Blue Danio... who knows, child Hey I have been reading your information on the humped Danio's and have been treating my fish with Melafix.. <... Punctuation... and not a fan of leaf extract "fixes"...> he looks better (fatter) still a little humped but not as bad. Maybe because he's beefed up a bit? He is active, eats and seems happy. Prior to treatment he acted dead (floated sideways) and then would pop out of it. Is my fish doomed? Do you have any advice? He seems to be fighting it. Thanks Jody <Fighting...? Perhaps this tank was uncycled? Please, keep reading... Bob Fenner>

Kribs? WWM content to come   3/1/07 Bob, <Neale> Hope you're well! <Yes, thank you my friend> I've been doing a marathon session of Krib writing this month, and  was surprised to see you have nothing at WWM on Kribs and other  Pelvivachromis spp. Have I missed something? <Heeee! Not likely! We are "missing" several life times of work...> Fancy something run up about them for either the site or Conc. Aq.? <Yes, certainly> I happen to be breeding  P. taeniatus at the moment, hence the flurry of textual and  photographic activity on the genus. <Ahh!> Have you seen that You Tube video of the giant school of Plecs  videoed underwater in Mexico? <No... do you have the URL?> It's amazing. Totally *not* what you'd  imagine from their aquarium behaviour... but then isn't that so often  the case. Also, are US aquarists up to speed on "Microrasbora" galaxy? Seems within 6 months of discovery and sale to the trade,  it's heading for extinction! Not good. Neale <Yeeikes! I do wish I/we were more organized... perhaps with the revenue from the upcoming Banner Ad push... to have you pen a "What's News" section... BobF>
Re: Kribs? Microrasboras and Pleco URL!   3/1/07 Re: Microrasbora. <Mmm, M. rubescens... a beauty> I'm (along with others) looking after it's  Wikipedia page, and have uploaded links to the relevant references. I  don't know about the US, but this species was a *big* hit here, each  specimen selling for about £4-5 (around $8-10) -- quite a sum for  such a tiny fish. <I'll say!> It is very pretty though, and seems to do well in  captivity, the first breeding reports being within a couple of weeks  of import. So not 100% gloomy, but certainly alarming (cf. Banggai  cardinals, perhaps?). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestichthys_margaritatus Re: Plecs, see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bK5wg2tZ0U <Neat!> It's a lot of fun. Will run something up on Kribs for CA/WWM in the next week or so.  Should have pretty pictures, too. <Ahh, very good indeed. Thank you Neale> Take care, Neale <BobF>

Danio deaths?  - 06/20/2006 I recently noticed I had only 4 Danios, when I thought I had 5! <OK - either you had five or didn't...> I looked around the tank and saw nothing unusual so I just forgot about it.... not a good idea probably. <Probably not.> This morning when I fed my fish, I noticed I had only 3! <So you've lost at least one, potentially two fish at this point.> Again I took a look around in and out of the tank but nothing seemed wrong. Although, 1 of the Danios, he is smaller than the other 2 was barely moving, just sitting still in the back of the tank (he wasn't laying down, just floating in the middle) and he didn't come for food. I am worried because if I did have 5, or 4, and a couple died in the tank, it could kill my other fish. <You definitely don't want dead fish decomposing in your tank.> Which of the 2, nitrates of nitrites, would rise if one of my fish died? <Probably both - do test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at this point...definitely a water change is in order.> The other 2 Danios were always dominant to the others, but I never thought they would stress some fish so much they wouldn't eat, or so much they would die! <Well, this could have happened, or this fish(es) could have died due to poor environmental conditions.  A little more information about your tank setup would be helpful - how big is the tank, how many fish and what type, what type of filtration, water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, temp.) and how long the tank has been running would all be helpful bits of information.   Please help me.... I want to save my fish! <I'll do my best to help, but need some additional information in order to do so, Marc!> Marc <Jorie>

Rasbora Discoloration/Disease? - 08/18/2005 Hi. <'Ello.> I have two scissortail Rasbora and have had them for a few months now and everything has been fine; however, this morning I noticed the smaller of the two has developed a blood red colour at the base of its dorsal and anal fins and the black stripes on its tail are paler than normal.  It still seems to be swimming  and feeding ok. Should I be worried? <Perhaps, yes.  I would first look to water quality - the symptoms you describe suggest irritation, possible reaction to ammonia or nitrite in the water.  Maintain ammonia and nitrite levels at ZERO, nitrate less than 20ppm, with water changes.> Thanks in advance. <Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Tiger Barb breeding 7/11/05 Hello, I have a ten gallon freshwater tank that I'd like to breed tiger barbs in. Is this tank too small <Nope> and if so what other kind of barb can I breed in this tank and if not what does this tank require? <Many barbs that are too large to breed here... e.g. Tinfoils, T-Bar, Rosies... and some that are easier... Checkerboards, Golds, Cherries... Need to do a bit of studying re making a barrier to keep the parents from eating the eggs, conditioning to reproduce, growing foods for the young. I suggest going to a public library (or buying used on the Net) some of the old T.F.H. books on aquarium fish breeding. Bob Fenner> Danios -- Strange Behavior Dear Crew, <Andrea... "woman of the sea"> I have a 30 Gallon tall aquarium with an eclipse BioWheel filter that has been up and running for about 6 weeks now.  The pH is 7.2, ammonia 0 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm, nitrates 10 ppm.  The temperature is 78 degrees. I started the tank with some purple passion Danios, <Heee! Great name> and all but one died.  He took to spending all of his time hiding in a plant, and rarely swam around at all. <This is a social species... can't school by itself> About a week and a half ago, when the ammonia and nitrites had been at zero for nearly two weeks, I added 4 more Danios of the same type.  The reclusive one immediately came out of hiding and began schooling with the others.  Then, after a week, one of the fish died.  I noticed that it seemed fatter than the others, but not hugely swollen or anything.  One morning it was just very sluggish, not swimming much, and by evening it was gone.  Since then (it's been about a week now), the remaining four fish have taken to hiding in the plant and under a piece of driftwood.  They don't swim around anymore. Sometimes I see them out when the lights are off, but when I turn them on in the morning they freak out and go hide.  They barely come out to eat and when they do only three of the four show up, though I've seen the fourth one and he is still alive, just hiding.  The only other fish in the tank is a small Pleco and he doesn't bother them.  Any idea what the problem could be?  Do they need a bigger school to act normally or do you think they are ill? <Mmm, actually... I think you have a situation like here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/FrightChemsFWArt.htm there is a "fright contagion" chemical residue left from the dead/dying Danios mal-affecting the present ones. This is best removed by using a bit of activated carbon in your filter flow path and serial water changes...> I vacuumed the gravel, rinsed the filter media, and did a 20% water change on Tuesday, but this has not changed their behavior. I live in Baltimore and use the city tap water, adding Stress Coat to remove chlorine and chloramines.  I want to add a pair of angels to the tank, but not if the behavior of my Danios indicates some problem with my water. Thanks for your time!  Your website is fantastic. <Thank you, and thank you for writing so well, thoroughly... Bob Fenner> ~Andrea

Photosensitive Harlequin Hi folks <Denis> I was wondering if you have ever come across a photo-sensitive fish?  One of my harlequins has developed a strange habit of hanging around with slightly clamped fins near the surface while the aquarium lights are on.  When the lights are switched off he moves around and feeds as normal.  This has been going on for around a week. The other harlequins are perfectly healthy and behaving normally.  The tank is 180 litre and very lightly stocked with currently only 4 panda Corys, 4 harlequins and one female blue ram.  The tank is at 79 degrees and  PH is about 6.9 and I am doing 10% water changes weekly.  I recently have added a small amount of peat into the filter to soften the water.  Any suggestions welcome.  Thanks for your time. best wishes Denis Donoghue <I have seen such behaviour before... in both marine and freshwater fish species... Wonder what, if any survival value it may portend? Bob Fenner>

The Ethics of Glo-Fish (TM) (6/5/05) Hiya Bob, <<Howdy. RMF>> I just finished reading the article on the Glo-fish, and I was wondering if it would be possible to ask the author if he considers every breed of dog, most breeds of milk and beef producing cattle, and probably 80% or better of all of the grains and fruits he eats as also being 'garbage' due to the fact that they are also man induced 'mutations' (yes, the method may be different, but the intent and process is the same and similar-one is just more 'trial and error, after all, no?) For the record, I also don't like the idea of Glo-fish, or painted chandas, but plenty of folks hate telescopes, black moors, fancy guppies and swords for just as legitimate reasons. <Agreed> I can understand a POV of distaste and dislike, I was just wondering what selective bias the author uses to determine which of our obvious genetic alterations are 'garbage' and why? ;) (Heh, maybe I should write a counter point article for submission, playing devil's advocate) <All submissions are welcome for consideration. You will have to use a lot better grammar than you did in this e-mail. Please capitalize the proper noun "I" and the first letter of sentences. We post all e-mails and replies. It's a lot easier for folks to read them if they are punctuated properly. If you do it then we can spend less time proofreading and more time answering.> Keep up the good work-been observing your website for years, all the best! Alan <Thanks. The author of the article is not a member of the question-answering crew, so I do not know how to contact him. I do agree with you on this issue. I have nothing against Glo-Fish (TM) myself. They were created to serve a utilitarian purpose (pollution detection). If there is a side benefit of providing pretty fishes that have not been chemically burned and dyed, that's great from my perspective. I have no problem with GM foods either. I say you're right that there is no difference in principle between this and selective breeding. It's only method and speed. In fact, GM is better because the planning will lead to fewer bad mutations. It just needs to be properly regulated. As for the other fish you mention, I have qualms about some of them. If fish are selectively bred for appearance, I only have a problem if that creates a deformity that impairs the fish or causes pain. Some of the fish sold these days definitely suffer as a result of their selectively-bred appearance. That's my opinion, for what it's worth. Steve Allen>

Mad-Crazy Barbs! We have two tiger barbs, one small and one much larger. Unusually, from what we have heard, they pretty much totally leave our other fish alone, only acknowledging each other. Mostly the little one chases the fatter one all over the tank non-stop, but every once in a while their colors will darken and they will do this thing where they spin in a circle, nose to nose, sometimes for several minutes at a time. They don't appear to be fighting for real, as neither sustains injuries. Is this some sort of play fighting or sparring for dominance, or something else? >>Yes, your barbs are sparring. Tiger barbs are schooling fish that will chase each other all the time. Because you have only two the less dominant animal is always under stress. The little more slender fish may well be a male, the fatter fish a female. It may be a good idea to add two more tiger barbs. Good Luck, Oliver <<

The Beach Boys Givin' off Good Vibrations?  4 Vibrating Green Tiger Barbs Hello! <Hi there> I have a 37g tank with 4 green tiger barbs and 1 albino Pleco. It's running an Eheim 2026 with all biological filtration: Ceramic noodles and Eheim EhfiSubstrate. I do ~10% weekly RO water changes. I've tested nitrates which are < 20 ppm, nitrites don't register, nor does ammonia. The water has running a bit warm at 80. <Okay> My problem is this: especially later in the day, the tiger barbs stay towards the bottom of the tank and vibrate, mostly in the same spot. Have you ever heard of this type of behavior? I'm at a loss to what to do. Could it be the temperature? I'm going to go through my master test kit and test all the water parameters... anything I should look out for? <Have heard/seen this... and do think it's temperature related...> Thanks! - Chad <I would add a mechanical "bubbler", some sort of added circulation, aeration here... turn your heater down, or if the lighting is boosting temperature, set this on a timer and leave off during the mid-day... see if you can add surface disruption and keep the temperature under 78 F. Bob Fenner>

DYING DANIOS Hi, I love your site and have been performing research here. I need to ask a question about what's happening and see if there are any ideas. I have a 5 gallon future quarantine tank in which I placed about 1.5" of Danios I purchased from PMart. I have been performing daily ammonia tests (beginning of cycle). The bigger one was bullying the smaller one, and the smaller one began to hang around at the bottom of the aquarium and inside the resin rock cave I'd purchased from Drs foster smith. The small one stopped eating.  The ammonia levels never got above .25 ppm but I ended up doing daily water changes (25 - 50%) to see if that helped. To try and defray the bullying, I went and got a third small Danio from a small local aquarium/fish/pet store that has been here almost 30 years. The next day, the first small one was dead. I took it out and did about an 80% water change.  I treat the incoming water with Tetra Aqua Safe and try to match existing aquarium temperature within 2 degrees. Although I live in Phoenix AZ and the water is quite hard, I make no other water quality adjustments in an effort to keep them in stable water like in store.  The big one died the next day - another large water change. The new Danio looked fine except for a small red area near/in his right gill. I went and got two more small companion Danios for him (don't know sex actually) from the small aquarium store. Two days later, the Danio w/red spot began gasping - I did about a 30% water change and added about 1 tsp. salt to the aquarium (I was too paranoid to add the recommended 1 Tablespoon per 5 gal amount).  I put the ill Danio in a small refugium with a small diameter flex hose as a bubbler. The refugium hung inside the main tank but no water exchange was possible. The ill Danio was dead the next day. I did another large water change. The other two are still eating, but I'm afraid I saw one beginning to gasp. Any ideas? Thank you very much. Jane < Your water is indeed hard and alkaline. Since you only have a 5 gallon aquarium, I would recommend that you drain all the water out of your tank and replace it with bottled or filtered water instead. Add some Bio-Spira by Marineland to get your tank cycled right now. Make sure that the water temp is up around 80 degrees. Add six or more Danios from the store and add some live or plastic floating plants so they have somewhere to hide from the more aggressive fish. Feed only enough food so that it is all gone in two minutes once each day. Change 20% or one gallon once a week. That should work out fine and get you going.-Chuck> 
DYING DANIOS - Follow-up Hi Chuck, thank you for the quick response. I'll check out the Marineland Bio-Spira. Re: the bottled water--my understanding from the fish vendors here is that their water is good old Phoenix water that's been dechlorinated/dechloraminated and nothing else, and I felt that my using anything other than tap water similarly treated would stress the fish too much - I've learned that in the David Boruchowitz (sorry about spelling of name there) book and from the "Complete Idiot's Guide" (very fitting in this case!). Of course, I don't know if either author meant Phoenix water when he wrote that. < The thinking behind their statements is that the fish from the store will be in the same water that is at your home, so additional use of bottled water is not needed. I know of the hard alkaline water that you are using from the Colorado River too well. As a happy medium I would then try using 1/2 bottled demineralized water and 1/2 tap water and see if that makes a difference.> I'm trying to cycle the small quarantine tank first while my 50 gallon Lee-Mar aquarium is waiting for its 2nd test fill this weekend. I had tested for leaks and yep, it had one, so we silicone-sealed the leaking seam area this last Sunday. If I do go with bottled water, does that mean I could never use Phoenix water?  < If you want to use Phoenix water then you need to go with fish that have the same requirements like African Cichlids. You will never be able to go with soft water fish like discus in your tap water.> I didn't mention that I have an Eco-Aqualizer water ionizer, because I was too embarrassed to admit I'd forgotten to hook it up to the tank before introducing any fish. Again I thought it would stress the fish if I hooked it up "mid stream." Thank you very much - Jane < When you tank gets stabilized and the fish are doing well I would then slowly make any additional changes.-Chuck.> 

BOOK 'EM DANIO Good morning Chuck, quick note before going to work - last night I did 50%water change using distilled water for the new water - this morning I have two [of] what appear to be very happy, active Danios - you rescued them. Thank you thank you thank you!!! Jane < Your water is too hard for most aquarium fish. I am glad that the bottled water has helped.-Chuck> 

Spinning Barb Crew: I have a rosy barb that began spinning wildly in the tank. I took him out and moved him into a tank by himself. My pet store told me that he probably had an intestinal infection and would probably die. He's still alive after a few days and stopped his wild spinning but now stays in a corner near the heater, doesn't seem to be eating, gasping. I've also noticed he mostly swims in place and drifts backwards quite a bit, and when I tried to put a live plant that he might eat into the tank, he started pinging around the tank then cowered in the corner gasping. Any suggestions please? <The spinning is not good. Keep him in the QT and watch his old tankmates. Sorry to say, but Whirling Disease is usually fatal. If he does die make sure you bleach the tank and anything in it. I would destroy the plant. Just not worth the risk. Don> 
Spinning Barb pt 2 Thanks for the reply Don. The others in the main tank seem fine by the way, and eating heartily. He stopped whirling and is swimming about a bit more but always returns to the heater and cowers there with mouth agape bobbling with the movement of the water. We had noticed the area from his nose to his head has darkened and along his spine also.  Any ideas what that might be? He was a beautiful vibrant pink before but became quite dull when he got sick. My daughter is doing everything she can to see that he makes it. And won't give up on him, salt, keeping the water at 82. Is there anything we should/could be doing besides waiting and observing? He started whirling a week ago, and is still here. What do I need to observe to know when he might be better and if it becomes safe to return him to the main tank? <I'm sorry to say I do not have any tricks to try here. Please read this thread from our forum and the references within.  Don>