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Dear all

I am having big trouble with my tropical fish tank, though thankfully I have had no deaths yet. I’m hoping someone may be able to advise me on what might be wrong and what steps I should take.

About two weeks ago one of my platies was acting off colour, staying at the bottom and not moving around very much. I put in Melafix for a few days, before noticing that the other platies and the swordtail seemed to be off colour. After studying them I sort-of concluded that they had mouth-rot as their mouths aren’t as pointy as usual and are perhaps a bit darker on the sunset platies, so I thought their mouths were eroding. I then put in Interpet’s ‘Anti fungus and finrot’. This didn’t do the trick, so after five days I yesterday did a 30% water change and started a five-day course of Myxazin, continuing to put in the Melafix daily.

Today the platy that was originally the worst is looking much better and is darting around the surface. Yesterday it was swimming in circles but it’s stopped that now. That platy appears to have flakes coming off its head, unlike the Sunset platies which just seem to have lost a bit on their mouths. The other (sunset) platies also seem better, and yesterday one of them had babies yet again.

But what is worrying me most is that my beloved feather-fin catfish is now behaving very strangely. Normally he hides during the day, but instead has been hanging around in some strange positions, especially near the filter. Obviously because he was by the filter I was concerned about the water quality but doing a small (about 10-15%) water change on the day when he was actually sitting on it didn’t make a difference. The only thing that looks different about him is that his ‘feelers’ seem to be thicker than usual, but it is quite possible that I’m just imagining that. He also seems to be moving his gills faster than normal, but I could also be imagining that. My main concern for him is his weird behaviour.

I haven’t seen my loach in a couple of days so I can only hope that he’s ok (he does normally hide a lot which is why I’m not TOO worried).

The little fish (2 head-and-tail light tetra and 5 cardinal tetra) appear to have been fine throughout.

The only thing that I can think of that has been done differently is putting in some Tetra FreshDelica Whole Bloodworms, though I can't see what that would have done (it’s meant to be the SAFE alternative to live food…hmm).

The guy at my fish shop said a week ago that it could be an internal bacterial infection and that the mouth rot was a secondary infection but it that it was difficult to tell, but if that was the case then the stuff I was putting in wouldn’t help. How on earth am I to know? (His answer was to bring one in as it was just about to die so he could have a look at it, but I’d rather it didn’t get to that stage!)

Here is some other information about my tank:

· It has been set up for over 3 years and is approx. 100 litres. I normally do an approximately 20% water change once a week.
· Ammonia = 0, Nitrate = 0 (has been every time I’ve checked it during these problems)
· Temperature = approx. 25oC
· The filter is a Fluval 3plus and I use Fluval filtration in it. It is an internal filter.

It seems so difficult to diagnose fish problems, but yet it is so important!

I hope that some one might be able to offer some advice to save my lovely fishies.

Thanks very much,

Christina

Christina,

It is very difficult to diagnose a sick fish as most of us are trying to understand what is wrong solely through the observation of symptoms. If we had microscopes and lab tests, we would be right more often than not but that type of diagnosis also takes time.

You should bookmark the follwing address. It is one of the best sites that I have found for symptoms, diagnosis and treatment on the web. http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html. Unfortunately, it is currently down but may be back up on the 16th or 17th.

In terms of treatment, I strongly recommend the following procedure whenever something looks wrong:

1. 50% water change. It is the equivalent of boiling water for a baby's birth but actually has a purpose - it cleans out half of whatever bad is in your water.

2. Carefully note the symptoms and consult the link. Remember, you may have an initial injury or illness that is masked by a secondary infection.

3. Do not use Melafix, Pimafix, Dr. Dork's Magic Elixir, aspirin or beer! Well, drink the beer and relax. You don't want to add anything to your water since you just cleaned up half of the bad floaties. Why do you want to gunk it up?

4. Do a 50% water change the following day. You will now have reduced the bad stuff in the water by 75% from when you noticed your fish coughing.

5. You are now ready to medicate according to your diagnosis and according to the directions on the medication. Remember, a little more is not a lot better, it's a lot worse. Medications can kill your fish!

Prior to medicating, you may want to move the sick fish to a hospital tank. If you are using antibiotics, this is a great idea. Antibiotics can and will kill your bio-filter. Additionally, the hospital tank should be set-up like a hospital room - you never see gravel, plants, castles, divers, marbles or rocks in a hospital room. Don't include them in a hospital tank. An option is to have your fish "visit" the hospital room for 3 or 4 hours. This option may be a bad option as you stress the fish every time you move it. Stress kills.

By the way, I think that you meant nitrites when you indicated 0 "nitrates" in your post. Most kits come with a nitrite test, nitrate tests are usually an add-on test. Do take a water sample to your LFS to doublecheck your test results!

Hope this helps!



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright