Odd Danio

[lordmoose]

Hi I'm wondering if anyone can help me,
Last week I added a few leopard danios to my small community tank. One of the fish was noticably smaller and more slender than the others, and didn't seem to chase around like the others do. Today I noticed problems which are hard to describe, but I'll do my best:

1) The fish doesnt appear to come to the surface to feed. altho it'll happily eat flakes that get drawn into the centre of the tank.

2) It's holding it's tail fin 'upwards' from time to time

3) Unlike most danios, it doesn't dart around, it swims quite slowly and doesn't move far at a time. Seems it takes a lot of effort for it to swim.

I'm quite worried, I'm sorry I can't describe symptoms better, but I'm hoping someone can help me put my finger on the problem.

Many Thanks,
Chris
(chrishunt83@hotmail.com)

 

[wetwetwet]

Firstly HiYa and welcome Chris

Can you give any of your water parameters ammonia, nitrite etc?

How long the tanks set-up and water changes/maintenance etc.?

 

[lordmoose]

Hi,
Thanks for the welcome and fast reply I love fishkeeping and it's always great to talk to other people with the same interest

It's an 18"x12"x12" aquarium with an internal powerhead filter which has activated carbon inside the sponge.

Water temp is around 24C

The tank has been running about 2 months now, and contains 4 platties, 3 danios and an albino corydoras

I have just tested the water

pH is around 7.0
hardly a trace of ammonia
nitrite: 0.1 mg/l
nitrate: 5mg/l
...as you can see pretty good results

I perform a partial water change with dechlorinated water around every 1-2 weeks as needed

Hope this helps with the diagnosis, thanks again

 

[Tanked]

the tank is just nearing the end of the cycling period from what you have posted, though ammonia should be 0 and nitrite 0, maybe not done cycling just yet. has the danio been in since the begginig? if so it may have ammonia poisoning keep up wit hte water changes and he should get better. I made a mistake on my first tank an ammonia poisoned all my fish. only 7 of the original fish I bought are left. 6 pristella tetras ( i think they are indestuctable) not really but these 6 have been through heck and back and I have not lost one. and 1 albino rainbow shark who I thought was a gonner. he had fins clamped, not eating barely swimming etc. but that was like 4 moths ago. now he is happy, healthy and growing by the day. when I got him he was about 2 inches. he is almost 4" now!!! sorry to have rambled, I'm waiting on an electrician at work so I have time to kill.

edit: oh yeah, how rude of me. to the forum!!! you should post a Hello , or something of that nature in the newbie section so we can all get to know you.


hth,

richard

 

[lordmoose]

Hi,
thanks for the response but I'm really not sure it's ammonia poisoning (sorry don't mean to put you down) but having tested the ammonia again, there doesnt appear to be any present and the nitrite is 0.1 or less...all the other fish are fine appart from this one poor lil danio....I've never seen one hold its tail near vertical before! To be honest it didnt look to be in the best condition when I introduced it to the tank (which was only last week)

Sorry really dont mean to be dumping on your theory but is there anything else that could cause this? /

 

[Tanked]

he may have dropsy or may just be lazy or maybe someone else will come along with a better idea. I thought this was a fish you started the tank with which gave me the idea of ammonia poisoning (I miss read you post and missed the last week bit). your probably right if you just added him last week. ammonia should have been nil by then. when did this behavior start?

 

[lordmoose]

Well its hard to say when it started, this little danio has always been thinner and less active than the others....but it cant have been swimming like this and holding its tail fin up for any more than 2 days. It seems to just hover around in one corner of the tank, and when it does swim its in short slow bursts, like it's a real effort for it move...I've been keeping tropicals for a couple of years now and I've never seen behaviour like this before it's baffling

 

[lordmoose]

it also appears to have one red gill.....

I hope this is nothing that will spread to the other fish as it contains some of the most beautiful hi-fin platties you've ever laid eyes on

 

[Tanked]

it really sounds like dropsy but you may want to PM a moderator for a second opinion

 

[lordmoose]

I'm VERY confused, I can see why you'd suggest dropsy but theres no apparent problems with the danio's scales, and it's not bloated....on the contrary its very thin. Poor lil thing.

 

[lordmoose]

ok I've just noticed white spot developing on the tail of this danio, and it's on the tail one one of my platties I've also been informed by a friend of mine that half the tanks in the shop I aquired the danios from has developed white-spot....I'm SO p***ed off by this! I'm gonna march in there 2morrow and demand they give me medication for it, and I'm damned if I'm gonna pay. I'm totally sickened by this....is there any risk of me losing my fish to white spot?

 

[impur]

Yes there is a risk, but with proper treatment you can pull them through it. Rid-ick is a very good product. You should up the temp to about 82-84. This will aid in speeding the parasite to a free swimming stage. Be sure to remove carbon when treating and follow the directions on the box, usually requires 15 days of treatment. Keep us informed on how it goes.

 

[lordmoose]

Thanks....I just still can't believe that this shop (about the biggest aquatic dealer in the area) is selling fish from tanks infected with white spot! All the tanks in this shop are linked to one large filter system, so it's pretty likely every fish they're selling is infected.

 

[kevin007]

okay, 1 of my danios had that "symtom before" and it died on the same day...... so i don't know what i can say to help u but i will keep onreading this post to find out what happened to my zebras...

Kevin

 

[lordmoose]

yeah checked the tank this morning and its dead