My Little Brother's Fish

[wtftastic]

Hi, I'm posting on behalf of my younger brother, who is very upset over the health of his fish.

He bought 3 Swordtails (1 male 2 females), 5 Danios (Zebra), 1 Pleco, and 1 Corry Catfish. So far 1 female Swordtail has died of Ulcers after only two days in our home. She only showed signs of sickness on the day before she died. We medicated the small tank, and prevented an outbreak in the other female Swordtail. The corry and pleco appear to be doing fine, but the danios (3 of 5) seem to be bloated. They don't have pinecone scales, and are still active. I'm worried as to what may be causeing these problems, and if there is anything I can do for the danios.

Any possible diagnosis or help? It's a five gallon tank with a good heater and aeration. And it's used as a quarentine and washed after every use. We have never had a fish in there that was sick with any of these conditions.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hi and welcome to the forum !
When you say it has aeration, does it have a filter or somthing else in the tank? What is you average tank cleaning regime and how often do you do it? Unfortunatly a 5gal is too small for swordtails and plecs, there are no plecs that will stay small enough for a 5gal and swordtails grow to large an active for a 5gal- the same goes for the danios, soo....
How long has the tank been set up for? Its most likely having water quality issues and that is why the fish are getting sick, do you use dechlorinator?

 

[wtftastic]

Hi and welcome to the forum !
When you say it has aeration, does it have a filter or somthing else in the tank? What is you average tank cleaning regime and how often do you do it? Unfortunatly a 5gal is too small for swordtails and plecs, there are no plecs that will stay small enough for a 5gal and swordtails grow to large an active for a 5gal- the same goes for the danios, soo....
How long has the tank been set up for? Its most likely having water quality issues and that is why the fish are getting sick, do you use dechlorinator?

Hmmm, well since this is just the quarentine tank before the get introduced to the larger one, we didn't worry too much about size. They'll be out in a week if there are no more outbreaks. Hopefully.

It has a filter, is cleaned after every batch of fish (really well after the sick ones), and dosen't have a dechlorinator. Or so I bleieve. But all our water is treated in advance, so I'd hope that wasn't an issue. The tank was re-established a week before new fish were introduced, with water testing before intorduction.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What did you test your water for and do you have the stats? Even though it is just a quarentine tank, it is overstocked and will suffer the same problems as any other newly established tank- do you rinse the filter sponge in tap water? When i say dechlorinator, i mean the liquid stuff you treat the tap water with to remove the chlorine and other harmful substances present in tap water .
It sounds like your tank could be coming down with new tank syndrome;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

Water quality issues are the root cause of most deseases in fish, as stress is a major issue for fish and when they are stressed their imune systems don't work as efficiently- unfortunatly cleaning the filter out in a quarentine tank will do little to remove deseases unless you pick up somthing really nasty in the tank like internal or external parasites of some sort- the vast majority of fish deseases though, are always present in the tank water, and usually cause no issues for the fish as long as the fish are healthy and not stressed.

You also need to consider the plec- i say this now as you may need to rehome it already depending on how many gallons your main tank is and how stocked it is, as the most commonly sold plecs are usually the biggest ones, and they can get very large at that and usually too big for the average community aquarium; many people have to rehome their plecs because they grow too large so it is vital you get yours ID'd now and do not get to attached to it if you do need to rehome it .
The 2 most commonly sold plecs are sailfin and common plecs;

common plec;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...posarc/88_F.PHP

sailfin plec;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...ptope/148_F.PHP

As to the ulcers, can you describe what they looked like i.e texture, color, size etc ?

 

[wtftastic]

What did you test your water for and do you have the stats? Even though it is just a quarentine tank, it is overstocked and will suffer the same problems as any other newly established tank- do you rinse the filter sponge in tap water? When i say dechlorinator, i mean the liquid stuff you treat the tap water with to remove the chlorine and other harmful substances present in tap water .
It sounds like your tank could be coming down with new tank syndrome;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

Water quality issues are the root cause of most deseases in fish, as stress is a major issue for fish and when they are stressed their imune systems don't work as efficiently- unfortunatly cleaning the filter out in a quarentine tank will do little to remove deseases unless you pick up somthing really nasty in the tank like internal or external parasites of some sort- the vast majority of fish deseases though, are always present in the tank water, and usually cause no issues for the fish as long as the fish are healthy and not stressed.

You also need to consider the plec- i say this now as you may need to rehome it already depending on how many gallons your main tank is and how stocked it is, as the most commonly sold plecs are usually the biggest ones, and they can get very large at that and usually too big for the average community aquarium; many people have to rehome their plecs because they grow too large so it is vital you get yours ID'd now and do not get to attached to it if you do need to rehome it .
The 2 most commonly sold plecs are sailfin and common plecs;

common plec;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...posarc/88_F.PHP

sailfin plec;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...ptope/148_F.PHP

As to the ulcers, can you describe what they looked like i.e texture, color, size etc ?

The ulcers were cherry red, under the skin. They were about the size of a pencil eraser, but ovoid in shape.

We did use a dechlorinator, and the stats were 7.0 pH, and no amonia. I don't believe hardness was an issue either.

Also about the plecs: It's a common one. And we have taken into account the size that they grow to. We've got a 60 gallon tank for the community of fish, so that should be large enough hopefully.

Or so they said at the store. Do you know if any stores will give refunds if the fish came home sick? We took some pictures, and I'm thinking they might've shown the ulcers earlier on.


Also: Would putting the other fish in with the community tank be the best idea at this point in time? It is well established and free of problems.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

When you say the ulcers were cherry red under the skin, like patches of blood?;

Or open and sore;

Or somthing else entirely ?

 

[wtftastic]

When you say the ulcers were cherry red under the skin, like patches of blood?;

Or open and sore;

Or somthing else entirely ?

Picture two looks correct. But they didn't appear to be bleeding. But that is the right color.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do the ulcers have any cottom wool like fluff/growth on them or slimey grey discoloration? Are the all the fish's fins completely intact and are their mouths looking healthy? Is the fish's poop white/stringy at all?
I apologise for all the questions, just need to get as clear a picture on your fish's condtion and not to over look anything thats all .

 

[wtftastic]

Do the ulcers have any cottom wool like fluff/growth on them or slimey grey discoloration? Are the all the fish's fins completely intact and are their mouths looking healthy? Is the fish's poop white/stringy at all?
I apologise for all the questions, just need to get as clear a picture on your fish's condtion and not to over look anything thats all .

They had neither slimey or fluffy growth, fins were affected only at the base, and a small patch beside the fin. I don't remeber that fish having had stringy poop.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

At the base of the fin like this?;

 

[wtftastic]

At the base of the fin like this?;

No, right at the base of the tail fin. Also, It's a ten gallone tank (my little brother told me this this morning), and the pleco is a clown pleco.

Not a common as previously stated. The danios are still displaying bloating.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Its most likely a combination of an internal plus external bacterial infection- i would use a dose of pimafix, it treats internal and external plus fungal infections in one .
It sounds like a case of bacterial septicemia to me.

 

[wtftastic]

Its most likely a combination of an internal plus external bacterial infection- i would use a dose of pimafix, it treats internal and external plus fungal infections in one .
It sounds like a case of bacterial septicemia to me.

She is on meds as we speak. Now for the danios?