Help!!! diseases in the community tank
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Ugh…
2 zebra danios dead already… catfish goes to surface for quick gulp of air (I assume).
But to the beginning: 5 days ago I noticed my betta was having fin rot, maybe my australian rainbowfish too.
Knowing it was contagious I treated the whole tank. Today was the last day of medication. I gave it in the morning, then in the afternoon I did a scrub of the walls, cleaning of the filter, and 50% water change because the water had gone really murky and slimy from the med.s.Which did stop the fin rot…
After dinner I did another water change, only 1/5 or so, because water was still murky. It helped a little, still kinda gross though.
This one danio that had been swimming on his side for days before started having more trouble, spinning all the way around while trying to swim. Was also very pale, white even, on prtruding belly
A bit after I found a dead danio, while catching the last platy.
It didn’t have any obvious physical problems, so I don’t know the cause of death.Did some reseach, found this page:
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm
Discovered fish most likely had “neon tetra disease” Oh shit!
Took fish out, performed a you-know-what to his neck and head and put with other dead fish to be buried in the morning.
But this thing is supposed to be contagious, and there’s no known cure. The site says to clean out tank, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea considering the stress they’re already been though.
What to do, what to do? Help please!!!?
And what’s the catfish’s problem? I lowered the temp, and oxygen leveles should be normal. – there he goes again! I have a good view of the tank from here. All 3 actually.
– Atlantis
Hi Atlantis,
I would like to offer my views on fish disease (and coincidentally, human health as well). There are 2 approaches :
1. kill as many germs/microbes as possible to prevent disease
2. cultivate a strong immune system by encouraging friendly bacteria, plus also focusing on a balanced ecosystem that naturally weeds out the bad guys
It’s impossible to do (1) because germs are everywhere.
The trend these days is to treat fish diseases with “probiotics” — solutions containing friendly bacteria that actually crowd out the bad bugs. The good bacteria will do lots of helpful little tasks for you, including cleaning your tank and protecting the fish. They can also help in such an emergency that you are currently experiencing. One such product is Nutrafin Cycle.
IMHO, prevention is always better than cure, so if the conditions are right, there should be no reason for fish diseases to happen at all. This is why I am a strong proponent for a complete ecosystem including plants and full-spectrum lighting (on a timed day/night cycle).
And on the topic of human health — same idea. Prevention better than health. Natural remedies better than brute force treatments. Probiotics, not antibiotics.
Sorry to hear about the mass deaths!!
Prevention better than health. Natural remedies better than brute force treatments. Probiotics, not antibiotics.
Yeah, weird thing is that all was fine in the tank till fin rot seemed to hit overnight.
I’ve used Nutrafin Cycle when I started up. but didn’t get another after the bottle was empty.
Maybe I’ll get some more tomorrow and hope it helps. Thanks for that tip.
I’ll add a little aquarium salt right now, I didn’t think of it earlier, but it’s supposed to help stressed fish.
I just checked parameters…
nitrate – 10 ppm
nitrite – 0.5ppm
hardness – 300ppm (normal for tank, my area has hard water)
chlorine – 0ppm
alkalinity – 180ppm
pH – aprox. 7.5– Atlantis
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