Fish diseases will they ever stop coming?!

[Raechal]

Okay so my betta has been battlin fin rot for awhile now, then when I brougt home Toggle (my black moor) he had ich so now I am treating him for that. Now in my main tank (the 120 gallon) I spotted two of my fish flicking against a rock. Could this be gill flukes or what? It was my oldest von rio tetra and a platy I just bought 3 days ago. All of the other fish seem perfectly fine. Can I just treat the whole tank just to be safe?

What do I treat for? Their breathing is normal, they have no other signs of illness, they are swimming perfectly fine, and they are eating like pigs. The ammonia is 0, the nitrite is 0 and the nitrate is at 5.

What could be wrong?

 

[Nisha]

Sorry to hear you're going through so many troubles. It will get better as you get the hang of things and begin to understand what your fishes needs are. Hang in there and same for the fishies.

If your fish are rubbing against things then chances are they have some sort of skin parasite (like ich though you may not see the white spots). It's the same treatment as Ich. Your best bet is to treat the tank with Malachite Green which is found in meds like Aquarisol. It also helps to raise the temperature of the tank to about 80F so that the parasites will release from the fish.

These meds can be poisonous to scaleless fish like catfish. You should take out the scaleless fish and treat the remaining tank because the parasites will be in the tank water and might infect other fish.

Parasites are a sign that your fish are stressed and weakened so ensure that the water quality is good and that you aren't making too many changes to the tank decor etc.

HTH and good luck!

 

[Blue Lobster]

Raechel, NEVER EVER I mean swear on a stack of holy books that you won't bring home fish with ich or that are weak, listless etc.

I understand your need to want to nurture fish to health, but you need to cool it with bringing home sick fish.

I have been posting here about a month or so and you have gotten more fish in that time than I have in years. Most of your problems are probably from stress in the tanks from the new fish. Chill out with the additions for a solid MONTH.

Treat Fin Rot with Melafix, ich with 88 degrees and some salt for a week and don't over diagnose your fish. There is a fine line between caring and obscessing when "Symptoms" occur.

Sometimes they flick against rocks like elephants scratch their bodies. It's natural unless they are doing it alot.

OMFG, MY ELEPHANT HAS ICH!!!!!!

If you need help, see my Support group thread.

 

[Nidge]

I heard this saying a few years ago and it stuck in my head because of how true it is.
"Its water keeping not fish keeping" It basicly means that if you look after your water the fish will look after themselves.
Fishkeeping is all about the quality of the water in the tank..period.

There is something clearly very wrong with your aquarium. Are you testing the water properly?
Do you use water dechlorinator when doing water changes?
When you add fish to your tank there is a huge risk of disease thats why people have quarantine tanks so try stop adding fish.

 

[Raechal]

Raechel, NEVER EVER I mean swear on a stack of holy books that you won't bring home fish with ich or that are weak, listless etc.

I understand your need to want to nurture fish to health, but you need to cool it with bringing home sick fish.

I have been posting here about a month or so and you have gotten more fish in that time than I have in years. Most of your problems are probably from stress in the tanks from the new fish. Chill out with the additions for a solid MONTH.

Treat Fin Rot with Melafix, ich with 88 degrees and some salt for a week and don't over diagnose your fish. There is a fine line between caring and obscessing when "Symptoms" occur.

Sometimes they flick against rocks like elephants scratch their bodies. It's natural unless they are doing it alot.

OMFG, MY ELEPHANT HAS ICH!!!!!!

If you need help, see my Support group thread.

I never bought a sick fish on purpose. I picked out the black moor because he was being eaten alive by some large ciclids. I am guessing he must have hopped over the divider or something. So I took him home and he is in his own 10 gallon and isn't infecting anyone else. He is one of my favorite fish. I am treating his ich with ich medicine and salt baths. I have also raised the temp to around 80. I think 88 may be a little too high for a coldwater fish.

And about adding the new fish, they were thrown 10 feet in the air in their bags from the LFS and crashed to the street so I had no where else to put them except for in the 120 gallon. I wasn't expecting my boyfriend to go psycho and throw my fish on the street.

And what do you mean I have to cool it with bringing home sick fish? I have never once brought home a fish because I thought it was ill or sick. Even if I didn't see the poor goldy in the cichlid tank, I would have bought one anyway because I was going there to get a black moor either way.

I think you should focus on helping others out rather than being so aggressive towards them.

And I did treat my betta with melafix for 7 days and he hasn't improved so I am moving him to meracyn two.

 

[Raechal]

I heard this saying a few years ago and it stuck in my head because of how true it is.
"Its water keeping not fish keeping" It basicly means that if you look after your water the fish will look after themselves.
Fishkeeping is all about the quality of the water in the tank..period.

There is something clearly very wrong with your aquarium. Are you testing the water properly?
Do you use water dechlorinator when doing water changes?
When you add fish to your tank there is a huge risk of disease thats why people have quarantine tanks so try stop adding fish.

There isn't anything visibley wrong with my tank. I tested the water many times and all paramaters are fine. Ammonia is 0 nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 5. I even took it down to the LFS a few days ago and they tested the same results and said my water was perfectly fine. The temp is at 78 and stays constantly the same. The ph is right at 7.0.

I always used dechlor when changing any amount of water in my tanks. I wasn't the one who bought the fish, my boyfriend did. They went through a tragic incident so I didn't have time to set up a quarantine tank for them.

 

[WILDER]

Sometimes it can be bacterial finrot, there is no red streaking and red edges to the tail is there, add some salt, parasites, gill flukes red inflamed gills but if the fish is red hard to tell, heavy breathing and flicking and rubbing against objects, there is no chemicals in the water that could be irratating her skin, also velvet and whitespot makes fish rub on objects, is she rubbing alot.

 

[Raechal]

Sometimes it can be bacterial finrot, there is no red streaking and red edges to the tail is there, add some salt, parasites, gill flukes red inflamed gills but if the fish is red hard to tell, heavy breathing and flicking and rubbing against objects, there is no chemicals in the water that could be irratating her skin, also velvet and whitespot makes fish rub on objects, is she rubbing alot.

I only saw it once. The von rio tetra flicked once on a marlble and one platy flicked on a rock. They haven't done it since. Their tails are perfectly fine, there is no other visible signs of any infection or diseases. Well both fish are more of an orange. The platy is a bright orange and the von rio is a orange/red. I checked their gills and they look normal. Should I just watch for it and see if it was only like a one time deal? I can't add any salt to the main tank because I have glass catfish and clown loaches in the tank. I didn't add any chemicals except dechlor when I did my last water change last week.

 

[WILDER]

Yes just keep an eye on them to make sure they are not flicking and rubbing to much, some fish flick and rub after a water change, good luck.

 

[Raechal]

Yes just keep an eye on them to make sure they are not flicking and rubbing to much, some fish flick and rub after a water change, good luck.

Thanks, you're a lot of help. I am going to go clean my room and then I will watch the tank for an hour or two.

 

[WILDER]

Also forgot to mention, make sure there is nothing else wrong with the fish as sometimes finrot can be a second infection, that there is something more going on with the fish.

 

[Raechal]

Also forgot to mention, make sure there is nothing else wrong with the fish as sometimes finrot can be a second infection, that there is something more going on with the fish.

My betta that has fin rot has nothing else. He has no other symptoms of anything else and he had finrot when I bought him. Although I though the black finnage was his coloring but when I got him home in a lighted tank it looked like dead finnage.

 

[WILDER]

That ok then, good luck.

 

[BettaMomma]

Raech - it sounds like you're doing everything exactly correctly.
I said before (and I'm gonna say it again right now) that I'm really impressed by your dedication to your fishes. It's very impressive that a person your age is that responsible.

and HEY GUYS....
Take it easy.... it's ME that bring sickies home on purpose, not Raech.
heh heh

Have ya seen the mailman yet today?
Any meds yet???