FishProfiles.com Message Forums

The smaller of my 2 female swordtails appears to be sick to me, but she has none of the symptoms of any disease i look up. She looks green in sort of patches,and around her mouth.The scales on her belly look ruffled also. I also noticed the edges of her bitten fins looked greenish, too. The only disease I could find with greenness as a symptom was velvet somthing or other, but the green isnt like "a golden-greenish dust". In her original tank with the other female+male, she was fine, but one day her finnage had been pretty chewed-on, so I removed her and put her in a seperate tank. She seemed to be doing great, until recently I moved her and the other fish into a 10 gallon tank, and started noticing the things mentioned. Whats wrong with her, and any treatments? Also, is she sick from stress from being moved from tank to tank? Or is it because of her damaged fins?

kinda a long post.
-Sabrina

Hello Fishy,

I do not know anything about the symptoms that you describe on your sword, but I wonder about the procedures she went through.

She got nipped (I guess pretty badly), then moved, and then moved again. What was the time span in which this occurred? Are the water parameters the same in all 3 tanks? Can it be that the second or third are not fully cycled? Did you treat her in the second tank with any medication?

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

What other fish are in the original tank aside from male and female swords? Or just like ingo said above, is the 3 tanks have the same water params? Give us all the info we need so we could help you.

BTW, try posting at the Hospital Forum next time. Hope your fish will be fine soon!

Last edited by ronnfive at 04-Aug-2005 05:17

...or you can click the report post button under your post and ask moderators to move it for you.

Hospital is probably a better spot for this to be.

---

Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

There were only previously swordtails. Recently though, I got a pair of rasboras to put with them. About the nipping, she appeared to have half of her tail gone, and her dorsal fin was bitten almost all the way down in one place. I havent used any treatments because i dont want to treat her for the wrong thing. It is possible that the third tank may not have been fully cycled. Parameters are things like PH and nitrates, right? My test thingy said everything was good but the nitrates are a little high, and the alkalinity is high, too.This is in my current tank. However, I didnt test the other two tanks. Should I look for the closest fitting disease, and try to treat her with that? Or can treatments that are incorrect harm a fish?

sabrina

Sabrina,

Although I cannot rule out any disease (although I wouldn’t know which one), I would strongly suggest that you test the parameters of the tank where your female is housed currently. That means check Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. You can also check for ph, but this is not so important as long as it would be close to the other tanks.

Could you be a bit more precise and give us the value that you measured for the Nitrates, “a little high” often covers a wide range?
Why did you move her from a second to a third tank if she was doing fine in there?
What kind of a “test thingy” do you use anyway?

If I would have to make a guess, I would say that your female got nipped bad and that moving her into tanks with unknown parameters made things worse.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The "test thingy" is a test strip. The alkalinity isin between 180 and 300, and the nitrates are at about 75. I chose to move her from the tank because it was too small. I figured that since they were being moved into a larger tank, she would be able to stay away from the other swordtails and wouldnt be disturbed. I'll go look up more sicknesses.

EDIT: Actually, she looks a little better. Ill keep an eye on her.

Last edited by hello fishy at 04-Aug-2005 16:09

Sabrina,

I don't know much about alkalinity, but your Nitrates are going to kill your fish in the long run.

Although there are people that say levels of 70ppm will not harm your fish immediately, usually we all agree that values over 20ppm are very damaging to the fishies.

I would suggest you put her in a tank that is fully cycled. You should also check for Ammonia and Nitrites as these are even worse for your fish.

I think you found your problem, there is most likely no reason to look for some exotic illness.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club