Zebra Danio

[1234-fishy-freind]

one of my zebra danios dosnt look well
his body seems to be slightly curved,he is always hanging around the same plant and seems to be gasping for air and his back looks a bit arched.
the other danios and fish are all fine.
do you have any ideas as to what could be the problem.

cheers

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If his spent is bent/warped/curved then the danio most likely has fish tb, really the fish should be put down/euthanised as there are no effective meds available to treat this desease and it will eventually kill the fish (which if the fish dies in the tank, makes the other fish in the tank very vunerable to contracting the fish tb off the dead fish). The spinal curvature will also get worse as the desease progresses, check out this pic of an unfortunate guppy with very progressed fish tb;

http/www.peteducation.com/images/articles/tfh_fish_tb2.jpg

The spinal curvature does not always get this extreme though before the fish dies, and the spine can curve in any direction really, it varies a lot but a curved spine in a fish almost always means fish tb. The only other desease that causes spinal curvature is NTD (neon tetra desease, despite the name though it is not confined to neon tetras), although this is just as fatal for the fish.

 

[1234-fishy-freind]

ok i think i will have to put the fish down then
what is a quick simple way to do this ?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

ok i think i will have to put the fish down then
what is a quick simple way to do this ?

Hmm...The thread in the link below goes through some of the various common forms of fish euthanasia and some peoples opinions on how humane they are, there are many ways you can put down a fish;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=8031

.
Personally i almost always use the freezing water method on small fish (i.e. 1-2inches or smaller), but only on true tropical fish- zebra danios are not true tropical fish though, technically they're sub tropical. Personally if i had to euthanise a danio i would go for decapitation (if you can handle doing it) or a strong clove oil mixture or a similar highly lethal solution which the fish can be put in to kill it.