What's This On My Cardinal?

[Memz]

Hello, having just regained harmony and health in the tank, my one remaining Cardinal (The Soldier) seems to have some sort of parasite.....

I know now that they shouldn't be on their own but also know that the reason his mates died was because I tried putting them in a fairly new set-up, still, he does have 4 Tetras (think they're neons but there is some doubt) and 2 Glow-lights that he does hang out with some of the time.

He is not flicking or rubbing, he is eating normally and seems to be pooing normally.

The aquarium is 48 litres and the water before Sundays water change was:

Ammonia barely above 0.1 but defo <0.6

Nitrite, <0.1

Nitrate, 10

Ph 7

I don't have a hospital tank, your advice as always will be very welcome. Thank you.

 

[Memz]

1. Water parameters. (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, temp', Hardness etc)
2. A full description of the fishes symptoms.
3. How often you do water changes and how much.
4. Any chemicals and treatments you add to the water.
5. What tank mates are in the tank.
6. Tank size.
7. Finally Have you recently added any new fish?


Sorry,

1. As above, on RO water but added 20% tap (with tap safe) sunday, surely this can't be to blame? Temp 78

2. As above

3. W/change every weekend, 20-25%

4. Esher exit over a month ago for his mates but have run a carbon filter since. Aqua care water cond to make tap water safe
1st application Sunday, plus Aqua Care biological supplement after water change.

5. 4 ? Neon Tetras, 2 Glow-Lights, 2 Blu-tailed Guppies and 3 Peppered Corys. 2 Cherry Shrimps and a couple of snails.

6. As above.

7. The Peppered Cories 3-4 weeks ago.

Thanks.

 

[jarednsteph]

I'm not an expert but it could be stress? A stressed fish is prone to all sorts of nasties..and he's probably stressed being the sole survivor of your schoal? The other fish aren't really company for him, my best advise would be to add some more of his kind. I found that once a couple of my Cardinals were picked off, the remaining 3 went downhill and died pretty soon after...with no apparent cause in the way of disease or water issues...

 

[FishBlast]

That looks like some kind of fungus. Caused due to stress.
You definitely need to do some large changes, 0.1 nitrite and even the ammonia 0.1 are pretty bad. You need to go 0 on both right away.
And you've started with some of the most fragile possible fish for fish-in, I think guppies or swordtails would have been easier to pass through than them.

 

[Memz]

That looks like some kind of fungus. Caused due to stress.
You definitely need to do some large changes, 0.1 nitrite and even the ammonia 0.1 are pretty bad. You need to go 0 on both right away.
And you've started with some of the most fragile possible fish for fish-in, I think guppies or swordtails would have been easier to pass through than them.

I know now. But please believe me that if I knew then what I know now..........

There was a water change immediately after those readings, I shall do another one tonight then, I was going to do it tomorrow after collecting the RO water but I think I'll just use tap. How long does the tap safe stuff have to sit in the water before you can use it?

JarednSteph, I still don't think the set-up is old enough for any more Cardinals just yet. I feel for him being the only one left but I'm sure I'll just kill new ones by adding them.

Is there anything I should do other than water changes (and how frequently should I do them)? I'm loath to use the Esher Exit if it's not contagious but is there anything less potent I can add to the water?

Thank you both for your replies, I'm really sad the little fella is so stressed, I thought he had done really well just surviving.

 

[FishBlast]

That looks like some kind of fungus. Caused due to stress.
You definitely need to do some large changes, 0.1 nitrite and even the ammonia 0.1 are pretty bad. You need to go 0 on both right away.
And you've started with some of the most fragile possible fish for fish-in, I think guppies or swordtails would have been easier to pass through than them.

I know now. But please believe me that if I knew then what I know now..........

There was a water change immediately after those readings, I shall do another one tonight then, I was going to do it tomorrow after collecting the RO water but I think I'll just use tap. How long does the tap safe stuff have to sit in the water before you can use it?

JarednSteph, I still don't think the set-up is old enough for any more Cardinals just yet. I feel for him being the only one left but I'm sure I'll just kill new ones by adding them.

Is there anything I should do other than water changes (and how frequently should I do them)? I'm loath to use the Esher Exit if it's not contagious but is there anything less potent I can add to the water?

Thank you both for your replies, I'm really sad the little fella is so stressed, I thought he had done really well just surviving.

I believe you, been totally clueless myself before.

Just check water stats daily + water changes until they stay at 0 for over a week.

Dechlorinators will state how fast they work. My Tetra Aqua Safe removes chlorine (and would remove chloramine if there was any) almost instantly. Just shake the bucket or bottle for about a minute or two (you will see a foam at the top of the water). Not sure about your dechlorinator but that's how I use mine.

Sorry that I cannot help with fish medicine in case of fungus though. I know there are some meds for it but not sure how good they are or if they require a separate quarantine tank to avoid damaging filter bacteria.

 

[Memz]

Right, 25% water change, the tap safe doesn't tell me to let it stand so I presumed I could use it right away, stats post change are:

Ammonia = 0

Nitites = Less than 0.1. Tiny, tiny tinge of purple to the water but defo not up to 0.1 which is the lowest reading the kit gives me.

Nitrates = 10

Thanks for your help again FishBlast.

 

[FishBlast]

Right, 25% water change, the tap safe doesn't tell me to let it stand so I presumed I could use it right away, stats post change are:

Ammonia = 0

Nitites = Less than 0.1. Tiny, tiny tinge of purple to the water but defo not up to 0.1 which is the lowest reading the kit gives me.

Nitrates = 10

Thanks for your help again FishBlast.

Try another 10% or so, see if the tinge of purple disappears. If not, test tap water. If tap has same tinge of purple, it means it won't get any lower until you get nitrite eating bacteria so you won't have to change for that.

 

[Memz]

Hi Fishblast, only saw your message first thing this morning so did another 25% change there and then! The Husband thinks I've gone water change mad but I got it done in around 10 minutes flat with hardly any spillage!!!

The Nitrite level is now............... 0!!!!!! I was trying and trying to see any slight purply/pink but The Husband assures me that it was in fact clear.

AND, I'm sure The Soldier's fugusy bits are getting a little smaller. He is defo brighter and absolutely swimming with the Tetras. It's lovely to see. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a while longer there though.

I tested the tap water the other day and the Nitrites were 0. I've only just started using tap water after having them on RO due to the hardness in my area. I'm thinking of keeping it 50/50 and will collect some RO today for another change tomorrow.

Thanks again for your help.


(P.S this reply has taken 20 minutes to type due to having to watch 2 pairs of Goldfinches in the garden eating dandelion docks..... lovely )

 

[FishBlast]

Hi Fishblast, only saw your message first thing this morning so did another 25% change there and then! The Husband thinks I've gone water change mad but I got it done in around 10 minutes flat with hardly any spillage!!!

The Nitrite level is now............... 0!!!!!! I was trying and trying to see any slight purply/pink but The Husband assures me that it was in fact clear.

AND, I'm sure The Soldier's fugusy bits are getting a little smaller. He is defo brighter and absolutely swimming with the Tetras. It's lovely to see. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a while longer there though.

I tested the tap water the other day and the Nitrites were 0. I've only just started using tap water after having them on RO due to the hardness in my area. I'm thinking of keeping it 50/50 and will collect some RO today for another change tomorrow.

Thanks again for your help.


(P.S this reply has taken 20 minutes to type due to having to watch 2 pairs of Goldfinches in the garden eating dandelion docks..... lovely )

Good, keep it at zero. Water change may also fix some problems such as finrot, not sure about fungus, but it does help with healing.
And if your husband thinks you've gone water-change mad, should have seen my parents look at me at 4 in the morning when I had to change the water 90% and I couldn't even estimate how much ammonia or nitrite there was (due to not having test kit for anything then, now I only have ammonia kit and still trying to get a nitrite one but my boss is in the hospital and I have nothing to work till he returns -.- )
But at least the filter's 5 months old, so it's got to be cycled by now. And if it didn't do that yet, then it would be pretty weird. Still, the fish have shown no signs of stress and my snails seem to like roaming the sand and aren't staying at the top, so the water parameters should be good.

I just looked up Goldfinch, indeed they are lovely birds but we don't have those around here I think. At least I never saw any.

 

[Memz]

But at least the filter's 5 months old, so it's got to be cycled by now. And if it didn't do that yet, then it would be pretty weird. Still, the fish have shown no signs of stress and my snails seem to like roaming the sand and aren't staying at the top, so the water parameters should be good.

Morning FishBlast,

There's the thing..... when you've been doing this a while, you know what you are looking for, having not even been told about Nitrites/ammonia, other than 'we'll do a check on your water in a couple of weeks and then you can get some fish', I was totally naive!! But I am learning and will get it right as quickly as I can. I will continue checking and changing. Thanks for your time.

 

[FishBlast]

But at least the filter's 5 months old, so it's got to be cycled by now. And if it didn't do that yet, then it would be pretty weird. Still, the fish have shown no signs of stress and my snails seem to like roaming the sand and aren't staying at the top, so the water parameters should be good.

Morning FishBlast,

There's the thing..... when you've been doing this a while, you know what you are looking for, having not even been told about Nitrites/ammonia, other than 'we'll do a check on your water in a couple of weeks and then you can get some fish', I was totally naive!! But I am learning and will get it right as quickly as I can. I will continue checking and changing. Thanks for your time.

Well, if it weren't for the people on this forum, I wouldn't even know about the hazards of those substances. When I did learn, at least I was doing 90% water changes every day for 2 months (even though there were few times when my mom didn't let me so I had to do 1 every 2 days in a week) on a 23L. I did that until I got my 76L and since then I do 1 change every week (less than a week, more like every 5 days) but with additional 1.5L for cleaning fry cage in it daily.

In January, when I began cycling fish-in, I have lost only one fish of a total of 4: a swordtail that got bullied by my red swordie female and refused to eat till death, even when separated. What happened to her could have been anything from gill damage, emotional damage or gill flukes, all I know is that she was breathing rapidly even when I did 2 water changes a day in her bowl.
The remaining 3 adult fish seem to have no problem with breathing, so I guess whatever damage happened to them was minimal. As for the fry, I hope they are healthy, as they were born in my new tank 4 months after the cycle began.

I wish you good luck and hope all your fish get past this hard time. X)