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Tonight I have noticed one of my Harlies seems very sick. He is staying close to the top of the water, seems to be having problems breathing, his gills look swollen and I haven't seen him eat. This is a guy I have been a little worried about for a little while because he is smaller than the other 6 Harlies... But up until tonight he has been eating and I didn't notice anything wrong.

I immediately checked all of my water numbers and everything is fine. (And I just did a 20% water change last night.) Ammonia/nirite at zero, nitrate just under 20, 76 degree water temperature, pH 7.8, 20 gallon tank.

All the other fish look happy and healthy, everyone else is eating, swimming and having no problems.

I do not have a QT or hospital tank and no way of really setting one up. However, I want to try and help this guy with whatever is wrong.

I have a vase that I used to keep my Betta in, however, I realize this wouldn't provide a constant water temperature high enough for the Harlie... So, I thought, what about one of those plastic bags for fish transport? Is it possible to make a little make-shift hospital room out of one of those kinds of bag floating in the main tank?

If not, I am at a loss for where I could help him...



Last edited by neurotica1983 at 03-Mar-2005 00:31

Last edited by neurotica1983 at 03-Mar-2005 00:33

Ok, it's been an hour and I just checked on him again...

Now, he is staying with the school, he isn't swimming at the top gasping. However, his gills still look funny.

At first glance, it looks just like the area right infront of his gills is really shiny... However, if I look real close, I can see how that area looks a little swollen. Like the area right infront of the opening for his gills is a little puffy. What could be the cause of this if all of my water readings are alright? Plus, as I said, none of my other fish (other Harlies, pair of Cherry Barbs, Panda Cories) seem to be showing any signs of stress at all.

I'd be worried that the ammonia produced, even by such a small little guy, would be quite a lot in that sized bag. Daily to twice daily water changes in that bag along with an airstone and it might work.
Sorry that I can't help on the symptoms you've described, but as a FYI, rubbermaid storage totes like you can buy @tartet, kmart, home depot ect ect ect....those make great hospital/q-tine tanks. I prefer the opaque ones as some meds are photosensitive and because a fish kept in the dark won't be as stressed.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"There’s an emptiness inside her. And she’d do anything to fill it in.
And though it’s red blood bleeding from her now. It's more like cold blue ice in her heart.
She feels like kicking out all the windows. And setting fire to this life."

Also I know the dollar store usually carries an off brand of these rubbermaid containers that are cheaper In desperationg once, I used an ice chest and it worked really well also...but as Babel said, don't forget a pump with an airhose, you still need oxygen in the water. hml

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Alternatively, if you have a livebearer breeding trap, that can be pressed into service as an emergency "AE wiating room" ...

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

You may want to consider the possibility of gill flukes. Can you see him scratching on anything? It's also possible he has an infection in the gill, like columnaris.

You may want to consider a round of Parasite Clear Tank buddies, which is safe at full strength, even for scaleless fish. It contains Praziquantel which is highly effective for gill flukes and very safe for fish. The med also contains acriflavine, which is helpful for mild infections.

If he has flukes, the others may so that is one possibly reason for treating in the main tank.

If you really want to q-tine, use any kind of rubbermaid bin and as mentioned above, the dollar store is good for cheap ones. Just grab from the center of the pile in case they were spraying around the store. Rinse really well without any kind of soap.

Fill the container (at least 4-5 gallons in size) with as much tank water as you can without depleting more than 30%. Add the fish immediately as the temp and makeup will be identical (less stress). Add a fake plant or two, an airstone and keep in the warmest room possible. Add in more water as needed that is the same temp. If you must add more than 30% to make it full, then do it incrementally every half hour or hour so it is slowly acclimated. Don't forget conditoiner.

To keep the bin from dropping in temp, simply wrap it in a blanket, but make sure the lid is loosely on so it can't contact the water and wick out the water. If you have a clean water bottle, like Aquafina, you can fill it with water that is about 10 degrees warmer than the water in the bin. It will take time to equalize. You don't want hot in there. If you slow the descent to room temp, it is less stressful. Hopefully, room temp is at least 70-72F.

Either way, Parasite Clear would be my first choice, unless you can find some Prazi Pro. Make sure the Parasite Clear contains an ingredient called Praziquantel. They reformulated the product last year without changing the appearance of the box. Only the version with Prazi is safe at full strength with scaleless fish in the tank. It is an outstanding dewormer too.

Unfortunately the little guy died just before I went off to bed last night.

I've honestly been a little worried about this guy ever since I brought him home. He was the same size as the others at first, but as the others grew in size, he didn't. Not very much anyway. He never really schooled with the other Harlies. However, he always ate just like the others and never had any noticeable problems until last night. Since he was the loner of my group of seven, I called him "Seven" just because he was easy to pick out because he was small and always more or less by himself. So, he was one that I kept a very close eye on because of that fact. So, I know that he wasn't having any problems until last night and it was all very sudden.

Once I got him out of the tank last night, I didn't see anything visably wrong with him. So, I am unsure of what happened really. However, he was always the odd one out of the school, so perhaps there has always been something wrong with him. Who knows.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I will definitely keep some of them in mind incase I see any other fish having some difficulties in the future.

Sorry it didn't work out. The little guy could have had something wrong from birth. Did you ever see white poop? If so, I'd treat the tank with Parasite Clear to get everyone cleaned out.