Poorly Ranchu

[angel.star]

I've had a little ranchu since January this year and he's always been a robust little fella. However over the past week I have noticed he has slowed down somewhat, gently exploring the floor of the tank and not darting about like an excited child. Sadly today it appears that this was a symptom of something...today he is arching sideways. He is spending his time on his left side, but the confusing thing is that he is swimming perfectly normally - well, as normally as you can when you're on your side with a slight arch to your posture. He is eating well, to my eye he doesn't seem to have lost any weight, it's just this arching, which is distressing to watch despite his apparent chilled out, pretty normal behaviour. Does anyone know what's wrong with him? All my other fish are acting fine. I thought my little ranchu would be around for years, but I'm worried by today's development. Please help!

 

[WILDER]

Bless him love ranchu sadly I lost my tweety he was a ranchu.
Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
Do you mean the back is like going bent.
What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet.
Is the anus enlarged or red and inflamed.
Any fish gone thin.

 

[black angel]

Sounds like a bacterial infection of the swimbladder, or ammonia, nitrite poisoning.

All you can do is stop feeding for a few days, raise the water temp to around 24c and see if you can get antibacterial food, easier if youre in the US but impossible for UK.
Anti bacterial meds just arent strong enough to deal with anything so its up to you if you want to try it.

Answer what you can from Wilders questions and if you dont have test kits then a pet store can usually test your water for you if you take a sample down.

 

[angel.star]

Size of tank in gallons or litres - 60 litres
How many fish and which type - 3 fantails, 1 ranchu, 3 tiny ottocinclus
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, and ph - don't know I'm afraid, I'll be going to my fish store later, but I did a 40% water change yesterday as I always do each week.
Do you mean the back is like going bent - he is improving, but his back is arching a tiny bit, but not severely. He's not going hunchback, which I have noticed has happened to other fish as posted on the forum in the past, he's just a very faint 'C' shape and swimming a lot on his side. He has not lost control of his buoyancy or swimming ability.
What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet - to be honest I have only seen him going to the toilet once in the last few days, and it was brown but quite long.
Is the anus enlarged or red and inflamed - no sign of redness or inflammation.
Any fish gone thin - not that I can see.

I have noticed one of my fantails has a white blob on her side today - I've had white spot in the past and it's not that, because there are none on her fins or tail, just one blob about 1mm in diameter on the side of her body. Looking closely, she looks like she has similar spots on her other side but under her skin. She has suffered from what I thought to be bad swimbladder for some time now, floating at the surface belly up most of the time. I have treated the water with Interpet Swimbladder Treatment to no avail, I've fed her bloodworms and only use Tetra Gold Japan pellets. I'm somewhat at a loss - I feel that I take good care of my fish but there seems to be a problem with them every week. My two larger fantails however have never had a problem, and I've had them longer than the ranchu and smaller fantail.

 

[black angel]

What kind of filtration are you using and how do you clean it out? 60 litres as well isnt enough water for your fish, you need 20 gallons for the first fish then 10 for each after. For now do 40% water changes each day and feed your fish some cooked, shelled and squashed frozen peas to help with digestion.

 

[angel.star]

Sorry for the delay in replying, I have been treating the water with something called BacterLife on the recommendation of my LFS, and I wanted to see if it worked before bothering you guys again. There is an improvement in my little ranchu, but he's still not right. Today I invested in a home water testing kit, so I could get the figures for myself. I did the test today and here are the results, I hope they mean something to someone...

High Range pH - 7.4
Nitrite - 0.25 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
Ammonia - 0 ppm

In the booklet that comes with it, it says that Nitrate of 40 or under is ok, but I'm worried that it's on the border. I had my water tested last weekend by the LFS, and they said my Nitrate levels were a bit high, hence being given the BacterLife product. Sadly they don't give me figures so I can't compare the two from last week and this week.

As regards the filter, I have a Tetra Easy Crystal filter. I replace the green/white sponge section about once a month, and rinse the black sponge at the front of the filter with tank water. I don't clean the rest of the filter very often, due to a possibly mistaken belief that you're not meant to...I have cleaned it thoroughly once though, and dislodged some debris, using tank water only. I keep a close eye on it and make sure the water is flowing freely into and out of the filter. Please advise me if the cleaning of the whole filter should take place more often, it's hard to know which way is right when you have an LFS giving you advice!

Thanks everyone

 

[black angel]

I dont know abut the filter you have, but you dont need to change the green filter. The white floss yes when its dirty but the other no. As for the black, thats carbon and will take out any meds you put in your tank. i would replace this if possible with another green sponge. When cleaning them only squeeze them out in old tank water.

As for nitrates, nothing will help that except more water changing. i would also test the nitrate level fro your tap to see what that reads. You are showing nitrites too which you shouldnt be if your tank is more thn 6 weeks old.

My advice is do a 50% water change and then test the levels after an hour. I think really just doing more water changes is more beneficial than adding treatments.

 

[angel.star]

Thank you, I shall do that. It didn't occur to me that the tap water may have nitrate in, thanks for the idea. I'll test it and see what it says.

Thank you for your help