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FAQs on Freshwater Diseases 3

Related Articles: Freshwater DiseasesFW Disease Troubleshooting, Ich/White Spot Disease, Choose Your Weapon: Freshwater Fish Disease Treatment Options by Neale Monks,

Related FAQs: Freshwater Disease 1, Freshwater Disease 2, Toxic Situations, Aquarium MaintenanceFreshwater MedicationsFreshwater Infectious Disease, Freshwater Fish ParasitesIch/White Spot DiseaseWorm Diseases, Nutritional Disease, African Cichlid Disease 1, Cichlid Disease

Texas has tumors  10/29/09
Hi
My Texas cichlid has not been well for about a month. At a guess he is about 8 years old. He started getting sores on his side which I treated with Melafix and they cleared up.
<Likely unconnected... Melafix isn't much of a medication, and at best helps the natural immune system repair damage and fight infection.>
Then a few weeks later he started to getting sores again. I removed him from the tank (950 litre tank) and treated him again with Melafix. It didn't clear up the sores and he started to develop pink lumps (tumors???)
<These look somewhat like Lymphocystis, a not uncommon viral complaint seen among "advanced" (Perciform) fish including cichlids. The precise causes of this disease are not completely understood, but it seems to be triggered by stress, likely environmental stress if occurrences in the wild are anything to go by. So do check the aquarium, paying attention in particular to water chemistry and water quality. Herichthys spp. need hard (10+ degrees dH) water with a basic pH (7.5) and the water should be medium temperature (around 25 C) and clean (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and nitrate less than 20 mg/l). Because cichlids are messy feeders, and because this species is so big, keeping water quality where it should be can be difficult.>
I changed his medication to aquari-cycline and he developed more lumps between his bottom fins. I then tried treating him with para-cide and after 2 weeks he still has sores and tumors which are appearing at the base of his fins, his body is bloated. He is still eating, his energy levels are a little lacking and is gasping.
<Again, I'd tend to be looking at water quality/chemistry issues. Make sure the tank isn't overstocked, and that the filter is adequate to the needs of the fish. For cichlids this size, I'd be going with filter turnover rates 8 times the volume of the tank per hour. Make sure the carbonate hardness is sufficiently high that pH isn't fluctuating between water changes. With a few exceptions, cichlids are hypersensitive to low oxygen levels, and low water turnover and excessively high temperatures can cause an "oxygen crisis" for these fish that tend to stay near the bottom of the tank, where oxygen levels are invariably lowest.>
I am about to start treating him for fluke and tapeworms.
<Obviously, make sure you haven't fed anything like live feeder fish. This isn't a thing in the UK since feeder fish aren't sold here, but in some parts of the world they are still available, and that causes major problems. To produce a fish you can sell for pennies, healthcare will not be a priority. A feeder fish is really just a way of getting parasites into healthy fish. So if you have used feeder fish, then yes, there's quite a good chance your Herichthys has picked up something nasty. Certain fish species used as feeders, notably goldfish and minnows, have high levels of thiaminase and fat, and over the long term, both can cause serious problems. Thiaminase breaks down Vitamin B1, leading to deficiencies, and among other things, this causes the immune system to work less well. Fat causes problems by building up around the internal organs, and again, over time, that's going to lead to all sorts of metabolic abnormalities.>
I really need some advice as I would hate to loose him. In the pics you will see that his lumps are around the base of his fins and the sore on his side
<Indeed. Lymphocystis is essentially untreatable, and comes and goes depending on the health of the fish. Given optimal conditions and a balanced (i.e., varied, vitamin-rich, including plants) diet most fish do recover. Provided the tumours aren't obstructing an orifice, they are not substantially more dangerous than warts. But it does take months for fish to recover. While Lymphocystis won't be causing laboured breathing or sluggishness, the environmental problems that cause Lymphocystis could well be causing other problems as well.>
Thanks
<Cheers, Neale.>

Flashing    10/12/09
I have a 55 gal freshwater which is into its 4th week with fish. Nitrite levels are extremely low and I have been keeping up with my water changes and testing quality every 2 days. I know the tank is still cycling because it isn't showing any appreciable level of nitrate just yet- I have no live plants. For stock, I have 5 albino Corys and 5 golden bar platies. I wanted to make sure the tank cycle was stable before introducing more fish. I noticed several of the platies flashing about two weeks ago. Other than this, they have no signs of disease whatsoever. All fish are swimming, eating, and behaving appropriately, other than the flashing.
<Flashing is a common behaviour when the water isn't "quite right" -- be alert for ammonia and nitrite. Both of these will cause fish to dart about or scratch against rocks. All the fish feel is irritation (burning, perhaps?) on their most sensitive parts, their gills. They can't know the difference between a parasite (which they try to brush away, hence the flashing behaviour) or a chemical "burn".>
Research led me to think gill flukes, since there are no signs of ich.
<Pretty unlikely, to be honest. Never come across flukes in 25+ years of fishkeeping. They're more common among wild caught fish, and particularly common among pond fish kept outdoors, but not really a problem for most farmed tropical community fish.>
I would normally treat with salt, but I read that Corys are sensitive to salt,
<Actually, copper/formalin as used in most Ick medications is *far more* toxic to Corydoras than the low levels of salt needed to treat Ick. Do remember that the whole issue with salt is osmotic stress. Some hobbyists might say things like catfish are "allergic to salt" but that's utter garbage. Indeed, there are various catfish that live in the sea! So salt, in and of itself, isn't toxic to them. If you routinely added too much salt, week in, week out, that certainly will stress Corydoras and indeed any other fish from the soft waters of the Amazon. But across the short term, and in small amounts, it's harmless.>
so I have used Quick Cure for three days as directed on the packaging (one drop per gallon- I only added 50 drops), doing a 25% water change today. I know that treatment might take longer than this.
<Likely won't do anything either way. I somehow don't feel this is a gill fluke problem. The fact your tank is just 4 weeks only strongly implies variable/poor water quality, and I'd expect fish kept in such a tank to "flash" from time to time. I'll also mention here that carbon removes medications from the water. Some inexperienced aquarists use carbon in their filters (usually without understanding why, but rather because the retailer sold the stuff). Always remove carbon when medicating the fish, or precisely nothing will happen.>
I am concerned the Quick Cure may have totally destroyed my bacteria base and the tank will need to cycle all over again.
<Non sequitur. QuickCure doesn't harm filter bacteria if used as instructed.>
I have an established tank with a goldfish in it, and the levels there are great. He's been in the tank for over a year. Perhaps I could add some of his water to jump start the cycle once treatment is complete?
<There are little/no filter bacteria in the water. By all means add a cup or two of the gravel, or even better, some filter media. But water...?
Pointless.>
Also, should I discontinue the Quick Cure or treat for a little longer, doing water changes every third day? I have not seen any flashing behavior today.
<Don't automatically assume "ergo propter hoc".>
Sorry if this question has been asked before. I searched and searched for info on nitrifying bacteria and quick cure, but I couldn't find much definitive info.
Helen
<The correct explanation here is likely the simplest one. Do read, understand cycling and be aware of the likely problems when you cycle with fish. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Flashing 10/13/09
Thanks a lot Neale!
<You are welcome.>
I feel much better about it now-the idea of gill flukes had me in a bit of a panic. I checked the ammonia in the tank and the levels were under recommended parameters.
<Not sure what you mean by "recommended parameters". It's a common misconception that "low levels" are acceptable. They are not. Any ammonia above zero is potentially dangerous. A healthy aquarium has zero levels of ammonia and nitrite. Anything above zero means your tank is overstocked, under-filtered, overfed, or not yet fully cycled.>
I will do as you suggested and add some of the filter media from the established tank, as well as continuing to monitor water quality in the new tank and keep up with water changes.
<Very good.>
I did remove the filter pads, which have activated carbon in them, when I started treating with the Quick Cure. I will discontinue the treatment and just focus on the water from now on. Thanks again for your advice- I very much appreciate it.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Concerned and Confused... mis-mix FW, induced troubles, lots of reading...  7/9/09
I have a 30 gallon tank. It is about 7 months old.
Community Tank with the following fish:
2 Dwarf Gouramis
<Do see WWM re: Colisa lalia; a problematic species in many ways, and not recommended.>
1 Silver Mollie
2 Sailfin Mollies
<Mollies usually do best in warm, hard, slightly brackish water; this makes them incompatible with most community fish.>
1 Pleco
<Will need a tank twice your size within 18 months or so; maximum length is about 40-50 cm, depending on the species.>
3 Cory Cats
<Groups of 5 or more, please.>
1 Red Tailed Black Shark
<Highly aggressive, and will terrorise your fish once mature in a tank this small.>
2 Mystery Snails
<Needs subtropical conditions as well as a cooler dormant period of a few months in damp soil every year; most specimens kept in tropical tanks die within a year.>
3 Neons
3 Glowlights
<Again, schooling fish, so must be kept in groups of 6 or more specimens, and ideally 10+ if you want them to be happy and to look nice.>
1 African Dwarf Frog
<Difficult to feed, and must have wet frozen bloodworms and other wet/live foods periodically; frogs fed dried foods and pellets very prone to constipation.>
2 Angels
<If these are males they will fight, and if they pair off, they could become unholy terrors, so be careful.>
1 Guppy
My Silver Mollie and Sailfin Mollie both gave birth about 3 wks ago. I have the fry in a breeders net (I hate these things!) The fry seem to be happy and healthy, but I find about 2 dead each day. My Silver Mollie died about 1 week ago. From the symptoms she displayed, I believe it was from "Dropsy".
<Mystery deaths of Mollies usually come down to people keeping them in the wrong conditions. Be under no illusions about this: Mollies are not "easy" fish, and they are ONLY hardy when kept in brackish water.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
>
The week before, my male guppy died, I'm not sure why, he seemed to be doing fine one minute and the next minute he was sitting on the bottom of the tank. My local "Fish Expert" said it looked like aggression to him?!@#
<Sounds a pretty vague analysis to me.>
Anyway, now my Dwarf Gourami was hiding in a plant, acting strange, not eating (normally one of the first grabbing for food), top fin not standing up, and a hairy cloudy white patch on both sides.
<Sounds like a fungal infection; treat accordingly using something reliable (not Melafix, Pimafix or any other tea-tree oil medication). Do be aware of the numerous problems with this species:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/dwfgdis.htm
Best avoided really, and I don't recommend them. I have an article coming out in TFH Magazine shortly all about commonly sold fish that should be avoided, and this is one of the species mentioned. Colisa fasciata and Colisa labiosus are infinitely better fish.>
In the 7 mths that I've had the tank, I haven't had any problems. Is this just a freak thing...is my tank diseased, or what do you think is happening?
<Your choice of fish is a bit random and, frankly, poorly thought out.
Without statistics on water quality, temperature, water chemistry it's also impossible to say whether you were unlucky or have been keeping this fish badly. I can say that sudden deaths of livebearers for example are most common when the water isn't sufficiently warm or hard or brackish, and both Mollies and Guppies will thrive best at about 26-28 C, hardness 15+ degrees dH, pH 7.5-8, and ideally slightly salty conditions, around 3-5 grammes of marine salt mix per litre of water.>
What steps should I take to correct the problem(s)?
<Read, understand, anticipate, pre-empt. Cheers, Neale.>

Dying Fish   4/10/09
Greetings,
<What ho!>
I have been using your website for years now and I really appreciate what you guys do. I have been trying to build a successful tank for four years now, but am still having trouble making it work.
<Oh dear.>
The equipment I am using is:
1 - 48”x22”x18” tank
1 - 350 magnum pro canister filter
2 penguin power heads (300gph) for my under gravel filter
The conditions of the tank are checked weekly and are:
The alkalinity is 120 ppm
The hardness is 200 ppm
The temperature is 78°F
The pH is 7.5 (I would like to lower the pH and hardness of the water and have been doing twenty percent water changes with distilled water twice a month for several years now, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference.)
<I wouldn't bother; little to be gained, much to be risked. The water chemistry here is fine for most community species.>
The stock I have in the tank is
One Black ghost knife fish - approx 6.5”
One marble angelfish - approx 3.5” in diameter (this is the body only, not including fins. I am assuming this is how they are normally measured although I believe it is full-grown)
Two Bala sharks - approx 5”
One Pleco - approx 4”
<All of these are fine in basic, moderately hard water.>
Problem:
The first thing I am worried about is the pH and hardness. I have read about RO/DI systems on your website, but it seems like they are doing the same thing distilled water would do, so I don’t know if getting one would really help.
<Don't bother; it's not like you're breeding these fish and need particularly soft water.>
I looked but can’t figure out any other methods to lower pH and hardness.
<By definition, if you have 50% water at 20 degrees dH hardness, and 50% at 0 degrees dH, you'll end up with water at 10 degrees dH. The pH will drop somewhat, but unless there's something to acidify the water as well, you'll still have a slightly basic pH. What tends to happen though is that as hardness (specifically, carbonate hardness) declines, so the propensity for acidification between water changes increases. This is a bad thing. Adding stable, buffered water at pH 6.5 is fine if the tank stays at 6.5 between water changes; but if the pH drops from 7.2 to 6.5 between water changes all by itself (because of nitrate going up, organic acids, etc) you are likely to stress your fish. Ergo, it's much better to give fish moderately hard but stable pH water.>
In the last three years I have lost 4 gouramis, 3 hatchet fish, a Kuhli loach, a rainbow shark, and two angelfish. The gouramis, rainbow shark, and angelfish all bloated and then died several weeks after they had initially bloated. All of their deaths were spread out over a three year period, the last death being the angel fish which had been in the tank for two and a half years before it got sick.
<Whatever the causes, and I certainly can't determine them from this message, not providing these fish with soft/acid water wasn't the key; on the other hand, exposing the fish to constantly varying pH could be a stress factor.>
All of these fish were introduced into the tank at the same time (three years ago). The hatchet fish were eaten and the kuhlii loach is just missing in action.
<Probably eaten by the Apteronotus.>
I haven’t figured out what I am doing that would cause this and am worried it will continue to affect more fish.
<Would concentrate on choosing a few species of comparable size, and then taking care to optimise water quality and diet, rather than fussing over pH and hardness.>
I feed them twice a day, but not very much so I don’t think I am over feeding them. The angel fish that is still alive and active has never really had much color and its eyes have always been red, which was not the case in the pet store when I purchased it.
<Commercially bred Angels are not especially beautiful fish, in my opinion; certainly, the quality varies.>
I also have always really wanted to have discus, but from what I have read that would be a very bad choice while I have the Bala sharks, plus my track record isn’t doing too well.
<Symphysodon are certainly not appropriate to this aquarium. They need warmer, stiller water than, for example, Apteronotus. Concentrate on keeping fish that all share the same environmental conditions above all else.>
I am hoping you can tell me what I am doing wrong so that I can add more fish and retain them. If getting rid of the bala sharks and somehow lowering the pH of the tank would allow me to get discus in the future I would be interested in that, if not would you have any recommendations as to what fish I could add since I have seemed to lose all the compatible tank mates that I have found?
<Depends what you're after. Apteronotus albifrons will outgrow this tank fairly quickly, so your prime issue is finding something bigger for this potentially very large fish (250 litres upwards). It comes from shallow but reasonably fast-flowing water habitats with plenty of oxygen, so fish from similar habitats, such as Whiptail catfish and Brochis catfish would be appropriate, as would some of the larger, but non-nippy, characins, e.g., Silver Dollars or Bleeding Heart tetras. Congo tetras look good with them too, though they're African rather than Neotropical.>
Thank you so much in advance for your advice and your wonderful site,
Chris
<Thanks for your kind words, Neale.>

Deadly Diseases: Lymphocystis, Glugea, and Henneguya. 02/09/09
Hello All! Just writing this bc I had an important question and maybe something you don't deal with often ... Before I start I have a 60 Gallon FW tank that has been running for about a year. My ammonia/nitrites are always 0 and my nitrates always 40ppm or less ... Anyways, about 1 month ago or so (maybe a little longer) I noticed one of my blue rams which I've had almost a year had white pimple looking bumps on the top of his head ...
After researching I came to the conclusion that he had Lymphocystis so I left him in the tank. It would spread around his face, reappearing on a different spot on his head as another healed but never got any worse than when I first noticed it (he is still alive btw). Now, my question is this
... What is the chance that this isn't Lymphocystis and is Glugea or Henneguya? (I never took him out of the tank bc everything I've read said these diseases are even more rare than Lympho.) The reason why I ask is bc over the past 3 - 4 days I have lost 4 or 5 fish for unknown reasons ...
And they all exhibit the same signs: Loss of color. They were all eating and active except for the color and it got to the point where I could look in the tank in the morning and know which fish were going to be dead by the time I got home from work based on the color. Glugea and Henneguya is the only reason I could think of bc I have not done anything different to my tank in a long time and I religiously keep my tank clean and maintained. So what is your opinion bc I truly believe that my whole tank will be dead in a month or less at this rate. (Which means I convert my tank into a dart frog tank and forget fish forever lol). Thanks for the insight. -Nick-
<Nick, I think these are unrelated issues. Lympho is by far the most common viral disease among cichlids; or at least, the most common one aquarists can recognise. It isn't fatal, and as you've noticed, it comes and goes.
It's a nuisance, but doesn't seem to harm the fish any, and eventually goes away. If you're losing a bunch of fish -- of different types -- in a short span of time, it's most probable there's an issue with water quality or chemistry. Also consider reviewing diet, temperature, and even the age of the fish. So: What are the fish? What is the water chemistry? Cheers, Neale.>

Freshwater Aquarium Disease 11/20/2008
Hi there,
1 month old 10 G freshwater aquarium, Fluorite substrate, 7 medium- sized plants, holding steady at 80 degrees. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, trace nitrates. Was populated with a single perfectly-healthy and happy male Betta fish.
<A single Betta in a 10-gallon tank is an excellent way to keep fish. Well done.>
After a lot of research, I decided to add some cardinal tetras, so I bought 8 of them from my local fish store.
<Hmm... Cardinals are sensitive, and wouldn't be my choice for addition to a tank a month old... Also, small tetras, even the "peaceful" ones, will nip the fins of Bettas. Unless you absolutely 100% know better, Bettas are best kept alone or with small invertebrates such as cherry shrimps, Nerite snails, etc.>
Fish looked perfectly healthy and were had the brightest colors of any cardinal tetras in town. I made the purchase and acclimated them to the water using the trickle method over a nearly 3 hour period (I'm new and wanted to take every precaution).
<OK.>
Fish looked great, were schooling perfectly and my Betta was chasing them a little when they got in his way, just trying to assert his authority I guess. I noticed that after a few hours one of them didn't school with the others very much, and took to hanging out in a corner. When I saw this behavior I removed him and put him in a separate container.
<Moving fish to small containers is usually like switching them to Death Row. It's almost always best to find out what the problem is and fix it.
Isolating fish makes sense if you're moving that fish to another proper aquarium for breeding or quarantining reasons, but just putting them into a bucket or jar doesn't, in my experience, ever seem to do much good.>
The next morning his swimming had changed dramatically. He just kind of paddled backwards very rhythmically, banging into walls and everything, and was very non-responsive. No symptoms other than this.
<Likely just stressed, too cold, bad water quality, etc.>
Also, another loner tetra in the main tank which I removed. I was a little freaked out. It reminded me of The Happening. Great movie FYI.
<Haven't heard of this movie, I'm afraid.>
Also, that morning I noticed my Betta had stopped chasing the tetras. I thought he had just gotten used to them. Both my Betta and the tetra school had very good appetites that morning. As the day passed, my Betta became more and more reclusive, hiding near the bottom under leaves. He would not come out to eat dinner that night. By nighttime, more loner tetras, and both earlier loners died. Some white spots on the fish as well. Went to the fish store and the owner gave me some Nox-ich, which I used per the instructions for tetras. His cardinal tetra tank was crawling with an ich-like something and he had lost many of them.
<Ick/Whitespot is indeed very common in pet shops, and almost always when aquarists see it in home aquaria, it is immediately after buying new fish.
Multiple ways to treat the disease, the safest of which is the high temperature/salt method.>
The next morning, white spots all over the place (I know it sounds like ich, but don't tune me out just yet). My Betta had a literal white mask over his face, and a large (3-4) millimeter round white spot on one of his gills. He was also completely unresponsive, and solely concerned with trying to breathe through his mask at the waters surface. He would also not leave the corner where the heater and filter output were, and still wouldn't eat. The remaining four tetras were schooling normally and were still eating, but they had ich-looking spots all over their bodies. Over the course of the day, all of them died except one, which I discovered the next morning in my filter input.
<At least some of the other symptoms may be related to environmental issues. You haven't mentioned temperature, nitrite, ammonia, pH or hardness levels, all of which are relevant here. Almost always, diseases like Finrot and Fungus, both of which can explain white growths on fish, are related to either environmental issues or physical damage.>
More observations: after their deaths, tetras became much less colorful, more gray (I assume that's normal). Before he died, my Betta was having problems keeping himself righted in the water, kept falling over to one side or the other. Whether this was a result of a swim bladder problem or lack of oxygen I don't know, but I am pretty sure that his eventual death was caused by oxygen deprivation. Also exhibited an odd behavior where he would stop moving for a few seconds and then half jump out of the water.
Seemed he was trying to get his labyrinth organ thing out of the water or something. Also, I think my Betta's white mask was a result of him chasing the tetras and presumably coming into contact with them, with his face.
White mask extended from mouth all the way over his eyes at the time of his death.
<None of this particularly unusual or indicative of one specific disease.>
Went to the fish store a day after my final fish death and every cardinal tetra was dead. Over 200. BUT there were other species of fish in that tank that were still alive! The fish-store owner asked me what my tetra experience had been, and I told him everything I just told you. He said that what I described with my Betta sounded like a fungus of some sort. It was only that day that I remembered having noticed a white fuzziness on some of my plants.
<The fuzziness on plants is usually not fungus. Fungus grows on decaying organic matter, for example a dead fish, or dead tissue on healthy fish.
Fuzziness on plants is usually algae, but sometimes bacteria. In the latter case especially, it is a clear sign of poor environmental conditions: too much food, too many fish, not enough water changes, and not enough filtration. Bacterial fuzz is typically off-white or grey in colour, and frequently has a silky appearance.>
Its very small and in very localized patches, and on only one species, so I didn't think it was any kind of fungus or mold. Also, for the life of me I can't
remember whether the first time I noticed it was before or after I put the cardinal tetras in.
<Oh.>
Now that the tank had no more fish in it, I cranked my oversized heater up to 89 degrees and left it that way for a week, but stopped using Nox-Ich.
After this week the white fuzziness has not seemed to have grown or changed at all.
<Ick medication obviously only treats Ick.>
What is this crazy ich-fungus?? What monster of a disease can kill 200 healthy tetras and the most beautiful Betta in the world, IN FOUR DAYS??
WHAT HATH NATURE WROUGHT??
<If nothing else, a simple lesson: Quarantine new fish before adding them to a community. When a bunch of fish die immediately after being added to a small aquarium, it is overwhelmingly probable that water quality is the issue. The other common problem is that the aquarist exposes the new fish to dramatically different water chemistry. Contrary to myth, fish can't "acclimate" in a couple of hours to changes in water chemistry. It actually takes some days. Of course, we normally impose on this, and only give the fish 30-60 minutes to adjust to the new water chemistry conditions, but that still means that for a few days they're in a delicate, disturbed phase proportional to how different the old and new water chemistry conditions are. Now, I mention this because some people unwittingly keep their fish in water from domestic water softeners, which you should NEVER EVER do.>
is this just some horrible ich strain? (fish store owner said it was the worst outbreak of any disease he had seen in all his years of fish-keeping)
<There are "super" Ick strains going about. But rarely do they kill fish if treated properly. Certain medications don't work at all on these stronger strains, though some do, for example eSHa EXIT, a product widely available in Europe and the UK at least. In addition, the old school salt/heat method will work too.>
finally, how the heck do I sanitize my tank?
<You can't. Leave it with no fish for at least two weeks running the salt/heat treatment. The salt will kill any free-living parasites in the water, and the lack of hosts means the mature parasites can't exist at all.>
Thanks so much for all the hard work you put in for the aquarist community and our fish friends, you guys ARE AMAZING!!!
Ryan
<Cheers, Neale.>

Fish shock, FW... hlth.   08/18/2008
I recently added 3 new fish to my tropical tank, two are the exact same specie and the third is another variety of the same species. When I attempted to do my weekly gravel cleaning and water change I was removing decorations from the tank. The new fish swam quickly from the other side of the tank towards the decoration I was removing and slammed into it. Then he floated around the tank for about 20 min.s barely breathing before he fully recovered. I was wondering what I could do to reduce his stress, I wasn't moving fast while removing decorations. Should I get another fish of the same species, I know the pet store has one. I also noticed my female guppy changes colour when my tank light is out, she becomes pale but when the light comes back on she regains her colour. I've tested ammonia and nitrites and there are none. Is this normal for guppies to do, my other female doesn't seem to do this though.
<No, it's not normal. You should certainly be doing everything you can to reduce stress on your fish while performing maintenance. There's no reason to remove all the ornaments and plants from a tank when cleaning it, assuming you're maintaining the tank in a sensible way. If you do 25-50% water changes per week (the correct amount/frequency) all you need to do is stir the gravel a bit with your fingers and suck up any detritus with the siphon as the water is taken out. The filter will handle everything else, assuming it's adequate to the tank (I recommend choosing filters that offer four times the volume of the tank in turnover per hour). Tanks only become dirty if they are too small for the fish concerned, massively overstocked, or completely under-maintained in terms of filtration and water changes. Take care that any water added to the tank is identical in chemistry and temperature to any water removed. Guppies do not like dramatic changes in pH, and the use of marine salt mix (rather than "tonic salt") at a low dose of around 3-6 grammes per litre will help here by adding buffering capacity to the water. Generally livebearers appreciate the addition of marine salt mix, but other types of tropical fish do not, so review any tankmates carefully before doing this. Do remember that Guppies need a tank at least 90 litres/20 gallons in size, with a proper filter. Males are aggressive towards one another and pester females, and in smaller tanks this aggression causes serious problems. So consider the size of the tank, as well as the availability of hiding places, particularly floating plants, before adding any more fish. You should always have twice as many females (at least) than males if you want to avoid behavioural problems. Cheers, Neale.>

 
Crayfish, cichlids; health ... English... "Buttons are not toys"    7/31/08
ok so I have had my electric blue crayfish for about 5 months now. he's appx. 5 inches long.
<Cool. Now, make sure you don't keep him with any fish.>
doing well until I accidentally introduced a seemingly well cichlid into the tank.
<Oh dear.>
he blew up and died about a week ago. I think the Cray may have eaten it!
<Well, fish don't "blow up and die" for no reason. Crayfish can catch living fish and eat them, and they certainly will consume fish that are sick/dead for other reasons.>
he's pretty lethargic now and he sits cocked up to one side and his legs on top just sway back and forth. he really wont eat and I know he's dying. is there anything I can do??
<No information here to work from. How big is this tank? What filter are you using? What is the water chemistry (at minimum: the pH)? What is the water quality (at minimum: the nitrite concentration)? Almost certainly water quality is an issue, if not THE issue.>
pet smart gave me 'gel Tek' 'ultra cure PX'
<Pointless, unless you know what's wrong and how you cure it. Since you have no idea what the problem is, how can you treat the animal?>
they said it would be ok for him to eat too, but he really wont. and now my other cichlids are getting blown up looking too.
<Ah, definitely water quality.>
I noticed when the other cichlid died her scales were like coming up. don't know if any of that helps, but what can I do to save my Cray and my cichlids!??? I know by the way everyone looks I don't have long! thank you!
<I'm assuming this is an overstocked, under-filtered tank, quite possibly with the wrong water chemistry for the species being kept. Without names for these cichlids, it's impossible to say what conditions they require. Some (e.g., Mbuna) need hard, alkaline water. Others (e.g., Severums) need soft, acidic water. All cichlids need spotlessly clean water with zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and ideally as little nitrate as possible, certainly less than 50 mg/l. In any event YOU CAN'T MIX CRAYFISH WITH FISH. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: crayfish, cichlids; health 8/2/08
well the cichlids are African Kribensis, and ive had them since birth. still have the parents in a diff tank. the water is fine, for all, checked it over and over.
<If you say so!>
the cichlid I introduced was already sick, I know that, now) and when he died, the kribs ate it and I think so did the crab.
<Letting fish eat dead fish is asking for trouble. Many diseases are spread that way. Remove fish as soon as they die, and ideally isolate them when they're sick.>
they were all fine till about 3 days after the Wal-Mart fish died. he seems to be fine with my fish, ive never seen him raise a claw to them. not that it wont or cant happen!
<Indeed. Many cichlids become territorial only once sexually mature, which may take 6-12 months, depending on the species.>
I am well aware of that. so total in the tank I have 2 cichlids, and 5 small tetras, and the Cray. the cichlids are still juvenile, only about an inch and a half. all were fine until I put the seemingly fine Wal-Mart fish (which I didn't buy, a friend did.) in.
<If you can't quarantine new fish, then you should be very carefully about selecting additional livestock -- so accepting fish from friends really isn't a good idea.>
I have a 50 gal tetra filter, with two filters, and a 20 long, which will soon be a 30 long. I know I need at least a 50, but funds are low right now. there's plenty of room for them, the Cray doesn't seem to mind, he's usually busy and healthy, molted about 4 times successfully.
<Seems as if you're aware of the potential problems but depending on luck. While we've all done that one time or another, it's hardly the best strategy.>
its definitely a sickness from the Wal-Mart fish.
<Why do you say that? Post hoc ergo propter hoc? Unfortunately, there's no guarantees that just because you've _added_ a new fish, the aquarium has _developed_ problems because those new fish were sick. While it can happen, it can also happen that the additional fish overwhelm the filter, or break up the social structures, or a variety of other possibilities.>
I think by eating the dead sick fish they got sick.
<OK, if you say so. Can't say I'm convinced.>
the tetras I don't think ate any because they are fine and Im sure the cichlids didn't let em get to eat any of the dead fish.
<Hmm...>
I noticed though that the cichlids scales look funny too. this just started. they seem to be itching on the rocks. no ich though. can you think of anything???
<Many things. If they're itching themselves, then Ick/Velvet are both possibilities, and both can make a fish sick *without* obvious external symptoms, because both diseases attack the gills before the skin. If the fish are breathing heavily, for example, as well as itching, that's a good clue that Velvet is in the tank. Saying the "scales looks funny" doesn't help much. Are we talking excessive mucous, making the body look cloudy? That's usually a water quality/water chemistry issue. Are the scales sticking outwards, like the scales on a pine cone? That's Dropsy (oedema) a symptom of a variety of things from internal bacterial infections through to inappropriate use of "tonic salt". Cheers, Neale.>

Re: crayfish, cichlids; health 8/2/08
ok so Im not god, I don't know for absolute sure that the Wal-Mart fish did it but here's my evidence... got 2 cichlids (don't know what there were, just they were yellow.)
<Likely Yellow Labs, Labidochromis caeruleus. A smallish, fairly well behaved Mbuna.>
kept em quarantined for month and a half. one got fat, and died.
<Right. If this happens *in the quarantine tank* then you obviously don't put the survivor into your display tank. You run through all the possible diseases, or ideally, and what I would have done, you take them back to the store. This of course assumes the water conditions in the quarantine tank were appropriate to the species in question. For a Mbuna, that would mean hard, alkaline water with zero ammonia/nitrite, and low levels of nitrate (less than 20 mg/l if possible). There is *absolutely* no point quarantining in a tank that isn't cycled or doesn't have an appropriate chemical filter to remove ammonia directly. You can't just stick in a new filter and hope for the best. If new fish are exposed to a cycling tank, OF COURSE they're going to get sick and die. You may known this, but I'm just putting this out here fair and square so other people reading this can understand things.>
thought it was because of the water, they were in with goldfish, I know, but it was the only thing I could do at midnight (drunk friends do dumb but thoughtful things). I wasn't going to risk putting em in my good tank. not fair for the goldies I know, but what else could I have done???
<Hmm... no idea.>
so when one yellow fish died, after being fine for a month I figured it was indeed the water.
<Why "the water"? Think about this logically for a moment. Fish live in water. They like water. So why would water kill them? There are really only two ways that water *conditions* can kill them -- either the wrong chemistry or poor water quality. Pick and choose. If 50% of your new livestock die, then your plan of action is firstly to see if the environment was right. At minimum, you check nitrite and pH. In the case of Mbuna, you'd need zero nitrite and a pH around 8.0. If this tested fine, you would then look for possible symptoms of disease. But you would absolutely NOT move the remaining "healthy" 50% into the show tank until you'd at least checked off all the possible diseases and perhaps treated proactively.>
so I moved the last yellow cichlid to my good tank in hopes it wouldn't die too. after about a week he did die, at night.
<I'm concerned that these "mystery yellow fish" are Mbuna, and you're exposing them to completely inappropriate water chemistry and quality. Just to reiterate, Mbuna need water with a high level of carbonate hardness and a high pH. Adding "tonic salt" will not work. Kribs will tolerate -- but don't appreciate -- such conditions, and South American cichlids will be positively stressed by them.>
nothing I could do. by the time I woke up he was already being consumed...Im not depending on luck, but Im tryin to do the best I can with what I have.
<We've all been here. Which is why I'm stressing research and water chemistry/quality so strongly. You have very little scope for error and seemingly no Plan B, so you have to get things right first time. This demands a slow, methodical approach rather than hoping for the best. In other words, carefully identify all your livestock. Write down what conditions they require. Determine whether you can provide those conditions. We can help with all of these things. But so too will a good book. Libraries are full of them.>
I did not ask for these fish nor did I want them. like I said drunken present at midnight. not something I would have ever done. didn't need any more fish. now, the velvet thing sounds like what I have. a lot. would this cause my Cray to be sick too??
<Crayfish won't get sick from the disease, but they certainly can carry the infectious stages of the parasite life cycle on their bodies. In any event, any Velvet medication can, likely will, kill the crayfish because they contain formalin and/or copper, both highly poisonous to invertebrates.>
and what do you recommend to fix it?
<Remove the Crayfish to a quarantine tank. Treat the tank with a Whitespot/Velvet combo medication. Nothing tea-tree oil based! Remember to remove carbon from the filter (if you use the stuff).
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwfishmeds.htm
Once I'd finished that course of medications, I'd perhaps run something for systemic bacterial infections, for example Maracyn.>
thanks for being prompt, I don't think I have much time!
<Cheers, Neale.>

Black pom poms... no data of any sort ID  5/26/08
My freshwater fish tank has been afflicted with numerous black balls like pom poms the size of the eraser on the end of a pencil. What are they and how can I get rid of them?
Thanks
<... gots me... Any chance for a pic or two, water quality tests, history and make up of your system? Bob Fenner>

Re: got prob again 5/16/08
hello,
dear Neale, thank you so much that u answered my question even you were busy, thanks a lot.
<You are most welcome!>
May God blesses you and ill medicate them until they become fully active and fresh but until I use medicine should I introduce more fish or not?
<Medicate the fish until healthy. Once you are happy the fish are in perfect condition, and the water quality is good, then think about adding another fish.>
thanks
ALI
<Have a good weekend, Neale.>

Sick fish in distilled water- yikes! -05/07/08
HELP!!! My fish is floating at the top of the tank. It is sideways so I can see it. Some scales are missing and it is hardly breathing.
<Sounds to be on the way out, to be honest.>
It looks normal apart from that but it is very skinny.
<Suggest starvation... have you been feeding it properly?>
I've put it in a separate tank with clean, distilled water.
<Distilled water will kill your fish. Remove. NOW!>
What is wrong with it and what do I do? Please help me save my fish.
<No idea. Need you to tell me what the fish is, how big the aquarium is, what the pH and nitrite measurements are. Describe the symptoms. Then we can do something (perhaps). Cheers, Neale.>
 

Question about disease/illness in FW 5/6/08
Hello,
<Hi>
What is the most likely diagnosis for a fish that breathes rapidly and stays on the bottom of the tank. There are no physical signs on an illness on the fish's body. I have had this happen a few times and find it hard to diagnose and treat in quarantine. Both times it happened was when the fish was in my quarantine tank after purchase.
Thanks for your help.
Zach
<By far the most common cause of these symptoms is water quality issues.>
<Chris>

Black calvus breathing really hard for air 03/19/2008
I bought a black calvus and it is breathing really hard for air.
<... Mmm, all fishes (in fact all livestock) is damaged, stressed in shipping/moving... hence one part of the suggestion to quarantine, allow it to "rest up" before being placed in a community setting where it may be harassed, have to compete too hard for food...>
I put him in well established tank, 80 degrees PH 7.9 nitrites and nitrates are in a normal parameters.
<... need data, not subjective evaluations>
The other cichlids he is with are doing fine and breathing normal. He just sits on the substrate doing nothing. He does not have any signs of disease no white spots or no cloudy eyes all fins are good he sits right side up no swaying or anything what do you think
Troy
<... Read more widely on the Net re fish physiology, husbandry, particularly the value of quarantine... there is very likely nothing "wrong" with this Cichlid than that it's new. Bob Fenner>

Re: Fish suddenly sick   3/17/08
Hi Neale,
<Allison,>
Unfortunately, all my fish died over about a three-day period (after the pH shock I wrote to you about a few weeks ago, see the email below).
<Not entirely surprised, but I'm sorry anyway.>
I don't feel up to trying to do another community tank, and after all that I don't even think I believe in the pet aquarium business anymore, but I have a beautiful 30-gallon aquarium set up and don't want it to go to waste, so I am thinking of just getting a male Betta.
<Ah, don't give up! Figure out what went wrong. My recommendation would be this: go hard water! A hard water aquarium is easy to set up, and chemically VERY stable. Put plenty of calcareous media in the filter to act as a buffer, and maybe mix some coral sand in with the plain gravel or silica sand substrate. Use limestone or tufa rock for decoration. Skip live plants or at least use plants that like hard water (such as Vallisneria, Egeria, Anubias, and Java fern). What fish? Livebearers are the way to go! Other good hard water fish including wrestling halfbeaks and Australian rainbowfish. Plenty of scope between these for size, colour and temperament. The big "score" for hard water tanks is they intrinsically buffer themselves, so wild pH changes shouldn't happen.
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwhardness.htm
Trust me on this; such a tank will be easy to maintain!>
I don't have any bacteria left in the tank. Do you think I can get the singular Betta and the cycle won't be too bad, or should I do a fishless cycle?
<Do a thorough clean-out of the tank and filter, start from scratch, and use a Fishless cycle product of your choice. Bio-Spira is popular, but I'm Old School and simply grab some established media from another tank.>
I'm only going to have this one fish and there will be a lots of dilution for his pollution, but I've read that the bacteria won't build up until the ammonia spikes. Do I really need to have a big spike or can the bacteria get started even without lots of ammonia?
<Bacteria DO NOT need a spike in ammonia. Just a little. 0.5 mg/l or less is ample.>
Thanks,
Allison
<Cheers, Neale.>
 

Various issues with guppies, Gourami, molly and giant Danio- Itching, not eating, fungus, White "poo" the list goes on- Please help! Iatrogenic issues...  – 03/10/08
There are so many different possibilities on what's wrong with my fish the 100's that I have read are doing nothing but confusing me more- So, I turn to you and Thank you in advance for your assistance and your extremely useful/informative site- Now, where do I begin?
Yesterday I had one of my male FT guppies die- this was in my 10 gallon tank
<Hard to keep such small volumes stable, optimized...>
and about 1 week prior a piece of his tale came missing- then a few days later he started "shimmying" then a day before he died his back tail got "clamped" and yesterday he succumbed...I had just bought a used 20 gallon (so I can convert my 10 to a hospital/quarantine tank) and after his death I moved all the fishies, gravel, fake plants, and filter media only to the 20 gallon.
<Good>
The light is much better in there and I saw that on my other male guppy he has 2 fairly large scaleless patches on both of his front side fins and its white where the scales used to be. my sm/med Molly and guppy are noticed to be scratching on everything- but no other visible symptoms
Just scratching seems pretty vague- No white spots, and still eating- but I do assume that this is related to the death of my other male guppy
<Likely so>
and possibly the male Betta that I just took out of the tank yesterday (thinking maybe he was the one who caused the missing piece of fin,
<Could well be>
but he's still healthy)-
One big problems is I went to the LFS store today and they gave me Organi Cure
<Uhh, don't use this... too toxic>
and said to use it and it was safe- dumb me put it right in and then noticed that it was for MARINE FISH-- ugh...So about a half hour after putting it in I re-inserted the carbon and am now about to change half of the water....is it safe after this to put quick cure for FRESHWATER fish in after this??
<NOT safe to use formalin period...>
And is it safe to add aquarium salt to this tank to aid in the medicine with neon tetras in there?
<Mmm, Neons don't "like" much salt...>
My next issue is in my 100 gallon- this as of yesterday is now completely cycled- the day before my Nitrites were still reading about 1.0ppm but now its gone completely and my Ammonia has been gone for at least a week- One of my dwarf Gouramis is acting "ill"-
<... it wasn't present during the nitrite...?>
and I have a Giant Danio that has had a white spot on his lower lip (maybe "fuzzy") for at least a week but no other symptoms (still swimming and eating like crazy!)
Gourami (100 gal)- "hiding" either on ground or upper back corner of tank- not eating or moving much- going on for at least a day and I did notice that him and one of my other blue dwarf Gourami's have "white stringy fecal matter" (haven't noticed anyone else though)
<The species of Dwarf Gourami, Colisa lalia is notorious for ill health issues... see WWM re>
pH: 8.2 in both (has remained stable)
ammonia: 0 in 100 gal (20 isn't really anything since all new water today 2 days ago it was around 1)
nitrite: 0 in 100gal (20 now irrelevant 2 days ago around .5)
<Any present is toxic>
tank temp: 78 in both now but before I changed the 10 gal to 20 I realized the heater was broke in 10 and the water temp was about 70-72
Volume and Frequency of water changes: 100 gal about a week ago 25%
20 gallon all of it yesterday (when moving everyone from 10) and about to do half since I think it might be over medicated
Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Charcoal in both- (double dose Prime with all water changes
In 100- Aquarium salt (about 15 tablespoons), aquarium fertilizer for plants (safe for fish) but only half dose, Bio-Spira about a weeks ago
In 20- While everyone was in 10 gal I had 2 tablespoons of salt (is it safe for tetras?) and in the 10 gallon yesterday morning(?) I did put one of those Lifeguard tablets in for about 20 min (about half dissolved) then took it out put in the charcoal and my husband then put a "fungus tablet" by jungle in there (it was only in there for about a hour and half before I found out and put the charcoal filter back in- Since yesterday after changing everyone into the 20 gallon (with all new water) and just added the Organi Cure (which contains formaldehyde and Copper)
<Yes... both toxic...>
It was in there for about an hour that not only was it for marine fish but I gave the marine fish dose (1 drop per gallon) so I put the charcoal filter back in-
Tank inhabitants:100 Gal- 3 male Gouramis, 5 Mickey platies, 3 Bala sharks, 2 mollys,2 giant Danios, 3 bloodfin tetras, 2 med/lrg angelfish- 1 rainbow shark and 1 albino rainbow shark
20 gallon- 5 neon tetras, 4 molly fry, 1 sm/med molly, 4 FT guppies 2 male (1just got today(oops))
<Ummmm... see below>
2 female
Recent additions to your tank: 100 gallon - plants- always rinsing and adding more plants but I do take out ones that look anywhere near bad and added the albino rainbow today and new bubble wand
20- just added replacement male guppy today and new tank/filter/heater/water yesterday
I finally ask how should I treat these itchy fish that are scratching their scales off?? Should I QT them and/or treat the whole tank and with what and Should I treat the old tank prior to putting anyone else in there (could it be in the gravel that's left) (whatever "it" is)
What should I do about my Gourami- I want to put him in my hospital tank but I am afraid that there is something still in there from yesterday....AND should I worry about the Giant Danio? Maybe QT and treat him also?
Thank you so much for following all this and I am sorry about the length I just wanted to make sure I had everything covered in order to get the most accurate advice....I am ever so grateful to all and any assistance I receive...Thanks again!!
V/R a newbie that needs to stay away from the meds and stop buying and stocking so many tanks!!! (but I just don't want my fishies to suffer by being in cramped quarters or being ill and want to help ASAP!!)
<We, you, need to skip back a few steps... a very good deal, okay, all of the problems presented could/should be avoided through simple use of isolation/quarantine of new specimens... Posted on WWM... the sudden loss of your Guppies... may well be infectious... see the Net re Chondrococcus columnaris... the treatment you list (OrganiCure) ingredients are dangerous to use, should NOT be placed in main/display tanks (only in controlled treatment ones)... and the mixes of livestock... Neons and some of the livebearers (e.g. Mollies) are poor... too wide-differences in temperature and water quality... I strongly encourage you to stop buying livestock (for a few months) and instead going to the public library or online and buying/borrowing a few standard books on freshwater aquariums, reading them at your leisure, taking down good notes... The many and grievous errors you are making will just kill more livestock... Bob Fenner>

Re: Various issues with guppies, Gourami, molly and giant Danio- Itching, not eating, fungus, White "poo" the list goes on- Please help! – 03/18/08
Your advice about stopping the increase of my fish load and educating myself on aquarium care and each species requirements is perfect and I honestly have been trying to do just that.
<Very good.>
I don't plan on having the mollies in with the Neons much longer- only until they are big enough to not get eaten in my main tank (they are 4 fry and its taking forever for them to grow)
<Fry should take 3-4 months to get big enough to return to a community tank.>
My husband and Dad both seem to think all this carefulness is a bunch of "bull" and it was my dad that started this whole thing in the first place by buying my 5 month old son a 1 gallon quickly followed by a 10 gallon fish tank and overstocked them with inappropriate fish, which in turn guilted me into buying a 100 gallon (used) tank so they could spread out- (and then a 20gallon so I could use the 10 for a "hospital" or QT tank and have a tank for the non aggressive fish).
<I'm sure your Dad has many wonderful character traits and personal skills, but when keeping animals of any sort, you DO need to be careful. It's like raising kids: some people make very little effort to raise their kids, and the kids turn out nice as pie. But often times when people are neglectful parents, the kids get ruined. If you want to raise great kids with the most chance of success, you need to make an effort. Same with fish: some people have great fish tanks but do nothing more than change the water once a month. But most folks who take this approach end up with dead fish. So here at WWM we advocate a "best practise" approach that delivers the highest likelihood of success.>
Dad has had a 55 gallon for quite sometime now and has never paid attention or attempted to learn anything about the Cycle process, water quality, compatibility, or health of fish- His method of fishkeeping is buy em put em in the tank feed 4 times a day and when one dies flush then get a replacement.
<Flushing fish down the loo may well be breaking a law in your state. In any case, his approach is about comparable to parents who say children should be beaten on a regular basis. Might have been acceptable in Victorian times, but not any more.>
I am trying to take a more educated approach- even though fish don't have "nerves" (according to him) and cant "feel" I still find it important to take the best care of them I can providing my resources.
<Your Dad is out of step with the science; there's increasing evidence that fish can feel pain, though perhaps not in quite the same way as mammals. At least some of the argument against fish feeling pain is a way of rationalising fishing: if we discover that fish do feel having a hook placed in their mouth and then dragged by it out of the water, can we really treat fishing as a harmless sport? I say this as someone who quite enjoys angling.>
Luckily I've finally got both men to stop stocking the tanks for now ( it took a while there have been quite a few additions since my last email) and taking care of what I have is what the majority of my time has turned into- Of course with a 5 month old the only time I can do anything is when he's sleeping which leaves me no time to sleep myself :). I am trying to educate myself as quickly as possible and I have even tried to return some of the fish but the places they bought them from won't take them back.
<Very good.>
I have initiated the use of the QT tank and have treated a couple of my fish with great success thus far- My only ongoing problems - not surprisingly to you I am sure- Is my dwarf Gouramis.
<Total waste of space, these fish.>
My first one finally passed and I can't help but think it was only because he wouldn't eat- I didn't see him eat a thing for well over a month...after treating him with Fungus clear (I thought it was worth a try because he was swimming and "resting" on his side and/or upside down and it treated swim bladder) he became right side up within 24 hours and no longer seemed ill aside from the not eating (when I fed him he always appeared to try to get the food but couldn't aim right or something) At any rate he passed a few days ago and my 2nd one (a reminder I have 3) started not eating and seemed to have a bubble in his belly. My husband put him into QT but we haven't done any sort of treatment except trying to get him to eat (peas included). My 3rd still seems fine however I did move him from the 100 gallon to the 20 because I noticed today that my Angels were nipping and chasing him away from the food (and as soon as I put him in the 20 gallon he pigged out)
<Angels can be bullies at the best of times. Anyway, re: Dwarf Gouramis, see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/dwfgdis.htm
>
Anyways- my new questions are solely related to DGD- I have read that this disease stays in tanks after the sick is gone- now, is this only if the infected actually dies in the tank or if they show symptoms in it?
<It's a viral disease, and no-one really knows whether it "stays" in tanks. Some viruses can lie dormant for ages, other viruses die quickly if they have no hosts. No-one really knows how it is transferred between fish, either. I'd tend to avoid Dwarf Gouramis anyway, hence for me it's an academic question, not a practical one.>
Also, the one symptom none of my Gouramis have had is the skin lesions. I've looked very carefully at all 3 and did not see any abnormalities at all. Does this mean that they do not have DGD or is this not a necessary symptom to classify it as such.
<May be other things. Dwarf Gouramis do get sick from Finrot, constipation, and all the other things aquarium fish can suffer from. It's just that in my experience here in England, most of the sick Dwarf Gouramis I see in shops have symptoms of the viral disease, so when I hear/read stories about sick Dwarf Gouramis, I tend to put the viral disease at the top of the list of suspects.>
I guess that's not my only problem because I have noticed that almost all of my fish have had the white sometimes even clear and/or tape-like segmented feces. Does this mean I should be treating them all for parasites?
<Unless you actually see worms (tapeworms or thread-like worms poking out of the anus) likely not; constipation or lack of fibre is a more likely problem. Hexamita and Hole-in-the-Head will also cause similar symptoms, though this disease is most often seen (in FW tanks) with cichlids. Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwwormdisfaqs.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwfoods,fdg,nutr.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/hllefaqs.htm
>
Its a come and go thing and other than these issues they seem perfectly healthy.
Thank you so much for your extremely informative and helpful website and your time and dedication you give to us new hobbyists. I am sure its frustrating when so many people jump into these things feet first without any previous education or forethought and then have to come to you when the inevitable problems begin to arise.
<Ah, you "get it"! Yes indeed, if people researched before they bought their fish, we'd get a lot fewer messages! But even if people do make mistakes, what matters is that they learn from them. I've done some really stupid things in my time... for example putting a too-small male halfbeak with a female (she ate him!). When stuff happens, figure out what went wrong, come up with a better plan, and move on.>
Thank you again for your time and this amazing resource. Very Respectfully, A dedicated student.
<Good luck! Neale.>

FW... disease, learning   2/15/08
Hi Guys.
<John>
In the last two days, 4 of my 13 fish have started flashing.
<Mmm... have you "done" something recently to the tank? Added any new fish, live plants or foods?>
Sterba's Cory
Albino Cory
Juvenile Black Molly
<Mmm... a brackish water animal...>
Juvenile Red Wag
I've looked hard but at this point I do not know whether it is velvet or ich.
<Or...?>
I want to protect the other fish but I can't take the flashing fish out of my 30G as my 10G quarantine tank is being used right now.
The only meds I know that treat both velvet and ich is Coppersafe but half my fish are Corys and I had a bad experience with Coppersafe
before.
<I would not use copper...>
I feel like I should be doing something now but am I supposed to wait until I see obvious signs of what it is before I use any meds? The
flashing is pretty regular so I know something is wrong but at what point would one normally use meds?
<On more assurity of their need, usefulness>
I'm still pretty new to this so please forgive my ignorance. I did try to find an answer to this by hitting a lot of the forums and
google searching but I couldn't find anything that was specific enough hence my bothering you guys.
Thanks.
John Murphy.
<Raising temperature may be enough here to effect some relief... Read on WWM (again) re Ich... and re the Molly: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwich.htm
and http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/mollies.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

FW... Ich, Guppy dis., using WWM    2/13/08
Exactly 2 weeks and a day ago, I bought 4 fish from PetSmart. 2 Fancy Guppies (Male is, I don’t know about female) and 2 Chinese Algae Eaters.
<Do read re this fish, Gyrinocheilus... very mean... don't eat much algae...>
I put all four fish in Wardley Essentials Ick Away in a 3 gallon tank
<Mmm, too small, and why the medication?>
for 3 days. At the end of the 3 days,
<Not long enough to treat an actual case of ich...>
the male guppy and C.A.E.’s were moved to the community tank (10 gallon; four 1 inch swordtails
<Will need more room than this>
and some sort of snail) The female was moved into a 1 gallon hospital tank and treated for Ick
<If one fish has ich... they all, the system does...>
with the medicine I mentioned. For 2 weeks and 1 day now, she doesn’t get better or worse. Her top fin is clamped and her color has faded. She eats A LOT.
<A good sign>
All the fish food and frozen bloodworms and everything. She is also pregnant. She swims like normal, but breathes rapidly. She’s always breathed fast, opening and closing her mouth. The swords don’t breathe with their mouths open, but maybe guppies
do. (These are my first guppies) I’m totally out of ideas.
<I'd be reading on WWM re...>
This doesn’t look like any disease people have ever mentioned. They say that the fish stops eating. Mine doesn’t. (Oh, and the edge of her tail looks like it was traced with something white.
<... reads like a case of Columnaris... Chondrococcus...>
(The edge of her tail is white)) When she swims all fins are erect, but when she drops down her top fin droops. I don’t see any parasites on her body. I’ve also heard something about giving egg yolk to fish. (I can’t find the website again.) Please help. Any help at all will be much appreciated.
<Read, on WWM, the Net re... Bob Fenner>

Freshwater Aquarium Issue, dis... env.?  1/27/08
Hello,
<Ave.>
Your site is a great resource. I read the faq's nearly everyday and have learned a lot. I have a problem with one of my aquariums that has me pretty much stumped.
<Hmm...?>
The aquarium is a 55 gallon that has been set up for about 6 months. It has a Marineland HOB filter (rated at 350 gph) and a new Fluval 305 Canister filter.
<Sounds good.>
Its inhabitants are 3 Congo Tetras, 2 Geophagus Surinamensis, 1 gold Severum and a Rainbow Shark (all less than 3 inches).
I do weekly water changes of about 25%. Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates around .20, pH 7.6, temperature 76.
<All sounds fine. G. surinamensis is a superb fish, though notoriously sensitive to nitrate, so keep an eye on that.>
Now, to the problem: The canister filter was added about 3 days ago (replacing an old Marineland HOB (200 gph)). All was well until about a day later when I noticed slightly clamped fins on one of the Surinamensis. I then noticed the Severum had some redness above its mouth. Within hours, everybody (except the shark) was breathing heavier than normal and generally were listless.
<Uh-oh.>
I tested for water quality problems but all tests came back as normal, just as previously noted. I started suspecting that somehow something toxic might have been introduced with the new filter (I had rinsed out the inside of the filter and all media before installing), since there have been no other recent changes (fish, diet, hardware, etc.). I changed 50% of the water and added Quick Cure (I know I am medicating without knowing exactly what is wrong but I have had success treating unknown maladies with this product on more than one occasion and have never had any negative consequences).
<OK. You seem to know what you're doing, so I'll let this slide...!>
I followed-up 24 hours later with another 50% water change, more Quick Cure and rinsed the canister and its entire media with very hot water. I am now seeing some improvement. The redness has disappeared from the Severum and most of the fish have started to behave normally, albeit, they all seem to be breathing a little more rapidly than normal.
<Does sound as if there was something in the water. Did you clean anything with soap before running it in the tank?>
The most worrisome problem is the Surinamensis, who continue mostly to just sit on the substrate instead of doing their normal foraging throughout the sand.
<This is what they do when water isn't 100% perfect. They are among *the* most sensitive cichlids out there. All the Geophagines are. They're better than Tanganyikan goby cichlids I suppose, but not by much.>
I am not sure what else, if anything, I should do at this point.
<Do consider whether water chemistry changed; pH is often overlooked. The absolute value is relatively unimportant, but changes can be dangerous. Do also think if anything might have got into the water, e.g., paint fumes, beverages.>
I feel like the situation has improved overall and I am tempted to just let things sit and see if the improvement continues.
<Agreed. Provided water chemistry is sound, you should just leave things be. Water changes are always a good idea when things like this happen, so feel free to do another 25-50% each day for the next 2-3 days just to make sure anything nasty has been flushed out. Adding some carbon to a bubble-up box filter might help, and can be removed after a week. A left-field thought is Velvet, which often attacks the gills before anything else. Perhaps you had an outbreak of that, and the QuickCure helped, and now things are better. Velvet often irritates the gills sufficiently you see distressed breathing long before you see the cysts.>
Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Michael
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Freshwater Aquarium Issue 1/27/08
Neale,
Thanks for your very quick response. In the few hours that have elapsed since I first wrote, ALL of the fish look much better.
<Good news.>
The Surinamensis are out and about and I would like to declare victory, except, I've been fish
keeping for about 45 years and know it's a bit premature.
<As you say. But I suspect you're over this problem at least, and things should settle down.>
Thanks to you and WWM I knew that dilution (since I've seen parasitic, bacterial-type problems, etc., in the past), via big water changes, was a key element to resolving this particular problem. It should be noted that your advice concerning awareness of soap residue (or any foreign chemical) on aquarium equipment and external toxicity issues are imperatives and we all need to be vigilant concerning these.
<Agreed. I confess to using soap from time to time to clean things, but that's always followed by serious rinsing and soaking of said ceramic ornament or whatever. An "Old School" trick after soaping or bleaching items is to stick them in the cistern of the loo. With each flush, it gets rinsed a bit more! The safe alternatives are lemon juice/vinegar (great for removing lime scale from things, while being harmless to fish; brine (great for generally killing algae and bacteria, also non-toxic); and hydrogen peroxide (for serious grime removal and disinfecting, but breaks down so quickly as to be harmless after a quick rinse and dry).>
In hindsight, I would have to blame something with the new filter (every time I've checked the pH it's been about the same) and in the future, I'll be even more aggressive in rinsing/cleaning anything I add to my tanks.
<OK.>
Thanks again for your quick response and dedication to helping others in our hobby.
<We're happy to help. Enjoy your fishkeeping!>
Michael
<Cheers, Neale.>

?... Neale... FW... nitrogenous...   01/14/2008
I had my water checked about 2 weeks ago. The lady said the ammonia levels were a little high and to change 1/4 of the water which I did so I'm doubtful that it's the water, but I'll go get it tested again.
<You should have, at minimum, a NITRITE test kit at home, so you can do this test whenever something looks amiss. Regardless, ammonia levels are never "a little high" -- the only safe ammonia level is ZERO, and everything else is somewhere on the spectrum of dangerous to fishes and likely to cause disease. High levels kill fish outright, lower levels trigger Finrot, fungus, etc. You should also be changing not less than 25% of the water per week, and I'd heartily recommend 50% per week if you're observing problems. Nothing helps fish health more than regular water changes. Just from your use of words here, I suspect you aren't maintaining your aquarium properly, and you have water quality issues, and this in turn makes me assume the problem is Mouth Fungus or similar.>
It's nothing like a wart, well it's not distinct. Its kind of a milky white color but nothing actually sticks out of his skin, but you can tell the mouth is swollen. Here's a picture, its kind of blurry but you can still kind of see what I'm talking about.
<Can't see the picture, but assume Mouth Fungus (actually a bacterial infection). Get a combination Finrot/Fungus medication and use AT ONCE. Follow the instructions on the package carefully if you've never used a fish medication before. Removing any carbon from the filter is essential.>
View full size
<Picture didn't come through.>
as you can see there there's kind of a milky color on the top of his mouth, and its swollen which you cant really see from the picture
<Sounds like Mouth Fungus.>
View full size
<This picture didn't come through either.>
this was how he looked before with nothing around his mouth But thanks so much for your help and fast response!!
<Over to you. The problem here is two-fold: likely poor water quality through inadequate maintenance, and then the Mouth Fungus infection itself. Fix both of these! Cheers, Neale.>

Sudden FW angelfish death... & Epistylis/Protozoan f'  11/25/2007
Hi,
<Hello.>
I've been reading and reading your site looking for answers to the sudden death of one of my Leopard Angelfish.
<Hmm... sudden deaths are always signals to check aquarium conditions: water chemistry, water quality, correct functioning of heaters, filters.>
I've had these 5 Leopards ( none larger than half dollar size and most between half dollar and quarter in size) for about 4 weeks in a 12 gal QT.
<Quite a small tank even for juvenile Angels, and small Angelfish do not, in my experience, always travel well. I recommend people buy them around half-size, say, 5-6 cm.>
The fish arrived just after an outbreak of ich in my 55 gallon cycled tank and so I had to move the worst victims of ich into the hospital tank leaving the 12 as my only resource and not cycled. I have been doing twice weekly 25% water changes ever since to the 12 gal QT and checking the levels of ammonia, PH 7- 7.2 , nitrites and nitrates and all were kept at zero or nearly so.
<When it comes to nitrite, "nearly zero" isn't good enough. Cichlids generally, and Angelfish especially, are sensitive to dissolved metabolites.>
The nitrate being the only one ever over 0 and not over .25.
<0.25 mg/l of nitrate is safe. But do you really mean this? Not many test kits are this accurate! Most seem to measure on a scale of 0-100 mg/l. Nitrite, on the other hand, is commonly measured between 0 and 1 mg/l.>
Is this enough of percentage of a water change each time?
<No. 50% per week, minimum.>
This tank also has a Bio Wheel and I added a small pouch of charcoal- ammonia absorbent in addition to it's regular filter material.
<Well, bin the charcoal for a start. If this is an uncycled tank, then you may as well use Zeolite (ammonia remover) exclusively. I'd personally skip any sort of fancy filter for this. Just go with a plain vanilla bubble-up box filter stuffed with Zeolite. Replace the Zeolite every week. You can usually recharge Zeolite, so get two "batches", and use one batch while recharging the other. There's absolutely no point cycling a tank with Angelfish -- they will die long before the filter bacteria come on-line.>
They've been healthy and lively and voracious eaters, but not overfed I think. This morning I noticed one of the larger angels staying low in the water near the heater. Tank heat is kept at 80 degrees. I have just seen on your site that I should probably vary their diet more than I have been doing. They've mostly been on flakes and freeze dried worms. They ignored my attempts at adding an algae pellet though.
<Angels will eat anything... if hungry enough. They are easily overfed. I'd use a mix of plain flake, Spirulina flake, and live/frozen/freeze-dried insect larvae. Because they willingly gorge themselves, you have to be careful not to put too much food in the tank. One or two flakes per day is plenty for Angelfish this size. Since they're young, feed perhaps twice per day. Do watch the nitrates though, and try to keep below 20 mg/l and certainly no more than 50 mg/l.>
I went ahead did my regular 20-25% water change this morning, and by this evening the lethargic angel was worse, lying or hovering near the bottom seeming to gasp for air. The other fish were fine, acting normally and active except for one other large angel that seemed to be chasing the other three away from the sick fish.
<Indeed. Angelfish are schooling animals when young, but become territorial as they mature. All too often people end up with a single big Angel that rules the tank.>
I did another water test and the levels were the same, Ammonia 0, Ph around 7- 7.2 and the nitrates and nitrites 0. At about midnight my poor angelfish died.
<Oh.>
There were no signs of any battering, discoloration in fins, skin, not a mark, but I did notice a tiny speck of red near the outer edge of the eyeball on both eyes, but in different placements. I'm totally baffled as these fish were tank raised and extremely healthy from the minute they arrived and showed no signs of any distress or illness whatsoever. I've grown quite attached to them to the extent that I don't even want to put them into the now healthy 55 community tank and would like to upgrade to a 30 gallon tank for just them. I considered them so "pristine" and didn't want to take any chances on them being exposed to diseases.
<Quarantining new stock is always a good idea.>
What do you think happened? The only thing I can think of after all the reading I've done is water quality and ammonia, nitrate or nitrite poisoning, but that doesn't make sense with the readings I took. The kit is fairly new, but I'm not exactly sure of the expiration date since it was marked on the covering of the kit which I threw out a while ago. I hope this is enough information.
<To be honest, I have no idea what precisely happened here. Sometimes very young fish don't travel well, and one or two in the batch will die. This is less of a problem with big fish because people tend to bag them up sensibly. Profit margins on big fish are proportionally smaller, so everyone along the distribution chain takes more care. But small fish are often overcrowded. Individually each fish makes a proportionally larger profit, so if a few die, it doesn't matter. Mass-produced fish also tend to be produced for a quick sale rather than quality, and there's free use of antibiotics by the farmers and wholesalers, and by the time they arrive at your house these drugs have worn off and the results of overcrowding become apparent. For now, I'd not blame yourself, but simply focus on water quality and correct diet.>
Thanks for your wonderful site. It has the best tips, help and advice I've found anywhere on the internet.
<Thanks!>
Thanks you in advance for any insight you can give me.
Polly
<Good luck, Neale.>

Re: Sudden angelfish death 11/25/2007
Neale,
<Polly,>
thanks for some answers to water quality, tank size and feeding. Good advise.
<Cool.>
This morning the remaining 4 Leopards are still fine and looking unaffected by whatever killed the other one. These fish came from a very small breeder in Michigan and I was worried about them travelling when I bought them via Aquabid, but they were well packed, double bagged and in Styrofoam qt. size cups, with oxygen, a mild sedative and an ammonia blocker and when I acclimated them to the QT they moved in and bounced back like champs almost immediately. I think I was very lucky there. The breeder/seller communicated with me and wanted to know how they arrived, talked me through any questions about acclimation and general appearance, behavior, etc. A good man who was into his fish, which he bred himself, rather than the moola, I think.
<This is indeed the best way to buy Angels, and it sounds like you've dealt with a very decent supplier. My comments were really more about the mass produced fish farmed in Florida and Southeast Asia, primarily for the low end of the market.>
So you think a 50% WC once a week is better than 25% twice a week?
<Yes.>
Not to sound dumb here, but why is it better?
<Many reasons. Primarily a question of dilution and reducing the effect of acidification. So, your filter removes certain pollutants, but does nothing about nitrate, phosphate, organic acids. These accumulate. Nitrate is a known toxin to cichlids generally, being at least one of the factors behind hole-in-the-head as well as a general lack of vigour. Diluting by 50% each week is the cheapest, easiest way to get good water quality. Works better than carbon for a fraction of the cost. Acidification is something that happens in all aquaria. The longer the interval between water changes, and the smaller those water changes are, the more acidification takes place. This is one of the reasons why new fishes put into an old tank sometimes fail: the existing fish have adapted to the sub-optimal conditions, but the new livestock are shocked. Again, water changes are the cheapest, easiest way to maintain a steady pH.>
I never intended to use the angelfish to cycle the QT tank, just got stuck because of the Ich in the 55. I've been looking around for a good price on a 30 gal for them, but since I'm running a 30 with 7 female Bettas and 5 Corys, the 55 community and two 10 gal with guppies in one and 6 baby Pearl Gouramis in the other and three 5 gals with single male Bettas I have to tread softly with my husband who is strictly a dog person! lol
<Indeed! Perhaps keep Dogfish, so you'll both be happy. (Note to Americans: a Dogfish is British vernacular for small sharks, particularly Scyliorhinus spp., which for some bizarre reason Americans called Cat-sharks!>
Also, do you think I should switch over to a sponge filter in the 12 QT
instead of the Bio Wheel? I have one spare hanging around.
<If both are being used as purely biological filters, then stick with the one that is most mature. But in quarantine tanks, using a box filter filled with Zeolite is invariably easier, cheaper, and more reliable than any biological filter. You have a zero run-in time, and you can sterilise it between uses.>
Thanks again, Polly
<Good luck, Neale.>

Re: Sudden angelfish death 11/25/2007
Neale,
<Polly,>
all makes perfectly good sense to me and thanks for the answers to my questions.
<Good-oh.>
We always called those small sharks, Dogfish around here in Maine too and they are nasty guys. Like to go for the bait in the lobster traps
and will follow the traps up while they are being hauled. Just hoping for the bait or a nice fat Lobster to fall out I suspect. VBG
<Ah, I guess that's why they call New England 'New England'... because you speak English rather than Americanese! And yes, ours steal food from Lobster Pots too. They're actually pretty amazing animals. Live for at least 30 years, and perhaps as many as 100 years. The eggs take 2 years to hatch. Not something for the impatient aquarist!>
I will switch to a 50% WC in my tanks once a week from now on and just rotate the days when each tank is scheduled, add to the diet for the angels and follow your advise.
<Sounds good.>
I'm going to look into the Zeolite too.
<Yes, Zeolite is definitely a good idea in temporary tanks or any sort of tank where you don't have time to mature the filter. Cheap and effective, provided you start off with enough to deal with the ammonia produced by your livestock.>
Thanks, Polly
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Sudden angelfish death  11/26/07
Neale,
<Paula,>
when it rains, it pours!
<Indeed?>
The Leopard Angelfish are still fine, but when I was doing the WC in the Betta/Cory tank, I noticed that my largest Cory had some spots on him, def. not ich or velvet. They appear to be oval-ish and are concentrated on his spine and the base of the dorsal fin and tip of dorsal.
<Hmm... sure this isn't Ick? Do also cross off silt particles and air bubbles. Both of these can stick to fish and be mistaken for parasites.>
I QT'ed him in the hospital/baby tank, promptly discovered that the Gold Platy was starting to give birth, moved her into a breeding/bearing net hung over the side of the community tank where she lives and went to do some research on the internet to see what was up with the Cory.
<Not a great fan of breeding traps, so do take care not to stress her. I prefer to use floating plants, and then remove the fry as they're discovered hidden among the plants, either to a trap or to another tank.>
It sounds like Epistylis from the descriptions given. Can't seem to find any pictures that show it though. I went back and took a magnifying glass and flashlight and checked him out and the spots are not ich-like in appearance at all, not moving and one spot, near the end of the dorsal fin, is tufted a bit. The other spots are oval, greyish-white in color as well and as I said, concentrated in two or three areas. He has a space missing on his tail fin, but no growth or spots on that area.
<Does indeed sound like Epistylis.>
If indeed it is Epistylis, do I treat him in the 2.5 gal tank with something like Jungle fungus meds?
<I'd treat the tank with the anti-fungus medication of your choice. Corydoras generally tolerate these medications well.>
Do I treat the Betta/Cory tank as well or just keep and eye on the others and see if something develops?
<Treat the tank.>
I did noticed that some of the other Corys have a few ragged fins!
<Fins sometimes get ragged when Corydoras are mixed with aggressive or nippy fish; otherwise can be a prelude to Finrot.>
I try and spend time each day sitting and closely looking over each fish to see if there is anything different in their physical appearance or behavior. Yesterday this sick Cory was just a tad underactive. Think it's a female from the size and width of the body, but not positive. I didn't notice any ragged fins on the others until today either.
You must think I'm a bad fish mamma at this point. Sorry to keep bothering you.
<Don't worry about that.>
thanks, Polly
<You're welcome, Neale.>
BTW, the Platy has had three babies since I moved her and then stopped giving birth. Stress from the move most likely. Babies look good.
<Good-oh.>

Re: Sudden angelfish death -11/27/2007
Neale,
<Paula,>
Just went and looked at the Cory in the QT and the lesions/spots have reduced in number, but some are still present. Are they going into another reproductive phase, something like the ich spores do?
<No, I don't think so. Epistylis is a ciliate protozoan that mostly just sits there on a fish. It's not a parasite as such; as I understand it, it's more a fouling organism than anything else (i.e., like barnacles on a boat).>
That brings up lots of questions in my mind, secondary infections etc. but .... I then checked the Betta/Cory tank and three of the Corys have no signs of fin damage, color good, very active and looking for food.
The fourth is looking a little lethargic, fins ragged and no spots or lesions, nada, just out of sorts and not active or looking for food, similar to how it started with the sick Cory. Should I haul him out into the QT with the sick Cory and still treat the Betta/Cory tank as well as the QT tank?
<Definitely treat both tanks with anti-Fungus/anti-Finrot. Trying to target one particular fish is probably a waste of time here because the pathogens are in the aquaria generally.>
BTW, Bettas are fine and active, eating, clear of anything on their skin.
<Good.>
As of midnight last night, I did another 25% WC on the Betta/Cory tank, bringing the total WC for yesterday to 50% on that tank. There was some uneaten stuff and crud underneath an aquarium decoration and around the roots of some of the heavier planted sections of the tank . 
I removed the large decoration and tried to really clean up the crud, for lack of a better description, and left the decoration out afterward to make it easier to do WC in the event of doing treatments to the tank for any length of time. Did a 50% WC to the QT tank as well.
<Good.>
As for the weapon of choice in treatment. Here's what I have in house right this minute. Will any of these do any good? I have been trying to buy meds every time I go to the LFS to have them on hand, but as you can see I am still way under stocked on what I imagine are all the basics.
Ich Attack by Kordon, for ich, fungus, protozoans, and dinoflagellates
<Might work; Epistylis is apparently sensitive to Formalin and Malachite Green.>
Ick Guard II by Jungle
<Ditto.>
Fungus Clear Tank Buddies by Jungle (tablets, 1 tab per 10 gallons)
<Won't fix the Epistylis, but will help with the ragged fins.>
Pimafix
<Useless.>
Melafix
<Useless.>
Bettafix
<Useless.>
Aquarium Salt
<Might help if used in the same way as for treating Ick, but not my weapon of choice here.>
Erythromycin and another antibiotic...it's downstairs at the moment and I forget, but I tried to get one gram positive and one gram negative when I bought them.
<Useless. Antibiotics are for bacterial infections only.>
I do live on an actual island. No bridge, and therefore can't just pop into town willy nilly. My husband is going to go over to the mainland this afternoon and if there is anything he could pick up this would be a good time. What meds should I have him get if none on hand are appropriate?
<See above; you may already have the tools required. Check the ingredients lists on the medications, or simply test them out. Epistylis isn't doing the fish any direct harm -- the problem is that they open a wound that can become infected, and furthermore that they occur at all is a sign of middling to poor water quality.>
To sum up, still treat the Betta/Cory tank as well as the QT with a fungus med? Move the second Cory exhibiting signs of Epistylis to the QT , OR treat him in the Betta/Cory tank?
<Treat both tanks. There's no mileage in isolating diseases caused by environmental issues, since all fish are likely subject. So treat all fish up front to prevent further infections.>
Much thanks once again. You are very patient with all the questions and problems I've thrown at you in just two days time. Let's hope the rain stops pouring ASAP.
<It will.>
BTW Angelfish still fine.
<Double-plus good.>
Thanks, Polly
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Sudden angelfish death  11/28/2007
Hi Neale,
<Polly,>
well, I lost the first sick Cory in the QT .
<Too bad.>
I had started treating both tanks with the Jungle Tank Buddies for Fungus as I hadn't heard from you and I thought I needed to do something quick. (The time difference between us. ) I didn't go with the Kordon Ich Attack as it doesn't contain anything but botanicals, no chemicals like formalin or malachite green.
<This is a somewhat unwelcome trend: eschewing proven pharmaceuticals in favour of ingredients that may be safer and less toxic if overdosed, but are of questionable usefulness in some cases.>
I probably waited too long for the first sick Cory or he was traumatized by the move and being alone as well. You know how Corys are. They look like little tanks that can take anything, but they are so social.
<Indeed. With schooling fish it is normally best to treat the tank rather than individual fish. Lone Corydoras don't necessarily die, but it is one more stress factor on an already sick fish.>
I did a water test before I did anything to treat the 30 gal tank or do the WC that brought me up to the 50% WC total, forgot to mention this last post. Everything read as it should. Ph was between 7.2 and 7.6, I have high PH normally from the well water, the ammonia was 0, nitrites and nitrate 0 as well.
<All sounds fine. Corydoras are relatively indifferent to water chemistry, and tolerate hard, alkaline water just as readily as soft, acidic water. What matters to them is stability and quality more than anything else.>
That didn't make sense to me since the problem is an environmental one, so I did a test on the 55 and got the same results except the PH being different from the 30. The 55 gal was at PH 7-7.2 and nitrate and nitrite 0. Could the test kit be getting old and need to be replaced?
<Possibly. But it also important to remember that aquaria have a background acidification process. So as soon as you put water into any aquarium, it gradually becomes more acidic unless something acts to stop that. The key factor is decay of organic material, which produces organic acids, and these lower the pH. The speed with which the tank acidifies depends on its size, its loading of fish, the amount of organic matter (including plants and algae), the presence of alkaline buffers such as tufa rock, the nitrate level, the ammonia level, the amount of carbon dioxide, aeration, and the frequency of water changes. In other words, no two fish tanks will acidify at the same rate, so it is entirely possible that these two tanks will have very different environmental conditions despite receiving the same type of "new" water each water change.>
I bought it within the last month, but it was the last one for FW on the shelf at the LFS and didn't know about expiration dates for tests.
Didn't check to see what the date might be and it was apparently on the outer clear packaging cause I can't find it anywhere in the actual test kit.
<Test kits can and do go "bad", but this is rare unless the kit is extremely old. The chemicals are largely inert, and provided they are stored somewhere cool and dark they should be stable for many years.>
Since I wasn't sure of the test kit's accuracy, I did a 50% WC on all the other tanks that hadn't been done over the weekend, except the guppy and baby tank (did 20% on that ) because that tank seems to always be fine, totally knackered me, but done. I'm so completely paranoid now about the other tanks that I see cilia and parasites in my sleep. lol
<Ah, the joys of fishkeeping.>
Obviously, my problems are directly linked to poor water quality and my husbandry. My question ( will they ever stop you think?) is... are water parameters not always linked with cleanliness, are the two not one and the same?
<Interesting question. Most disease is directly or indirectly linked to water quality and water chemistry. Provided those two factors are appropriate to the fish being kept, the incidence of disease should be very low. While disease can sometimes happen for other reasons, such as genetics or the introduction of unquarantined livestock, at a first-pass there's a lot of wisdom in assuming any unexplainable sickness was caused by water quality and/or chemistry issues. Now, cleanliness can be looked at two ways. Oddly enough, visible waste tends not to be a major problem. Yes, decaying plant material and fish faeces contribute to acidification, but "the wild" is full of decaying material that the fish don't seem to be harmed by. Indeed, many fish, such as catfish and loaches and cichlids, positively revel in the stuff, extracting significant parts of their diet from the decaying material or micro-organisms living therein. Invisible waste, on the other hand, is the killer: nitrite and ammonia in the first league of dangers, and then nitrate somewhere below them. On the other hand, regular water changes undertaken to remove solid wastes in the tank invariably dilute the invisible wastes, and a good mechanical filter with plenty of current will not only remove solid wastes but like have plenty of space for a good biological filter as well. So while the two things are not identical, they do tend to go hand-in-hand as far as practicalities are concerned. It's too simplistic to say a clean tank is a healthy tank: after all, a brand new aquarium may look spotless and yet have high levels of ammonia and nitrite because the filter isn't mature. But established aquaria that are kept clean through water changes and adequate filtration tend to have zero/low levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate as well.>
Can there be too much goop or pollution in the bottom of the tank that never show up on a test kit's results and should water from testing be from the lower regions of the tank? (why the Corys were the first affected?)
<Not normally, no. But if the sediment at the bottom of the tank becomes anoxic because it isn't regularly cleaned somehow, it can house bacteria that can, in theory, cause problems. In practise this is an easy fix. If you're using sand, for example, keep it thin and install some burrowing snails (such as Malayan livebearing snails) which will aerate the sand in the same way as earthworms on land. Catfish and loaches generally like to dig and will keep sand very clean anyway. Gravel can be more of a problem to keep clean (surprisingly to some) but when stirred once a week at water change time cleaning gravel shouldn't be too difficult.>
Hypothetical question.....say the second sick Cory makes it and has some open wounds from the Epistylis. Should I then treat the tank for possible secondary bacterial infection problems?
<Yes.>
What would be the med of choice? If antibiotics, gram positive or negative?
<I can't really answer this from experience, since antibiotics aren't available to aquarists in the UK. But my expectation would be a product such as Maracyn would be appropriate. Really anything to treat Finrot, as that will get the Aeromonas/Pseudomonas bacteria likely the problem here.>
The more I write, the more questions I have and the guiltier, to the fish and you I feel. Is there a book you can recommend that I should buy that you consider the best reference for fish disease and treatment?
<Many, many choices. I happen to like the 'Manual of Fish Health' by Chris Andrews et al.>
Thanks Neale, You Da' Man,
Polly
<You're welcome.>
Angel fish fine, mother Platy ate the 3 babies, you are right about breeding nets!
<Indeed. Trust me: floating plants work much better. Simply check the tank once or twice a day and scoop out the babies as you see them. Any floating plants will do. Even bunches of pondweed or algae. Plastic plants even. The baby fish instinctively go into them, and the parents tend not to notice them.>

Re: Sudden angelfish death 11/28/07
Once again, thank you Neale for the detailed answers to my questions. 
They are extremely helpful and make me want to do more reading on water chemistry, acidification, substrates, different types of filtrations systems, aeration, etc. Lots more reading! VBG
<Very good! Once you understand the basics of water management, everything else in fishkeeping is easy. But if you're muddled about water management, then things become more dicey. An hour or two spent reading around this topic is time very well spent.>
The second Cory is still with us and shows improvement. He never developed the full blown growths on his body and after spending most of yesterday on the bottom hiding in some plants, came out in the early evening to hang out with the other three and actually start to actively ferret around on the gravel for food.
<Good stuff. I find that once a sick fish starts feeding again, you're almost always home free.>
On further examination of the hype on the Jungle Fungus Tank Buddies box, it states that it also contains something to fight secondary bacterial infections, but I will probably also treat with something else for the fin damage that he displays. The other three Corys still seem unaffected.
<I have never used that medication so can't speak from experience.>
The substrate in this tank is a combination of an under layer of Fluorite with some gravel over it to keep the fluorite in place and make cleaning easier. The fluorite is great for the plants, but I've found it hard to deeply vacuum without causing major cloudiness.
<A problem with sand. The trick is not to vacuum. Instead, let the catfish and plants and Malayan livebearing snails do the hard work for you. Also lower the sand on one corner so detritus collects there. You can then siphon or even pipette waste as required. Much easier.>
There is probably an inch of Fluorite and a 1/2" of gravel over it. In our LFS it's is very hard to find small/ medium uncoated gravel for our FW tanks.
<I sympathise. I tend to buy my substrates from garden centres. Easier and cheaper, provided you choose smooth, lime-free sand or gravel rather than, say, sharp sand.>
I like the Fluorite for the plants, but am not too sure I like the substrate for the fish. I have just Fluorite in the 55 gal tank , about 1" deep. The Betta/Cory tank is running a Bio Wheel filter, minus the media right now. I will be adding Zeolite, which my husband found for me on his mainland trip the other day, to all the tanks.
<Zeolite is completely redundant on tanks that have biological filters. Serves no purpose whatsoever other than wasting your money in these cases. Zeolite is exclusively for tanks with no biological filter, e.g., quarantine tanks or tanks with strongly acid pH.>
I love planted tanks, but have decided that too many decorations such as rocks, caves, artificial tree trunks, etc. are too hard to clean around if not lifted at least every other time I do a WC, so have removed quite a bit of the aquascaping add ons and will try letting the plants and maybe one cave for the shy fish, suffice.
If you're finding too much silt and detritus, it is likely you have insufficient water movements and/or mechanical filtration. In a tank with complete circulation, there shouldn't be any solid waste on the plants or gravel. Well, maybe a bit, but not enough to be unsightly. So, do check water currents around the tank, and if required, add another filter. If the bottom of the tank has poor water flow, this will mean higher levels of ammonia and nitrite down there, and this could be a factor for your catfish's ill health.>
I went to amazon.com to see if the Manual of Fish Health was available and found there seems to be a revised edition. The Interpet Manual of Fish Health by Andrews! I assume it is a revised edition anyway, and will order it.
<My copy is from '88. It's a good book. Good level of science, but lots of photos and charts explaining what's going on.>
As for snails......I had one hitchhiker on a plant and now have what seems to be a million in the Baby/guppy tank, Yikes! No sure I want to introduce them on purpose as I'm sure they will appear, as if by magic in due time in the tanks they haven't yet. LOL
<Snails can be a mixed blessing, but do remember they turn waste into snails. In a clean tank, their numbers tend to be very steady, and removing them by hand works fine. Snail plagues almost always follow over-feeding and under-cleaning.>
I'm cultivating a Java Moss like type plant in the baby tank and will move some of it into a birthing tank. Will save those breeding traps for brief isolation and examination purposes. VBG
<Enjoy the babies! Best bit of the hobby, I think.>
Thanks again,
Polly
<Bon chance, Neale.>

Tropical fish disease... FW, no useful data   11/15/07
Hi please help with a long term problem
we have variety of tropicals in a large tank, not overcrowded, water quality consistently fine,
<Need values...>
plenty of plants doing well, Dry and live food given. Platies doing well and unaffected by disease (several batches of babies) BUT other fish suffering from sores often with white fibrous material in center also some have white material in mouth and gills some become very bloated 12 fish have died in last 6months Treatment with Medifin hasn't helped. Hopefully, Dot.
<... need data... re the set-up components, maintenance, what IS doing well here, actually all livestock... Bob Fenner>

FW? Dis.?   11/13/07
hi my fancy tail has suddenly turned black and being bullied . it looks like his tail has been eaten too. please help
<Hello Lisa. Fancy tail what? Guppy? Goldfish? Angelfish? Fish normally change their colours to black when stressed, and the fact his tail is eroding would suggest Finrot. I'd be checking the water quality before anything else in this situation. So, let's have the name of the fish and some information on the aquarium: it's size, the hardness, the pH, and a nitrite test result. Cheers, Neale.>

Tropical Fish possibly sick? 10/3/07
Hello WWM crew,
<Hello!>
My boyfriend and I have gotten into aquariums within the last 3 years. I love how peaceful fish are and there little personalities they all have. So of course it really is a bummer to see them ill. (especially to think its probably due to something we may have forgotten)
<Indeed.>
Problem #1 (26 Gal. Tropical tank-1 black molly, 2 blue dwarf gouramis, 3 Corydoras catfish, 1- Boesemanni Rainbow *temporarily until he gets to big* and a female guppy) This problem is only with our dwarf blue gouramis and our mollies. The mollies seem to have black speckles on them, very tiny ones, and they are also flat...they don't seem to be raised. (and the older molly has a cut on her nose (from our aggressive black molly...who is REALLY aggressive and am beginning to think there's some sort of...problem? anyways, the cut on the balloon mollies nose never healed. Its still bright red and seems to have gotten even redder.) I've looked at many different bacterial infections, parasites, and other information online. I can't seem to find out what it is, and I don't want to treat for the wrong thing. Also the gouramis have dark spots on them but these aren't like the "speckles" found on the mollies, these look more like dark "patches" on the fins. The only thing I've heard on the black patches is that it could be cancer? or nerve damage.
<Hmm... black spots can be caused my a variety of things. Cancer and nerve damage are not among them though, or if they are, they've most unlikely. The most common reason is the fish are infected by parasite worms (flukes). Long term, it isn't anything to worry about, because once the worms try to move to the next stage of their life cycle, they leave the fish. Because the life cycle can't be completed in the aquarium, the worms die, and that's that. So for now, simply monitor the condition of the fish, ensure they are eating properly, and treat the water with something like anti-Finrot medication to ensure they don't get secondary infections (which is what the red or grey patches most likely are).>
Problem #2 (80 Gal. Tropical tank- 3 mollies, 2 platy's 2 pearl gouramis, 1 gold ram, 1 blue ram, 2 Bolivian rams 2 emerald green Cory cats, 2 swordtails, 4 tiger barbs, 8 cherry barbs 3 bleeding heart tetras, 1 boesemanni Rainbow and 2 keyhole cichlids....)
This problem is driving me NUTS. We "adopted" the 3 bleeding heart tetras *whom are doing very well* one of the emerald green Cory cats and the 2 keyhole cichlids and ever since we put them in a few of our fish seem to be getting sick.
The Emerald green has a curved spine...and I recently noticed that 2 of my albino tiger barbs are now developing slight curves by the base of there tails. I've been asking around and it seems it could be a mineral deficiency? I went out to by the frozen foods and minerals that I was told, but I would LOVE to hear what you think.
<Bent spines are very common. I have at least one peppered Corydoras with a bent spine at the moment, and I've seen similar situations with halfbeak and cichlid fry. Typically inbreeding (or at least bad genes) are at the root of the problem, but trauma when the fish is young appears to cause similar problems. I suppose diet could be a factor, but it's unlikely for something as omnivorous as barbs and catfish. Usually, diet becomes a critical factor when specialist fish are being kept, because they have adapted to eating a certain sort of food not easily provided in the aquarium.>
I've read through your forums most of them) and spent many hours browsing, trying to find tips or solutions. I'm really worried about my little guys, any tips or info. you can provide would be much MUCH appreciated. The more information I can get, the better homes the fish will have. I enjoy this hobby as long as the fish stay happy :)
Thank you very much
~Crystal
<Well, I hope this helps! Neale>

Sudden dying fish advice! 10/3/07
Hi
<Hello.>
I hope you can help me, am a bit of a novice fishkeeper and after a promising start am slight concerned about the goings on in my tank!
<Oh dear.>
I have a 35gallon freshwater aquarium, which I've had for three weeks (originally my brothers and kept for 6yrs). It had 5 Malawi's and one Plec and I added another 8 Malawi's, another Plec and 5 red claw crabs (about 2cm each).
<Red-claw crabs are brackish water animals, and shouldn't be kept in a freshwater tank. They are also amphibious animals, and keeping them permanently submerged is cruel. Kept properly, they are more like frogs, rooting about on land, but dipping in the water to moisten their gills periodically.>
Everything was going fine but then in the last 24hrs both my catfish and the alpha male (a 2.5inch blue zebra) of the tank have died!
<Check water quality when two fish suddenly die.>
I have checked all the levels and everything is normal.
<Define "normal". I'm assuming you aren't using brackish water, so the conditions aren't normal for your crabs at least. More specifically, have you tested the nitrite level? Also, what's the pH and hardness? Malawi cichlids need fairly hard water to do well (at least 10 degrees KH, and a pH around 7.5-8). I don't know what Malawi cichlids and plecs you are talking about, but 13 Pseudotropheus zebra and two common plecs such as Pterygoplichthys multiradiatus simply cannot be kept in 35 gallons of water. There is no way water quality will be acceptable for them all. Even a single common Plec needs around 50 gallons of water, at least.>
My concern is that, could this be the work of the crabs and should I really get rid of them? The shop said they could live together but now am not so sure
<Crabs shouldn't kill most fish, though they will certainly catch and kill very small fish like guppies. But unless you are keeping them in a brackish water vivarium with a sand-bank and wood for them to climb about on, then no, this isn't an acceptable home.>
Advice would be most grateful as I don’t really want £80 stock all to die off!
<Indeed.>
Best regards,
Lester
<Lester, you need to sit back and review the aquarium conditions. A 35 UK gallon tank is simply too small for all the fish you are keeping. What will happen is that the fish will die, one by one, until the aquarium reaches its "carrying capacity". You can delude yourself into thinking the aquarium is fine, but Science doesn't work that way, and until the population reaches a sensible level, fish will keep getting sick and die. For 35 gallons, you should be thinking about, say, one or two Ancistrus Bristlenose catfish along with maybe three cichlids (one male, two females). Nothing else will work in the long term. Hope this helps, Neale>

Sudden loss of half of our fish, FW... nitrate, nutritional deficiency effects likely   9/27/07
Hi,
We're (my 9-yr-old daughter & I) fairly new to the land of tropical fish keeping (we started in January); I've read your website a lot and have learned so much, and we wrote you a while back about a sick fish.
All had been going well with our aquarium for a couple of months, then in the last few days we had 5 fish die. We are so sad. I'm hoping that if I describe the situation, you might have some insight as to what happened/what we can do to keep the remaining fish alive. I'd gotten some ideas from your website but I'm really not sure what to think of all this.
We have a 12-gallon Eclipse system that has been cycled since last January (we did fish-less cycling ?worked great), and we've had a few different inhabitants along the way but we'd been stable for the past 3 months or so with:
5 platies, 3 danios (2 zebra, 1 leopard), 2 Otocinclus, 2 panda cories.
The tank has one Amazon sword plant that is not robust but sends out new baby leaves and hangs on.
We do 25% water changes every 2 weeks; though we've only been siphoning the gravel once a month, the other time we just change out the water).
<Mmm... a dangerous, too-changeable approach... Best to make more frequent, smaller change-outs. Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2ochgs.htm
and the linked files above>
We feed with a tropical fish flake food,
<Mmm, may want to mix in some more substantial fare... frozen or dried, freeze-dried foods...>
and once a week or so an algae tablet. We had ended up with not an ideal male/female ratio with the platies, 2 females and 3 males, and our oldest male (a 1 ½ inch Mickey Mouse) was rather an alpha male when we added his 4 friends, he chased everyone, but after a couple weeks they all seemed to get along with minimal chasing.
A couple weeks ago, the platies starting dying, one by one; we have only one left (the Mickey Mouse). The platies showed no sign of illness that we could see (spots, growths), but, each time a couple days before they died, they stopped eating. They would try to eat, but spit it out. Then they would start swimming with fins clamped. They would lose that nice round platy shape, and die.
In the middle of this, one of the zebra danios got a really fat belly all of a sudden and the next day it was dead.
<Yikes>
So, once this started happening, we did a water change
<How much and how?>
and started looking on your site. We have a test kit, our measurements were:
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 40.
<Much too high... You want to keep NO3 under 20 ppm>
Temp is 78. One other idea I saw was malnutrition ?
<Yes>
so I bought some frozen Emerald Entrée which has veggies in it as I thought it possible they weren't getting enough veggies.
<Or protein>
I put an algae tablet in too, and the platies did go after that. They didn't much go for the Emerald Entrée. Another idea I saw was internal parasites, but as nothing new had been introduced in the tank I hated to just medicate without some more of an idea of what it might be?
<Good>
I did add 1/8 tsp. salt which isn't much but I read that the cories don't tolerate salt well.
<Correct>
So, we're very sad and I'm thinking we should've done something else but I don't know what. From this description, can you offer an idea of what we might do at this point?
<The nitrate, nutritional deficiency effects likely...>
The Mickey Mouse platy is looking very sad on his own, and the 2 remaining danios are wildly chasing each other around ? I know we should not introduce any new fish until we are stable again but we sure would like to not lose these guys too. The oto's seem fine, they are a bit skittish but they always have been. The panda cories are extremely shy, they will not come out if we are nearby and I only get a glimpse of them every once in a while (like when we do a water change and move the furniture to siphon) and they seem OK. Any ideas you have would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jana (and Jenny)
<Bob Fenner>

Re: sudden loss of half of our fish... FW cycling    9/28/07
Thanks for your reply. We now have 2 different kinds of flake food, some TetraMin crisps for tropical fish, the frozen emerald entree, frozen brine shrimp, and the algae pellets. I hope a combination of these foods will be better nutritionally for our fish. If you have any other suggestions they are welcome.
<Posted...>
We will also start doing 2-2.5 gallon (17-20%) water changes once a week.
<Good>
How long do you recommend we wait before adding new fish?
<At least two weeks>
And, I know you recommend a quarantine tank; we have a 6 gallon Eclipse system that a neighbor gave us when they moved, however it is currently dry except the BioWheel has been kept in a jar of water and fed a couple drops of ammonia every 2-3 days. But I have no idea if the good bacteria would still be around on the wheel -- is there a way to keep a BioWheel "alive" if we can't keep the tank set up all the time?
<Mmm, well... they're "in the air"... will get there in time...>
That is a side question -- the main question is, if we set this tank up with some gravel and water (how much water?)
<A gallon or two>
from our current tank and put the BioWheel in, are we likely to have a cycled tank 'soon', or will we have to start from scratch with our fish-less cycling schedule?
<Siphon some gunk out of the present tank, place it in the new... Will likely instantly cycle>
We have a test kit so I can monitor for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate...
Thanks,
Jana
<Read on my friend... http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
Bob Fenner>

Curved Spine TB?   9/11/07 
Hi WWM Crew,
I've read and read and now have become confused. Is a curved spine a definite telltale sign of TB or could it be a symptom of swim bladder disease or something else? I have a convict cichlid. She is very tiny 2 inches at most. She's about 3 years old. She was fine and a spunky little fish. There is another adult pink convict (a male about 4 inches) in the tank who is sometimes a bully. Most times they are compatible. They are in a 10 Gal. tank with water changes every week. Yesterday I saw her floating on her side in a curled up position. Her fins were moving and it seemed she was trying very hard to right herself. When I noticed this I put her into a breeding net to keep the male away from her. I didn't notice any visible signs of trauma. No bloating or bleeding or missing scales/fins. I did a 75% water change and cleaned out the filter and treated the water with Epsom salt. I didn't know fish could get TB until I visited your site. She is very thin, no appetite and curling up as if in pain. I feel really bad for her and want to ease her suffering. The male isn't showing any signs of illness (yet). He keeps swimming past her outside the breeding net though and she tries to move toward him. It's very sad. I am hoping you can help me try to diagnose my little girl. Do you think it may be contagious and is it possible the male will be infected too? Please help!
Thanks,
Maureen
<Hello Maureen. Just as in humans, physical deformities can be caused by any number of reasons, and it's important not to assume that because something is symptomatic of a particular diseases, that it's ONLY caused by that disease. Also, Fish TB isn't the same thing as the TB humans get. Fish TB is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium marinum, whereas human TB is caused by a number of closely related species including the appropriately named Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Fish TB is very uncommon in freshwater aquaria, and almost always when freshwater aquarists blame fish deaths on Fish TB they're really making it up and have no idea what killed their fish. A bit like those "internal parasites" people mention for similar reasons, citing Fish TB amounts to nothing more than a scapegoat alternative to actually admitting their tank was overstocked, they used live feeder fishes, they didn't quarantine new stock, and so on. In your case, you have a couple of problems that are likely factors. To start with, a 10 gallon tank is not nearly big enough for convicts. I'm assuming you're talking 10 US gallons (= 8 UK gallons, 38 litres). Even for a matched pair of convicts you wouldn't be able to keep them in a tank that small. While you might consider them to be small specimens, the fish don't know that, and adults in the wild are anything up to around 15 cm long and defend territories something of the order of 1-2 metres in diameter. Males are notoriously belligerent to unreceptive females when kept under aquarium conditions. You have to remember that evolution hasn't needed to come up with a "play nice" gene; in the wild, if a female enters a male's territory but she doesn't want to breed, she just swims away. In the aquarium, she has nowhere to go, and the male's natural territoriality (which, in the wild, is a good thing by making him a reliable father) ends up becoming destructive. It is entirely possible she's received internal damage from being attacked by the male. You don't say anything about water chemistry or quality either. Convicts need moderately hard to hard water with a pH somewhere in the slightly alkaline range; pH 7.5-8, 10-20 degrees dH is what you're aiming for. Water quality needs to be excellent, as just like any other cichlid, dissolved metabolites in the water do harm over the long term. Water changes must be of the order of 50% weekly, and given your tank is so tiny, I'd be doing two such water changes a week. Regardless, you're after 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and nitrates ideally 20 mg/l or less and certainly not more than 50 mg/l. Finally, diet is an issue. Convicts are omnivores, and that means you need to include green foods in their diet as well as flake or frozen. Algae pellets and flakes are probably the easiest things to use, but tinned peas, Sushi Nori, spinach, blanched lettuce, and so on can all be tried. Very few cichlids don't eat greens in the wild, and for many it provides important vitamins as well as fibre. You may want to send along a photo so we can better diagnose your sick fish, but in the meantime, I'd encourage you to review some of the factors mentioned above and act accordingly. Cheers, Neale>

Sick fish, FW  9/6/07
Hi
<Hello Kristi,>
I'm a novice with a new freshwater tank. As with most novices, I added the fish before it cycled and are now working to get this done (with Neale's guidance and encouragement).
<Very good.>
Here are current parameters:
20 gal freshwater ? been going for about 4 weeks (fish for about 3 of them)
Temp 78 degrees F.
Gravel substrate, artificial plants moderately used, and couple of cave decorations
Power filter ? just changed to Bio-Wheel yesterday along w/ adding BioSpira pH 7.6, high alkalinity
Ammonia ? nil
Nitrite - ~ 1.5 (I know ? yikes. This is actually better than before and I'm working on it w/ emergency water changes, BioSpira, sea salt for short term decrease in toxicity, etc. A huge THANK YOU to Neale for helping me on this!)
Nitrate ? 5.0 (still high, but better than before)
<Everything except the nitrite is fine. Nitrate of 5 mg/l is practically perfect, and suggests you have very low (no?) nitrate levels in your tap water. As for the nitrite, that's way over the red line, and you should be doing water changes as often as it takes to keep it well below 1 mg/l, and ideally below 0.5 mg/l. Because you have zero ammonia, it's apparent that the nitrosifying bacteria have become established, but you're still waiting on the nitrifying bacteria. So you're about "half way done" in terms of cycling.>
Inhabitants: Started with 1 MM platy and 1 dwarf Gourami about 3 ½ wks ago (along w/ 1 swordtail and 1 sunburst platy ? both died). Added 5 glass fish, 1 ADF and 1 black molly about one week ago (none in QT? didn't know about this). Let's say I was less than patient (along with my 3 year old daughter) to get going on our new friends. All look great except for smallest glassfish and the platy (symptoms described below).
<Hmm...>
Let's first state the obvious ? water quality is waaaaaaaaaay less then optimal and is the most likely contributor to illnesses. Knowing that I? slowly but surely working on this, I need your help to do some damage control in terms of treating the illnesses of 1 glassfish and 1 platy.
<Well, the first thing is to simply do more water changes. It isn't glamourous or high-tech like adding potions, but more than anything else it improves fish health. It's kind of like human healthcare: to improve your health across the board doesn't take a gym membership and bottles of vitamins with breakfast, but simply things like walking instead of driving and eating more fruit and vegetables instead of meat and starch. There's no secret to keeping fish healthier either: more water changes = healthier fish.>
The glassfish ? noticed white specks last night on the smallest of the five.
The specks are about the size of table salt and suggested ich based on WWM reading.
<Indeed. Very common in glassfish under poor water conditions. That said, they can be relied upon to recover very quickly. Medicate the water with a good quality treatment of your choice.>
However, the fish is otherwise fine? eating like a pig (literally) ?not scratching against anything? not lethargic, etc. Today those specks have clumped at the base of his fin which made me consider Lymph.
<Lymphocystis is very common in glassfish, especially ones that have been dyed. In fact lymphocystis is really only found on "advanced" freshwater fish that have evolved from marine ancestors, e.g., glassfish, cichlids, and gobies. It's almost never seen on "primitive" freshwater fish without marine ancestors, i.e., catfish, characins, barbs, etc. Now, it doesn't typically appear out of nowhere, and is rather slow growing. So I'd assume it's whitespot by default, and treat accordingly. If it is lymphocystis, as you probably realise this isn't treatable, but does at least go away by itself. Lymphocystis is a viral disease, but studies on wild fish have show that the trigger is poor water quality. So again, improving water quality is the way to avoid lymphocystis and, in part, fix it should it appear.>
I'm attaching a picture for your review. It may be hard to see in the picture, but the largest spot on the base of his back tail fin is about 5 small specks clumped together. No other fish ? including the other glassfish ? are showing ANY of these spots. Thoughts?
<It's almost certainly whitespot. Whitespot/ich is, well, white, whereas lymphocystis tends to be cafe-au-lait colour and has a distinctive texture often likened to cauliflower florets.>
The platy ? Continually getting bigger and bigger and bigger. I know pregnancy is a possibility, but want to rule out bloat. Dropsy doesn't seem to fit because her fins are not extended like a porcupine (see attached picture).
<It's the scales, not the fins that extend, and it's like a pinecone rather than porcupine. But regardless, I agree, not dropsy. Just fat, really. Platies are very messed around with genetically, and in every batch there seem to be some that, in some way or another, are mutants. Provided the fish stays healthy otherwise, I'd ignore. Naturally, factor out constipation by feeding more greens, and take care not to overfeed.>
She also eats like a pig ? including non-natural foodstuff like the frozen blood worms meant for the glassfish and ADF. Her activity level and mannerisms all seem normal. Constipation seems likely, but unsure as to how to treat this given freshwater vs. marine tank. If this is the case, than how can I get the ADF and the glassfish their blood worms while keeping her away from them?
<Very difficult, but what I'd do is feed in the morning with only green foods. The frog and glassfish will ignore. Use blanched lettuce, squished cooked/tinned peas, Sushi Nori, algae wafers, livebearer flake food, etc. Let the platies eat these. In the evening, feed the meaty stuff.>
I've had a difficult time wading through freshwater vs. marine guidance and need your treatment suggestions.
<Fundamentally very similar, especially for fish like glassfish and platies that have evolved from marine ancestors. The only real difference is that in a marine tank you need to use medications that won't harm invertebrates, whereas this is rarely an issue in freshwater tanks (snails are resistant to medications, and shrimps/crabs/etc are rarely kept).
I am prepared to set up a hospital tank if need be, if suggested.
<Probably not required at this stage.>
Clearly I will convert from hospital tank to QT when adding our next fish (plan on final add of a dwarf Bristlenose Pleco for algae control).
<As I've said elsewhere this week in the FAQs, fish don't control algae. At best, they eat algae but at the cost of increasing the rate of algal growth. At worse, they simply increase the rare of algal growth dramatically. The only thing that "stops" algae are fast growing plants. They do this through one of two things, allelopathy and by removing nutrients from the water faster than the algae. No-one really understands the mechanism, but it seems to have evolved to allow plants to remain algae free in the wild (which, largely, they are). Cabomba, Hygrophila, Vallisneria etc are what you want. Things that grow so fast (under good light) you're trimming them back weekly. Under such conditions, tanks stay remarkably algae-free. All that said, quarantining Loricariid catfish is an excellent idea. Wild-caught specimens especially arrive rather emaciated, and giving them optimal conditions and plenty of food is the best way to ensure their success in captivity. Once fattened up, they can then be placed in the community tank.>
If the glassfish warrants a treatment tank, would I just transfer him and hope his loneliness won't negatively affect him further?
<Yes, but I don't think you need to. For whitespot, you have to treat the tank, not the fish. Indeed, you can't treat the fish -- the parasite isn't killed by the medication. Only the free-swimming infective stages are killed by the medication, and they're in the water and on the gravel. If it's lymphocystis then obviously no treatment is required or possible.>
Or would I transfer the whole school?
<No.>
In terms of a hospital tank, the smallest I can get away with the better (budget wise). I know 10-gal is ok, but could I get away w/ a 5-gal? Or would the water quality in a non-cycled 5-gal be too variable? Suggestions?
<In US gallons, it would have to be a 10 gallon tank. A 5 gallon tank would just be too difficult to keep constantly good. There's really no mileage to having an unsafe, unhealthy quarantine/hospital tank, for obvious reasons.>
Thanks for your help!!!!
Kristi
<Hope this helps, Neale>

3 dead 1 left... FW trbleshtg...   9/3/07
Hello,
<<Hello, Lxxx. (Interesting name, by the way. :) ) Tom here.>>
We bought some fish about a month ago.
<<What type of fish?>>
We’ve treated the water for a week before we bought them and had the water tested by the pet store.
<<Treated the water how? The vast majority of “cycling” products found in stores are of questionable effectiveness at best. (There’s some evidence that, contrary to what we’ve believed in the past, there are bacteria (Nitrospira) contained in these products that do, in fact, deal with nitrites, as well as those dealing with ammonia, but only because these are “naturally occurring” bacteria and are contained in the product far more by accident than by design. By bacterial standards, these bacteria reproduce extremely slowly, however, and the populations of the bacteria can’t be guaranteed from one container to the next.) Recognize, too, that early in the cycling process ammonia may be undetectable with our common test kits. This may give the false impression/indication that all is well when, in fact, the process has yet to really begin.>>
I hoover the tank every week, but still we’ve lost 3 fish. Each one’s dorsal fin has gotten flat then they become sluggish and die.
<<Too little information for me to be very specific on the cause for this other than to suggest to you that the behavior is indicative of poor water conditions and/or quality. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the water’s “bad” but it may not be right for your fish.>>
We have three real plants in the tank. I can’t see any spots or fungus on the fish. There is also a shoal of the little fish in the tank!!!
<<Well, now you’ve given me a little to work with. Almost certainly you’ve got livebearers of some type (Platys, Swordtails, Mollies, Guppies, et. al., fall into this category) at least one of which is/was a female. Fish in this group require relatively hard, alkaline water conditions. (Mollies are a brackish water species requiring still a different environment.) Without knowing what the current ammonia/nitrite, nitrate and pH levels are (hardness would be another good reading to have), nothing I can offer to you would be more than a wild guess on my part.>>
Please help. I don’t want this one to die and its fin is starting to
deflate!!!
<<The best generic approach I can suggest is to stay on top of water changes. From what I can gather, the problem is largely, if not completely, environmental which can be addressed with these changes. Change out at least 50% of the water a couple of times each week. In the meantime, get yourself a test kit so that you know – without relying on the sometimes questionable results that the pet store may give you – exactly what’s going on in your tank. I understand that you’re very concerned here and likely wrote to us in a hurry but we need some detailed information the next time. Type of fish, tank size, type of filtration, heater (if any), water temperature, type(s) of food you’re providing and, most especially, the exact water parameters. I specify “exact” here because ‘good’, ‘fine’, ‘safe’, ‘within limits’, etc., are too subjective to be of any real use to us. What certain fish may be able to tolerate over a brief period of time might kill others in short order.>>
Many thanks
Lxxx
<<Well, I don’t think I’ve been able to give you much more than a place to start but if you’d like to write back with the information I’ve suggested, perhaps I can be of more assistance. Cheers. Tom>>

Fish rubbing on rocks - a sign of something other than disease?   7/25/07
Hello WWM,
<Didi...>
I have another question, unrelated to the fish disappearances :) The question is about the same fish - molly, 2 swordtails and a guppy in the 3 gallon tank. I've had them since February, and they haven't been sick yet (except the latch-on worms that the molly came with from the store... but we got rid of those early with CopperSafe).
<Mmm, Lernaea? Not treatable with such>
Anyway, so my fish have been healthy and happy and I've never seen them rub on rocks for any reason. However, recently I decided to make their life a bit more interesting and changed the decoration. I took them out, cleaned the tank
<Describe this process... Not too thoroughly I hope>
and put in new rocks, shells and plants, organized in a different way. I put the fish back in (with a portion of the old water, to keep the bacteria and everything). At first the fish looked confused, not recognizing their home. Then they started exploring the new decorations, and vigorously rubbing themselves against everything - rocks, shells, even the plants. All of the fish did that for a while.
They would approach an object, look at it for a moment and with a swift motion rub the side of their body against it. They weren't exhibiting any signs of illness - no white spots or patches on their skin, no worms, etc. They did the rubbing for a while that evening, and by morning the next day they were fine again. That was several weeks ago.
They haven't rubbed since, and none of them has gotten ill. They look as healthy, active and stupid as always :D
<Trouble with all the too much, too soon changes here... Very likely you've lost bio-cycling...>
My question: is rubbing a sign of anything else, that is not a disease?
<Can be indicative of a few challenges... though some rubbing is "natural">
If those were cats, I'd assume they're marking a new territory, hehe, but who knows what fish mean with it... The marking is the only thing I can think of.
Please let me know.
Thanks,
Didi
<Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Re: Fish rubbing on rocks - a sign of something other than disease? Wasting time...   7/28/07
Hi Bob,
<Didi>
I've mixed in my replies with the previous message:
>I have another question, unrelated to the fish disappearances :) The question is about the same fish - molly, 2 swordtails and a guppy in the 3 gallon tank. I've had them since February, and they haven't been sick yet (except the latch-on worms that the molly came with from the store... but we got rid of those early with CopperSafe).
><Mmm, Lernaea? Not treatable with such>
--> no, ours were tiny, fat white worms. Lernaea are long and thin, and darker in color. Anyway, one of the fish experts at our PetCo has 30+ years of experience and knows a lot;
<I built their program in the early nineties before the first time the co. went public...>
he looked at the fish and said CopperSafe would kill the worms it had (CopperSafe should kill anything that's invertebrate).
<... no... Please... don't waste our time writing... Read a reference book or two... You attend college? They have a life science dept. I take it...>
The latch-on worms never came back. I occasionally see Planaria worms crawling on the glass, but that's all.
> Anyway, so my
>fish have been healthy and happy and I've never seen them rub on rocks
>for any reason. However, recently I decided to make their life a bit
>more interesting and changed the decoration. I took them out, cleaned
>the tank
><Describe this process... Not too thoroughly I hope>
--> Okay, the process. With this small tank, I do 1/3 water changes
every week. Then once a month I take everything out, rinse the tank,
gravel and shells with just water (scrubbing the nasty layer of algae
off the walls and washing the mountain of crap out of the gravel),
reassemble and let the fish back in with about half of the old water +
half fresh water with conditioner, plant enhancer drops and a bit of
salt. With the bigger tank hopefully I won't have to take everything
out, but this small one gets very dirty very fast. I got a "gravel
vacuumer" hoping to be able to suck the waste out of the gravel instead
of taking the gravel out and rinsing it, but it doesn't work with such a
small tank. By the time I've vacuumed a third of the bottom, I've
already sucked almost all the water out of the tank. With the large tank
there's more water and I'll have more time to clean the entire area, so
I won't have to take the gravel out.
<Please see WWM re... FW maint... I would not switch out this much water...>
> and put in new rocks, shells and plants, organized in a
>different way. I put the fish back in (with a portion of the old water,
>to keep the bacteria and everything). At first the fish looked confused,
>not recognizing their home. Then they started exploring the new
>decorations, and vigorously rubbing themselves against everything -
>rocks, shells, even the plants. All of the fish did that for a while.
>They would approach an object, look at it for a moment and with a swift
>motion rub the side of their body against it. They weren't exhibiting
>any signs of illness - no white spots or patches on their skin, no
>worms, etc. They did the rubbing for a while that evening, and by
>morning the next day they were fine again. That was several weeks ago.
>They haven't rubbed since, and none of them has gotten ill. They look as
>healthy, active and stupid as always :D
><Trouble with all the too much, too soon changes here... Very likely you've lost bio-cycling...>
--> I cleaned the tank just as I had done every month, and as I
described above. The fish never reacted this way before though. The only
difference now was that I had new shells and two new plants (same
gravel). The fish never rubbed after cleaning sessions before.
<Tapwater is not a consistent product... could be that your livestock were poisoned with sanitizer...>
Seems
like they were reacting to the new decoration itself. What I noticed
before is that they were aware of the particular decoration I had in the
tank before, and after putting them back in after cleaning, they
recognized the tank as the same space (I put the decoration back exactly
as it had been) and knew they were at home. They would return to their
usual sleeping places, feeding places, etc. What threw them off was the
change of setting - the familiar rocks were gone, so now it looked like
they were in a new space. That's how I explain it. The parts of the tank
that are in the same locations, like the filter tube and cascading
water, they recognized right away. I used to always feed them right in
front of the cascade (so the water can spread the food around), and when
I leaned over the tank after the big move-around, they all swam up to
the cascade in a cluster and started vacuuming the surface in search of
food.
Anyway, my point is that fish have a memory for landmarks as they need
to navigate in the water in the wild, so in this case they must have
interpreted the change of landmarks as a change of location altogether,
and acted confused because they were in unfamiliar territory.
<Possibly got used to it though, and now they're not rubbing anymore.
With that in mind, I still wonder if the rubbing was indeed a response to the change of scenery, and if, behaviorally speaking, the rubbing has a particular message and purpose. Let's assume that it's not a matter of health, because none of them have gotten sick or exhibited any signs of weakness or dullness. Is there a behavioral explanation?
<Interesting... but I know naught>
>My question: is rubbing a sign of anything else, that is not a disease?
><Can be indicative of a few challenges... though some rubbing is "natural">
>If those were cats, I'd assume they're marking a new territory, hehe, but who knows what fish mean with it... The marking is the only thing I can think of.
>Please let me know.
>Thanks,
>Didi
><Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
>and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>
--> I read the article, thanks. I am in the process of establishing the environment in the big tank now, by using the old shells and gravel from the small tank + a small school of zebra fish for a start. It's been cycling for more than a week now. The small tank was already established though, and whenever I had to clean the walls and rinse the mountain of crap out of the gravel, I put at least half of the old water back after that.
<Good>
Including in the case of the new decorations when the fish did the rubbing...
<Ok! RMF>

FW, fish don't last... Can Neale hold on!?  7/2/07
I recently started a new 5 gallon fish tank with a bio filter. I started with 5 fish but now I'm down to one. They all do the same thing, they lay on the bottom of the tank with their gills and mouths opening and closing. I added an air pump after the first four died. HELP!
<Greetings. For a start, 5 gallons is a very small aquarium, so keeping fish healthy in there at all will be difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. The bigger the tank, the easier. For beginners, a 10-20 gallon tank is a better starting point. Anyway, the reason the fish are dying is that the filter is immature. The fish produce ammonia, and without a biological filter that works, the ammonia accumulates and kills the fish. It takes about 4-6 weeks for a biological filter to go from zero to established, and a few weeks more for it to be really stable and 100% effective. The easiest approach is to grab a quarter to a half the filter media from an established tank's filter, stick it in the new filter, and then add a small number of fish. With luck, the "old" media will work straight away and colonise any new filter media in the filter, and jump start the whole cycling process. (Don't worry about the filter in the established tank -- mature filters will colonise new filter media almost at once, so apart from cutting down the food a little for a few days, there's no risk involved.) Have a read of this excellent article on "Your First Aquarium", here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwset-up.htm . Then read this article on Cycling aquaria: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm . Hope this helps! Cheers, Neale>

Help my fish is dying - I can't help without more useful information!  – 6/12/07
I have a Plecostomus floats on its side.
<Not a good sign. How long has this been going on?>
The tail fin is either nipped off or deteriorating off.
<None of the fish you mention would below would likely cause this sort of injury (although I'm not sure what a "small ground feeder" is...); I'd be willing to bet this is tail rot, a condition typically caused by poor water quality. Have you used a quality liquid test kit (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and Tetra both make good products) to measure the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate in the water? The former should be at zero, while the latter can safely be as high as 20 ppm (though lower is better). How large is this tank and how often do you do water changes? What type of filtration is running on the tank? I need lots of information to be able to help you/your fish...>
I have added three neon fish and a dojo fish to my tank that all ready had come with the Plecostomus another small ground feeder that has never changed sizes for the last three years and another fish not sure what it is. I haven't had any problems with them until I added this dojo and neons. What should I do?
<Test your water for starters. Most fish illnesses and diseases are caused by poor water quality; remedying this underlying environmental cause often times will solve the problems. However, I can't say for certain without additional information; see questions posed above. In the meantime, start reading: here's a good place to begin - http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsetupindex.htm
Best regards, Jorie>
Thanks Cassi

FW crashing.. but numbers look good.  - 04/20/07
Hey guys, your site is great. I tried to sign up to post something on the boards, but it said registration was down. I didn't want to email, but this is pretty serious.
<Hello, and thanks for the compliment.>
I have a 75 gallon FW tank and as of Saturday its only inhabitants were 3 small zebra danios, 5 Neons, 3 marble hatchets, and two Cory's.
<Certainly plenty of space for those fishes!>
My wife decided she wanted new fish for the our Easter party, so on Saturday I did a 15 gallon water change, and changed all of the carbon pads in my 3 hang on Penguin powerfilters.
<Why are you using carbon? I can't say this often enough, but except in very specific situations, filter capacity is better used to hold some biological filter media of your choice. Carbon serves no useful purpose in a regular aquarium except to part aquarists from their cash. Worse still, carbon removes most medications, so making treatment for things like whitespot more complicated than they need be.>
On Sunday we bought 6 mollies and 6 zebra danios.
<Mollies wouldn't be my choice here: they *need* hard and alkaline water and arguably do best in brackish water. None of your other fishes share these requirements, and in fact prefer soft and acidic water. Please, get an aquarium book and read the sections on water chemistry requirements before purchase.>
I floated the bags, dumped out the LFS water, and put them in my tank. They all swam around, met each other and things are great.
<Dumping the LFS water solves one problem but causes another. The problem it solves is keeping the ammonia produced on the trip home out of the aquarium. The problem it causes is that your fishes had no chance to "taste" the water in the aquarium before they were put into the tank. If the pH and hardness differences are great, this can be fatal. Far better to use a variation on the drip method. Put the fish and LFS water into a bucket, and then add water from the tank a half-cup or so every 5 minutes. After about 30 minutes, net the fish out and put them in the aquarium. This way, they've had a chance to acclimate to any changes in conditions. Extend the period of acclimation for more delicate fishes like discus or halfbeaks.>
Monday night I notice a little wiggly black thing in the tank, and then another. It didn't take long for us to find 15 small molly fry (and for me to get back from my LFS with a net breeder).
<Very good!>
Tuesday no news, just enjoying the tank.
Wednesday night notice a molly not acting well.
Thursday morning. I have now found four out of six (adult) mollies dead, two out of nine danios dead, and three out of five Neons dead.
<Oh dear.>
I found the Neons last, and up until that point had thought that the fish were just diseased and stressed from the over crowded LFS tanks.
<Possibly, but (contrary to expectations) it can be more harmful for a fish to go from bad conditions it is used to to good conditions it is not used to. Hence the importance of acclimation and quarantining.>
But when I saw the Neons I thought my tank was imploding.
I tested and here's what I found:
Temp 78, trite 0, trate 10ppm, amm .25ppm, pH 8
<Your ammonia level is way too high: 0.5mg/l is a lethal level for many fish, and even half that is severely stressing them. Also, the pH is really a bit on the high side though most freshwater fish will generally adapt to pH 8.0. They may not like being dumped straight into it, though. Hence acclimation and/or quarantining!>
The water change was done with R/O water from my 'non big box' LFS so I can't imagine chlorine.....
<My concern is with the filter. That you are using carbon suggests to me you don't *quite* understand how a filter works or what it does. Please have a look at the primer, here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwfiltration.htm and then read around a little more. Carbon is a legacy from when people didn't do water changes -- the assumption was that "old water" was better than new water. Carbon removed dissolved organics (the stuff that made the water yellow) and so made the aquarium *look* sparkly clean at least. We now regularly do 50% or more water changes once  a week, and have learned that the more water changes, the better. Under such conditions carbon has almost no time to do anything useful. What you want in a filter is as much biological filtration capacity as possible, because it is ammonia (and nitrite of course) that kills fish. So, bin the carbon, and replace with sponge, filter wool, high-end ceramic media, whatever. Also, perform daily water changes of at least 25% to bring down the ambient levels of ammonia.>
I know adding 12 fish seems stupid anyway...but without so much as a spike in anything...I can't seem to figure out what's going on.....PLUS...all of the Molly fry are still alive and eating like pigs, I thought they would have been the first to go if the water was THAT bad. Any ideas?
<What will happen is that the fish will (literally) die back to what the filter has biological filtration capacity to support. Everything will then suddenly seem fine. This is the basic biological law that whatever is in least abundance limits success. In this case, you may have plenty of aquarium space, but your filtration capacity is limited, and that's putting a ceiling on the number of fishes you can keep. Have a read through the Cycling topic, here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm and then once ammonia is at zero add a couple of fish at a time, building up the numbers perhaps every other week. This will give the bacteria a chance to colonies the new biological filter media you are using, ramping up the filters capacity to clean and purify the water. Keep checking the water chemistry/quality.>
Thanks very much,
Bruce in Chicago
<Cheers, Neale in Berkhamsted>

Re: FW crashing.. but numbers look good.  - 04/20/07
Thank you very much for response. I do read very often, and do understand how a cycling tank works.
<Cool.>
I use the carbon pads for two reasons. They have a sponge on one side, the side the water initially goes through, which removes large debris from the water (and since it has a large surface area allows bacteria to grow).
<Filter media *either* work biologically, chemically, or mechanically. They can't do two or three things at once. So if the carbon is at the front of the filter, straining incoming water (i.e., mechanical filtration) it will get coated with detritus and silt very quickly, and this will prevent the carbon adsorbing dissolved organics. Clean carbon works for a matter of weeks at best in most aquaria, and the whole point of "activated" charcoal is that it is sintered to maximize its surface area. As soon as silt fills the micro cracks on the surface of the carbon, it's effectiveness drops orders of magnitude.>
The water then flows through the carbon to help remove waste and since it too has a large surface area, being porous, it contributes to my bacteria culture.
<Again, it can't do both these things. If bacteria coat the carbon, they isolate the carbon from the water, and prevent adsorption. I agree carbon makes a good substrate for bacteria, but there are better ones, like ceramic filter media.>
All three filters are the type that also have a 'bio-wheel', which spins in the stream of water, allowing bacteria to meet water and air and grow.
<Yes indeed, this is the case. But honestly, the carbon is doing nothing useful. It is mostly a commercial con: by "looking" more sophisticated and being part of a proprietary filter cartridge, the manufacturers are able to get more money from you. It's a case of "giving away the razors but selling the blades". By all means stick with carbon if you want -- it's your money -- just remember to remove it any time you medicate the aquarium.>
BUT....I will take a look further into your suggestion because it makes the same sense to me as using live rock in my SW tanks.
<Exactly so. Pretty much everything you've learned with your marine tanks holds with freshwater, too. Biological filtration trumps everything else. Get that right, and the rest is easy. Mechanical filtration is next in importance, and primarily for aesthetic reasons rather than fish health. Chemical filtration is (normally) way down the list, except perhaps where you are using the filter to buffer the pH via peat or calcium carbonate. Beyond that, stuff like carbon and Zeolite are bolt-on goodies to spend money on if you want but hardly essential or even useful.>
Porous bio-balls or ceramic give much more room for bacteria to live, therefore increasing the amount of contaminates they can take care of. I did read both of the links provided, thank you, but I did have one question. If using bioballs or the like in my powerfilters, would the cultures benefit by placing airstones in the back of the PF with them? This would seem to add quite a bit more oxygen, but I guess I'm not sure if there is such a thing as TOO much oxygen with these bacteria.
<In theory, yes, the more air bubbling through the filter the better. But the problem is if you get bubbles inside the pump, you reduce the flow of water and increase the amount of noise. At worse, the bubbles can stop the pump turning altogether, which will cause the filter to fail. So it depends on the precise filter system you have. If the air can rise to the top of the filter without getting sucked into the pump, certainly your idea is well worth trying.>
Thank you for taking the time to respond, the lesson has been learned (about fish and filtration alike) and I appreciate the input.
<No problems.>
Bruce in Chicago
<Neale in Berko.>

Gravel washers, dis. transmission  – 4/10/07
Greetings,
I recently purchased a gravel washer and believe it's the best thing since sliced bread for water changes!  I do water changes and gravel washing at least every two weeks.
<Wow, you're a better person than I... water changes weekly, gravel cleaning once or twice a year!>
I am wondering though, should the gravel washer be soaked in any kind of disinfectant between washes?
<If you have more than one aquarium, it is a good idea to clean things between moving them from one tank to another. You'll see retailers nowadays often keep their nets in jugs of disinfectant so that any diseases in one tank can't hitchhike to another. But realistically, cleaning the gravel washer every two weeks is probably overkill. If you want, sit it in a bucket of strong (at least 70 grammes/litre) salt solution. That'll kill most bacteria and parasites, while at the same time not being toxic to the aquarium fish if any gets left behind on the device.>
I realize that the water is chlorinated going through the tubing back into the tank but trapped water does lay in the tubing between washes.
<Store things dry. Most bacteria and aquatic parasites cannot tolerate exposure to air or sunshine (UV light) for very long.>
Could that be a potential source of any kind of disease for the fish?
<Potentially, yes, but the risk is trivially small compared with live foods (esp. Tubifex) and new aquarium fish.>
Just wondering what you might recommend.  Thanks in advance!
<Cheers, Neale>
Linda Ritchie

Gravel washers & Value of "Quarantine", aka Isolating new livestock... FW here  – 4/10/07
Morning Neale,
Thanks for the quick response.
<No problem.>
I'm slowly getting it through my head that the best way to protect your existing healthy fish is to use an iso tank for the newbies.
<Yes it is. Also, when breeding fish, nothing beats having another tank to cosset pregnant females or rear the babies.>
I've taken many fine suggestions from your crew and website.  Most of our LFS in this area are large chain stores that don't do much to isolate or even recognize a problem with their stock so it's vital that I take every precaution to prevent infestation in my tanks.  It's very relaxing to me to watch my livebearers go about their daily chores happy and healthy and to watch the fry grow into adults.  I've been keeping fish off and on for almost 30 years and much has changed in husbandry techniques since I started.  
<Cool. One thing I forgot to mention in your original question -- is chlorinated water going into the tank when the fish are there? It shouldn't be. The chlorine is quite nasty as far as the fish are concerned. So always use a dechlorinator on any water that is in the tank when the fish are there.>
Linda
<Cheers, Neale>

Re: Gravel washers
& Value of "Quarantine", aka Isolating new livestock... FW here  – 4/10/07
Yes, the water is chlorinated but I add the dechlorinator in conjunction with the water.  I put some water in a pitcher and add the dechlorinator to prime the filters.  So far this has worked great. I wash the filters and filter packs with the water that comes out of the aquarium into the sink during the water change.  
<Cool.>
I don't try and adjust the pH to much for the livebearer tank.
<Always wise. Easiest to get fish that like your water, rather than try to fiddle the water to suit your fish.>
I just added some crushed coral to work on the KH, it's a little low at 4.
<Agreed, and the solution sounds good. Be sure and deep clean the coral sand though: once covered in bacteria and algae (i.e., after a few weeks) it is isolated from the water, and doesn't do any buffering.>
GH is right about 7-8 which should be okay.  Ph is very stable at about 7.4.
<Both fine for platies.>
Found out the hard way that the pH neutralizer does a number on the live plants!
<Odd. Some plants like acid water, some alkaline, so that may be the thing. Many of the hardier plants, such as Vallis, like hard, alkaline water. If you soften the water too much, they get unhappy very quickly. Done this myself and watch hundreds of Vallis die overnight! Not pretty. Again, best to choose plants for your local water. There are lots of species that love hard, alkaline water: Vallis, Egeria, some Amazon swords (e.g. E. bleheri), some Crypts (e.g. C. wendtii and C. ciliata), Java fern, Java moss, etc.>
I bring down the pH to around 7.2 for in the tetra tank.  As long as it remains stable the fish are okay.
<Most tetras shouldn't mind even pH 7.4, so I'd not bother with the pH adjustment. The difference between 7.2 and 7.4 is not that important. Fish don't really "feel" pH anyway; they feel the total dissolved solids, which the acidifying agent isn't doing anything about. I personally wouldn't bother with the pH adjuster -- I'd sooner do more water changes to keep the quality high. Cheers, Neale>

Stocking a 15 Gallon FW Plant Tank   3/21/07
Hello, I have a 15 gallon eclipse system tank, that has been cycled since late  August. The inhabitants I currently have are 3 marbled hatchets, 3 nanus neon  cories, and 1 German blue Ram. There are also 2 different Amazon swords, one is ground level that grew a stem and leaves to reach the surface, emergents I  am guessing? Also, the second is a large sword, with large broader leaves  that stretch to the top of the tank. These have been in my tank since Early November or late October. Temperature is at 78 degrees and pH is about 6.4 (slowly bringing it down to 6, it used to be 7)
I have a couple of questions. My blue ram is very shy. He has been in my tank since October, the last fish added, and since then he has been very frightened of me. He eats and explores the tank, but only when I am not in the  room.
I would have to hide and watch as he scouts around the tank. When I walk  by, he hides, and does not come out at all. Is there a way for me to get my  trust in him and so he gets to know who I am better? He won't even come out to feed when I am standing there, I would have to go hide. Up until this day, he has not had any diseases or such and has been quite healthy. I don't even feed him the bloodworms because it doesn't go to his belly but to my tanks nitrates.  Any advice?
< Rams are normal very shy fish to begin with. Having other fish in the tank creates some activity and helps these fish get over their shyness. They are referred to as dither fish.>
Second, is my stocking complete? I have the three small nanus cories, at  the moment not bigger than an inch, the 3 marbled hatchets about 1.5 inches long each. And the ram who is about two inches. I understand that the inch per gallon  is just a general idea to help you stock, but it doesn't necessarily give you  the exact stocking level. The tank is 10 width, 20 length, and about 18-20  height depending on how high the water level is. Can I add anything else to the  tank? Maybe a mate for the ram or a small group of tetras?
< Check the nitrates. If you can keep them below 20 ppm between water changes then you can add some additional fish. A small group of tetras would work just fine for your dither fish problem too.-Chuck>
I am fixing up the tank, adding some real driftwood, more live plants,  upgraded lighting to the least 30 watts, and better fertilizing gravel for the   plants. The lighting is the only problem, because of the eclipse hood.
Thanks, Joe
 

Fish problems... actually Hobbyist problems   3/20/07
Greetings,  
<Sherly>
I'm so glad I found your site, but since I work 50+ hours a week, I don't have a whole lot of time to read & find all the info I need.  Please forgive me for needing to ask of your time.   
<We'll see...>
I love my fish, and because of bad allergies, they're the only pets that I can have.
After a year+ of having tropical fish successfully, about a month ago I went from a 10-gallon to a 30 gallon tank.  
But I'm having some problems.  Since my original fish appeared to be healthy in their new "home", I bought some more fish to fill the rather empty tank.
<No quarantine?>
But I had 4 deaths in the first week, and 2 of my original fish don't look so well these past few days.
I find it unusual to have so many deaths in such a short time.  Normally, I see one pass away after several months.  The deaths of my very first & original fish occurred over many months, but one at a time and not within a few weeks of each other.
My original fish included:
3 Rosy Reds (test fish -- all gone)
<Are coldwater minnows... not really suitable for tropical aquariums... may have brought disease in...>
2 Lemon Von Rio Flame Tetras (had 4, the other 2 have passed)
3 Black Phantom Tetras (had 5, ... 2 have passed)
2 Colored Kuhli Loaches
1 Golden Algae-eater   (had 2, I watched this survivor "Sardine" kill the other by sucking, ramming and literally knocking the other algae-eater out of the tank)
<Is often too "mean" to keep with smaller fishes... Look up Gyrinocheilus... on WWM, the Net...>
I added...
6 Blood-fin Tetras
5 Silver Hatchet Tetras (which I was told they jump & therefore, purchased a different lid)
5 Albino Cory
5 Upside-down catfish
<Live in different water...>
I lost 3 Albino Cory, 2 of the deaths were less than 12 hours from each other (and only bothered replacing one -- since that's all I had time for)
And I lost 1 Upside-down catfish to the water filter (don't ask me how it managed to swim in there, I found it during a water & filter change after the other 3 deaths).
<...>
But 2 of my Black Phantom Tetras are ill (I think).  One is displaying very, very red gills (and one side of his gill looks flared-out ... or just plain broken/bent out of shape), and the other has some funky junk on his mouth.  I put fish medicine in the tank (I doubt the stuff works, but it says it treats red gill and fungus mouth).   
<...>
... and just recently I got 4 Balloon-belly Mollies --
<What re your water quality?>
"Ebony", "Ivory", "Salt" & "Pepper" (I got impulsive today).  And "Ivory" gave birth to 17 fry (16 survived... I lost one to the water filter (again with the filter).  I have the fry in a breeding basket in the same tank.  I do plan on checking with the pet store(s) here to see if they'll take these fry because I think I'm a bit overloaded.
<You're a bit compulsive I'd say>
I want to know what I might be doing wrong?
<The list is long... not researching the life... its requirements, compatibility before purchasing... Not monitoring water quality...>
  I only have a PH test kit - and it's last reading was 7.0 (I haven't checked since I got the mollies today & added a little aquarium salt...
<The Characins/Tetras don't "like" salts...>
and had an unexpected birth of fry).  I also have a different filter.  Instead of one that hangs outside the tank, I have one that submerges in the tank.  I got this filter because it's quieter (and I can't sleep with loud noise at night).
My current water temperature averages 76 Fahrenheit.  I set up this new tank just like the 10 gal -- I let it run a week before adding fish,
<Cycled?>
except this time I didn't use any of the cheap 10 cent fish after a week, I just transferred my original fish.  My algae-eater is now 5" long ("Sardine's" the largest thing in the entire tank).  I feed my fish freeze-dried bloodworms, shrimp pellets and an algae chip for "Sardine" -- my original fish stopped eating flakes after a while, so I switched to bloodworms to get them to eat again (are they being picky?)
<Mmm, no>
All the other fish seem fine, I'm at a loss at what exactly I did wrong to incur so many losses in such a rapid time.  I don't want to lose any more fish and don't really have the time to constantly return to the pet store.
~Shirley
<Well... it dawns on me that you may just not have time for this hobby really... To be absolutely frank with you (though my name is Bob), I think you ought to consider whether you're ready to commit (yes, with the big C) to being involved with captive life... Your letter reveals a few things. One: a lack of reading, involvement... Two: Good/Bad consumerism... you "just buy" things... This is not a hobby/past-time for such casualness... IF you intend to keep an aquarium, this will demand more of your time... In investigating what can "go together", and how to set-up and maintain a given mix of compatible species... Are you willing, able to make that promise? Perhaps another non-living interest would be better for you at this time. Bob Fenner>
Neale's much better response...  3/20/07
Greetings,   
I'm so glad I found your site, but since I work 50+ hours a week, I don't have a whole lot of time to read & find all the info I need.  Please forgive me for needing to ask of your time.    
<Please understand that we all work, too, so forgive me if I send you along to pages you should read over to get the general idea before trying to answer specific questions.>
I love my fish, and because of bad allergies, they're the only pets that I can have.
<Catfish instead of cats, eh?>
After a year+ of having tropical fish successfully, about a month ago I went from a 10-gallon to a 30 gallon tank.
<Good, a bigger tank is usually easier to care for. But you did cycle the filter in the new aquarium, didn't you?>
But I'm having some problems.  Since my original fish appeared to be healthy in their new "home", I bought some more fish to fill the rather empty tank.
<Never a good idea. With a new tank, go slow. Add the fish you have, wait a few weeks, then add some more only if the water quality (nitrite and ammonia) is where it should be, i.e., zero.>
But I had 4 deaths in the first week, and 2 of my original fish don't look so well these past few days.
<Anytime fish die off unexpectedly or in clumps, whip out your nitrite and/or ammonia test kits. 99% of unexplained fish deaths are caused by water quality issues.>
I find it unusual to have so many deaths in such a short time.  Normally, I see one pass away after several months.  The deaths of my very first & original fish occurred over many months, but one at a time and not within a few weeks of each other.
<It is unusual. So DID you do a nitrite or ammonia test?>
My original fish included:
3 Rosy Reds (test fish -- all gone)
2 Lemon Von Rio Flame Tetras (had 4, the other 2 have passed)
3 Black Phantom Tetras (had 5, ... 2 have passed)
2 Colored Kuhli Loaches
1 Golden Algae-eater   (had 2, I watched this survivor "Sardine" kill the other by sucking, ramming and literally knocking the other algae-eater out of the tank)
<Algae-eaters (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri) are notoriously aggressive and just plain nasty fish. Watch your specimen very carefully, and be away it will reach about a foot in length.>
I added...
6 Blood-fin Tetras
5 Silver Hatchet Tetras (which I was told they jump & therefore, purchased a different lid)
5 Albino Cory
5 Upside-down catfish
<OK, here's where you went wrong. When fish die unexpectedly, you find out why. You don't add new fish. It's most likely a cycling issue, so please read: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm >
I lost 3 Albino Cory, 2 of the deaths were less than 12 hours from each other (and only bothered replacing one -- since that's all I had time for)
<Please realize that you may be "wasting time" but your poor fish are "wasting their lives away". Spend the time figuring out the problem before buying any more fish!>
And I lost 1 Upside-down catfish to the water filter (don't ask me how it managed to swim in there, I found it during a water & filter change after the other 3 deaths).
<Strange. Perhaps it died and got sucked in? That said, these catfish must have hiding places, and if there aren't any in the tank, they will search in places they shouldn't go.>
But 2 of my Black Phantom Tetras are ill (I think).  One is displaying very, very red gills (and one side of his gill looks flared-out ... or just plain broken/bent out of shape), and the other has some funky junk on his mouth.  I put fish medicine in the tank (I doubt the stuff works, but it says it treats red gill and fungus mouth).    
<PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do a water quality test for nitrite and/or ammonia. Also pH if you can. There are nice, inexpensive dip sticks that will do water quality and water chemistry tests all in one fell swoop. A real time saver. Fish almost always get sick because the water quality is bad (in the same way people get hypothermia when they're too cold, or cholera when given dirty water). Just wildly adding medications hoping for the best will not work!>
... and just recently I got 4 Balloon-belly Mollies -- "Ebony", "Ivory", "Salt" & "Pepper" (I got impulsive today).  And "Ivory" gave birth to 17 fry (16 survived... I lost one to the water filter (again with the filter).  I have the fry in a breeding basket in the same tank.  I do plan on checking with the pet store(s) here to see if they'll take these fry because I think I'm a bit overloaded.
<Breeding baskets are not a good idea with mollies. The mollies are too big, get stressed, miscarry, and generally get unhappy.>
I want to know what I might be doing wrong?  I only have a PH test kit - and it's last reading was 7.0 (I haven't checked since I got the mollies today & added a little aquarium salt... and had an unexpected birth of fry).  I also have a different filter.  Instead of one that hangs outside the tank, I have one that submerges in the tank.  I got this filter because it's quieter (and I can't sleep with loud noise at night).
(Why are you adding salt to this tank? Sure the mollies like it, but the tetras and catfish won't. Salt is redundant in a properly run aquarium. Mollies are basically incompatible with most community fish. They need either pristine freshwater (less than 20 ppm nitrate) or brackish water. You have neither.>
My current water temperature averages 76 Fahrenheit.  I set up this new tank just like the 10 gal -- I let it run a week before adding fish, except this time I didn't use any of the cheap 10 cent fish after a week, I just transferred my original fish.  My algae-eater is now 5" long ("Sardine's" the largest thing in the entire tank).  I feed my fish freeze-dried bloodworms, shrimp pellets and an algae chip for "Sardine" -- my original fish stopped eating flakes after a while, so I switched to bloodworms to get them to eat again (are they being picky?)
<Don't expect fish to eat one food, day in, day out. Cycle them. Give bloodworms one day, flake the next, some veggies the third, and so on.>
All the other fish seem fine, I'm at a loss at what exactly I did wrong to incur so many losses in such a rapid time.  I don't want to lose any more fish and don't really have the time to constantly return to the pet store.
<1. Do a nitrite/ammonia test. 2. Don't add any more fish until everything is settled down and the fish are happy. 3. Don't buy any fish for a while; buy a nice aquarium book instead. 4. Go buy some more fish now you've read up on what would be compatible, but just a couple, so you don't overload the filter and give everything time to re-adjust. Cheers, Neale>

A very new fish owner. FW, ich, cycling     2/23/07
Dear Crew,
<Stacy>
I am really having a hard time keeping fish.  I believe that the 6 neon tetras that I bought 5 days ago now have Ich.  I've been all over the web and, admittedly, have found tons of information.  However, everything is so confusing!
<Let's see if we can make all clear/er>
Here are the facts:  
My tank is a 6-gallon tank.
<First source of trial here... small volumes are difficult to keep stable...>
I had my water tested (I managed to kill 4 other fish a couple of months ago by overfeeding and kept the water - I did a 50% water change, rinsed all of the ornaments, let the water sit for a day, and then bought new fish).
<... not likely cycled... Are you familiar with aquatic biological filtration?>
The fish currently in the tank are:  2 small orange fish (not goldfish, but I don't know the name!) and 6 neon tetras.  
Now, the neon tetras have white spots all over them.
<Does "sound" like ich>
I also bought a small algae eater the same day, but he died yesterday (not enough algae in the tank?
<Perhaps... could be that the system is simply not cycled...>
No one at the store advised me about algae fish food).  Maybe the ich?
<Perhaps>
I have an aerator, a filter with a bio-wheel and a water heater.  The temp stays at about 81degrees F.
Please help!  
With care,
Stacy Menendez
Desperate fish owner
P.S.  I have two children - they're 5 & 7 - and it's killing me for them to see these fish die!
<Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
and here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwich.htm
and the linked files above... You likely need to add a bacteria culture or other source (see the articles) for useful material to rectify the environmental troubles here... and I would just elevate the temperature (to the mid 80's F.) to rid the ich... for now... READ soon... Bob Fenner>

Re: A very new fish owner   2/23/07
Thank you so much!  I've been told that I should definitely take the fish back too.  Since I got them 5 days ago, there's a chance that the ich came
from the store.
<Of a certainty, it did>
You are very generous with your advice.  Thank you again.
Stacy
<Welcome. BobF>

Bubbles? - 02/09/2007
I have a small ten gallon fresh water tank for my daughter. It is about a month and a half old. For some reason fish continue to die. I test the water regularly and the only area that seems to be of even the slightest concern is the hardness.
<Mmm, how hard... what species of fishes?>
All other areas fall under the recommended norms.
<Need values...>
Before the fish die they always seem to develop what look like tiny bubbles on their sides, fins and amongst their tails and fins.
<Mmm...>
The fins and tails appear almost matted as well. I had a Chinese algae eater in there after about three weeks but it died also.
<Wow... this is a very tough animal generally>
I started with two guppies and one is still around. However two more have died. After several weeks I added two more small community fish, I can't remember what type right now, but one has survived and seems in good health, but another just died recently. Any ideas?
<Mmm, all sorts... but need more data... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdis3setsfactors.htm
And get back with me re what stirs your consciousness here. Bob Fenner>

2 Angelfish,1 Platy with clamped fin--what's the cause/cure?  1/26/07
Hey all,
<Dave>
I’ve been a long time lurker (I’ve learned a ton from this site) but I haven’t been able to find an answer to this anywhere, so now I’m posting.  I have 2 adult angelfish in a 30 gal freshwater community aquarium with a few platies, tetras, and a couple new yo yo loaches (added just 2 days ago).  I change out 5 gal of water every 2 weeks (last change was this Sunday) and test the water conditions weekly, everything looks fine as far as the water’s concerned and I haven’t done anything differently over the last 8 months that I’ve had this tank.
Let me start back 2 days ago (same day I added the loaches).  One angelfish began to gasp at the surface
<Mmm, likely more related to the water change... best to (nowadays) pre-condition, store new water for a week or so before using... Not the loaches influence>
(it looked like at least, I don’t know if she got any air) but otherwise was fine.  I noticed it more yesterday so I tested the water (fine) and changed out about 5 gals.  I figured they needed more aeration so today I picked up a powerhead and placed it in the corner of the tank.  After sitting in front of the tank to watch the fish in the current I noticed that both Angelfish were now holding their right-side fins close to their bodies.  They will use them if they need to move quickly, but if they’re just hanging out the fins are held close to their sides.  Their side fins are frayed slightly at the ends, I think because they nip on each other a little but I am not positive as their main top/bottom/tail fins all look excellent (and move freely).  Also, their clamped side fins are red near the base, where the muscle attaches to the fin.  I decided to feed them to see how their appetite was doing, both appeared hungry but the gasping one barely ate and seemed a little confused near the surface—she would look at the food and then let it drift on by.  Also, I noticed yesterday a platy (been in the tank for at least 2 months) was resting on the bottom of the tank and was clamping its fins as well, but it’s body is black so I cannot see any discoloration.
Any ideas?  Could the loaches have brought in a new disease that could progress this far in 2 days?
<Mmm, unlikely... but a remote possibility>
I’ve read that clamped fin could be caused by parasites, maybe I should invest in a hospital/quarantine tank and treat the angels/platy?  Any info would be greatly appreciated.
<Hard to decide here... on whether to suggest a sort of pre-emptive treatment for possible infectious or parasitic disease... or to advise you to wait out what is likely really only a situation arising from environmental challenge... Have you, had you tested for nitrogenous wastes, pH... What did these tell you?>
Thanks,
-Dave
<Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdis3setsfactors.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Freshwater ick? Not likely  - 1/22/07
Hi folks,
<Jennifer>
First off, thanks for all of the great info you offer on your website! I've been an avid reader since I started the hobby a few months ago.
I think I have an outbreak of ick in my 29 gallon freshwater tank. I haven't introduced anything new to my tank for about a month.
<Yes... FW Ich can "rest" indefinitely...>
The tank has been up for about 3 months. Right now I have 3 platies, 6 penguin tetras, 3 panda Corys, 2 spotted Corys, 3 dwarf gouramis, 3 Oto catfish and a rainbow shark. I just noticed that one of the platies has a white, round, fuzzy growth under her bottom lip. It seems bigger than the pictures of ick that I have seen online so I'm not sure it is ick.
<Mmm, no... likely a "secondary" bacterial infection, following some sort of physical trauma... a bump, jump into something>
Maybe a fungus or something? The water parameters have been stable and pretty good (nitrates at 5, nitrites at 0, ammonia at 0) except for some unknown reason the pH started dropping in the past week.
<Natural... can be, likely should be countered with just partial water changes (maybe weekly) with water that has some degree of alkaline reserve>
The guy at my LFS told me that instead of purchasing a pH upper, I could just use pure baking soda to raise the pH and stabilize the alkalinity.
<This is so>
So I did that, and added some dissolved baking soda (about a teaspoonful as per the guy's recommendation) to the tank
<Not directly... should be introduced, dissolved in new water during a change-out>
which has helped the pH situation. That was this morning. The other change that I made recently was about a week ago I switched from the filter that came with my tank to a Penguin Bio-Wheel filter. Could that have been the cause of the pH drop?
<Mmm, not likely... pH drops are mainly due to reductive/acidic (natural) activity...>
Could that have stressed my fish too much and caused the outbreak?
<A possibility, yes>
I have some aquarium salt on hand so I was hoping that I could use that to treat as soon as possible as the stores are all closed by now.
<Mmm, not much... the Corydoras and Tetras don't "care" for this>
However, I've read that salt can be dangerous to some catfish and I was worried about my Corys and the Otos. I tried to read more about the salt treatment by clicking on the link in one of your FAQ's but the link wouldn't work for me and kept saying that the page had a fatal error.
<Mmm, could you send along the specific URL/page...?>
Is there another page you could recommend to read up on the salt treatment?
<I would just read the FAQs on the one there. There is no article as yet as far as I recall>
Will my cats be okay with the salt?
<I wouldn't add more>
If it isn't ick but rather is a fungus of some sort will the salt help or hurt it?
<Should help>
Should I raise the temperature in addition to the salt or is that going to be too much stress on the fish at once?
<To the low 80's F. should be fine>
Thanks so much for all of your help!
Jen
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>

Prophylactic treatment    1/10/07
Hello Crew,
<Hey Eric, JustinN with you today.>
Thanks for answering my past questions and thanks again for taking the time to read this one ( and hopefully answer it ).
<Thanks for the kind words, we answer all that we receive (when our mail server troll doesn't consume them!)>
I quarantine all new additions to my tank ( learned the hard way a couple of years back ) for a couple of weeks at the minimum.
<Good to hear. We all learn the hard way at some point in time.>
Initially I treat them prophylactically with a regimen recommended by a fellow aquarist who works in ichthyologic research. He recommends ( after I told him that I lost a batch of cardinal tetras in quarantine ) that I treat new additions prophylactically with the following regimen - Nitrofurazone ( I use Furan-2 as per instructions which are one tablet/10 gallons every other day for four days with a water change after each 2nd dose), followed by malachite green ( as per dosage on bottle ) for three treatments every other day. He also recommended ( especially for cardinals ) an anti-bacterial food and an initial bath in Praziquantel if available. I always like to get additional opinions before making a decision so what do you think of this regimen ?
Thanks,
Eric
<This sounds like a very harsh regimen of unnecessary medications. I much prefer the idea of perhaps a quick methylene blue dip en route to an extended quarantine (3-4 weeks) to watch for any signs of ill effects, and then only after diagnosis follow with proper treatment. It just seems to me you're forcing the new additions to harden up in potentially toxic conditions, surely making the task harder. After the rigors of shipping and changing of hands, these little guys could usually sure use some TLC (tender love and care) when they first reach you! Hope this helps you! -JustinN>

New Tank Crashed, No Quarantine Tank, Bad Advice   1/7/07
Hello. My name is Pip. I am rather concerned about my fish in my tropical tank.
I have a 36in long glass tank, with an undergravel filter, internal power filter, heater, light, plants (real) and several fish. My tank is fairly new. I set it up at the end of November with the help and advice of my local aquaria store and several books, some that I bought and some from the library. I like to read up on a subject to do with animals before I actually start keeping them, so that I more or less know what I'm doing, and doing it right.
< Very commendable.>
My aquar store, told me to set it all up, get it up and running and leave it for a week to settle before introducing any fish, which I did.
< Really you only need to let it set up for a day or so to check that the heater and other equipment are working properly.>
Then as suggested by them I introduced 5 white cloud mountain minnows, one of which I'd had on his own for about 4 years, and 5 leopard danios, as they are hardy fish and would help with the nitrogen cycle. At the same time I also bought a few test kits, i.e. ammonia, pH, nitrite, GH and KH, and a nitrate kit, which I used every few days to make sure everything was fine. Within a week, the ammonia was 0, and the nitrite was 0, and the nitrate was 25 which I was told was ok.
<A tank cycling from scratch in a week is not possible without some introduced bacteria from another tank or possibly the plants.>
I then introduced 2 female and 1 male Siamese fighting fish, which settled in very well. Again tested the water and waited till it was right, then added 2 female and 1 male red dwarf Gouramis a pair of breeding dwarf Gouramis with the blue and orange stripes, male) silver and blue stripes (female), and 2 female and 1 male black balloon mollies. Did the same thing with the water testing then bought a red tailed black shark. Everything seemed fine, and I was told I would be able to buy more fish, so I bought 2 pairs of platys, 4 zebra danios, 5 silver tipped tetra's 10 neon tetra's and 2 bulldog plecs. I always introduced all my fish the way the books said, turning off the lights and floating the bags in the tank to acclimatize for half an hour or so, then I used a net to put the fish into the tank so that I didn't have to tip the water from the bag in incase there was anything not very nice in there. All seemed fine for ages, the fish were eating well, even mating. The temperature was and still is 75. (Which incidentally the mollies and platys are still doing and seem to be gravid). But about just over a week ago I noticed that one of my leopard danios seemed to have bulging eyes, which I thought might be pop-eye, so I bagged her up and took her to my dealer for confirmation and to buy a remedy. He confirmed it for me and gave me a med that would treat that as well as dropsy, which I read can also cause bulging eyes, but she didn't seem to be bloated. Then I noticed some of my other leopards and minnows started to look bloated and pop-eyed too, so I treated the whole tank for dropsy carefully as the instructions said and got a smaller tank with some other meds that were sold to me to dip the fish in for 20 min.s or so, which I did, and gradually, one by one I began to lose them. I was very disappointed because I also lost Minnie, my 4 year old minnow. Gradually, 2 of my minnows seemed to recover, and become less bloated and bug eyed, though they are looking a bit tattered as their scales were a mess, though they are beginning to look a little better now and are still eating, though they are the only two minnows I have left now, both females. One of my leopard's has recovered, but doesn't appear to be eating. I have 3 of those left, the other two escaped the disease. Now some of my neon's are beginning to look bloated, I found one half eaten on the tank bottom about 4 days ago and promptly removed it, and two days ago another went missing, which I haven't found. To top that, 1 leopard that escaped dropsy and 1 silver tipped tetra both look like they may have tail rot. I'm not sure if it is rot or if they've been nipped, the others are fine though, so I've put them both together in my spare tank to keep an eye on them, I don't want to treat them for fin rot in case it isn't that, so I'm just watching to see if their tails begin to regenerate. One of my back balloon mollies had what looked like whitespot all over her mouth, eyes and sides of her head, and looking closely some of the smaller fish, leopards and silver tips seem to have the odd one or two as well, so I treated the tank for that yesterday (not at the same time as for dropsy, that was about a week ago), most of my mollies spots have gone now, but some are still there, as are the other fishes, the treatment says to use again if necessary 48 hours later, so I will if I need to, but what I don't understand is what I did wrong. My sister has a tropical tank and her dealer said that my problem was called 'fisherman's run' and would sort itself out, that doesn't make me feel any better, I don't want to give up, but I sometimes feel like it, I'm determined not to cos I love the hobby, what should I do? Is my tank still going through it's maturation process?
I tested the tank yesterday and the pH is 7.6 (which has been the same since the start) GH was 9/180 and KH was 4/40 ( which is quite soft compared to what it usually is which is around 6 or 7) Nitrite was 0, Nitrate was 25 which was 10 for quite a while and ammonia is 0.I also have a smaller tank set up of guppies with 5 pregnant females, though I'm not sure what the gestation period is or when to move them to a breeding tank, they're all fine though, though their KH is 5/50 which was usually 6 7 or 8.
I'm really sorry to be bothering you with this very long epic, but I felt that I had to tell you the details so that you could maybe help me see what I'm doing or have been doing wrong. Thank you for your time and patience. Yours desperately Pip.
<If you really read up on all those books you might have discovered that it usually takes about 30 days to cycle a tank unless some bacteria were added or an additive like Bio-Spira was added to the tank to get things going. You should have placed the fish you had for four years in the tank, since you knew it was disease free. Additional fish could have been purchased but placed in a quarantine tank for at least two weeks. Diseased fish could be treated in the QT tank and not affect the main tank. When you medicated the main tank it probably affected the biological filtration in the tank and you may have had ammonia spikes that have stressed the fish. Now what to do? Start out by doing a 50% water change, vacuuming the gravel and cleaning the filter. Treat with Nitrofurazone and Metronidazole as per the directions on the packages. raise the water temp to 82 F to treat the ich. Add a teaspoon of rock salt per 5 gallons. When the fish are either dead or cured you can add carbon to the filter to remove any medication. Then add Bio-Spira from Marineland to establish the biological filtration. All future fish need to be quarantined. Lots of current info on this website about quarantining fish. The term "Fisherman's Run", is crap! Find a new fish store.-Chuck>

Hello, hello, my Tiger Barbs are going oh!    11/27/06
Dear fish experts please help,
   <Will try>
  I tried to take pics of my poor poor tiger barbs...but none turned out well enough to bother. My tank is a 40 gallon, I have to
<two?>
very old golden gouramis and 2 old silver dollars and two new ones, a Plecostomus, and I had 6 tiger barbs, Im down to 4...
  Im new at the whole aquarium thing I didn't know about water changes, I wished I had done more research..
<How about now?>
anyhow my tiger barbs were great happy and brought so much life to my tank. after having them for 3 days I wake up to see 2 of them with their mouths and little faces all red and puffy and swollen. No white fuzz or any fin or body problems. but their mouths in very bad shape over night!
  so I ran immediately to the pet store and told them my fishes faces looked terrible like they were falling off, they the women told me to put malefix
<... Melafix? The Melaleuca "tea" leaf extract product from AP>
in the tank and this would fix them up
<No>
and to do a water change before and after 25%.
<Good idea>
I did this 3 days go by. None of them die and they are still trying very hard to eat and seem pretty active, but no change and I notice now 4 have this. so I call a couple pet stores ask when this will start to improve tell them the situation, and they say a week or two, and read the same thing on line. (though I still keep hearing that they should have some white fuzz on them, and they must have been fighting - which neither is the case), anyhow I get worried and they look so horrid, that I risk the worst one to stress and take him and some water into the pet store to test it and look at him.
  I have one guy look at my poor fav fish and make a disgusted face and get the other guy. He says to add Maracyn 2
<Better "shot in the dark" here>
to the tank and keep doing the melafix (that all the melafiz was doing is keeping it from spreading to other fish)...
<Not even this>
he didn't tell me what my fish had and I had to chase him to ask questions...
  so disappointed and 25$ later I get my fish home and they didn't do a water test he said there was no point and it happened because I didn't do a water change soon enough...which he was so condescending I wanted to cry I feel bad enough...
  well I get home return the very ill fish and add the 8 tabs of Maracyn like the guy said, and an hour later my fish died. I knew the stress may get him...
<Yes>
  but then within the next 2 hours another one died, and now I have another Im sure will be dead soon.
  Im sorry, but my question is, what do I do to try and save my poor 4 remaining tiger barbs, and what the heck is this and what can I do to save them, Im so at a loss! I don't want this to happen ever again to any fish I get (which will be a long time).
  please any info, thx so much, I hope you return my email, I need answers. Tammy
<Well... let's start somewhere toward a beginning here Tam... You need to know, supply information re your water quality... pH, ammonia and more are really the likely root cause of your problem here. Please take the time to read on WWM re... starting here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdis3setsfactors.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Losing Fish and a Sick Angelfish  11/16/06
Hello, and thank you so much for providing this valuable resource.
< Thank you for your kind words.>
I've looked through the other queries and haven't seen anything exactly like this.  
I bought a 4 inch tall angelfish (used) from a pet store along with a small blood parrot fish about a month ago for my 55 gallon tank that has been established now for nearly a year. The angelfish adapted immediately with a voracious appetite and I thought all was well.  About a week ago my 6 inch long bala shark kicked the bucket for no apparent reason followed the next morning by (horror) my friend's foot long, 12 year old Pleco.  Both had been acting somewhat lethargic and the Pleco had stopped cleaning algae off the glass, though he would still eat the seaweed paper I put in for him.  I did an emergency 20% water change; nitrates were at around 20 ppm, pH of 7, and no detectable ammonia. So back to the angel, previously the third largest fish in my tank, now sadly the largest, has been swimming listlessly around the tank refusing to eat. (The remaining three lemon tetras, two longfin rosy barbs and parrotfish appear totally unaffected).  I have moved the angel into a smaller 3 gallon Eclipse hospital tank (cringe I know it's pathetic but it is established) and am prepared to treat him for what my internet research tells me may be an internal parasite.  But what should I use?  He's not bloated in anyway, just refuses anything I offer from flakes, to frozen blood worms and brine shrimp.  He also occasionally appears a bit unbalanced, tilting to one side.  I'm really crazy about this beautiful gold angel and am already distraught at having lost my favorite fish from my now emptyish tank. What should I do?
< Do a 50% water change, vacuum the gravel and clean the filter. Treat the angelfish with Metronidazole and Nitrofuranace or Clout in the hospital tank. Feed only once a day and only enough so that all the food is gone in two minutes.-Chuck> <<A bit more explanation offered... I would treat all; the suggested treatment protocol is intended to address the most likely pathogens... and the water change to further dilute metabolites that are likely mal-influencing your livestock. RMF>>

Mysterious Deaths  – 10/24/06
<<Hello, Jamie. Tom with you this morning.>>
Thank you for taking the time to read this e-mail. I have no clue where to start so I'll just try from the beginning.  I'll write in point form.
<<This will work…>>
*My Aunt brought home four small (two inch-ish or less) "gold fish" and a little over a gallon size tank. The fish were not all gold. One had a black spot on it but other than that it was gold. Another was brown on its spine fading to silver towards it's belly. Another was almost all brown and yet another which was all gold.
<<Jamie, my first admonition – and I promise to be very redundant on this point – is that the tank your aunt came home with is 30 times too small for one Goldfish and perhaps 60 times too small for four Goldfish.>>
* Within a week or two, 3 of the 4 fish had died. My Aunt suggested that I overfed them which may be true. The water I used came from out tap which is delivered water that does contain chemicals. I added the solution that came with the kit. It is called "Goldfish Bowl Conditioner" which "Instantly Removes Chlorine", "Neutralizes  Toxic Ammonia" and "Detoxifies Heavy Metals". I added a   
measured amount to the tank and put the fish into the tank. The water was within the range of room temp.
<<No filtration, no “cycling” and conditioner added directly to the bowl. Your fish never stood a chance of surviving. Overfeeding, almost certainly, sped the process up via ammonia poisoning. (You’ll learn about ammonia contamination when you research aquarium cycling…and before you buy another fish, I hope.)>>
* After a few days "GOLDY" the gold fish injured her eye, I think, and was going downhill fast. She was not swimming properly so I decided to put her into our pond to let her go naturally.
<<Her eye wasn’t “injured”. She was suffering from a condition generally referred to as “Popeye” which occurs when a fish is suffering from an internal infection/disease.>>
* In the next week or two, two more fish died leaving me with one fish.
* My aunt then bought me five new fish that are gold and white. They resemble Koi but are just inexpensive gold fish. She also bought an almost two-gallon tank for them to live in. On that same day she purchased two beautiful "goldfish" that have really pretty tails. They are slightly fatter and longer than the other "goldfish".
<<Once again, I must insist that these “containers” are far too small for Goldfish to live in. Goldfish are “messy” in that they produce a great deal of waste. More so than many other fish. In no time whatsoever, the bowl becomes so polluted that the fish may as well be living in a sewer. Additionally, some varieties of Goldfish – Commons and Comets, for instance – grow, if properly housed and cared for, to 12 inches in length. Yes, they may be small now but they’ll remain small in a tiny bowl until they die many years before they should. These fish needs lots of room.>>
* Again, I made the water room temp. and added the conditioner. I have slowed down to feeding them once a day and sometimes once every other day. I feed them regular flake food.
<<A step in the right direction regarding feeding though you need to research the diet that Goldfish need to thrive. Flake food is okay but their diets need variety, as well.>>
* Recently one of the Koi looking fish died. I had noticed that she wasn't doing well. She would just sit at the bottom or float near the top. I put her in a separate container and kept a close eye on her. She didn't eat and would float at the top on her side most of the time. When I poked her (gently to see if she was responsive) she would swim to the bottom the let herself float to the top again. Eventually she died.
<<Sadly predictable…>>
* I awoke to one of my pretty-tailed fish dead one morning. I have no idea at the cause. My aunt said that it looked like it's stomach was a bit bloated so she researched a little and thought that maybe it was constipation. She told me to feed them peas without the skins on them. I didn't. (For lack of responsibility is my guess. I just didn't feel the need or want to do it. I now wish I had.)
<<The fish’s life was in your hands and you “guess” you lacked responsibility? Frankly, I’m certain of it, Jamie.>>
* Today yet another fish of mine died ( the total now is :-(  six) Over the past few days it seemed like he was losing his color but I didn't worry to much about it. I just found him laying at the bottom of the tank. I couldn't see him so I lifted out the artificial rock/bridge thing-y and then he floated to the top. I am not sure if he   
was trapped underneath the rock but I doubt it.
* I have no idea as to what the cause of these number of deaths are. I am hoping you can help me.
<<I/we can if you promise not to purchase another single fish until you’ve done your research. This means researching the proper cycling of an aquarium before you even consider adding a fish to it. It means doing your homework and learning about the size of a tank and the water conditions that your fish require. It means learning about proper filtration and how to maintain the filter properly so you don’t wipe out the beneficial bacteria that live there. All of this information, and much, much more, is available right here on our site.>>
And one final question. I tried feeding Romaine lettuce to the fish today. The pretty- tailed fish ate some of it but I also notice him sucking it in and then spitting it out. Do you think that the lettuce wasn't chopped finely enough?
<<Probably wasn’t to its liking, is all.>>
Thank you for any help.
Jamie in British Columbia
<<If there’s something, anything, that isn’t clear to you while you’re reading through the material on the site, please, don’t hesitate to ask us. And, for what it’s worth, Goldfish aren’t quite the “beginner” fish that most folks seem to think they are. Easily cared for when you have the right information, though. Tom>>

Mystery Disease - 10/22/2006
Hello.
<<Hello, Gabriel. Tom with you.>>
I have had a 10 gallon aquarium for several years, but about 6 months ago, I had to restart it because of a mass die-off. It bounced back and is fine now. At around the same time, I started a 20 gallon tank stocked with 2 platys (male + female), a pair of guppies, a pair of zebra danios, a male dwarf Gourami, and a Corydoras catfish. Now, (about 2 months later) I noticed-first on the male platy, a little bit on the female, and on a goldfish (separate tank but they share tools and water)- the same symptoms. It started as a ring of skin right behind the platy's head that turned white seemed to peel back. The ring filled in with white and began to shrink (good sign?). At about the same time, the same symptoms have appeared on some of my other fish. I don't know if it spread or they all got it simultaneously from some environmental factor.
<<Gabriel, while I haven’t heard of a problem of this sort manifesting itself exactly in the way you describe, peeling skin on fish is often associated with a pH drop or crash. In a nutshell, the water goes from being more basic to acidic in a very short period of time, sometimes in less than 24 hours.>>
This all happened at a horrible time because my female guppy gave birth and I now have 5 little baby guppies who are probably the most susceptible to it. The ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all normal, but in the goldfish tank, the water is slightly cloudy, and in the 20 g tank, the pH is a lot lower than it should be, but at my local pet store, I was told not to use pH altering chemicals and that it would go away on it's own.
<<I agree that using pH altering chemicals would be ill-advised but disagree that it will “go away on it’s own.” Increase the regularity of your water changes and consider a little scientific experimentation by monitoring a sample of your tap water closely over a period of days. If you note a sudden drop in pH in your sample, you can rest assured that the same will likely happen in your tanks. Some municipalities provide water that is better buffered against drops such as these than others. Likewise, the pH levels provided are not always uniform from one period of time to another. I recall one fellow whose pH levels, from the tap, ranged from 6.8 to 8.0. Yow!>>
This is probably coincidental but the female platy is very fat and I couldn't find a gravid spot, but she acts normal and has no dropsy-like symptoms. I have not been able to find anything that sounds like what my fish have, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
<<The new “concensus” regarding pH is to go with what you have from your tap and avoid “toying around” with it as long as it remains stable. Acclimating fish to pH levels outside of their “norm” is considered far less detrimental, in the long run, than possibly setting one’s self up for unwanted, potentially fatal, crashes. Best of luck, Gabriel. Tom>>

Sick or Gravid? - 10/21/2006
First of all, love your website, lots of info and great questions and feedback. <Thanks!>
I have a 20 gallon fish tank.  Use r/o water, been setup for just over two months, everyone (zebra danio, neon tetra, black neon, couple guppies) has done very well and thought I had no problems. I do have a concern now, however, with the Oto. I have only one and was worried that maybe I hadn't enough algae growth for it, so I add a slice of blanched zucchini, leave it for a day and have given it at the closest every 2nd or 3rd day, as I still want to get the tank cleaned. Don't know if it's a male or female, but 'she' was very diligent and was doing a great job. However, as of late she has gotten a large belly, when she's been on the glass, it looks like her belly kind of has rings like a bull's-eye on it, like maybe rings from stretching or something...and sometimes, just balances on things, don't notice her cleaning like she was.  I only have the one, can they have eggs without a male around?  Also, how long is gestation? This has been for quite a while now.  I had noticed she was attached to an underwater diver bubbler I have and I could notice something swaying in the current... like a piece of waste from her without the brown color, just clear or white, like an empty poop.  It was about an inch long,   Another day couldn't see it on her anywhere...then saw it again but quite a bit longer .... 5" or so.  Haven't seen it since and she is still large. Any advice?
Tamara
<Although many female fish can become gravid without a male, the clear poop is a sign on an internal infection. This is a delicate fish when it comes to meds. I would pull her to a algae free tank and feed only medicated flake food. I don't think medicating the water will help. And please, never medicate the main tank. Don>

Betta question / can fish get cancer?  10/7/06
<<Good morning. Tom with you.>>
Can fish get cancer?
<<Short answer? Yes.>>
I've had my betta since May 2002.
<<A long time in Betta-terms...>>
He's had a normal appetite and behaviors, but overnight, between his front side fin.. in front of the fin and face (the part they can flare out) there's a huge lump on the one side.  
<<I would venture that this is not cancerous in nature but more likely the result of an infection/abscess. Consider that cancer, in overly simple terms, is an irregular/abnormal growth of cells. The host's body develops (ironically) additional blood vessels to feed, and remove waste, from these new cells. (When the "waste" removed from the growth contains cells capable of duplicating similar growths elsewhere in the body, the cancer is categorized as malignant. If not, it's considered benign.) The point here is that such a development is unlikely to occur "overnight" while a pathogenic infection very well might produce the lump you've observed.>>
He's swimming upright, and eating, but appetite not as good as yesterday/normal. He's swimming less (but if I didn't feel good, I probably wouldn't either) he moves okay and his color is still vibrant. With a sudden huge lump this got me wondering if a fish can get cancer, or if he has another disorder in light of his age.
<<I would recommend treatment with a product such as Maracyn-Two, which is effective against internal infections. Treatment is best-performed in a hospital tank but I would guess that your Betta is kept alone so this isn't as critical as it would be in a community environment. Follow the directions very closely and pay attention to any collateral effects such as cloudy water that might accompany its use. Might answer some questions for you in advance.>>
Thanks
<<You're welcome and good luck with your pet. Tom>>

Wild Fish Introduces Wild Diseases  9/9/06
Hello! I've read many questions from others on your site in the past, but never have had to write my own before. Though you have vaguely similar cases this time, I believe mine is too different to go by the advice of others'.
In the past 2 months, I had introduced a 'lake fish' (very small, less than the length of a penny) into my community tank. Just in the past 2 weeks, he died. I realized then the horrible mistake that I might have made, by introducing a parasite-ridden lake fish into my tank. After the lake fish's death, I started noticing my fish 'flashing' that is scratching against my tank decor and plants. I consulted my local go-to fish expert, and she gave me QuICK Cure, but told me to add half as much as recommended on the bottle.
I did so for about 4 days, and the itching, I believe, ceased. I lent the QuICK Cure to my boyfriend for use on his tank, and that same day the itching reappeared. So I started treatment again.
My 55 gallon tank currently consists of 4 angelfish (a marble, blushing, pearl, and silver veil-tail), a traumatized parrot (he was in a tank with Oscars, and is very timid), and a black balloon molly. I know it's a strange mix, but I started out with balloon mollies in my 10 gallon, and while the others passed away, I guess it wasn't her time yet. So she made the switch to my 55 gallon.
Then, last night, I realized that my fish were noticeably much less interested in food (bloodworms, cichlid pellets, and flakes) than they normally were. I thought maybe it was because I fed them a couple hours later in the day, and for sure by the next morning they would return to their norm. I also realized my balloon molly was swimming a little funny, not very noticeably, but I watch my fish a lot. I made the prediction that she would die last night or today. I woke up this morning and she was dead in one of my plants (Amazon sword). Also, my fish were still very unenthusiastic about eating.
Then, I noticed that my blushing and marble angelfish have red lines where their side fins attach. And the fish have all been uncharacteristically crowding on the right side of the tank where the filter and heater are. It's baffling, please help!
My pH is 7.2, and I do 20% water changes weekly.
Now I am very nervous that half a dose of QuICK Cure isn't enough... and I'm terrified that my other fish are in danger. I do not know, however, if it might have been my molly's time to go? Please help I am very nervous and very attached to my fish!
< You have bacterial infection. Do a 50% water change, vacuum the gravel and clean the filter. Treat with Nitrofuranace or Kanamycin as per the directions on the package.-Chuck>

Fish Dying No Clues  - 09/02/06
Dear Chuck! Good Evening!  I am sorry to bother you yet again, something is terribly wrong, I have spent the last few hours searching your site, and I am not sure what is happening.  I found the missing fish this morning, dead, and it appeared to be covered with white fuzzy stuff, when I got home early this evening, Benjamin was also dead, as were two other platies, the last three did not have the same white stuff on them, I did a little less than 50% water change, and added two teaspoons of salt, with the conditioner and cycle, do you think it is Velvet? or Ick?
< The new fish probably introduced a new parasite to the tank. This is why we recommend quarantining all new fish. The white fuzzy stuff is a fungus that only attacks dead or dying tissue and not a problem for healthy fish.>
It is happening so quickly, the other fish seem fine, but so did the ones that are dead now?  I realize it is a disease, or fungal infection, what would you suggest I be doing to treat the tank, if anything right now?  Thank you for your time and your thoughts, Charlie
<Before blindly treating the tank we need to identify the problem. Look at the rest of the living fish very closely for signs of disease. Clamped fins, white spots, sunken bellies are all signs that something is going on. Digital photos os sick fish also help with the diagnoses. If photos are not possible than a detailed description of what you are seeing will help.-Chuck>

Mysterious Fish Deaths   8/31/06
Hi Crew. I'm really hoping you might help me solve a problem. I have a 500 ltr system which appears to running smoothly. All centralized. Filtration
seems to be fine. The nitrites and ammonia levels read 0 ppm and nitrates are low at maybe 10-20ppm. However I seem to be losing the odd fish for no apparent reason. There seem to be no tell tale signs.. One min. they are fine.. then one is dead. The only thing I can think of short of some
weird disease is that in the top tanks there seems to be microbubbles.
Not in all of them only the ones where the tap does not agitate the water, i.e. where the water flows smoothly out of the tap. This changes
each day, might be one tap one day and another the next. I just wondered whether these microbubbles could be the cause of death? I.e. them getting stuck in the gills of the fish or something. One that died did have a few bubbles on his face that came off when he was alive after I moved
him with a net, he didn't seem ill at that point.. was happy as any of the others. Some of the fish are opening and closing their mouths a fair
amount.. but not what I could really call gasping at all and certainly not at the surface etc. Any suggestions or advice? I seem to be losing one fish a day/ two days and that's not good I think. Although this may be because of stress after they came in. I had a shipment of a lot of fish but the water has checked out fine so I don't think it is an overload problem. Is it common place to lose a certain percentage of fish whenever you have a bath in? Thanks Rob
< New fish that have been transported a great distance usually are exposed to high ammonia levels. This ammonia fries the gills and fins of the fish. The damaged gills are no longer able to absorb the same amount of oxygen as normal gills and the fish always struggle to get their breath. Another problem could be gill flukes. Isolate a tank with the problem and treat with Fluke-Tabs, then see if they get better. Ich or ich type of parasites could also be involved. Sometimes you can't see them but they attack the gills and cause problems. Clout would take care of both the flukes and the ich. It is worth a try. In the future I would recommend that you quarantine any new fish and correct any disease problems before you place them in an established system.-Chuck>

Fish Flashing and Stringy Feces in Some Tanks at LFS - Is this Common for LFS's or Should I Buy Elsewhere?   8/2/06
Hi Crew,
<Cindy>
I have been fish keeping African Cichlids a little over 3 years now.  I've grown from one 50 g. tank to a total of 6 tanks.  I get my livestock from a local high end independent retailer.  As my hobby has grown, I find myself spending more and more time at my LFS buying supplies.  I'm there once or twice a week.  I enjoy looking at the fish and visiting with the fish guys while I'm there.  Every time I've been there, over the past 6 months, I've noticed problems in a few of their fish tanks.  I'll see several tanks that have fish flashing, maybe a tank with fish rocking, and I always see a few fish here and there with stringy feces more than triple their size that
won't seem to detach.  Is this common of all fish stores?
<Way too common, yes... There are myriad, continuous health issues in retail and wholesale settings in the aquatic livestock business... too much "mixed" life that goes un-rested, un-quarantine, untreated and mis-treated...>
Am I just becoming more aware, or should I be looking for another store for future livestock?
<I strongly encourage you to "shop around", to take on all aspects of providing preventative measures wherever you purchase new livestock>
I see this store occasionally take back large fish that have outgrown someone's tank and immediately after temperature acclimation, release them into tanks with breeder livestock.  I realize they only have a limited number of backroom quarantine tanks, but I would expect fish coming from someone's unknown tank conditions to be quarantined before introduction to other livestock purchased from distributors.
<This source of trouble pales in comparison with the weekly coming and going of shipped wild and distant-cultured stocks... there are seasonal and permanent pandemics that one can identify in our interest...>
I heard it can even be dangerous for a LFS to mix livestock from multiple distributors.
<Yes>
  The fish from one distributor have been exposed to and built immunity to certain bacteria while the fish from the other distributor have been exposed to different bacteria.
<One way of viewing, stating this... it's more "their" systems that have expressed immunity if you will... akin to "A boy in a bubble"... Realize that almost to a one, more than 100% of all the stock goes through any given wholesaler/jobber/distributor's systems weekly...>
  When you combine the fish, and the bacteria they carry, you risk illness as they cross contaminate each other with bacteria
they have no built in resistance to.
<Nor much chance/opportunity to develop/acquire such>
What should someone look for when selecting a good LFS to purchase their livestock?
Cindy
<The bazillion dollar question. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdis3setsfactors.htm
and the linked files above... Much to state here, and thank you for this prompting. Bob Fenner>

Several diseases??? I'm clueless!!   7/26/06
Hi, my name is Kathryn and I live in Texas. I recently began keeping fish and thought I had done pretty well on researching species and diseases and water treatments and so forth, but apparently not!   This may be hard for me  to explain but I will try to keep it short.
I have a 72 gallon bowfront aquarium that has been in use since May 20ish.  
Livestock is:
5 gold Gouramis
4 blue Gouramis
5 zebra danios
3 Kribensis cichlids
3 Dalmatian mollies
4 sunburst? mollies
6 gold barbs
6 cherry barbs
1 pictus catfish
2 albino Corys
1 dojo loach
1 flying fox
1 spotted catfish
6 small guppies
1 male Betta
    I know this is a lot of fish, but they are all  young and still fairly small, the largest being a gold Gourami at 3 1/2 in., as  they grow I will move some to another tank accordingly.
    I have an undergravel filter set on low and a  Emperor bio-wheel for filtration, and have always kept the water treated with  stress coat and aquarium salt (1 tbs. per 5 gal.) About a month ago I  successfully treated a severe ich outbreak by slowly raising the salt levels over a period of three days and maintaining that for a little over a  week. Since then I have continued to keep a bit more salt than recommended in  the tank. (about an extra 1/2 cup for the entire tank).
Well now it seems I have a few problems....
<Mmm, yes... the salt... will not "treat" indefinitely... has its own drawbacks>
I noticed that both the loach and fox began glancing rather severely a couple weeks ago. a few other fish have glanced slightly, but not much. Now several of my other fish, the Dalmatians and the pictus
<This catfish is quite sensitive to most dye and metal medications>
and a couple  Gourami have bulging eyes. Then the loach
<Ditto>
and fox pretty much slowed down  on the glancing after a filter change, but my fox has what appear to be nicks or  tiny wounds on his back, about 3 or 4 of them. (possibly bites????,
<Possibly>
maybe  bacteria?)
<Doubtful, but possible>
and when he rests his dorsal fin stays clamped. And just a few days  ago I noticed the loach has what appears to be a brown mole on his underside,  about an inch past his mouth on his stomach. also little brown spots on his  body, but I don't know if those were already there or not. Could any of this be  salt burn?  
<Of a sort, yes... osmotic stress...>
I bought some tetracycline but am hesitating to use it since I  don't know for sure what is best for my fish!!!!    
<Is not>
All fish are eating and breathing normally.
PLEASE HELP I'M SO LOST!!!!
I appreciate your time and patience so much!!!
Kathryn G.
<"When, where in doubt; water changes"... Please read here re FW Ich: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwich.htm
the linked files above, and elsewhere on WWM re salt use... You have a mix of organisms that are not entirely "very" compatible in terms of temperament and water quality type... Much to relate re... You would do well to read up re each of the listed (and future purchases) requirements, compatibility. Bob Fenner>

Re: Several diseases??? I'm clueless!!   7/27/06
I just wanted to thank you for the quick response! I am very relieved that it does not appear to be any illness I was unaware of. I will lower the salt levels
<Good>
and bump up my water change from 10% weekly to 20% and see what happens.
<Even better>
I'm very glad I checked with you before ignorantly dumping medications into my  aquarium.
<I as well>
This web site has been a great help to me as a beginner in fish keeping (occasionally it is a bit hard to navigate, the archives can be daunting)
<And will become more so with time... I'm a feared... Perhaps the intuitive software that's a-coming will make all this less so... Do wish I could do something akin to a/the "Vulcan mind-meld" with folks... in time...>
but  the most informative I have found so far.
<Ahhh!>
Thank you again for your time and for providing a link to make my search much easier.
Kathryn G.
<We become one my friend. Thank you. BobF>

Is it velvet? stress? or something else?  7/14/06
Hello,
<Hi there>
        I will make this brief as I know you are all busy. I apologize if this is covered somewhere but I have read all morning and I'm still not sure what to do!
<Oooh, I can't wait, literally, for the vocal interface twixt these devices... To heck with keyboards... and much more intuitive "search tools"... can you?>
        Set up is       29g freshwater
                            whisper 30 power filter
                            temp usually 78 to 80F (82F now)
                            salted minimally (about 2 tablespoons)
<? For what reason, purpose?>
                            running with fish for 8 weeks
                            ammonia    0
                            nitrite    0
                            nitrate barely 20
                            GH  150
                            KH   120
                            pH    7.8
                            1 female rainbow platy, 2 (1M 1F) pot bellied mollies, 2 Cory cats, 3 white skirt tetras
<These last don't "like" salts>
                            3 weeks ago we lost a female platy to dropsy.
<Symptom... what cause?>
That was when I added the salt and started presoaking the food.
<Ahh, I see>
I have never added anything except that salt and Cycle
<Not a big fan of this Hagen product... almost never functional>
to my tank. The tank has been cleaned and had 40%
<Mmm, too much/%... Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2ochgs.htm
"and the linked files above".>
water changes weekly since the cycle completed...last time was yesterday.
                            Finally to my problem. My platy is glancing on the substrate and plants and this morning I noticed her rubbing against the mollies as well. I can't see anything on her but she does have a slight gold cast. I noticed that weeks ago and thought it was just her coloring. She is mostly white with black fins and tail and a small amount of red orange on her tail. The white part of her body shows blue green iridescence in the light and has a yellow cast otherwise. My point being that I can't tell if she has this "dusting of gold" that indicates velvet. She defiantly
<And definitely?>
has no white spots and she is eating and acting normally other than the glancing and I've noticed that she has spent a little more time than usual very near the top of the tank just hanging out, not gasping or anything. The tetras are fairly new and frisky and I thought she may have just been a little stressed by them... though it seems they were trying to school with her more than harm her. They really only nip each other. Also she dropped some fry about 2 weeks ago. I found 9 so far,  8 are in a small plastic breeder that floats in the tank and the other I found yesterday when cleaning and couldn't catch the little bugger! There could be more I seem to find some every time I vac. I'm not sure how many she had we were away when she had them. Interestingly, the 2 I found yesterday that have been in the tank are almost twice the size of the ones in the breeder tank...which brings me to the second part of my problem. I set up a tank yesterday for the fry. A 6g Eclipse carbon pad, bio wheel, etc. I figured I'd put the fry in it when it was finished cycling and later use it for a QT / hospital tank. I added Cycle,
<Sub BioSpira for this... trust me>
a silk plant, a small cave, and a few handfuls of substrate from my main tank to get it started.
<Oooh, good move>
When I noticed the platy glancing last night I raised the temp in the small tank to 84F and figured I'd watch her for more symptoms thinking, I could always put her in the new tank if things got bad for her. It is not ideal I know, but at least I could protect the other fish and the fry. I'm sorry I'm not keeping to my promise of being brief. I will conclude.
<Let's wrap this sucker up!>
                    This morning, when I noticed her rubbing against the mollies I got nervous and salted the small tank excessively ( 2 tablespoons) and put her in it. I am monitoring her closely as well as the water chemistry( right now it is the same as the large tank). She seems very relaxed now, swimming regularly and checking everything out. Also she has not glanced once since she was put into this tank!!! So, what is the problem?
<Mmm... very likely "environmental stress"... too much change... too often...>
With no other symptoms I don't want to medicate and wouldn't anyway until I know for sure what the deal is. Could it be velvet?
<Could, but highly unlikely... This protozoan really "whacks 'em" if present... all would be dead within a few hours to days>
Is the goldish yellow cast normal for her coloring or is that velvet?
<Much more likely the former>
Could she just be recovering from the stress of birthing or the tetras?
<Yep>
Does glancing always mean a problem?
<Nope. Some is "natural"... to be expected... akin to our scratching...>
She has been in the small tank for about 6 hours and has eaten and is acting normally now... no clamped fins, no rapid breathing. I first noticed the glancing right after the water change could that be what caused it?
<Oh yes!>
My inclination is to keep her in the small tank and watch her to see if anything develops but I am very concerned that it is not cycled.
<Mmm, the moved gravel should "do it"... along with careful, low feeding>
I don't want the stress of bad water chemistry to make her sicker, but I also don't want to risk losing all of my fish. She is a beautiful fish and one of my first, losing her would be awful but to lose her and all her fry much worse.
                The only other thing is that I noticed some small white buggy things swimming near the bottom of the small tank.
<Don't worry re these either>
They are the size of a pin head. I noticed them because this tank is mostly bare and I was looking so hard at my platy they caught my eye. They could be in the large tank too but would be much harder to see on the substrate. I read somewhere that they are copepods (sorry not sure of that spelling) and actually good for the tank as they eat brown algae and fish like to eat them. They sure make good fry food anyway. So, maybe they are not what I think they are and worthy of note.
<Are worthwhile to mention, and no problem>
My longwinded brief problem may be nothing more than me being paranoid, but I just would rather be safe than sorry. Thank you in advance for any help/ info you can give,
Heidi
<Bob Fenner>

Re: High Mortality Rate, FW, poss. Hexamita/Octomita  - 07/03/04
Thank you for responding so quickly.  The treatment we used contained was Parasite Clear Tank Buddies which includes the following ingredients:
Praziquantel; N-[[(N-Chlorophenyl) amino] carbon 1]-2,6-difluorobenzamide; Metronidazole; acriflavine.
<Correct>
Is Metronidazole different from Metronidazole/Flagyl?
<Mmm, no. This is the same compound... two different names>
Could part of our high death rate being caused by not changing the carbon filter enough?
<Not really likely... perhaps a small contributing factor>
We change it about every 2-3 months.  However, our water quality always seems to be good.
- Molly
<How to state this... There are many such qualities for which there are no tests, little practically known... re their effects alone, in synergism with other factors... Bob Fenner>

Bending fish  6/29/06
Dear Crew
What causes spinal bending in fish (lordosis)? I have rainbow trout in a large outdoor pond and they can have bends like boomerangs.
Thanks
Jon
<Such bending can be a result of poor nutrition, infectious disease (e.g. Myxosoma... "Whirling"...), even stray electricity in the water... Other lesser "causes" include aspects of water quality, genetic anomalies. If you intend to consume these fishes, or enter into this body of water, I would have this investigated. Bob Fenner>

Exploding fish.... News at Eleven! 6/26/06
<<Tom here.>>
I'm fairly new to fishkeeping and sadly not doing well. So far, two of my fish have died of, well, they exploded. Just without warning. I have no idea what's going on or whether it's my fault...
<<Hmmm... (Not going to touch this one! Oh, I would but, then I'd get fired...) Tom> :)>>

Anchorworm? Reading? Incompatible FW mix, poor advice   6/24/06
Please help!
  I recently purchased 3 young red balloon platys from the local petshop (I also bought 3 black mollies and 3 cardinal tetras and have them all together in the same 10g tank).
<... these three types/species of fishes "like" very different water quality... they're therefore not (very) compatible>
When I put them into my quarantine tank I noticed that two seemed healthy and one had a whitish worm-like growth protruding from the underside of its fin. All 3 ate well and appeared happy but then 1 died 2 days later.
  The fish with the protrusion is still alive but today seems sluggish.
  I asked the petstore about it and they told me that it was common and to pull it out with tweezers.
<?! common?>
This is a small fish and I am unsure how to proceed.
<This will/would likely kill the fish>
  Do you recommend the same thing? Should I separate this fish from the others? Will my tank need any special treatment?
  Thank-you
  Renay
<... Please go to our homepage: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/
See the Google search tool/tray at the top left?
Put in the term "Anchorworm", and read...
And put in the common name of these fishes and read. Bob Fenner>

Dead Three-spot Gourami (Bob Fenner) Hey, I'm still alive!    5/28/06
Thank you for the quick response, Mr. Fenner!
<Welcome>
From what I understand then, instead of trying to 'treat' my fish that look sick, I should first make sure I know what's wrong with them? Because that's excellent advice and I feel like an idiot!
<Not an idiotic statement at all... Au contraire! Yes to the very important steps of careful observation and patience>
I do have another question though: If I had left him alone to adjust, would it have been likely he would have survived?
<Not able to state/guess... many such problems do resolve themselves on their own. It is my estimation that much more livestock is "bumped off" than dies, by "mis-medication", treatments by well-meaning aquarists, than by "natural causes". Bob Fenner>

Boatloads of problems, trying to cope! Guppy disease/s, Neon Bloating, Imported fishes and Flagyl  - 05/22/2006
Hello,
<Hi there>
Wonderful site you have here.  Thank you for the resource.  I have combed it thoroughly over the last little while and have had some successful results with other problems, but now I am facing a few fish troubles I can't resolve and desperately need some help.
Unfortunately, this may be a big one as  I have two tanks; one 96 Litre and one 54 Litre tank.  Both are planted.  The relevant parameters for both tanks are:
96L:
pH 7.5
NitrItes: 0 ppm
NitrAtes: 12 ppm
KH: 6 dH
GH: 9 dH
Temp: 24 C
54L:
pH 7.5
NitrItes: 0.3 ppm
NitrAtes: 12 ppm
KH: 6 dH
GH 10 dH
temperature: 26 C
<No ammonia in either/both I take it>
I'll discuss the large tank first.  
In the 96L tank I keep guppies, platys, Corys and apple snails (Pomacea bridgesi).  I have noticed that the guppies have started flashing.  It is more than the "once per second" rule.  This has continued for about a week now.  I have not treated with malachite green (snails in the tank) nor have I added aquarium salt.  I have been observing the behaviour, as I mentioned, for about a week.  As of yet, I have seen no sign of ich, velvet or any visible "hangers-on" parasites.  
<Might be environmental...>
First question: I am wondering what the flashing could be about?  I think the water parameters are quite alright and I have no visible evidence of parasites.
<For what you list test wise and can see, yes>
  Consequently I am baffled.  Also, if needed, could I add aquarium salt to the tank even though it contains snails and Corys?  If so, at what concentration?
<Mmm, not much salt... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/saltusefaqs.htm>
Second issue: I purchased 3 brilliant yellow guppies to attempt to "rescue" them as they were a little under the weather at the fish shop.
Guppy #1 swims in one position at the top of the tank and exhibits white stringy faeces.  Fins are not really clamped per-se, but maybe a little.  He will swim for hours in the same position at the top of the water, other than that, there is no visible sign of problems with him.  Abdomen does not look particularly bloated.  He will not take food.  Wondering if this is simple constipation or something more sinister in the works?
<Is possible there is a problem here... perhaps protozoal... that might call for a one-time treatment with Flagyl/Metronidazole...>
Guppy #2 has improved over the last day.  He has what looks like a tiny red blood blister on his tail.  There is also a split in his tailfin.  He is now swimming with the other guppies in the tank and eating a little bit.  He also had what looked like an abrasion on his head.  I treated him with Sera Baktopur for this (30 minute dip upon arrival and a couple of successive 30 min dips).  Should I be doing something further for this guy?
<Not at this juncture. More such exposure may be more harm than beneficial>
Guppy #3 I am the most concerned about.  He has what looks like blood under his scales near his head.  He hangs out on the bottom of the tank quite a lot - he actually "rests" on the bottom.  Occasionally he will swim up near the top of the surface and stay there for 20 min.s or so.  Will not take food.  In all cases, he looks like he is gasping, not super-heavy gasping, but I can tell this is what he is doing through comparison with other fish.  I think over the last 24 hours the red spot has decreased in size (hard to tell exactly), but he still maintains the laying on the bottom posture.  Wondering if this is hemorrhagic septicemia?  If so, what do you advise treatment with?  I am in Switzerland, so if you can suggest a Sera brand product that would be great (seems to be all they have here), otherwise I will need a chemical name.
<How to make this known... Poecilia raised in the orient (where the majority originate now-a-years, are often plagued with such complaints... Quarantine, some prophylactic measures are absolutely required... and should be S.O.P. by the trade/wholesaler-importers... but are rarely done... There are seasonal huge guppy die-offs on import, distribution... in the Spring, Fall...>
On to the 54 litre tank.  
In this tank, I keep a Betta, 11 neon tetras (the Betta does not bother or interact with them), 2 cherry barbs, two albino Corys, a small Pleco (was labeled "silure bleu" in the store)
<Unfamiliar with this>
and two freshwater shrimps.  The problem in this tank is with the tetras.  When I feed them flake (Tetra brand) their abdomen bloats up considerably.  Three tetras in particular develop swimming troubles.  They angle downwards about 50 degrees and swim towards the bottom.
<Do switch to non-dried food for a few weeks...>
They seem to "float up" and repeat this type of bobbing behaviour.  It is clear that the fish have buoyancy problems.
<A bit more than this...>
After about 4-5 hours the bloating goes down and they return to normal.  This has been going on for about 5 days now.  Feedings are done more than once per day and in very tiny quantities.  They may get some excess bloodworms that the Betta does not consume, but I am careful about over-feeding.  NitrItes are elevated in this tank because initially I thought the tetras may have had an internal infection and treated the tank with Baktopur.
<See below>
I suspect it impacted the biological filter resulting in the nitrIte rise.  
<You are correct here>
I am doing water changes to keep these down and have added a product called "Nitrivec".  The best I can seem to do at this point (70-75% water change) is to get them to 0.3 ppm.
My question would thus be: what is going on with the tetras?  
Could this be a food issue or is it an internal anatomy problem?
<Both>
They were having this problem before the elevated nitrIte levels, so it is seemingly unrelated to that.
A whole host of problems, I know.  If you can shed some light on even a few of them I would be most grateful!
Regards to the entire WWM crew and thanks in advance for any help!
<Am wanting to relate sufficient information to assist you here in aiding your livestock. Both systems do likely have a protozoal complaint. I would read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/metranidazole.htm
and utilize this powerful compound in these fishes foods... and be very careful re quarantining all new livestock to avoid re-infestation. Bob Fenner>

Re: Boatloads of problems continue... FW dis.   5/28/06
Hi Bob,
<John>
I have the 96L and 54L tanks with the guppy and tetra problems.
I treated the tetras with Flagyl for two doses and I believe there has been some improvement.  I have not witnessed the severe bloating accompanied by swimming difficulty.  Perhaps I have a handle on this problem now.
<I hope so>
Unfortunately, I have a nitrIte problem in this tank now.  I have been doing consistent (twice daily) 50% water changes and I can't seem to get them down.
<The very large changes are highly likely forestalling the establishment of cycling... I'd reduce feeding extremely, use BioSpira, other means of urging this along>
Tank temperature is 78F and I vacuum the substrate and add some concoction of "helpful bacteria" daily, but the nitrItes won't seem to
disappear.
<Most such concoctions are farces... ineffectual>
  This has been going on for a little over a week now.  I guess patience is all I can resort to at this point?
<Mmm, not just this>
I am getting a little concerned because there is a Betta in the tank and his fins are starting to get a little ragged.
<Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
and the linked files above>
The 96L guppy tank is still having troubles.  I have just lost a guppy today and there is another one with a very swollen abdomen.  I will give you a description about the guppy I lost as I believe that there is a common disease that is killing my stock, but I cannot seem to identify it.  Water parameters are:
Temperature: 24 C
pH: 7.5
KH: 6
GH: 9
NitrIte: 0 ppm
NitrAte: 12 ppm
Tank is planted and well aerated.
(Can't test for ammonia, presumed 0 given other parameters)
It starts out that the abdomen of the fish gets gradually swollen.  Either preceding or accompanying this are stringy, white faeces (I did try Flagyl on this group of guppies, but either the sick fish were too advanced in their condition for it to be helpful or it is not working).  Following the initial bloating, somewhere up to 5-7 days elapse before the condition gets even worse.  The scales on the belly start to raise (dropsy, I presume).
<Mmm, yes... but from what cause?>
Then the fish will hang out at the surface a lot, sometimes surface breathing.  Following this period they move away from the surface and begin to hide in plants.  They will not take food.  Soon after - maybe 1 to 2 days later - I observe them having swimming difficulties.  For example, they move about with their head pointed to the top of the tank and their tail to the bottom of the tank.  Movement is carried out using the front fins more than the tail at this point.  Not long after, it becomes clear that the fish is very sick.  Death usually results with much hemorrhaging, "raw spots" on the skin/scales and tail rot; evidenced by red/disintegrating areas on the tail fin.  I have tried treating with acriflavine, but to no avail.  At this point I think treatment is a futile exercise because the condition is too advanced and/or secondary to what is really going on with the fish.
<You are wise here. Do read a bit re the use of Neomycin (sulfate)... or, if you can secure this there, Chloromycetin/Chloramphenicol....>
This tank also has the flashing problem I talked about before.  Is there any possibility that the flashing and the subsequent conditions are related?
<Yes, though not necessarily... sigh...>
Still no sign of ick, anchor worms, velvet, or any visible type of parasite. I am getting concerned that this may pass to all the fish in the tank and it will be a total massacre.  I am also noticing that some of my otherwise normal fish are starting to display "odd behaviour".  Nothing concrete, just small things that give pause for concern...swimming patterns, subtle behaviours, increased hiding, etc...
<Could be resultant from "medicine/treatment" exposure alone...>
Anything, even the smallest suggestion for preventative treatment/some course of action, would be most welcome at this point.
Thanks.
<Do read re the antibiotics mentioned above... this last livebearer trouble smacks of "Columnaris"... we can chat this up, or it is likely more advantageous/timely for you to search WWM, the Net re. Bob Fenner>

Re: Boatloads of problems continue...  5/29/06
Hi Bob,
<<Tom with you this time, John. I'll try to give the Boss a well-deserved break. :)>>
Thanks for the reply.  My thinking was along the same lines.  I don't want to bother you with unnecessary questions, but I had suspected columnaris myself.  However, doesn't columnaris present with either "cottony-like" growths and/or pale areas on the fish?  
<<This is typical and, usually, the "easy" way to identify the disease.>>
I had inspected the guppies that I lost quite carefully for signs of this and did not notice any symptoms of this sort.  Nothing around the mouth, no white lesions or pale areas on the dorsal area.
<<Okay.>>
That being said - the rest of the symptoms seem to be consistent with columnaris - many fish affected, difficulty with successful treatment, fin
damage, etc...
<<Also consistent with Neon Tetra Disease (Pleistophora hyphessobryconis). In fact, Columnaris is often suspected when NTD is the actual culprit. Might explain much here.>>
Can columnaris present like this (i.e.: the absence of the white lesions)?
<<John, each fish can display a little differently. For example, a strong, healthy fish contracting this may display all of the "classic" signs while fighting the disease while a weaker one may succumb before all signs develop.>>
I will look into your suggestions regarding medications and more information.  Thanks.
<<Please defer to Bob's advice here, John. I'm only throwing my "two-cents worth" in to offer a possible alternative for the problems you're experiencing.>>
Currently the remaining fish in the tank look healthy.  I will continue to observe over the next few days and see what happens.
<<Sadly, there's no known cure for NTD and, just as sadly, it's not restricted to its 'namesake' fish. Don't like to bet against myself but, in this case, I hope I'm very wrong. ;) Best of luck. Tom>>
<Tom's answers and follow-ups are so good I'm thinking of changing my name! RMF>

Re: Boatloads of problems continue...  5/31/06
Hi Tom -
<<Hello, John.>>
Thanks for the follow up.  
<<Glad to help.>>
Tonight I have another problem starting with a guppy from the same tank.  I am beginning to fear the onset of an epidemic and/or total massacre of my stock.  Water parameters are unchanged since last time:
pH: 7.5
NitrItes: 0 ppm
NitrAtes: 12 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm (cannot test, chemicals are prohibited here, but presumed 0)
<<I "presume" you're right but let's leave this one on the "back burner".>>
Temp 24 C
KH: 6
GH: 9
No big fluctuations in temp. or pH.  Nothing new added to the tank.
<<Sounds good.>>
I have had one guppy that has had an enlarged abdomen for about a week now.
It has neither gotten larger nor smaller so I had presumed it natural.  He has had stringy white stool so I have treated with Flagyl twice (to make sure the food was eaten) and fed skinless peas.  
<<The order of this should be reversed, John. Clear the tract first and, then, treat with the medication. Let's continue...>>
No change in abdomen size, but possible normal stool (hard to tell sometimes).  
<<Indeed...from personal experience. :)>>
He is active and taking food.  Looks healthy, swims normally and with the group.  However, just tonight I noticed his tail fin has red edges and is no longer a straight line.  That is in small localized areas some of the fin edge has been destroyed.  This has occurred in the last 24 hours.  I have now quarantined him and am treating with acriflavine (all I have at the moment to combat fin rot).  
<<May be secondary, John. Can also be associated with Ammonia burning;
that "back burner" issue. Can't discount too much here. Not likely, however.>>
I am concerned, however, because these signs are consistent with what I observed in the fatal conditions of the three previous guppies I have lost.  This fish does seem somewhat "robust" but in the past that was irrelevant.  
<<Okay.>>
Out of the (now five total) fish affected by this, three have died, one small yellow fish has seemingly survived (fins healing, more active, eating...) and now this fish is the latest to develop this insidious condition.  I am working on the assumption that he has contracted (or incubated) what the other fish had.
<<A fair assumption...>>
Understand your concern re: NTD, but I think this is quite rare so I will discount this at the moment.  I hope we are both wrong on this count!
<<Ditto. Don Quixote and windmills. Unfortunately, a hopeless effort with NTD.>>
Will continue to observe this fish and see how he progresses.  I am sure you will be hearing from me!
<<Look forward to it with, hopefully, good news.>>
Thanks for all the advice along the way here.  The going has been a bit rough...
<<Indeed. One thought and, admittedly, overly simplistic but, have you considered adding aquarium salt as a therapeutic/preventive measure? Not the usual "Guppy treatment" for what you describe but I'd rather not over-think the problem, either. Good luck. Tom>>

Re: Boatloads of problems continue...   6/1/06
Hi Tom -
<<How goes it, John?>>
The time difference makes this convenient!  Just as you answer I am home to respond...
<<Timing is everything!>>
The update on the 96L (25 gallon) tank:
Tank parameters identical to yesterday.  I am pretty sure there is no ammonia in this tank.  It has been established for quite some time. Water is crystal clear (some yellowing from driftwood), and water parameters have not deviated from those I quoted in over a month now.  There have been no temperature shocks or pH changes.  I did add some plants, but rinsed thoroughly with tap water.  The plants were from a local fish shop that keeps plants in a separate system from their fish stock, so I think cross-contamination may not be an issue here.  I had sick fish before the plant addition.
<<Wise decision on the plants.>>
Anyways, the latest on the fish:
The guppy with the bacterial infection of the fin is worsening.  Medication (acriflavine/methylene blue combination) has seemed to slow this up a little but has failed to stop it completely.  Curiously, the fish is acting quite normally, active and taking food.  
<<I find this "curious" as well.>>
Have observed normal stool, but his abdomen is still swollen.  Has been treated with Flagyl (twice) and boiled peas.  The tail is in not so good shape, however.   I must admit I am getting a little discouraged with all this - seems like a bit of a mystery disease.  Not to mention it's not so pleasant to lose fish every few days or to wake up to a new tragedy in progress in the tank!
<<Wish I could say I haven't been there, John. We all have, though.>>
The yellow guppy that I had assumed survived successfully is starting to look a little bit rough.  It almost appears like he is "wasting" slowly.
Scales are protruding slightly and not just localized to the abdomen - I can observe this all the way to the tail fin.  I would not say this is dropsy - if anything, he looks a little too thin and there is certainly no abdominal swelling.  It's a little hard to tell if it's occurring on his head because there is constant movement, but I don't think it is.  He is quite active and eating, but like I said - looks less than healthy.  It could be that he is also exhibiting the small startings of some tail fin rot.  (Sigh...)
<<Research 'Camallanus', John. Not a "given" certainly but...>>
On a positive note, all the other fish still seem quite fine.  I have four platys, a few other guppies, three Corys, two freshwater shrimp and 3 apple snails (Pomacea bridgesi).  I have put about 1 teaspoon aquarium salt per 5 gallons (25 gallon tank) as I have the shrimp, snails and Corys in there and they are sensitive to it but at this level they seem to tolerate it.
<<Haven't met a fish yet that won't tolerate this level.>>
Should I be restricting food?  
<<Under different circumstances, I'd recommend this but I don't see the need here.>>
Should I raise the temp (currently 24C)?  
<<Wouldn't be a bad idea to raise to 26C. A higher metabolic rate wouldn't do any harm and could prove beneficial for the fish.>>
Not sure what else to do at the moment.
<<The "upshot" here is that you may be dealing with pets that are 'susceptible'.
You've other Guppies that are, seemingly, unaffected nor are the other fish that share the tank. There's a "pattern" but not one that can be nailed down. One's bloated, one's 'wasting' and neither behaves in a "stressed" manner, i.e. not feeding, not schooling, not hiding. <<Conventional medications aren't completely effective. We're missing something here.>>
I'm hoping to (somehow) get a handle on this soon so my tank isn't wiped out.  
<<I don't think this will happen, for what it's worth. Seems isolated.>>
I have had some of these fish for quite some time and am fond of them and their individual personalities.  
<<We all understand...>>
My only consolation is my 54 L tank that seems to be doing well!
<<For this, I'm glad, John.>>
Thanks again!
<<You're welcome and, please, keep us posted. Tom>>

Starting over... Spring time imported troubles... again. FW  - 05/22/2006
Hi crew,
<Dave>
Over the past few months I've been losing fish, one by one, to some mysterious ailment.  This is a small 12g freshwater tank with immaculate
water conditions.  Based on the symptoms -- general distress (fast respiration, eventual loss of appetite) with no visible symptoms other than
intermittent stringy white poops, and a few secondary bacterial infections like mouth fungus that appear after the fish has already been sick for a while -- I am suspecting some sort of internal parasite.
<You are very likely correct here... "Tis the season"... We're receiving more and more "related" complaints... Parasitic... imported from the Far East... principally infesting Gouramis, guppies, angels (if folks are foolish enough to still import them from there), and small characoids fishes that are bred/originate from there>
  I've treated repeatedly with Metronidazole and Praziquantel, to no avail.  I'm going to try Levamisole next.
<Worth a try... Are you sure the above were administered properly?>
If the Levamisole doesn't work, I'm thinking of just euthanizing my remaining livestock and nuking the tank.  This is a small tank, I've already lost half the tank to attrition, and the remaining livestock are inexpensive and easy to find.  Unfortunately, the same isn't true of my plants.
<Am almost inclined to agree...>
Is there a way I can completely and positively sterilize the tank-- including all parasites and any potential hosts, i.e. snails-- while not
harming the plants?
<... no, or at least not as far as I'm aware>
  Perhaps some concentration of bleach, potassium permanganate, etc that won't harm the plants overly much but will kill everything else?
Thanks,
-Dave
<Again, worth trying these, perhaps alum (Aluminum sulfate) as well... Sorry to realize your worries... I share them. Bob Fenner>

Re: Starting over... Spring time imported troubles... again.  - 05/22/2006
Hi Bob,
<Dave>
I Googled for aluminum sulfate but couldn't find any info on what the correct dosage should be... were you suggesting this for treating livestock or as a "flora-safe" method for "sterilizing" the tank?
<Is an old-timey remedy for helping avoid transmission of snail eggs on/with plants>
  Any idea what the dosage would be for either?
<Think/recall this is rather safe... maybe a level teaspoon per gallon of soak water... immersion for ten/fifteen minutes. Am out, away from reference materials. I suspect "the krib.com" will have more re>
Re/ the nuclear option, after I wrote the email below I realized simply leaving the tank fish-less for a few weeks should eliminate pretty much all parasitic worms-- snails being only an intermediate host-- am I right?
<Most likely so, yes>
And would the same be true for protozoan parasites?
<Again, there is a diminishing risk with time going by...>
One of my LFS's recommended quinine, which I'm trying now while my vet tries to procure some Levamisole.  Levamisole is apparently not easy to find in the US, esp. in injectable form (which I'm figuring will be a lot easier to meter than powder, for a small tank).
<Yes>
I'll let you know what works, if anything...
Thanks,
-Dave
<Thank you. Bob Fenner>

Scratching Fish   4/30/06
Hello, I have a problem. I have noticed that my fish have been scratching against the rocks. Now, I know what your thinking ick or velvet or a parasite right? Wrong their is no way that could be right because I have treated for every thing and this scratching has been going on for a month and a half so they would probably be dead by now. Any ways I have tested my water and every thing is perfect. The only thing that is funny is that I have a very light, white film covering my tank, but the only way I can see it is if  I look at it at a angle. Do you know why my fish are scratching and could it be from this weird film? Pls help because this makes me very angry.
< The term "perfect" really means nothing to me. The ammonia and nitrites should be zero and the nitrates should be under 25 ppm. The pH should be around 7 depending on the fish that you have. The water temp should be around 78 F depending on the species. The white film may be a mineral leaching from on of the rocks and also irritating the slime coat on the fish. The rocks should be very hard. No sedimentary rocks like sandstone, siltstone, mudstone or conglomerate should be used. Check out the rocks, this could be the problem.-Chuck>

SW, FW? wasting syndrome    4/25/06
Hi,  I keep getting fishes with a sort of "wasting syndrome" that is seemingly incurable.  What is it and is there any remedy for it?  
<Depends on cause/s>
I know it is hard to say what that means, but I guess I'd characterize it as the following:  No appetite, closed fins, lying on the bottom, etc.  It seems to be one fish at a time in the colony gets it, slowly wastes away and dies, then another one gets it awhile later and repeats the same cycle.  Is it possibly related to stress?  
<Yes, probably at least a large factor>
The reason I ask is that sometimes there is a bully fish in the aquarium colony that sort of "beats up on" certain ones.  The latest one is one of the beat-up females.   Also, is it related to the mycoplasma marinara
<With what type noodles/pasta? Oh marina...>
disease I've heard about that is associated with scoliosis?  Thanks!
  Leslie Wilson
<...? What? More info. please... like, what species you're dealing with, water quality, history of your set-ups... Try putting the terms "Wasting" in the WWM Google search tool, reading the cached versions (to show the term). Bob Fenner>

Fish With A Scab, No Details - 04/23/2006
Hey Sabrina,
<That's me!>
One of our fish: Goushie has what looks like a black scab on his side.  But it looks like it is protruding from the skin outward leaving a bump around it.  Kinda like when you scratch open a big mosquito bite and then it scabs over.
<Nice description, but what kind of fish is Goushie?  How big's the tank?  What else lives with him?  How long have you had him?  What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate - your local fish store can test your water for these if you don't have test kits)?>
Any suggestions?
<I'd be glad to try to give you some suggestions if I knew more about the animal and the system....  Forgive me if we've corresponded before and I've forgotten; I fear my memory is poor to begin with....>
Hope you had a nice weekend.
<I did, actually, thanks!  I hope you did too.>
Thanks,  -Shawn
<Wishing you well,  Sabrina>

Preventive measures for new freshwater fish?  - 04/22/2006
Hi,
<<Hi, Jon. Tom>>
I've seen articles that suggest preventive measures that can be used with newly acquired saltwater fish to prevent transferring disease and parasites to the main tank (such as freshwater/chemical dips) but I haven't seen any suggestions for freshwater fish except to quarantine the fish in a separate tank and waiting to see if they become ill. Are there any preventive treatments that I should be using for my freshwater fish?
<<Good question, Jon. Understand that many (most) SW varieties are captured in the wild while many FW fish are farm-bred, depending, of course, on the type of fish that we're talking about. (Not trying to "waffle" on you but it's the nature of the hobby. :)) Farm-bred fish (from reputable breeders) are less likely to carry the types of parasitic/bacterial infections that might be introduced into your aquarium from a 'natural' habitat. Additionally, breeders who routinely ship "sick" fish don't stay in business for long so it's incumbent upon them to maintain healthy stock.
The best preventive treatment, in my opinion, is to quarantine all fish - SW and FW, alike - in the same conditions that you will have in the display tank. Now, this will require research on the part of the aquarist. You've done yours so I don't have to tell you that introducing Goldfish, for example, into a QT set up with Cichlid-type water parameters will lead to problems. Nothing, however, that I've ever come across regarding FW fish has conclusively shown a "preventive measure" that completely ensures a disease-free animal.
The "upshot" here, Jon, is that quarantine for a good, two-week period for your FW fish, with close observation, is the best route to take. (Note that even the preventive measures you noted with SW fish don't relieve us of the responsibility to quarantine.)>>
Thanks,
Jon
<<Any time. Tom>>

Ill Tidings, Irritation or Ich? - 04/16/2006
Hi, Thanks for all your help in the past.  
<Glad we could be of service.>
Now I have a new problem.  My fish seem to be scratching against the rocks, and the only problem is they have no visible signs of being ill.  
<Scratching is a sign of being ill.  Just gotta find out why.>
They still eat and everything, they just swim funny and scrape against rocks. I have normal aquarium gravel, but I did get a big rock from outside, could that be a problem?
<It could indeed.  I would remove it to be on the safe side, for now, and do a large water change.>
I also have some plants. What do you think the problem is? I don't know if this helps but the fish are neon tetras and 3 Dwarf Platys.
<It is possible that there is a toxin of some sort in the water irritating the fish, or it could be a simple water quality problem.  Do a large water change and test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.  Ammonia and nitrite must be ZERO, nitrate less than 20ppm - if any of these are out of whack, do water changes to fix it.  Another possibility is ich.  Please watch closely, VERY closely, for small white dots on the fish, and read here:  http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwich.htm .  Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Question / Tropical Fish / Barbs ... comp., and FW dis. - 04/05/2006
Hi there
I have recently started a Tropical tank, it has been running for approx. 8 weeks now, and have a problem with my fish, and the local guys are not able to assist me with information.  I have 5 Tiger Barbs, 5 Rosy Barbs, had 2 catfish
<What kind?  Some are large and carnivorous, others, like Corydoras cats, are quite small and great with tetras.>
and had 7 Cardinals (only 3 remain) in a 2ft tank.  I have narrowed the problem to either the Tiger or Rosy Barbs killing off and eating the cardinals and the catfish, but I do not know who the culprit is.  
<Actually, cardinals are very, very delicate.  Nearly all or all are still wild caught (though many neons, closely related, are bred en masse).  It's entirely possible that the cardinals are dying prior to their consumption....>
They would have been in the tank for 2 weeks this coming Sat, 8 April.  The cardinals have reduced one at a time.  Only on one occasion have we been able to net out a carcass, all other times, there has been no sign of a dead Cardinal.  With your knowledge, please advise what I should do.  I will isolate the Cardinals tonight and the fish shop have said they will take the fish back, either the Tiger or the Rosy Barbs depending on what I decide.  
<Though tiger barbs can get a little boisterous and aggressive, I really tend to think that there's something else amiss, here - even just the act of removing a cardinal or neon from the water can cause extreme stress in these delicate fish.  If the water parameters are not utterly ideal (0 ammonia and nitrite, extremely low nitrate, soft, acidic water) they may not work out in this system.>
Which of these 2 are the more likely to predate on the Cardinals,
<Typically, neither.>
and the Catfish,
<"Catfish" is a little too general.  You're talking half inch dwarf cories on up to 200lb Pangasiids - MAJOR variation among species, here....>
and can I put in a Plecostomus in with these fish - he is about 7cm long.  
<Not a common Plec, not in a 2' tank.  You might get by with a Bushynose Ancistrus.>
If I keep the Tigers and the Rosies, what would be a good companion for them?  
<Other similar sized, similar attitude tetras, barbs or danios would do great.>
I look forward to your response.  Thank you,  -Penny Ludgrove
<Wishing you well,  - Sabrina>

Quarantining 1-2 danios/tetras in a 3 gallon tank? Also, restocking question 3/30/06
Hi!
<Hello>
First of all, thank you for your wonderful site. < And thank you for the kind words> I'm only a novice at this hobby (just over a year now), and your extensive FAQs have been enormously helpful. <Always great to hear>
I'd like to ask your advice about restocking after some recent fish deaths in my 15 gallon heated, planted FW tank (tank is about ten months old, with ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 20 ppm, pH 7.5, temperature 26 C <All good>- quite heavily planted with low-light plants in sand and on bogwood; no added CO2). It's currently stoked with four danios (two zebra, two leopard), three black neon tetras and one Otocinclus. I've read that schooling fish are happier with at least six of each species - I've been trying to maintain a school of six danios, but have been having problems with sequential fish deaths (I'll describe the full history of the tank after posing my question!).
From what I've read, I should really keep six black neon tetras and six danios (and Oto would probably like a friend too), but I'm worried about over-stocking the tank. Should I leave the stocking levels as is? I do a 25% - 30% water changes once a week, which keeps ammonia and nitrites to 0 and nitrates at around 20ppm. If I do get some more danios, do you think it would be better to stick to the same subtype (two more leopards or zebras, rather than pearls or white)? <First, given your disciplined water changes and attention to detail, I wouldn't be concerned that what you've described would pose an undue load on the tank. You've plenty of experience now to notice when things aren't "right". What I would suggest, however, is that you wait until you're comfortable that the tank is stable, health-wise. Even quarantine - which you address below - isn't foolproof though it is absolutely necessary>
I'm also worried, given the sequential danio deaths, that I may have some sort of infection in the tank which is knocking them out one by one. Should I treat the tank with Interpet No 9 (only antibiotic I can get here in the UK), even if none of the current fish are looking unwell? I don't want to crash the filter! <Don't treat for anything that you can't positively ID>
I've come to the conclusion that a large proportion of my problems could have been avoided by using a quarantine tank, <Oh, yes> so I've been reading up about them. However, the tanks described seem to be 15 gallons - the size of my main tank! <Doesn't really matter here, Helen. The intent of using a 15-gallon tank as an example is really twofold. One, a smaller tank is easier to keep an eye on and, cheaper to treat, if necessary. Two, it's used to illustrate to folks with larger aquariums (50+ gallon range) that they don't need an equally large tank just for quarantine> I have an old 3 gallon tank which I could outfit with a small pump and 25W heater (too powerful?) <Shouldn't be>, but I don't have the space to keep it running empty all the time. <Quarantine tanks are almost always broken down when not in use> If I fill the quarantine tank with water from the main tank <Actually about 80% from the main and 20% fresh, dechlorinated water is good>, and add some gravel and half the filter media from the main tank, would this be sufficient to "insta-cycle" it? <A couple of days should do it> (could I also do this to press it into service as a hospital tank in an emergency?) <Certainly> I'm worried about crashing the main tank by replacing half its filter media, though. <Don't be. It's the prescribed method when a filter replacement is warranted> Is a tank this small ok for keeping a couple of danios or black neon tetras in for a few weeks? <Yes, just not at the same time. If something goes awry you'd have no way of knowing who did what to whom> Since they are active schooling fish, and I'm only adding one or two at a time, I'm concerned that the 1-2 fish in the tiny quarantine tank are going to become stressed and unwell. <There will be some stress, naturally. However, schooling fish "school" for security from predators. Yours will likely discover rather quickly that there aren't any. In fact, interestingly, many folks are disappointed to find that their "schooling" fish fall out of the habit once they become acclimated to their new, secure homes. I mention this for your benefit as well as for those who may run across this on the site. Folks at the LFS may not be pleased with me but these fish don't need to be kept in "herds" unless you just happen to want lots of them>
Here's the history of the main tank - as you'll see, problems mainly seem to have arisen after introducing new fish, unsurprisingly:
Initially: Six danios (one pearl, one white, two zebra, two leopard). Pearl danio is "top fish".
Two months: Pearl danio dies (scales appear dry and cracked, loses all colouration). Replaced with new white danio. Older white danio becomes "top fish".
Four months: Added two black neon tetras, three cardinal tetras.
Five months: Massive ich outbreak among the tetras (danios appear unaffected, still showing active normal behaviour). Treat tank for ich. Ammonia spike (up to 1.2) <Wow>, battled by 30% water changes every other day. Cardinal tetras die off one by one (lose colouration, plus skin so red and raw they look as though someone has pinched the skin off their tails). After research, decide pH doesn't suit cardinals, don't replace. Water parameters back to normal (0 nitrites and ammonia, nitrates 20ppm).
Seven months: Dominant white danio abruptly stops eating. Over the course of a week, wastes away to nearly a skeleton; "pinecone" scales in the last few days. Water parameters still normal. Two weeks after this danio dies, one of the black neon tetras develops pop-eye, and over the course of a week loses swim control and has to be euthanized. Remaining white danio becomes "top fish". Danios and remaining black neon show active normal behaviour.
Nine months: Black neon tetra appears withdrawn and shy. Decide he isn't happy on his own, get two more black neon tetras plus two Otocinclus (now that enough algae has developed to support them). One Oto dies within six hours of purchase (appeared deformed - bent tail - and weak, which I didn't notice in the Sunday crowds at LFS) <Not uncommon with Otos. Many (most?) of these animals are harvested in the wild using cyanide. (No, I'm not making that up.) Interesting topic of research if you're so inclined>. Ammonia spike (to 0.6) and very minor ich outbreak (tetras only), treated with daily 25% water changes + medication for one week until water parameters are back to normal. All fish appear active and content - black Neons now schooling together in open water, Oto hoovering up algae, danios flaring and circling each other (believe this is pre-mating behaviour?) <Sounds like it>
Ten months: Dominant white danio appears to suffer massive internal bacterial infection, going from normal to a bloated pinecone in the space of two days. <'Dropsy' undoubtedly> Buy Interpet No. 9 (only antibacterial treatment available locally, here in the UK) on the third day, but upon getting home discover danio is so far gone (no swim control, belly very red and threatening to rupture through
the skin) that decide to euthanize (clove oil/alcohol method) <Excellent option>. Remaining danios go through a couple of days of very aggressive behaviour towards each other (flaring fins, chasing, etc.); now school fairly closely with each other with minimum of chasing/nipping, no one fish appearing dominant. Black neon tetras tend to hang out with danios, following the school.
<My regards on a very well-documented "history". Hope others take note of your example>
Thank you for any advice!
Helen
<I hope I've been of some help. Tom>

The Three Sets of Factors That Determine Livestock Health    3/24/06
Mr. Fenner,
You e-mailed me back the other day about my 75 gal tank.  I am sure you don't remember since you have probably thousands of e-mails.   However,  you told me to wait, change water, and add some more live  rock.  I am a woman and patients isn't always in our vocabulary
<Perhaps if you were a nurse?>
  LOL  So it is killing me.  Nonetheless, I have one last question, what  makes the fish sink to the bottom of the tank
and hang out there until there  death?  Thank you
Shelly
<Mmm, can be a few things... none of them good. But an overall weakened state due to unsuitable water quality, simple exhaustion due to harassment, chasing... fatigue brought on by parasitism, infectious agents/pathogens, low/no oxygen and/or too much CO2... Please read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/mardisease.htm
Bob Fenner>

Office Tank Keeps Dying Off   3/14/06
I set up an Eclipse Explorer II at work, initially stocking with two small fantail goldies.  I was feeding twice daily every day with Wardley Essentials Goldfish Premium Flakes plus a couple TetraFin Goldfish Crisps.
I was completely cleaning the aquarium once a month (changing 100% water, rinsing pebbles, wiping down glass - I now do a 25% water change once a month).  They did so well over the next several months that I introduced a small Black Moor and a mystery snail.  My smallest fantail died within two weeks.  A water check at the pet store found high ammonia, and they instructed me to NOT tear down so frequently, to do a 25% water change and go back to NovAqua Water Conditioner, and to feed only once every other day.
Once my water tested OK, I added another small goldie.  Again, that fish died within two weeks.  Another water check found high nitrate so I did another 25% water change and decided I was overloading my small aquarium.
Two weeks later, my beautiful calico fantail died, followed shortly by my Black Moor.  A water test showed the water was OK.  I bought a cheap feeder goldie to add with the snail and both were dead within 6 days, and my last attempt with another cheap feeder is looking dim.  All I have in my tank is blue TopFin Premium Quality Aquarium Gravel, a small plastic plant, and one live plant (sorry, don't know what kind), and a lava rock.  I had two sea shells but recently removed them as instructed by the pet store folks.  I absolutely ADORE my aquarium but can't take much more death at my desk, and it bums out the whole office.  Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated as I don't want to give up!  Should I completely tear down and start from scratch?  If so, how do I do it to avoid having this happen again? Thanks, Cate
< This is a little 2 gallon system with a pretty good filtration system. Feeders are really poor choices for first time aquarists. Since they are very cheap almost no money is spent on them to cure them of any diseases or parasites. So they usually come in with everything under the sun and soon die. You are getting some pretty good advice form your local store. Plan on doing 25% to 50% water changes weekly. Vacum the gravel with a small gravel vac to remove any waste accumulating in the gravel. Feed once a day and only enough food so that all of it is gone in two minutes. A goldfish is really a poor long term choice, look at getting three or four white cloud minnows instead.-Chuck>

Tank Massacre   3/10/06
First, the preliminaries:
  Tank: 10g, glass, heated
  Fish: 1 male black molly, two red wag platys, three platy fry, 1 CAE
<Keep your eye on this last>
  ph: consistently 7.2, everything else was normal except for Nitrites, which seem to be constantly present.
  <Not good>
  After watching the CAE chase another fish around and finding the fish  dead the next morning, have since given up on the CAE and, feeling a  bit vengeful over the murder, gave it to the neighbor's cat who was my  new best friend for all of five minutes.
  <Mmmm, the Western ethic shines through>
  So after buying a new platy from PetSmart to replace one that had died,  within two weeks everything in the tank was dead.  The new platy  was a sunset fire and never took to the new tank.  Always hiding  in the back, never eating, and being chased a little by the  molly.  He died quickly.  After that, I couldn't keep  anything alive.  The adult platys were the first to go.  Then  two of the platy fry (the smaller, runty ones).  Then the Molly  developed all sorts of horrible balance & fungal issues before he  died and finally, my last platy fry passed away.  It was kind of  horrific.  His insides seemed to have been suddenly pushed to his  outsides and they were white.  Like his gut just exploded.   Kind of gross.  :P  
    Anyways, after all that drama, I have decided to get a new tank (30g,  heated, acrylic) and try again.  Worrying about all kinds of  disease I won't be carrying anything over from the old tank (gravel and  plastic plants have me worried).  Am I being paranoid???  
  <No... not>
  I enjoyed my platys while they lasted and will probably get a few of  them.  Have lost to many mollies due to overly-amorous males but I  like the looks of "upside-down catfish".  Do they get along well  with platys?  Also - would a plecostomus work well in this  situation? I was thinking five platys, five catfish, and a Pleco.   
<Yes... this small Synodontis is compatible here, though appreciates more room>  
  One final question (sorry to ask so many but you're all so darned  helpful!)  - should I bleach out the old tank, throw in new  gravel/filter/etc and make it the new isolation tank?  And can you  recommend a feeding schedule for the platy/catfish/Pleco fish????
  <If it were me, mine, I do think I would "nuke", bleach all out, but you can keep the original gravel... just needs to run for several weeks before adding livestock. You might consider quarantining new life... to avoid such wipe-outs. Bob Fenner>
  Jill, Aquarium enthusiast

Back To Square One - 03/09/2006
Please help me before I lose all my fish.
<Ohhhhh dear.>
I have a 2.5 gallon tank with a filter that I
<"I" is capitalized....  In future correspondences, please use proper capitalization - we have to fix these errors; it takes time we don't have.>
use occasionally or not much b/c the current is too strong for my Betta.
<Okay.>
I had a male guppy, a female guppy, an Indian glassfish and 2 zebra danios in there.
<In a 2.5 gallon tank?!  Please tell me you're pulling my leg....  This tank is too small for anything other than the Betta alone.>
The small danio lost all of his color (like that when I got him at PetSmart, didn't notice until he was in the tank) so I took him back.  Then the glass fish started 'stretching' his mouth wide open, and wasn't eating.  He died.
<He was gasping....  having trouble breathing, either due to lack of dissolved oxygen (too many fish, no circulation) or toxic water quality (too many fish).
Then I got a snail (he never showed any signs of disease).  Then the female guppy started not swimming, so I quarantined her, she was eating good.  Then the male guppy started the 'stretching' thing the glassfish did,
<Desperately trying to breathe>
and was nipping at my Betta's tail so I put him in with the female. Then he jumped out of that tank and died.
<Possible sign of toxic water conditions.>
The next morning my female guppy died.  Now I have my Betta, one danio, and a snail in the 2.5 gallon mini bow. I started noticing the danio pursing his mouth sort of like the glassfish and guppy, and he comes up to the surface about once a minute to 'breath' (I know he's not a labyrinth, but that is what it looks like),
<He is doing this because there is more oxygen near the surface of the water.  He's having trouble breathing.  The environment in the little tank has become potentially toxic and perhaps seriously lacking in oxygen for the fish.>
and am worried I will lose the entire tank.
<Me too.>
What should I do?
<Firstly, immediately have your water tested for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.  Either get test kits (liquid reagent type, not dipstick-style strips) or have your local fish store test your water for you.  If ammonia and nitrite are not ZERO, do water changes until they are.  Nitrate should be less than 20ppm.  When you do water changes, be sure to use a chlorine/chloramine eliminator and match the temperature of the new water to the aquarium.  Secondly, remove the danio and keep only the Betta, or remove the Betta and start using the filter, and limit yourself to two or three danios.  In either case, you can probably keep the snail.>
Did the first danio, or possibly the snail cause this?
<No.  The water conditions or lack of oxygenation in the water are much more likely.  A 2.5 gallon tank simply cannot support so much life, especially life that can only breathe underwater.>
I do a 25 percent water change every two days until a get a filter with a gentle current, I'm worried about this, and can't find an answer anywhere.  Please help me. :)  Holly
<I encourage you to start reading our Freshwater articles; there is a lot of good information for you there:  
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsubwebindex.htm .  Wishing you well,  -Sabrina

Scratching Fish   1/31/06
I have a 8" silver Arowana, a 4" red tiger Oscar, a 5" clown knife, and a 6" pleco. All of the fish are in a 55 gallon for now until I get my 150 gallon tank. My problem is that the Oscar suddenly has started lying on the bottom breathing with his mouth always open and he refuses to surface to eat when not more than a week ago he would fly right to the top center of the tank when it was time to eat. I also noticed he has been trying to scratch his head on the bottom and I have occasionally seen my Arowana do the same but he still eats good. I previously had discus in this tank but I traded them because they were just to much work, I have treated the tank before I got the Aro and osc with Prazi pro for gill flukes for the discus. What do you suggest, the Oscar hasn't eaten in days? I was also wondering if maybe another Oscar his size would cheer him up? I once owned a huge pair that got along great. Mark
< Check the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Ammonia and nitrites should be zero. Nitrates should be under 25 ppm. A 50% water change while vacuuming the gravel and cleaning the filter should help. If this does not perk him up then their may be a disease problem. The lying on the bottom may indicate an internal bacterial infection. Treat with Metronidazole as per the directions on the package. The external parasites could be the start of ich/protozoa or a bacterial infection. For the bacterial problems I would recommend Nitrofuranace. For ich, Rid-Ich by Kordon.-Chuck>

Diagnosing fish diseases   1/20/06
Hello
    Sir,
     This  is Anshul From Delhi (INDIA) i got your mail id on wetwebmedia.com sir i have ish aquarium in my house but the problem is i can't diagnose my
fish that from which disease it is suffering from so could u send me the photos of diseased fish with their names and treatments so that i can know
well my fishes well
  i will be very grateful if send me
     waiting for reply
        your's friendly
            Anshul
<Please peruse/use our site: WetWebMedia.com and send along your pix, descriptions... of the afflicted fish/es, systems. Bob Fenner>

Stress Coat & Improving WWM  1/8/06
Hello once again! I recently was talking with someone who once owned a pet store and I mentioned how expensive and sometimes distressing it has been
keeping the "small fish" tank at the restaurant stocked. Usually what happens is that I buy app. 10-14 new small fish to replace ones that have died in the main
tank and quarantine them in my 10 gal. q-tank at home. Within a week about half of these fish (although sometimes as much as 90% and (even more rare) as few
as 0) die of no visible cause.
<... not good>
By which I mean that they are swimming, breathing, and eating normally when I check them and then 6-8 hours later when I
check them again someone's dead and stuck to the filter intake with no visible parasites, fungi, or bacterial growths or signs of such. In other words, a dead
fish that looks just like a healthy live fish except for the stiffness and lack of movement.
       Now, this is something that I have always considered to be beyond my control- I have done my part by providing a clean (and yes, I do know my H2O
parameters and yes they are all "ideal"), cycled tank with plenty of cover, and regular feedings. I have always believed that these fish were dying from
stress due to how they were caught, shipped, unpacked, stored (overcrowded), caught again, and finally released into my tank.
<For the most part, yes. Better to look elsewhere for better initially healthy stock>
(I unfortunately must buy from Petco or PetSmart because I am unable to reach any fish-only store on a regular
basis.) However, the gentleman I spoke with assured me that if I were to start using Stress Coat (or similar product), my fish survival rate would greatly increase.
<This is likely so>
Now I know that the stores always add a squirt to the bags before performing their magic with the rubberband (why is it so necessary to put those on so tight?
<Better too tight than loose>
I mean, one twist less and I could get the darn things off without scissors and the fish would still be safe safe safe.), and I have always
considered that to be enough. In fact, I seem to recall reading somewhere on this site that some of the slime coat "replacing" agents actually cause the fish to
produce slime by irritating them with some toxin or other.
<Some do, yes... not ones from the "larger companies" though>
(Darned if I can find that info. again, though. I gave up after 20 something pages mentioning
Stress Coat, 12 or so of StressCoat, and checking 50 or so topics out of 212 in the Equipment and Dry Goods Forum. I also re-read a number of general articles
on set-up, stocking, and health and disease without coming across it. Perhaps I hallucinated it.)
<Likely written by myself... in pieces on Acclimation, Shipping>
Inducing a slime coat by stressing the fish doesn't seem like a good idea to me, so I have avoided all such products. So, will Stress
Coat (or some related product) actually cut back on my fish loss?
<Is worth trying. Will likely help here>
Or is this just product hype? Is there a consensus among those of you who answer these questions?
<Mmm, don't know the others here well enough to state>
       Unrelated to my question, but with direct bearing on my search for an answer, it seems to me that your wonderful, magnificent site may be on the
verge of containing too much redundant information! I love this site and am deeply, deeply indebted to all the information provided on it. I mention this
because it seems that the ever-increasing bulk of information on here may eventually get in the way of your primary goal (which I believe is to help those in the
hobby/passion as well as those entering it to better care for their charges through the dissemination of useful information.) Now, I realize I may be
stating the obvious to you, and if you are tearing at your hair, muttering 'tell me something I don't know,' I apologize! But here are my ideas to help deal
with this problem. a) dump some of the old stuff. Since there is likely nothing new under the sun, even in fish keeping, and despite your best efforts people
keep asking the same questions, only a certain amount of redundancy is necessary. I do believe some redundancy IS necessary- for people to learn and really
absorb new information correctly, they need to see it given a number of times, preferably in different ways or used in different situations. b) Rather than
posting all questions in the FAQs (if that is what you do), try to weigh whether that question has been answered enough times before posting a reply- still
reply if you want to, of course! Just don't add the information AGAIN to the site if it's there 20 times or so. c) Take a good look at the FAQs- do they
imply that certain information is missing from your general articles?
<Good points... mainly this "editing" has not been done for a lack of time available... Am not willing to give up other "things" including pet-fish writing, travel, photography, "the business of life"... and work pretty much to exhaustion daily as my routine already... Would you like to give this some of your time? Will gladly replace parts of WWM you are willing to winnow>
Most people are likely to read your articles before asking a question, especially with the gentle prompting the site gives when one clicks "ask the WWM crew a
question". I know this is time-consuming, but perhaps one or two people who currently answer questions could instead be dedicated to that task?
<A few folks have written "new article content" and this an ongoing goal of our on-line 'zine (Conscientious Aquarist). I have placed several hundred of my articles and book segments, some 14k images... takes time my friend>
       Those are just my thoughts. I hope I have not come across as lecturing or something equally horrible. I only wanted to mention this because I think
it might help keep the site manageable for those of you who work on it and for those of us who turn to it when in need. Thank you for your time!
<Your comments and suggestions are well-regarded... am thankful for such careful, useful input... At the end of the day, my only excuse/explanation is that of the handful of hours I am willing to "put into" our collective effort here, that I endeavor to do the most important (respond to and place FAQs), and spare some ten percent or so of resource for such "strategic" work. What we have currently is a reflection of doing so for years. Cheers, Bob Fenner>
Sincerely,
Sarah Orris

New Fish Creates New Problems   1/4/06
Hi!  Thanks for sharing your (immense!) knowledge with the rest of us. Your website is, truly, amazing.
< Thanks for your kind words.>
I have a 46-gallon tank, overstocked thanks to an acquaintance who moved and decided she did not want her fish anymore (the employee at my LFS said they
would all be fine together; I have now learned the hard way not to rely solely on such advice).  Taking her 13 fish (1 angel, 3 serpae tetras, 2 black tetras,
two (albino) black tetras, 3 giant danios (!!) and two rainbowfish, put immense stress on my already tight set-up (1 red tail shark, 2 Corydoras catfish, 2
glass catfish, 3 tiger barbs, 3 green tiger barbs, 3 golden barbs, 2 angel fish, 3 diamond tetras, 3 serpae tetras, 3 black phantom tetras = 25 fish -- also
recommended by my LFS).  I ended up buying a 10-gal tank for my kitchen, so that I could divide the fish, and this helped for a few days until I notice
that the fish in both tanks were not adjusting well to their new tank mates -- the barbs became very aggressive and picked on everybody, one of the angelfish's
fins was very badly torn, and my black phantom tetras seemed to be very afraid of the new, bigger black tetras.  Summing up: by saving the new fish from
being flushed down the toilet, I created havoc and ruined the good life my original fish had had so far.
Now, to my question.  Suddenly, the tiger barbs and the green barbs had what looked like rotting fins, breathed rapidly and did not eat.  The ammonia level
in the water was at 0.25, the nitrates were at 20 (some of my friend's fish ate all the plants I had in the tank).  I did a 30% water change.  Two days
later, the tigers developed Popeye.  I moved them to the 10 gallon tank and treated them with Maracyn-Two.  They died the following day.  Now, all the fish in
the big tank are doing horribly.  Most of them have protruding scales; they are not hungry; some seem to be desperate for oxygen as they float at the
surface; some are hiding; some have Popeye; some have died (the two glass catfish, one of the rainbowfish, one red serpae tetra) and the angel fish, which had so
far done great and were the only ones hungry and perky, are showing sign of stress by hiding and not eating.
This is the fourth day since I began treating the tank with Maracyn-Two.  I am at the verge to tears while I send you this e-mail., as I am afraid that I
will lose all of these fish and feel very sorry and guilty about making them suffer so much.  Right now, the readings are:
nitrites: 0.25
nitrates: 5.0
pH: 6.0 (normally is 7, it has been going down fast)
ammonia: 2.0
The water is, obviously, in very poor condition.  I have done partial (25%) water changes for four days in a row until yesterday, when I realized that the
Maracyn-Two instructions say that the water should be changed once the treatment is completed (which would be tomorrow, on the fifth day).
I hope that you'll get this on time to tell me what to do to save my fish.   Thank you so much for your time. Sincerely, Mercedes Dollard
< Wow, what a story! Sound like your tank is crashing. When you added the new fish you added an element of stress. The fish were weakened from the stress and got sick. As a result you treated the tank with an antibiotic. While it didn't cure the parasites (wrong medication), it did manage to kill off the good bacteria that break down the waste and excess food from very toxic ammonia and nitrites to less toxic nitrates. Now that you know what happened we need to look at how to fix it. Start by doing a 50% water change, vacuum the gravel and clean the filter. Do not feed the fish for a few days. Add Bio-Spira by Marineland to replenish the good bacteria. Check the levels again. Do 50% water changes every day until the tank is stable. Ammonia and nitrites should be zero and nitrates should be under 20 ppm. Pull out bodies quickly as found. Treat with Metronidazole if Popeye and dropsy still exist with any of the remaining fish. Fish that do not eat should be discarded as they are probably too far gone to recover. You may end up with less fish that you originally had in your tank alone.-Chuck>

Frustrated... FW losses, no info.  01/01/2006
Happy new year crew,
I have multiple tanks.. since this summer i
<I>
am having trouble keeping things like fling fox, Chinese algae eaters, some barbs, tricolor sharks....they seem to shock out w/in a day or 2 and die...
<Frightening>
sometimes right in front of me. Is there some property, or parameter, metal or any thing you can think of that these species would share a common sensitivity to?
<Good idea, poor spelling... Could be simple "non-cycled" system effect... Need information re history, make-up of your system/s... What do you do to pre-treat system water? What for biological filtration? Have you read on WWM re? Bob Fenner>

Sudden Death of Fish, Heating Issues
I have a 10 gallon tank, heated.  I did a partial water test today and here's the results:
  pH - 7.2, Ammonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, Nitrates - 40 - 80ppm (too high but since I just did a water change (25%) last week - should I do  another one?
<Yes... I would do "serial" water changes (once a week here) of about 25% every week until your nitrate reads below 20 ppm., and look into means to restrict its accumulation. These are gone over on WWM>
Will all these changes stress out my fish?)
<Possibly... an issue of balance, choice... of which is more stressful>
  Tankmates are: 1 male black molly, 1 "rotund" sunset fire platy (she's  figured out to hang out underneath the fry net during their feeding  times and to eat the fry food as it sinks), 3 SF platy fry, and a  GAE.  
<Mmm, a CAE?>  
  This morning I noticed my tank was down to 77º (I always keep it at  80).  I fiddled with the heater some and before long it was up to  79 again (whew - no broken heater).  Anyways - I lost a SF platy  (the "skinny one") today.  It was just lying in the bottom of the  tank.  No injuries or anything that I could see.  I'm  guessing the temperature change is what did it in.
<Maybe a minor contributing "cause", but not the sole contributor here>
The heater I have is  a fairly cheap one from Wal-Mart.  Could you recommend a more  reliable brand?
<Look to Ebo-Jager, the Aquarium Systems products lines...>
  I prefer the internal/submersible ones as they  fit inside a decorative "log" that also holds the filter.
  <Me too>
  Also - my GAE has begun chasing the remaining fish around.
<Ahhh... time to remove, trade this animal in>
  The  GAE is constantly scouring the tank (day or night) but if the other fish swim too close he'll chase them.  I've read on your site that  he may grow up large enough to do them harm.
<Yes>
I feed him algae  pellets every now and again but the other fish eat them first so I  don't know how much good that does.  He's not very big (1.5" or  so) and he seems to be keeping the tank fairly clean - how much should  I feed him?
  <You can try bits of blanched terrestrial vegetables... which won't foul the water... but, as stated, I would remove this animal>
  Finally - last question (sorry to pester but you guys are so darned  helpful!) my littlest platy fry is acting weird.  She sits on the  bottom of the fry tank (mesh) and barely moves.  If I jiggle the  net a bit she'll wriggle around but I'm thinking she may have a  swim-bladder issue as she really can't seem to get off the bottom of  the tank.  Please advise.  
  Thanks so much for any/all help - you guys rule!!!  :D  
  ~~ Jill ~~
<Likely environmental and/or genetic influences at play here. I would not act/treat the system overtly. Bob Fenner>

Small Tank, Big Problems  12/15/04
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
My young son has 7 gallon glass tank with 50 watt heater, Whisper filter with carbon and a fancy in the tank aerator. We usually have a centerpiece (ship, castle, coral) and 1-2 larger plastic plants and a couple smaller.  About an inch of gravel in bottom. The occupants are a zebra danio, black phantom tetra, red phantom tetra, glow eye tetra, a gourami, à Cory and a tiny algae eater.
<That's a lot of fish for such a small tank.  If you are trying to follow the  1"/gallon rule (used only for small fish), then you have to account for their adult size.  In that case you have well over 10" of fish, depending on what species your gourami is & the "algae eater" (if it's a pleco, they can grow over 18").  Also, most of your fish are schooling fish (tetras, danios) & you only have 1 of each species.>
We have lost some fish over a period of time (3 platys, a bloodfin) and had to return an aggressive molly.
<They can be pretty mean!.>
The fish we presently have seem to get along pretty good although tend to hide most of the time with the exception of the
danio.
<Probably because they are uncomfortable not being able to school.>
The Cory recently developed some white growth on his side and then a large bubble appeared on his forehead and burst. He started moving around crazily and we find him in strange places such as top of the heater or alongside it.
<Sounds like bacterial infection, due to poor water quality.  Cories are usually fairly hardy.>
The water temp is about 80. At first I thought it was outgassing from too much aeration, but then I noticed one of his eyes bulging and his sides seemed protruding. The conclusion with the local Petco was dropsy and we have been treating it for a couple days now. He seems to be improving.
<That's good.>
I removed the aerator from the tank when we thought of the outgassing and I wanted to clean it as it was pretty algae caked.
<Probably not necessary to remove, but if your filter has good water flow, the extra bubbles aren't really needed.>
I now notice the tank rapidly increasing in algae on all the plants and there are some dark black spots growing on the glass.
<Could be from overfeeding & not enough water changes.>
I clearly have a sick tank. I know I should be changing 20% of the water weekly but its probably been more like every 2-3 weeks.
<Aha! I was right! 50% weekly water changes are what I do to maintain a healthy tank.  Especially one that is overcrowded.  Be sure to clean the gravel too.>
I was going to put the aerator back in but then I noticed an article/discussion on your site about sponge filters.  Since it appears that carbon is only effective for a short time, what do you
think of my using a correct sized sponge filter for bio and aeration reasons along with the whisper filter for particulate and carbon filtering?
<Carbon isn't needed.  I only use it on freshwater tanks to remove medications I may have used in a hospital tank.  I love Aquaclear filters.  They have a sponge (for mechanical filtration) & BioMax ceramic rings (for biological filtration) & I like to put about 1" filter floss in between (for polishing the water crystal clear).>
I do not have a test kit (a problem I plan on changing today) but I clearly need to get more in tune with the water issues and change the 20% weekly.
<Great! Test for ammonia & nitrItes (should be 0 at all times), nitrAtes (should be <20) & pH (should be around neutral, 7.2 or close to what your tapwater is).>
Finally, I bought a Hydor Ekip 250 awhile back liking the all in one idea. But it was a bit noisy for my son¹s bedroom. So I kept using the whisper. What do you think of this filter design? Is the sponge my best bet for the bio reasons?
<I am not familiar with this system (although just looked it up on the net).  It looks as effective as most other filters, for a small tank.  Be sure to leave your existing filter on your tank for at least a month after you buy a new one, so the bacteria have time to establish in the new one.>
Thanks much for your timely reply. His fish need you!
<Good luck & remember--water changes, water changes, water changes!  ~PP>
James

Multiple Deaths  12/12/05
Hello, I think I exhausted the articles and have a couple possibilities to address in my tank. But, I don't know where to start. I don't want to shock the system with trying too many things at once, but I need to do something quick, cause fish are dying!
Maybe best if I explain the problem. About 9 months ago, my girlfriend and I graduated from a Betta in a 2.5 gallon to more exciting endeavors. Namely, we got a 70 gal tank. It was originally set up for saltwater, but we're using it for freshwater as we're not knowledgeable enough to do saltwater yet (and don't know if we want to either). We started with a red-tailed barb, 3 Bala sharks (med), some snails. Along the way we added an eel, small catfish, large cichlid, 2 small pleco, a couple clown loaches, and a couple clown knifes. (sounds like a lot I know, but several died and were replaced, so not all at once!) We are using a 3 stage 'AquaClear' filter charcoal/foam/bio pellet), and feed flake, occasionally veggie pellet thing, and occasional frozen brine square. About 3 months ago we had an emergency. The original 3 bala's and 2 Plecostomus' were dead. Not only dead, but were encased in a fungus like sarcophagus about 1/4 inch thick, and I noticed the cichlid (an a couple others) had a cloudy covering on his eyes (all of this occurred in about 16-20 hours). I immediately set up 3 emergency tanks and separated fish out according to their appearance of health. I then spent several hours draining the main tank, and doing a major cleaning job. After a couple days of allowing things to stabilize, I put the healthiest fish back and monitored closely, then followed suit slowly with the other fish. I'm a novice and didn't have maintenance equipment like water test kit, etc. We progressed fine for a few months though, and had no more fatalities. About 3 weeks ago we added the 2 clown loaches and a couple new bala's. Then
one week ago we added the 2 clown knifes. Yesterday I noticed the fungus-like cloud developing over a few fish eyes. I knew what happened last time, so I started the emergency again.  Within a couple hours I lost both clown loaches, then today lost another 2 bala's and the kicker, our beloved Unagi (the eel)!
I need some help in where to start.  Here's what I think I figured out I
need to start with:
1. Monitor pH, nitrate/nitrite, ammonia; and possibly treat to correct
2. Add 6-7 tsp. Epsom salt
3. Treat for Oodinium/Velvet
I don't want to do all these at once though. Or should I? Were to start?
Thanks in advance!!!!
Nathan
<Always start any treatment by checking the water quality. Do water changes to correct, no treatments. Use a gravel vac to get out as much organic matter as possible. Ammonia and nitrite should be at zero, nitrate below 20ppm. pH should be kept the same as your tap. Always let the fish adapt to your local water conditions. Second, add the salt. Then see if the fish look better before you try any med. They will only kill off the good bacteria that control water quality. Velvet usually looks like a gold sheen on the fish, I do not think they are infected. If the fungus is happening after death, it's a normal process. If prior, I'd think columnaris, maybe. Oxytetracycline in food is my first choice, but not until you get the tank's water in line. I really think this is a water quality problem. The cloudy eyes seem to confirm this. BTW, you really should return the Clown Knifes. This is a giant fish, over 3 feet at maturity. Unless you plan a tank of a few thousand gallons they really should not be bought. Don>

Bacterial sickness? 11/2/05
Hello I am running a 230 gallon fresh water planted aquarium. the aquarium is medium to heavily stocked with a wide range of species from a few families, tetras, barbs, rasboras, rainbows, gouramis, catfish, loaches, and well as a couple of shrimp species, red claw and marsh. The tank is also well filtered to go along with the stocking, a wet dry system, a Filstar xp3, a Fluval 403, and Eheim 2222, and an Aquamedic nitrate reactor. The tank is running at 26-28 degrees Celsius, no ammonia or nitrites, nitrates on last check around 20ppm or less, pH 7.6, phosphates are a bit high. water is moderately hard GH~120mg/L, KH~70mg/L.  
I have had a few outbreaks of what I believe is a bacterial illness, and currently have isolated a few fish that have symptoms. The problem typically begins with a few dark spots on the fish, see pics of Colombian tetra and Australian rainbow. 

Over time these spots increase in size and color is lost from the area leaving a grayish black discoloration with a decrease in the slime coat. I have taken scrapings and viewed fish under a scope post mortem and noticed a degradation of the scales and what appeared to be inflammation around freshly infected scales. 
The problem progresses in different species at different rates. For instance in rainbows from first signs to death it is typically less then 36 hours, while in the case of the Colombian tetra I have had one not show further symptoms for over a week. As the infection proceeds there is a loss in swimming ability and equilibrium control. In some cases I have seen damage to the internal structure of the gills as well.
I have tried isolation with a few medications so far, CopperSafe, Maracyn-two, salts, potassium permanganate tank treatment and individual baths.
I have looked around a fair bit but have not found something to match the symptoms or progression. I am wondering if there is one thing causing this or if there could be a trigger that is initiating and opportunistic ailments then take over. Is there something that would work better for treatment?
<Mmm, possibly the isolation, quarantine of new fish livestock for a month or two before introduction. I suspect the larger part of root cause/s here is ongoing stress, not pathogenic directly>
So far survival is near zero, I have had one ID shark recover after appearing to have early stages.
Thanks
Gerad
<Am not a fan of wet-dries in such systems either... but as stated, likely the initial state of health is what is principally at fault here... Please read: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdis3setsfactors.htm and the Related FAQs linked above re. Bob Fenner> 

 






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