What could be wrong with our silver dollar?

[CMC]

We have a silver dollar about 3-4" long in a 55-gallon tank along with another smaller one and angel fish.

Saturday we moved the 55-gallon into the other room where we are cycling a 240 tank right now because we want to be able to enjoy both tanks at the same time. The silver dollars and the angel fish will be moved into the 240 gallon as soon as it (the 240) is cycled.

Anyhow, there's the problem. When we moved the 55-gallon we put all but about 15 gallons of the original tank water back into it. It needed a water change anyway so the 15 gallons was the water change. All of the fish are doing fine except the large silver dollar. The next day we noticed that it had developed some small white patches on it's body and the top fin. The top fin is getting worse and is almost a milky white color now and seems to be getting stiff, it doesn't flutter like it used to. He does seem to be a sensitive fish anyway and now we're wondering if the move could have stressed him out real bad.

Does this sound like some kind of fungus infection he could have gotten from the stress of moving? Any suggestions are appreciated. We love "Grandpa" and want to try to save him.

 

[sandyd]

Sorry to hear about your trouble with your SD, they are in my experience very sensative fish. I would think to try some Melafix in the tank, as it is a natural product. It treats many things, but will help the fish to repair any damage.

I was wondering if i am understanding you correctly that "grandpa" is the only sd in the tank? If this is true, I would suggest once you get this under control, that you really think about putting others in with him. They really need to be with others of thier kind, or in my experience, they become very shy and seem to stress more quickly.

Along with the Melafix, it may be a good idea to increase the veges in its diet to keep it strong in order to repair itself. I feed mine shelled peas, lettuce, cucumber, as well as vege pelletts. This is just a suggestion, as I do not know what you are feeding him at this moment.

Sandy

 

[CMC]

Thanks for relying Sandy. We have a smaller SD in there with him also (the smaller one is the size of a silver dollar coin). They stick together. I will try the Melafix and giving him (we're assuming it's a "he" but we dont know for sure) more veggies. Currently he's only getting Tetra Min flake food. What kind of veggie pellets are you feeding yours? I don't remember seeing any at my lfs.
Thanks.

 

[sandyd]

CMC,

Glad I could offer you a bit of info. I presently am feeding my sd's Bio-Blend for herbivores, made by Marine Labs. I also feed them Wardley Shrimp pellett formula and the algea discs that they sell for the plecos, although you have to break them up a bit for them. Like I said above, I feed them peas frozen in a bag at the grocery store, i pull out a bit, microwave and peel. After they cool, I drop them in and they go nuts for them, it seems to have slowed them down on my plant munching.

I also slice cubes of cucumbers, and attatch them to rocks and they eat them, and also lettuce, mines favorite seems to be romaine. LOL I did it into the gravel to keep it from floating, and they think they are munching new plants. LOL

I am very glad to hear you have others in there with Gramdpa, i hate to think of them being alone. Good luck and please keep me posted on how Grandpa is getting along. LOL

Sandy

 

[silver]

Hi, I see Sandy got to ya first

Everything Sandy said is what I'd say as well.

Even if I crouch down and scoot over to the tank and gaze at them they go nuts over it.........

I just got over my first case of fungus in my 55 gallon tank with one of my smaller Silver's. They do get VERY stressed out VERY easily. Now that I have 4, they all FOUR get stressed

I used the Jungle brand FUNGUS treatment, the alkazeltser type tablets. My Silver had this white cottony stuff growing on it's side. It worked really good after the second dose.

GOOD LUCK!!

Silver

 

[CMC]

Thanks Sandy and Silver!

Y'all have been very helpful. We bought some live plants yesterday afternoon and put them in the tank. Naturally he went for it right away. At least his appetite is good. Bought some Melafix but haven't used it yet because it appears that the white patches on his body are clearing up a little. I have some of the algae tablets that I bought for a pleco that died. I remember the SD eating them also but I had forgotten all about having them. I will definately try the fresh veggies.

The smaller SD seems to be a hardy fellow. He rarely gets stressed, as far as we can tell. Here's a funny story: We got Grandpa one day before the smaller SD. Grandpa was so stressed and scared and hid behind some plants and rocks and didn't move at all. We thought we were going to lose him. When we put the smaller SD in there the next day, he swam over to Grandpa and literally brought him out of his shell and they started swimming around together and have stuck together ever since.

 

[silver]

CUUUUTE!

There is just something about the Silvers. Most fishkeepers would much rather have more outgoing fish (me included and I do have a few) but something about the Silvers really pulls on those heart strings


I would still medicate anyways just to be on the safe side. I mean, if there is white cottony, patchy stuff growing on the fish then there is obviously bad bacteria in there so I'd still medicate.

What is Melafix...? Is it basically what I used, just different brand?


Silver

 

[CMC]

Melafix is an antibacterial medication. It's not supposed to change the biological filter according to the package.

When I went home for lunch I checked on him and his top fin is starting to look a little better. His black spots are starting to show again on the fin.

By the way, is there anyway to tell the sex of our SD's? Both have a pale orange stripe along the bottom of their bottom fins. Grandpa has black spots and a black stripe on his tail fin. Grandpa looks like tin foil (like your avatar Silver) and the smaller one has pale black spots on his body.

 

[sandyd]

Sorry Silver, did not mean to step on your toes.

Melafix, In my opinion is great to keep on hand, as it is all natural, does not hurt your biologial filter, and treats many things inclucing fin rot. I will admit though, that it does not smell real good. LOL Just my opinion.

Glad to hear that your silver is feeling a bit better, but I am with Silver in that I would still add some meds in there to help Grandpa to get better. That is why I recomended the Melafix, as it is natural, and I believe you can use it with other meds, although you may want to check on that depending on what you decide you use.

As for sexing them, I truthfully am not positive. I know I have two girls and one male, as he seems to be thinking about breeding. My male is the one with the dark spots. I will look for a site on sexing them and get back to you with it.

Sandy

 

[silver]

Hopefully Sandy will get back to us on that.....I would like to know too !!


I do know that the pale orange/red (usually red and yours will probably turn red) strip on fin can only mean one thing....It's a Redhook Silver Dollar. That is what most LFS sell. Somehow I ended up with a Rosevelti Silver Dollar as well. Someone on this site a long while back pointed it out to me and showed me why. I have remembered it ever since. The Roosevelti's have all the black spots on them and no red fringe on fin.

As far as the female and males go.........gosh, it's sooooo hard to tell with ANY darn fish. I've heard though that the males are bigger but I have NO IDEA if this is really true or not. Also, with some fish if viewed from above the females are fatter??? Again, God only knows!!!

Hurry up Sandy I'm anxious to see what you find out!!


Silver

 

[CMC]

I'm anxious to know too. We might have to change Grandpa's name to Grandma We haven't named the smaller SD yet

I checked a couple of websites on sexing silver dollars a few weeks ago but didn't find anything with any good info in it. I did read somewhere that the males have a solid orange or red bottom fin but I've seen many SD's in the fish stores and have never seen one with that. Maybe they were too small. By the way the baby SD's are soooooo cute

 

[sandyd]

Ok I have been doing alot of searching and have found alot of info, although most contradicts the other. The only thing that most agree on is the anal fin of the sd's. The females are rounder, while the males anal fin when mature is cresent shaped.


So I went to have a look at mine. My girls have a smooth looking anal fin, it does not look like it has a "bump", but the male fin seems to have almost like a "pointy" area in the beginning of the anal fin. I am not sure if this makes any sense, so I will keep looking for you. LOL Here are a couple of links i have found.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile23.htm


http/fins.actwin.com/species/index.php?t=9&i=212

I believe that this one is a male, if you look at the anal fin, it is pointy, not round as females.

Sandy

 

[CMC]

Sandy,
Thanks for the links. I'll check them out. BTW, Grandpa was looking better today. I think he's going to be alright