of them die and think it might be that cos all the water tests are fine.

So.. would it be a good idea to add a small amount of some de-stressing tonic to the water every day as a prophylactic measure?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What sort of water quality test results have you been getting recently and how many gals is the tank plus its stocking?
Fish shouldn't shed their protective slime when generally stressed, if there slime coat is coming off its more likely to do with something in the water which is irritating the slime coat and causing the fish to produce an excess of it.
Stress is a big deal for fish; in some ways they are like us- you are more likely to get ill if you are very stressed all the time, because your bodys defences/imune system suffers when your whole body is under a lot of stress. Stress is often the cause of many deseases that fish get, but even happy fish can fall ill sometimes (although they are less likely to). The protective slime coat only really comes out when it is physically damaged (i.e. from rough handling the fish, desease eating away at fishes flesh or fish flicking and rubbing itself against stuff all the time etc etc).
What sort of symptoms were the fish showing before they died? If the room you keep them in gets very noisey and stuff and the fish look stressed out by it, you should probably set the tank up somewhere else or speak to your flatmate about the issue and try and sort something out together about the problem .

 

[edfishman]

It's a 40L tank and only have 7 fish in there at the mo. The pH is 7.5, and the ammonia and nitrite levels are all close to zero so nothing to do with the water quality. I've not had any deaths for a few weeks now but beforehand its been pretty much 1/2 deaths a week since i started it up 8 weeks ago. I followed all the right instrusctions for setting up a tank, cycle the tank, introduce fish slowly etc.. It must be stress. Some fish had mouth fungus (which i treated), others i just found dead with no sign of illness or injury.

 

[ant0]

40l is 10 US gallons, what do you have in there?

 

[Tolak]

Please fill this out, it will help us help you;

Tank size:
pH:
ammonia:
nitrite:
nitrate:
kH:
gH:
tank temp:

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior):

Volume and Frequency of water changes:

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank:

Tank inhabitants:

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration):

Exposure to chemicals:

Digital photo (include if possible):


No level of ammonia or nitrite is acceptable, this may be the start of the problem. By reviewing your tank's history & maitenance procedure we may be able to figure this one out. Mouth fungus is most often columnaris, a bacterial disorder. Posting what country you are from will help us figure out what meds are available.

 

[edfishman]

Tank size: 40L (10g)
pH: 7.5
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: took sample to the fish shop, they ran test and said was fine
kH: - took sample to the fish shop, they ran test and said was fine
gH: took sample to the fish shop, they ran test and said was fine
tank temp: 27c

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): A few died following columnaris (they had white fluff around ther mouths). Most just died suddenly or following a day or 2 of odd behaviour.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 20% weekly

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Cycle (to boost bacteria) and Aquaplus water conditioner.

Tank inhabitants: Currently, 1x red eye tetra.. 2x rosy barb.. 2x guppy, 2x rainbow tetra

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): None added since I started the project 8 weeks ago. I have a plant and some decs all bought from the shop and are designed for fish tanks.

Exposure to chemicals: None

Digital photo (include if possible):



I am from the UK.

Thanks

 

[aquaticadmirer]

Well it sounds like your fish have had an infection of some kind. which is most likely the cause of the deaths. Can you describe in more detail what kind of "odd behavior" the fish exhibited for a couple days before dying?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What med/s did you use to treat the fish with when they had columnaris?

Adding Cycle to the tank is unesarsary unless the tank is still cycling (but it doesn't be to be so depending on your nitrate results), there is little point in adding it once the tank is established as the population of your filter bacteria mostly depends on the amount of ammonia your fish are producing and the surface area of your filters sponges . I would also advise increasing your water changes a bit more in size preferably to 25-35% a week especially if your fish have been dying unexpectadly .