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Don't know that to do. Came home last night and my Bf's Bala Shark is unwell. It's dorsal fin is slightly clamped and it's gone red. It's tail is also red. Tested the water and every thing is fine. Don't know that to do please help me.

Sounds as if your bala shark is in respiratory distress. Is it possible that some type of chemical or possibly something else may have got in the water.It almost sounds as if your fish has toxic shock. I'd recommend doing a water change and adding air stone in the tank if you don't already have one to get some surface agitation in the tank. BEST OF LUCK!

Red in the tail might be an injury what size tank is it. What are your ammonia nitrite and nitrAte (no dont say "fine" give us the numbers ).
Whats the filtration any airstones ect?

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he also has white dusty looking patshes on him. they are quite big. it doesn't look like cotton wool. it's hard to explain. i'll have to get back to you on the numbers ican't remember them off hand. i'll have to check the log book.

also he's swimming around crazily. flitting around all over the place

That sounds like a very sick shark. Fungus and a bacterial infection from the description. The white patches look like salt or more fuzzy ? Also VERY important is how many in the school and in what size tank.

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not like salt.
at the moment there are 2 sharks in a 20g. They should have been going into a bigger tank on saturday but think i'm gonna wait now.
he's stopped flitting around as much now. i put an airstone in 2 days ago.he's still red though with a bit of fin erosion

tank readings from 2 days ago before a water change.

Ph 6
ammonia 1.2
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 5


Last edited by lou at 09-Dec-2004 03:07

Bala Sharks are schooling and need groups of 3-6 as a minimum.

Bala Sharks are active fish and need a 125 (US) gallon tank as a minimum. Current size of the fish is no exception. They need the room to swim.

Not like salt leaves it as a fungus, possibly an injury that became infected. Red on the fins points to possible bacterial infection. Your test results show poor water quality. A cycled tank has zero ammonia, zero nitrIte with nitrAtes present. Few fish can handle a cycle, bala sharks aren't the best when it comes to cycling. I know meds are difficult to aquire in the UK but you need something for the fish. Hopefully somone more familar with medications availible in the UK will chime in.

You need to clean up that water, daily water changes should keep the nitrItes and ammonia down so they're causing less damage. Best would be if you were able to purchase some bio spira. If you have an established tank (remember zero ammonia, zero nitrIte with a nitrAte reading) you can use some of the substrate from that tank to help in the uncycled one.

Honestly as much as I like to hold out hope for these guys, I doubt they'll make it.

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