Spinning glofish

[$hirrl]

I have 6 glofish, 2 glofish tiger barbs, 3 rosy barbs, 8 zebra danios, 3 panda garras, and 1 Amano shrimp in a 20 gallon tank. Parameters are 7.4 ph, ammonia 0, nitrates 10-20. Feeding is once a day with fish flakes and about once a week I drop in an algae tab and some sinking shrimp pellets.

About 2 weeks ago, my green glofish started swimming vertically and eventually started spinning. I assumed it was a problem with the swim bladder so I stopped feeding the whole tank for a couple days and fed cooked/mashed peas for a couple of days. About a week went by with no improvements, actually, he started laying at the bottom, so I put him in a breeder net tank.
I also noticed my yellow glofish had developed some pink coloration in it’s face (maybe hole in the head?) I decided to get some medicine to fix it. I got Erythromycin & General Cure. I read conflicting reports about using at the same time though.
I used EM first, finished meds & did the 25% WC, then did first dose of General Cure the next day (yesterday). Today the green glofish looks like he is doing slightly better (even swimming up to get food!) but now the yellow glofish started spinning all of a sudden. I now have him in the breeder net with Greeny. I’m not sure what to do at this point. Take the wait & see approach? Or try another medicine? I’ve previously tried pimafix and melafix with 0 results.

 

[FishGuest5123]

How often do you do water changes? You may want to do a big one and see if that helps any. Do you. Know what your KH/GH and PH are?

 

[$hirrl]

I haven’t read gh/kh in a few months as I’ve been told that they’re not that important. I do 25% water changes once a week, PH is usually between 7.4-7.6.
I’ve already started the General Cure, and it says to do a wc 48 hours after the 2nd (last) dose.
Won’t a big wc dilute the meds?

 

[Essjay]

Unless you are doing something to change it, GH will remain constant in a tank. Your readings from a few months ago will tell us what we need - unless you have coral or limestone in the tank which will raise GH.


GH is one of the most important things we need to know, it is more important than pH. KH is less important.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Yes, if you’ve added the meds then wait for w/c.

 

[Fishmanic]

I believe it is caused by a parasite. One of my fish had that issue and did not live long. It is called ”whirling disease”. Do a google search for it to read up on the disease.

 

[$hirrl]

I believe it is caused by a parasite. One of my fish had that issue and did not live long. It is called ”whirling disease”. Do a google search for it to read up on the disease.

I’ve read about it before because Greeny was kind of spinning at first. I thought he was going to die within hours, but he’s been hanging on for a couple weeks now! From what I’ve read, whirling disease mostly affects salmon & trout type fish. It says it’s rare in tropical fish, so I really don’t think that’s what it is. BUT, I’m willing to try everything to save my little fishies.

 

[$hirrl]

Unless you are doing something to change it, GH will remain constant in a tank. Your readings from a few months ago will tell us what we need - unless you have coral or limestone in the tank which will raise GH.


GH is one of the most important things we need to know, it is more important than pH. KH is less important.

In April, my gh was 200, kh was 125.3

 

[$hirrl]

It seems like Greeny & Yellow might be doing a bit better, but I’m not sure yet. I did the 25% WC and released them back into the main tank from the net. They’re both swimming around, and Yellow only twirls when the water coming out of the filter hits him, and Greeny “just keeps swimming, swimming, swimming” but near the top.
Ammonia was .25 today after wc, but I put an ammonia absorbing pad in my filter.
How long do these meds take to work? If it IS a parasite affecting them, what should I do? Both meds I used (erythromycin & general cure) are supposed to work. Maybe it’s a parasite not treated by these meds?
Also, just today I noticed something white hanging out of a zebra danio’s right side off her ‘butt’. Looks like a sore developed and maybe she’s pooping out of the sore. I’m so frustrated!
Any suggestions for fixing this would be nice. I appreciate the responses thus far, but nobody has suggested a treatment or told me what is actually wrong with them.

 

[$hirrl]

It seems like Greeny & Yellow might be doing a bit better, but I’m not sure yet. I did the 25% WC and released them back into the main tank from the net. They’re both swimming around, and Yellow only twirls when the water coming out of the filter hits him, and Greeny “just keeps swimming, swimming, swimming” but near the top.
Ammonia was .25 today after wc, but I put an ammonia absorbing pad in my filter.
How long do these meds take to work? If it IS a parasite affecting them, what should I do? Both meds I used (erythromycin & general cure) are supposed to work. Maybe it’s a parasite not treated by these meds?
Also, just today I noticed something white hanging out of a zebra danio’s right side off her ‘butt’. Looks like a sore developed and maybe she’s pooping out of the sore. I’m so frustrated!
Any suggestions for fixing this would be nice. I appreciate the responses thus far, but nobody has suggested a treatment or told me what is actually wrong with them.

 

[$hirrl]

I’m rather upset that no one has responded to this post for awhile. Greeny & Yellow we’re put back in the breeding net again after a few hours. Greeny eventually sank to the bottom and Yellow would swim, but be tossed about by the filter output. A few days ago, I did another round of General Cure to no avail. It’s been about a month that Greeny has not gotten better, and about 2 weeks for Yellow. I decided to humanely euthanize them using the clove oil method. They passed peacefully, but I am sad that they couldn’t be cured.
The danio with the ‘side butthole’ seems to be doing fine. She still poops out of her side, but eats and swims well.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I’m sorry for your loss. I thought the General Cure would help.