Pearl Danio - What's Going On?

[sussexgirl]

I have had 3 Pearl Danios living in my tank harmoniously and healthily for a long while now. About 5 weeks ago I bought a beautiful Siamese Fighting Fish and introduced him to my community tank. You can see from my signature what else is living in my tank. About a week after introducing the Siamese Fighting Fish I found one of my Danios gasping for breath on the gravel. The water stats were (and still are) as follows:

PH 7.4
Nitrite 0
Amonia 0
Nitrate 20

I euthanised the fish with a preparation sold to me by my LFS.

For the past week I have noticed one of the remaining two Danios looking swollen in the belly. I commented to my husband the other day that she looked like she was full of eggs and that the rear end of her looked strange, almost distorted. Only last night she was swimming round happily looking swollen but with no changes to her usual colouration. This evening I found her in a shocking state. I"ve attached a picture of her (taken just before I disposed of her poor little body) and would appreciate a diagnosis from anyone who has seen this before. She wasn't short of breath but couldn't swim properly and the tail end of her body was totally bleached out compared to the rest of her. She also looked like she had been bitten on the tail. I euthanised her to put her out of her misery bless her.

Can anyone help? Does this have anything to do with the Siamese Fighting Fish? He doesn't show any signs of illness and I haven't seen him being aggressive.


http/i75.photobucket.com/albums/i311/for.../pearldanio.jpg

 

[SJ2K]

The Betta (Siamese fighting fish) is NOT a community fish, its most likely the cause of the fish deaths. Id strongly recommend re-homing it!

*Edit*

Smarter people have come to the route cause id still recommend re-homing the Betta though.

 

[WILDER]

Was the anus red and inflamed or enlarged, can get that with dropsy but it can also mean internal parasites.
Whats does it look like when the fish go to the toilet.

 

[The-Wolf]

that is columnaris also called saddleback disease or false NTD

 

[sussexgirl]

The Betta (Siamese fighting fish) is NOT a community fish, its most likely the cause of the fish deaths. Id strongly recommend re-homing it!

*Edit*

Smarter people have come to the route cause id still recommend re-homing the Betta though.

Maidenhead Aquatic assured me that a Betta would fit well into a community tank such as mine so long as there is ample plants and that it is somewhat of a myth that you must keep them separate. The recommended adding 3-4 female Bettas to keep him company but havent' as yet as I haven't been able to find him any. I do have a spare Aqua One 320 that I could set up for him but if I can continue to keep him in the community tank I'd rather.

Was the anus red and inflamed or enlarged, can get that with dropsy but it can also mean internal parasites.
Whats does it look like when the fish go to the toilet.

Hi Wilder, no the anus wasn't red or inflamed. Just slight swelling of the tail end of the fish generally, as I said, I really thought she may be full of eggs, it was that kind of swelling. I can't honestly say what the faeces was like because I have never seen the Pearl Danios do any. Thanks for replying.

that is columnaris also called saddleback disease or false NTD

?Thanks for your reply Wolf. Should I treat the rest of the tank as a preventative measure? What medicine do you recommend? Do you know what causes Columnaris?

 

[Imber]

I'm sorry about your danios As far as the betta goes, they are very unpredictable when it comes to their temperaments. From my experiences and reading those of others they can run the gambit from being perfectly peaceful community inhabitants to vicious little terrors. They can even seem very peaceful and then one day just snap. As danios are very hyper and can sometimes fin-nip there's the possibility that a danio could startle the betta and that would maybe cause the betta to act violently. Also, I would definitely recommend against keeping any female bettas in with your male. They should really only be together when they are being bred and that is only after lots of conditioning.