Gold barb with not much tail remaining  2/24/10
Hello,
<Hi there>
It is late and I've been keeping my eye on a sluggish barb in our aquarium.
We have 2 of these
<Ahh, such "picky" species are best kept in larger numbers>
along with 3 tetra Neons. The quiet one often hangs out by himself.
Tonight I noticed that he is struggling to stay horizontal and much of his tail is missing.
<Likely chewed off by the other>
At the risk of sounding like an idiot, I assume there isn't much hope.
<Yes... fishes have remarkable powers of regeneration. I'd isolate the "winner" here... in a floating plastic colander likely>
I hate to see him struggle and suffer - it doesn't seem like it is able to feed. It is having a hard time steering and maneuvering. Also, I noticed from your web site that you recommend a larger school of this type of fish.
<Yes!>
Maybe that would have helped prevent the problem of this one's tail being attacked. What is the humane thing to do? I hate when my husband travels.
I'm a huge animal lover and this is hard for me to deal with. Thanks, Amy
<I'd hold out hope myself. A pessimistic mind might suggest euthanization.
Bob Fenner>

Re: Gold barb with not much tail remaining – 02/24/10
Thanks!! I'll try to isolate him and hope that he can pull through. I had no idea that they may be able to regenerate a tail!!
<If not bitten too far back... to/beyond the hypurals...>
I can flush a dead fish, but I just can't flush this little guy. If he dies on us, then I'll know it was nature, not me. Amy
<Life to you Amy. BobF>

Danios Fish, hlth.  8/26/2009
Hello,
<Hello,>
I have Danios, one of them is not doing well.
<Start by checking the environment. First and foremost, Danios need water that is clean: 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. Water chemistry is not critical: pH 6-8, 5-20 degrees dH is acceptable. But water chemistry should be steady, without too much variation from week to week. Temperature should be moderate, around 22-24 degrees C is ideal. They need lots of swimming room:
the aquarium should be at least 60 cm long. Danios are social fish, and will not do well kept singly. However, they can be aggressive if kept in small groups. Always keep them in groups of six or more specimens to avoid bullying.>
It's not swimming but on the bottom of the fish tank, it breathes but it's gills look red.
<I see.>
Is that a symptom of some kind of disease or infection?
<It can be. Mostly, it's a sign of environmental stress. But certain diseases will cause fish to breathe heavily or gasp at the surface of the tank. The most common example are Whitespot (Ick) parasites that irritate the gills. Other possibilities include Velvet, gill flukes, and some bacterial infections.>
Malwina
<Cheers, Neale.>

Ill Danio 8/11/2009
Hello,
<Hello,>
I fear this is a lost cause, but I'd rather know I did everything I could before the presumed inevitable.
<Sounds ominous...>
I have two Zebra Danios in a five gallon tank and they've been lovely for months now.
<You can't keep Danios in a tank this small. Any problems you're having will be, at least in part, a result of this. Danios need tanks at least as big as a "long" 20 gallon tank. Partly it's because they're so active, and
need plenty of swimming room. But it's also because they're highly sociable, and must be kept in groups of at least 6 specimens, and realistically 10 or more, to avoid problems like bullying and nervous stress.>
But, recently, things have taken a dark turn. I discovered one had white spots much larger than those described in Velvet and Ich descriptions.
These appear larger and there were fewer of them on the body of one of the Danios. They were white, but they seemed like salty clusters rather than the light, all-over spotting I've noted in photos and these clusters seemed to rest on the body.
<Are you sure these aren't patches of Finrot and/or Fungus? Dead tissue will often look white, especially in combination with excess mucous. I mention this because a 5 gallon tank will, almost by definition, have poor
water quality unless extremely carefully maintained. And yes, your idea of "careful maintenance" and mine are likely very different. In any even, 5 gallons is too small for Danios.>
The sick fish was also heading to the bottom of the tank and seemed to have ragged fins and little interest in consuming food, although traditional feeding behavior was evident. I did not note any flashing during my
observation, but I began research into the cause and assumed it was Ich.
<Why assume anything? The ragged fins are a CLASSIC sign of Finrot. Ergo, the water quality was likely poor, and given you had two specimens, bullying may well be causing physical damage as well, exacerbating the situation further.>
I have been treating with QuickCure for five days, have removed the carbon from the filter, have increased the water temperature, and have been performing 25% water changes daily before adding Quick Cure drops. The afflicted Danio seemed to improve after day one - white clusters were disappearing, it was exhibiting more social behavior - but it has now relapsed into, well, I feel the death throes. On day four, the fish developed a white cluster on its mouth and was noticeably gasping, its little mouth opening and closing rapidly. The white bump was diminished on day five, but this morning he's begun fainting it seems. He'll be fine for a time, swimming as normal, then his little body goes lifeless and he floats for a bit then twitches and seems to wake up and swims again.
<Dying.>
The other Danio in the tank did have white spots, but did not exhibit any of the listlessness or disinterest in eating. He seems to be fine now, swimming and trying to school with the ill one.
<Two fish can't school; must be kept in groups of 6+ specimens.>
Unfortunately, I do not have water statistics to share, nor do I have a quarantine tank.
<I know you don't want me to say this, but you need a much bigger tank as well as, at minimum, a nitrite test kit. Folks often come here looking for help, and get annoyed when I tell them they're doing everything wrong. But sometimes they *are* doing everything wrong, and nothing else I say can change that. You simply cannot keep Danios in a tank this small. Indeed, apart from a single male Betta, there's no fish you could safely keep in this tank. If you chose this tank without reading an aquarium book first, then the fault is yours. If you chose this tank because the retailer said it was a good aquarium, then the retailer took advantage of your ignorance.>
I fear this "fainting" will soon overtake the other fish and I'd like to do all I can to prevent it. Any advice or suggestions you can make will be appreciated.
<Buy a bigger tank. A long 20-gallon tank, a filter rated at 4 times the volume of the aquarium per hour, 20% weekly water changes, and the use of anti-Finrot medication such as Maracyn (not tea-tree oil or salt!) are all essential steps. If, as seems likely, both fish will soon die, then don't keep any fish in this tank. It is too SMALL. End of story.>
Yours sincerely,
Amy
<Sorry I can't offer any cheery, easy advice, but there isn't any. In this case, these fish are sick because you bought a useless aquarium. Seemingly you did no research at all. I've given you a shopping list of what you need to save these Danios and keep them healthy. Your move. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Ill Danio 8/11/2009
Somehow, after reading all the posts, I knew that's what I'd hear.
<Glad I didn't disappoint...!>
And I appreciate you taking the time to share the information with me.
<Not a problem.>
The tank was indeed sold to me based on my ignorance. We had a community aquarium at work in which one lone Danio was having a hard time and attacking other fish.
<Despite being sold as "peaceful" fish, they can be very aggressive unless in large groups; hence, you need six or more. In smaller groups they become frustrated, and single males (I guess) can become real pests.>
I volunteered to take him home and was guided by a fish store to purchase a five gallon.
<I see.>
What I should have considered was the fact that that fish store also suggested keeping the Danio in a tank with Guppies which, upon personal research, is a terrible idea.
<Indeed, often the case, though in big tanks, they can keep out of each other's way.>
With zero experience in the fish department, all this information is a great help and I knew there wouldn't be an easy answer.
<Often the case, in life.>
This has been a very valuable education and I will definitely do my homework in the future. For now, I'll track down a larger tank and see what happens.
<Suspect you'll find a bigger tank more rewarding. A 20 gallon tank is only marginally bigger than 10 gallon one (lots of folks couldn't tell them apart) and the price differential isn't that great given things like heaters and lights will often be very similar. But the additional volume of water makes the aquarium so much more stable that the result is a better, easier to maintain aquarium. "Long" 20 gallon tanks are best of all, since
they have extra swimming space and a very good surface area to volume ratio (which means more oxygen in the water). Do have a peruse of these articles in particular; the first is a general piece on your first tank, the other two on choosing livestock and what works best in tanks of a given size:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwset-up.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestk.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_5/volume_5_3/stocking.htm
>
Again, Neale, thank you for your help and your patience with a novice.
<Glad to help.>
Yours sincerely,
Amy
<Cheers, Neale.>

Need diagnosis for tumor/blister growth 7/26/2009 Dear Crew, <Hello Leah,> I'm turning to you as a last resort. <Oh, sounds ominous!> One of my male rosy barbs has a tumor or blister-like growth over its nostril. Other symptoms include not eating and hiding in a corner. I noticed the tumor and the sickly behavior on Friday, July 24th. I researched this online, and I concluded that the fish might be suffering from a bacterial infection, specifically Aeromonas. I made a judgment call and decided to treat the entire tank. I am at the end of day 2 of a 4-day treatment course of Nitrofurazone (in Jungle Labs Fungus Clear tabs). But things are not improving and I am beginning to doubt my earlier diagnosis. <I would concur with this; certainly looks like a tumour of some kind, benign or not as the case may be. I've asked Bob for a second opinion, if he has one.><<I do not... if there were time/interest, would elaborate on a wild speculation re seeding the universes with "viral particles" and their probable to evident consequences... see "life", planetary, initialization... RMF>> I have researched fish tumors and blisters some more online, and it seems like many things can cause them, from bacterial infections, to viruses, to cancer. I don't want to dump more medications in my tank without a proper diagnosis, which is why I am turning to you for an expert opinion. I have attached two pictures, which show the tumor/blister fairly well. Can you help me decide what is ailing this fish? <Precisely as you say, warts, growths, and tumours can have a variety of causes. Blisters, i.e., bacterial infections, tend to be associated with dead and dying tissue, so you usually see areas of inflammations (i.e., red streaks) as well as dead tissue (i.e., white, flaking areas of skin or muscle). That isn't obviously the case here, though it's just possible we're looking at a sub-dermal infection, hence the rather "clean" appearance. If there is a bacterial infection, you'd fully expect antibiotics to clear it up, though it may take some time (weeks, even months) for fish's immune system to deal with the dead white tissue causing the swelling. If antibiotics aren't having any affect, and the thing continues to grow, then you probably can discount this theory. Among the Cyprinidae, the carps and barbs, one possible cause is Fish Pox, a Herpes-like viral disease equivalent to the Lymphocystis seen on higher bony fish (typically Perciform fish like cichlids). Fish Pox isn't treatable as such, but neither is it particularly dangerous, and over time, almost always goes away without causing the fish any harm. As with Lymphocystis though, it may take many months, even years, for this to happen. However, Fish Pox typically has a white, wax appearance, so I don't think that's the issue here. Finally, there are tumours caused by genetic or environmental issues. Tumours typically press against the skin from underneath, so you usually see an area of swelling covered with scales, rather than bare flesh, as on your specimen.> Here's some more info that may be relevant to making a diagnosis: The tank is 55 gallons, containing 9 rosy barbs, 6 Otocinclus catfish, and 6 celestial pearl Danios. The tank has been established for about 20 months. The temperature is between 81 and 82, due to summer heat (I'm in Honolulu). The ammonia and nitrite both read 0. I keep the nitrate below 20 with regular water changes of at least 30% per week. The last inhabitants added were some new Otos in March. They were quarantined for 3 weeks. However, I did lose 3 of the new Otos over the course of about 3 months, after the group was added to the main tank. They looked well-fed and never showed any weird symptoms before dying. At the time, I attributed their deaths to the fact that Otos are notoriously delicate--now, I wonder if there hasn't been a slow-building outbreak of something going on in my tank since they were added. However, right now, besides the barb, no other fish are showing any symptoms or any unusual behavior. I no longer have a quarantine tank, but I have a bucket and an air stone that I can use in a pinch, if I need to remove the sick barb. I do worry about infecting my other fish. Your help is greatly appreciated! Best wishes, Leah <Bottom line is this: it's unlikely to be contagious. Even Fish Pox doesn't tend to be especially contagious (though anything that damages the skin, like clumsy netting, can allow infective particles to move between fish). Opportunistic bacterial infections are possibilities in all tanks, all of the time, because the bacteria responsible are part of the normal nitrogen cycle. So if the thing is bacterial, provided your other fish are healthy, there's no real reason to expect them to develop similar problems. At least from now, observe rather than treat. If the fish shows signs of suffering, and the growth becomes such it prevents the fish from swimming or feeding normally, then euthanasia would be appropriate. I doubt any commercially available medication would help beyond the antibiotics already used, so there's no point treating with anything else. I will make one further observation: Rosy Barbs are subtropical fish, and prolonged periods of high temperatures (anything above 24 C/75 F) will stress them, so given your climate, their health will likely be compromised to some degree. Rosy Barbs do best when given warm rather than hot summers, and somewhat cooler winters. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Need diagnosis for tumor/blister growth on Rosy Barb (RMF?) 7/30/09 Thanks for the advice, Neale. <Happy to help.> After reading your reply, I stopped medicating and started doing daily 50% water changes. A few days ago the tumor appeared to rupture. <Eek!> It looked pretty gross at first, but now all that is left is a deep pit where the tumor used to be (and, unfortunately, where one of his little olfactory organs used to be). <I see; sounds more like a bacterial inflammation than a cyst, and quite possibly inside the nostril at first.> I'm hoping that the clean water will help the fish avoid a secondary bacterial infection while it has this open wound. <Can do; this is one of those times tea-tree oil might be worth a shot, but to be honest, I'd have a bottle of Maracyn or equivalent to hand, just in case.> This morning, the pit does look just slightly smaller, so maybe it is starting to heal up. However, despite looking somewhat better, the fish continues to act like it is sick. It hides in a corner or behind a plant, and it hasn't eaten since at least Thursday the 23rd, when I first noticed the tumor. I will euthanize it before I let it waste away, but I'm not going to take any drastic action just yet. <Agreed.> Considering these updates (that is, that the tumor ruptured and the fish still isn't eating), do you have any more ideas about what this might be and any opinion on whether it's something the barb can recover from? <With suitable treatment, yes, you'd be surprised how quickly a fish can recover from this sort of thing. I've seen photos on Planet Catfish of a little Plec that got all but sliced in half, and then got better! It's quite remarkable. http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16798 An antibiotic might be a useful treatment if there's any sign of secondary infection, but otherwise clean water and lots of oxygen are about the best you can do.> Thank you! Leah <Cheers, Neale.> Re: Need diagnosis for tumor/blister growth on Rosy Barb  7/31/09 Hi Neale, <Hello Leah,> I have good news and bad news about this poor barb. The good news is that his sore has almost completely healed. It's amazing--you can hardly even tell that the tumor or the deep pit were ever there. <Cool.> The bad news is that he continues to refuse food. And he's noticeably weaker. <I see...> Although he can still swim just fine when he needs to, he mostly just hovers in one place or kind of drifts. Plus, over the past two days he has grown very pale. He's so pale that I mistook him for one of the female rosy barbs. <Eek! Well, force feeding is always an option, but tricky with small fish. You need a steady hand and a small syringe. Essentially you open the mouth of the fish (sometimes easier using, gently, a toothpick) and then squirt in a solution of flake and water. Sometimes you can use the toothpick to force in a small piece of food, like a chunk of prawn. But this is very stressful for fish (as you'd expect) and pretty difficult to do if you're not familiar with handling small animals.> I won't just let him starve to death, so I'm prepared to euthanize him if necessary, but I'm not sure when to do it. <In theory, fish can go several weeks without food. But this does tend to assume the fish was somewhat healthy beforehand, so was able to lay down a little fat. If the fish is still basically rounded around the belly, I'd not be worried; but if the belly has a convex profile when looked at, i.e., appears "sunken", then the fish is indeed starving.> If it were you, how long would you let him hang on like this, if he continues to refuse food? <Maybe two weeks.> How long can fish go without eating, anyway? For this barb, it's been at least 8 days since he ate anything. Thank you, Leah <Good luck, Neale.>

Sick Danio... Need data, reading  04/03/09
Dear WWM Crew,
<Jean>
Hi; please help. I have a Danio that is almost a year old. She has a couple of sores on her side. One sore is red in color and the other sore is white in color.
<Mmm>
I also noticed by pectoral fin and gill cover she has red a streak/spot. She has not eaten in two days now.
<Bad>
When she swims she is swimming wobbly. I have been treating her for two days now with Maracyn-two. I am assuming that this is a bacterial infection or the beginning stages of Dropsy?
<Need to explore root causes here... these issues are almost always linked if not derived from environmental and nutritional mal-influences>
The water in the hospital tank reads: Ph – 7.2, Ammonia – 0 and Nitrite – 0. Please give advice.
Thanks Jean
<... Need to know more re your set-up, foods/feeding, maintenance, and importantly, what other life is present (gives clues as to what might be going on here)... I suspect some sorts of long-term toxic issue/s and/or deficiency/ies nutrition-wise. You might want to read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/BDRDisFAQs.htm
and the linked files above... For background, and a glimpse of the sorts of information we're looking for. Bob Fenner>

Sore on side of Danio 1/31/09 Hi Fantastic WWM Crew! Hope Saturday has treated you well... Have a question about a Danio I have. My tank is a 180 Ltr Juwel Rio, 0 nitrate, 0 ammonia, 10 nitrate (last water change 30% about 4 days ago, usually do 20-30% every 10days to 2 weeks) My little fishy friends are: 12 x Puntius pentazona (5-banded barbs) 10 platies (2 males, 3 good sized females and 5 juveniles of unknown sex) 2 x bristlenose Ancistrus (about 2 inches long - the biggest fish in the tank at present) 3 x golden (I think) gouramis (little chaps, very cute, purchased from eBay for a mere £1 a go from a guy round the corner clearing his tank) 9 adult Danios - mostly zebras, 10 2 month old Danio babies (I need another home for these little guys soon!). (1 x pearl Gourami and 3 SAE's in QT at present waiting to go into main tank) So that is my set up.... and here is the question. I have one Danio who always seems to have a sore looking patch on its side. It is to my mind a deformed fish - very strange long fins, different body shape to the others. The sore patches do not seem to get any worse or any better, certainly are not bothering the fish, which east well, swims with the others and seems fine. I have no other signs of illness in the fish (one with swim bladder issues which after a week in isolation picked up and became a happy little fish again and is now back the main tank). I have attached a picture FYI. In no.3 you can see how he is not as straight as the other Danios and has a lot of very silly long fins. To me they look wrong, he however has never had any fin problems, the whitish tinge on the end of the dorsal fin is a colouration, not fungus (I have looked at him a lot!) I would be grateful to have your opinion on this rather odd fish and its sore bits... Looking forward to hearing from you.. Kind regards and many thanks Sarah <Sarah, SNAP, we have the same aquarium. The Juwel 180 is a nice system, so good choice there. The short answer is that your long-fin Danio does have a slightly kinked spine, and that's pretty common with Danios generally and the (inbred) fancy strains especially. There's nothing you can do about it, and in mild cases isn't a serious problem, though I wouldn't breed from it. But as for the sore on its side, it may be a tumour or it could be an ulcer. Difficult to say from your photos because they're quite small. Tumours are untreatable, but usually benign, so aren't necessarily a disaster. Ulcers usually happen when bacteria get into a wound, and are much like Finrot in causes and treatment. I'd recommend eSHa 2000 as a reliable cure for bacterial infections, assuming you're in the UK or Europe. It's safe to treat him in the tank alongside the other fish. A bigger photo, or at least something with a close-up of the pink patch, would help confirm/refute my ideas here. Good luck, Neale.> Re: sore on side of Danio Thanks Neale.. Will try to get a closer pic - it is just a fast mover! Right now am configuring wifi system for install at deep cut barracks Monday am and am truly hacked off with it! Thanks Sarah <Okay. Well, hope you get your wires all fixed. Cheers, Neale.> Re: sore on side of Danio Hi there... Just snapped a few pics - the fish actually has a sore patch on either side form the looks of it - symmetrically it seems. One side is worse than the other. The pictures are as taken, so I apologise if the files are a little large. Thank you! Sarah <Sarah, it isn't obvious to me that this is an open wound or sore, but looks perhaps like a swelling or discolouration of some sort. It's perhaps easier for you to see with the living fish. In any case, treat with eSHa 2000 anyway (it's inexpensive and safe) and see what happens. If there's no change, but the fish otherwise seems fine, I wouldn't worry overmuch. Cheers, Neale.>

Danio swimming in circles... 01/18/09
Hello and a belated happy fishy new year to you all! Once more instead of working I am reading WWM most days, and have nice fishy background on my desktop.
I have a question about a zebra Danio. For background my current set up:
180lt with possibly a little too many little fish:
12 x 5 banded barbs
2 x 1 ½ inch long Ancistrus
3 x 1 ½ inch long golden Gouramis
4 x adult female platies, 1 adult male, 1 small male
5 x approx 2 month old platy fry
9 x adult zebra / leopard and one horribly long finned) Danios
10 6 week old Danio fry
(My plan is to give some Danios to a friend as soon as they are big enough)
I have one zebra who I notice has been swimming in a circle for most of this week. It is kind of twitching occasionally � moving the fins on one side more than the other, and listing very slightly to one side. Still feeding well, but now resting occasionally on the bottom (unless there is food, or me with a net in the tank, in which case it can swim very very fast) I have removed this Danio to my QT set up and have examined it carefully and cannot see anything physically that may be wrong. It is now swimming about the QT (mostly in circles, quite big ones, but def. circles) with a slight list to one side.
I do a 30% water change around every 10 days in the 180 tank, water temp is 26 C, Nitrate: 5 , Nitrite and Ammonia at 0.
Fish are fed sinking algae pellets (allegedly for the Ancistrus, but they all eat them), TetraMin crisp, and supplemented every other day with frozen bloodworm / brine ship / mosquito larvae (tropical sextet). Occasional cucumber slice is enjoyed by all. Any ideas? I am sure this fish isn't right, but it didn't sound like the description I read of shimmy?
<Unfortunately Neale is out for the time being, and I'm certainly no Neale. But this sounds like a swim bladder problem to me... as to the cause? ...I can't be sure. It could be any number of things (genetics, trauma, disease, stress, etc.). But if this is the only fish having these problems, I wouldn't panic. Here are some links that might help:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwdistrbshtart.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqBizSubWebIndex/fishdisho.htm>
Thanks for your assistance once more
Sarah
(Here's a brief aside for Christmas my husband, who thinks he is funny, in response to my request for fish for Christmas, got me: a wind up fish for the bath, a flashing fish for the bath, a cuddly fish that sings, an murano glass pendant fish, and finally, fisherman's friends throat sweets. Oh how we laughed. Fortunately mother in law got me a fab book Fishlopedia, and my mum a spare heater and filter pads for the tank..!)
<That's a sweet story, thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sara M.>

Danios and Cherry Barbs Wasting Away 1/13/09
Hi! First, I must say, you are the most excellent web resource available for aquarium troubleshooting.
However, I have a particularly elusive problem with my tank - or at least I think of it as such - that I haven't been able to solve or find an answer on any web site, including yours, after hours of extensive research on the internet.
My fish (danios and cherry barbs) very slowly waste away, and eventually die. My water quality seems good, and there are no visual external signs of parasites. I have tried several internal/external anti-parasite medications, without any real success.
Below I have outlined my original tank and stats, it's problems, how I attempted to remedy them, and the current results. I probably included too much information, but I attempted to be as through as possible. I hope you might be able to shed some light as to what might be going wrong, as I am about to move up to a 37 gallon tank. I would like to save the fish and plants that I still have, but would not want to move this problem with them to the new tank.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!
Lizzy
Original Setup
Revised Setup & Results
Tank/Size
BioCube 9 gallon
BioCube 9 gallon (original)
Period of Operation
9/08 - 7/08
7/08 - current
Stock
2 Glolight and or Zebra Danios added per month (final 8 fish total), various pond snails
2 Glolight Danios (1 original), 1 Zebra Danio, 2 Cherry Barbs, various pond snails
Plants
Unknown Sword variety, several Myrios, Wisteria. All plants rotted out and died within a month or two, with the exception of the sword.
Sword (original), 3 Wisteria, 2 Dwarf Water Onions, lots of Java Moss, an unknown bulb (sends leaves up that sit in the surface like a lily). All plants doing well, but not stellar. No added CO2.
Algae/Other Observations
Significant amounts of brown algae on tank walls, other surfaces.
Periodically thousands of tiny Planaria (1/32" in length) on the walls. An occasional detritus worm seen.
Small amounts of brown algae on tank walls, some hair algae on plants. An occasional tiny Planaria or two spotted on walls near substrate. An occasional detritus worm seen.
Decorations
Composite plastic log with holes for hiding.
1 piece of driftwood, two 3" stones (jasper and red slate?)
Food
TetraMin Tropical Flakes. Fed 2 times every day.
Freeze dried blood worms, AquaSelect Tropical Menu Mix, TetraMin Tropical Flakes (in random rotation). Fed once per day as much as can be consumed, 4-5 times per week.
Filter
Under Gravel, (3" dia) with 2 tablespoons of carbon/Zeolite mix and coarse sponge. Filter functioned via air stone centered in a 1" dia tube creating a minor suction from air bubbles rising in tube.
Eheim Ecco 2232 external canister bio filter, for max tank capacity 36 gal.
No carbon, unless needed after meds. Air stone at back of tank.
Substrate
1" dia Reef One ceramic gravel (overall depth 2")
CaribSea Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium Substrate, 20 lb (overall depth 3")
Lighting
10 watt halogen. This fixture recessed down into the water (reducing the
water-to-air surface area). On timer, 12 hrs/day
Coralife Mini 7" compact fluorescent - 1-9w 6500K bulb, 1-9w 10,000K bulb.
On timer, 12 hrs/day.
Temp (unheated)
79-81 summer, 64-67 winter (F)
79-81 summer, 64-67 winter (F)
Water Changes
45% plus filter change and vacuum gravel every 2-4 weeks
Week 1, 10%
Week 2, 20% plus vacuum gravel
Week 3, 10%
Week 4, 20% plus clean filter
Water Treatment
TetraAqua AquaSafe
Seachem Prime & Seachem Neutral Regulator
Water Quality
Mardel Quick Test Strips:
Nitrate NO3: 0
Nitrite NO2: 0
pH: 7.6 (stable)
Alkalinity/Buffering cap. : 80ppm
Total Hardness : 120ppm
API Master Test Kit:
Nitrate NO3: 0
Nitrite NO2: 0
NH3/NH4: 0
pH: 7.4 (stable)
Mardel Quick Test Strips:
Alkalinity/Buffering cap.: 180ppm
Total Hardness: 120ppm
General Problem
From approx. 3.5 months after setup, the fish (usually one at a time) would begin to waste away slowly, over the course of a month or two, even while eating well, eventually stop eating, and die about a week after rejecting food. Occasionally, a fish would recover, regain weight, be fine for a few months, and then the process would start over.
A continuation of original problem.
Specific Symptoms
Losing weight slowly. Fins clamped some of the time. Sometimes had white or clear poop. While ailing, some fish would spit out food repeatedly.
Sometimes fish move their mouths as though trying to spit something out.
Swimming normally, but not as lively as I would expect (with the exception of the week or two before dying, when they would just hover in one place).
A continuation of original symptoms.
New symptoms for Barbs only.
Barbs occasionally flashing on plant leaves, and sometimes swimming with head down approx. 30 deg.
Healthy Signs
No external signs of parasites. No flashing. No fast breathing or gasping. No darting or erratic swimming. Good color. Lots of spawning activity while healthy.
No external signs of parasites. No flashing (danios only). No fast breathing or gasping. No darting or erratic swimming. Good color. Lots of spawning activity while healthy.
Medication
5/08 -- Jungle Anti-Parasite medicated fish food .
Full 3 week treatment (no noticeable improvement)
( most fish, especially the ones not doing well, would eat very little if at all.)
7/08 -- Jungle Anti-Parasite medicated fish food
full 3 week treatment (no noticeable improvement).
9/08 -- Jungle Parasite Clear, tablets
2 treatments 48hrs apart w/20% water change (1 pink GloLight Danio
recovered significantly after this, but not others).
10/08 -- Jungle Anti-Parasite medicated fish food
full 3 week treatment (no noticeable improvement).
10/08 -- Quick Cure
every day for 5 days, 20% water change before each treatment,. (no
noticeable improvement).
11/26/08 -- Jungle Parasite Clear, tablets
2 treatments 48hrs apart w/20% water change (no noticeable improvement).
Total Fish Loss
7 Danios
2 Danios, a third Danio very close to dying, 3 Cherry Barbs.
<Hello Lizzy. To cut to the chase here, the problem is that a 9-gallon tank just isn't viable for Danios or Barbs, or indeed most other fish. End of story. While we can fuss over the precise reasons each of the fish have died, neither of us have that kind of time. So long as you keep Danios and Barbs in a 9-gallon tank, they'll sicken and die. They might be okay for a while, but as sure as God made little green apples, something will knock each of them down as the weeks pass. Even small Danios like Zebra Danios need a 20-gallon system, and Cherry Barbs about the same. As/when you graduate to the 37-gallon system, provided you install an adequate filter containing (in part) the mature media from the 9-gallon tank, I would fully expect your fishkeeping to become a lot easier and more successful. You seem to be maintaining good water quality and steady water chemistry, and your choices in terms of things like food and filtration are sound. But I simply cannot state this strongly enough: beginner aquarists should buy tanks 20 gallons in size and larger, and aquarists generally should avoid anything in any shape other than a long, shallow rectangle, however attractive it might look. These spherical, cylindrical or hexagonal tanks are a triumph of style over substance, and 99% of the time are a waste of money (and fish lives). They aren't good for anything short of holding water and producing bubbles. In terms of keeping fish alive, they suck big time. So save your money. Bigger tanks will hold more oxygen and provide more stable conditions, and even at a social behaviour level, species apt to bully one another (like Danios) will coexist more amicably. It is not uncommon for Danios to systematically harass each other to death in too-small tanks, until eventually only one dominant fish survives. Indeed, in the old days when people often kept 10 gallon systems, it was pretty typical to see people with just one big, old Danio after all the others had died years before. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Danios and Cherry Barbs Wasting Away 1/13/09
Thank you Neale!
I will move to a larger tank as soon as possible.
Liz.
<Hello Liz. Entirely expect things will improve forthwith! Good luck,
Neale.>

Re: Scares... white spots on the mouth of my Danio's 07/07/08
Bob, thank you so very much for your response to the white spots on the mouth of my Danio's I totally agree with you since they have in fact gone away on there own the livingstoni has completely cleared up. I cant tell you how nice it is to have someone at hand to help answer questions about the aquarium I live in a small town in Wyo. and have no one to ask anything you and your crew truly are great to have on hand I will be asking again whenever there seems to be a problem or just a curiosity that I have no idea about I am a novice only had an aquarium when I was young but love these African cichlids. Thank you again
Wes Taylor
<Thank you for this follow up Wes. BobF>

Flipping Rosey Barb - 6/20/08
Hi,
My rosey barb will be swimming normal, then just start flipping and spinning, then go back to swimming normal again. Sometimes it's just 1 or 2 flips, other times it goes on for about 15 seconds. She (?) appears to be fine otherwise. Her appetite is good. I thought maybe she was constipated, so I tried giving peas for the dinnertime feedings for a week. (Morning feedings are either flakes or shrimp pellets.) She loved the peas, but it didn't stop the flipping. She shares the 40 gallon tank with a Pleco, 4 adult platies and 12 baby platies. The platies and Pleco are all fine. The water temp is 80, the nitrate is 0, nitrite is 0, water is soft, alkalinity is 80 and the pH is 7.0. I change the filter and 25% of the water weekly. The flipping has been going on for about 2 months. Any suggestions?
Lisa
<Hello Lisa. There are diseases that can make fish swim in odd ways, such as the 'Whirling Disease' caused by Myxobolus cerebralis, but to be honest these are rather uncommon, and usually introduced via live foods (especially Tubifex) and don't get "caught" by jumping between fish in aquaria. That's why they don't just appear out of nowhere. Also, given this fish has exhibited these symptoms for 2 months and remains otherwise healthy, I'm more inclined to put this down to (perhaps) genetics or nervous system damage. If she remains happy, then just assume she's a bit quirky, and love her all the more because of it. Cheers, Neale.>

Zebra Danio acting strangely 5/6/08
Hello,
<Sarah>
I have an established hexagon tank, I believe it is 35 gallons. I had e-mailed last Sept when some of my fish died suddenly after a heater malfunction.
Since that time, I have not added any other fish, we had 1 zebra Danio and 2 Cory cat. This weekend I picked up 5 very small zebra Danios at Petsmart (where the other fish came from as well) and 2 more Cory cats. I have checked the water daily, it still shows zero nitrites.
All the new fish seem to be active and happy. The coloration on the new Danios brightened from a pale brown to bright stripes almost immediately. All the Cory cats are happy. However, the one original Danio is acting strangely. It seems to be swimming in a labored fashion, moving his tail constantly, as if it cannot keep itself straight in the water. Its tail is lower, and its head is high. He has had a bloated look for a very long time, so not sure if it could have some sort of problem. Any suggestions? I had wanted to get more Danios so he would have someone to school with, as he was just hiding in the plastic plants all the time. Now he's out and swimming, but not looking good.
Also, he has a large bright red spot on one side behind the eye- is this normal coloration for zebra Danios?
Thanks,
Sarah
<Mmm, is not... could be most anything at this juncture, description. Please do send along a well-resolved image if you can. Bob Fenner>

Rasboras, hlth.   3/6/08
Hello Neale,
I have a question about one of my harlequin Rasboras. About 6-7 months ago I bought 6 harlequin Rasboras for my 20 gallon planted tank. About 4 months ago I noticed that one of my Rasboras has a big white spot on the forehead. Now this fish is very dull in color and
very skinny. It eats well but looks like it has difficulty to swim. All other 5 Rasboras look very well: bright colors, strong swimmers. I have also in the tank school of cardinals(9 fishes) that are doing great. Do you have any idea what is that?
Thank you for your help
Mark
<Hello Mark. Identifying diseases like this is very difficult without a photo. It could be something as harmless as a cyst, or more dangerous, like a tumour or parasite of some sort. Given the fish has lived for several months already but is noticeably less active than the others, I'd tend towards thinking this is some sort of tumour or perhaps a viral infection. It isn't likely to spread so there's no reason to isolate it. My guess is that it will eventually die, perhaps because the infection will spread to other parts of the body, much like cancers in humans. Anyway, if you want to send a photo, please do. Cheers, Neale.>

My ever-dwindling danio population (Danio Illnesses)  12/23/07
Hello out there in the wonderful world of Wet Web Media,
<Brian>
I am writing out of a combination of consternation and desperation. I am new to fishkeeping (February 14 will be my one-year anniversary) and I have two tanks: one is a twenty-nine gallon planted tank and the other is a ten gallon planted tank. In this post, I am writing about the twenty-nine gallon tank.
First, a little background... My tank is about eight months old and I added fish slowly (though I might add, without quarantining - that is what the second tank is for, but I bought it mid-way through stocking the first one). My ammonia and nitrite are both zero. My nitrate is greater than
20ppm but less than 40ppm
<Both too high...>
(hard to tell with the color based tests). I do a 25% (about 5 gallons which is 25% since there is only about 25 gallons of water in the tank accounting for the displacement from the substrate, rocks, wood, and plants) water change once a week. I do NOT use a C02 machine, but I do put in Excel (one capful) every other day.
<I would hold off on this for now...>
The plants in the tank include: a ton of Blyxa japonica, a hearty Anubias, two flourishing (melon?) swords, crypt spatulata, java moss, and myrio which grows like weeds. The non-fish fauna in the tank include: Amano shrimp (2 males, 1 female), 5 cherry red shrimp (and about 20 babies across three generations), and green shrimp (not sure how many because they hide, but at least one no more than four) and various snails. The fish in the tank include: one Bristlenose Pleco (sans bristles - grumble!), two honey dwarf gouramis (one definitely male, one either female or passive male); one flame dwarf Gourami, one Oto negro, one Siamese algae eater (too big for its britches - not sure what to do with this voracious eater),
<Keep your eye on... move if too aggressive>
one pregnant female platy (who has never once -visibly- given birth but is a fat blimp), one chocolate Gourami (named chip, short for "chocolate chip"), and two male rainbowfish (dwarf praecox), one zebra danio and one leopard danio.
So here's the problem. My tank population has recently dwindled. In the last two weeks, I have lost two zebra danios. About a month before that I also lost a zebra danio (when I started my tank I had four). About four months ago, my fattest (alpha?) female danio seemed to get sick - her spine started to curve and she was "hiccupping", having these strange convulsions that looked like she had a neurological disorder. Over the weeks, she got progressively worse until she was swimming funny (she almost seemed like she was no longer buoyant - she kept sinking and was swimming in this weird diagonal pattern). I tried to look it up online (even on this site) and from what I could glean - the fish was constipated. The cure seemed to be quarantine and no food for 2 days. After six hours in the quarantine tank she seemed improved and after three days, I returned her to the main tank.
She was fine for about six weeks and then she died.
Four weeks later, one of my danios had a pinkish sore on its side. I am not sure but I think it was "missing a scale" (not even sure if this possible, but it is my best estimation). About two weeks later, I came home and a different zebra danio was dead (at the bottom of the tank) and the one with the sore, well it was ... well, I am not sure how to describe it. It looked as thought it was being eaten alive. One side of its body it was fine and silvery and the other side was raw - pink/red as though someone had been munching on it. Oddly enough, the fish was swimming around just fine, but it looked nasty. I put it in one my larger fish nets (I know not the best idea, but it was a contingency plan) and tried to isolate it from the other fish after I found my dwarf flame Gourami trying to nip at it. Sadly, the danio didn't make it.
Two days ago, I came home and my leopard danio was swimming at an angle and well... I also don't know how to describe this but it looked like had exploded. Pardon the description - from the front and sides it looked fine but most of the bottom 1/6 of the fish was ... well gone and looked pink and fleshy. If it were possible for a fish to "explode" from eating too much, this is what I would hazard it would look like. The good news is that after two days, the fish is still alive (not visibly being harassed by other fish ... ) and seems to be healing. The fleshy part has actually gone from a reddish pink to a paler pink. It looks less like it is "throbbing".
Now that you have heard my story, here are my questions:
1. Does this sounds at all like "whirling disease"? I just started reading about this (by the way, your link to www.fishdiseases.net on the whirling disease FAQ is broken)
<Does read as some sort of internal bacterial complaint... particular to Cyprinids...>
2. If not, what does it sound like? I have not had any luck finding anything that fits these symptoms (if they are all related).
3. What do I do? Are my other animals in danger?
<I would skip using Danios and their relatives in this system... Really. Not worth trying to treat, remedy here. The list of other livestock... that is more sensitive to general areas of poisoning let's say, is telling>
I am not sure if you can tell from my post, but I have taken being a fishkeeper really seriously.
<Yes... you 'read' as a very earnest individual of intelligence, tenacity>
I have been reading a ton (subscribe to two fishkeeping magazines, read this site, joined my local aquatic plant society). Every time a fish or other animal dies (3 Otos, 1 bamboo shrimp, 1 white dwarf Gourami, 1 bumble bee goby [which would have done better in a brackish environment, I found out after] and 2 female Amanos), I spend hours trying to figure out why they die. My water is clean, my nitrogen cycle is fine, I feed regularly, and my plants are thriving. Any help would be useful.
<As stated... many danios perish "consequent" to the conditions in which they were reared in the Far East...>
4. I read somewhere that if a fish has whirling disease, the fish should not be flushed. ACK! I didn't realize that - is that true for all dead fish? I am a city boy and I don't really have a "plant" to bury the fish in. Can you please give me some suggestion for appropriate means of disposing dead fish?
<Best to freeze all in a plastic bag... toss out with solid trash service>
Sorry for the long post. I look forward to your reply.
Brian in San Francisco
<Bob Fenner in Key West>

Fish illness, Rasboras  -12/14/07
Hello, I am a bit puzzled since not sure if I should be concerned or not about my juvenile harlequin Rasboras. I originally bought 6 baby Rasboras for my cycled but new (1 month) old 10g tank. Now it has been a total of 1.5 months that I had them, 3 died right away and 3 were left. Out of the 3 one of them had a white colored anal fin even from the time I brought it back from the LFS (didn't notice until a few days after). I thought it was fin rot so treated the tank with Jungles fungus eliminator for 2 weeks.
<Mmmm...>
It neither went away or got worse. The fish is acting and swimming normal and eats fine. The other Rasboras and tankmates are unaffected.
Recently within the past week the whiteness has spread to the pelvic fin. It is not cloudy nor appearing as a cotton fuzzy growth. Its like the entire fin is actually opaque white made up of white pigment (e.g. not just a surface coloring). The finnage is smaller than it should be, yet has not progressed to complete deterioration. One side of its body looks like it has cloudy streaks or haze on it. He does not scratch or have trouble breathing, I don't think its Trichodina nor fungus...
<... not so sure>
is there something else it could be or is it Trichodina or Costia and they take a long time to develop?
<Yes, could be>
Is this contagious? How should I treat? He is acting normal otherwise...
<Could be catching... depending on what "it" is... Do you have a microscope? Can be blindly treated for with protozoacides...>
Tank:
4 Neons
2 Rasboras
4 baby Corys
10gallons
pH 7.8
<High...>
ammonia 0
nitrite0
nitrate15
weekly 30% water changes
Temp 74
<A bit low>
thanks so much
cheers
t
<Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwmaintindex.htm
the sixth tray down... on FW Disease... There is not much, enough here to "go on" to suggest much in the way of specific treatment... If it were me/mine, I'd likely start working on lowering the pH of the water through modifying the change-out water (over time that is), and raise the temperature to the upper 70's F... and leave all else as it is. Bob Fenner>

Please Help: are my scissortails rasboras sick? 10/14/07
Hello Wet Web Media Crew,
<Hello.>
I have 2 male yellow lyretail mollies, 7 neons, 3 scissortail rasboras and 1 Otocinclus catfish in my 20G tank (5 months old).
<Some nice fish, though personally I'd not keep mollies in this collection nor in a 20 gallon tank; Mollies need hard (and ideally brackish) water, and they also get quite large and sometimes (often) the males become very aggressive.>
Today, all the 3 scissortails have become pale, their stripes are gone, and are swimming mostly at the bottom, but they are still active and hide behind the plants and come to the front when I watch them closely.
<As always: check water chemistry and quality! At the least, check pH and check nitrite.>
Last night when I saw them they were all fine. I have no clue what happened.
So I checked the water parameters and they (ph, hardness, alkalinity, nitrates, nitrites) are in the safe range, with no ammonia and no chlorine.
<Define "the safe range". And sometime it isn't so much the value of something that matters, but how much it changed. Your neons are fine anywhere between pH 5.5 and 8.0. But, if the tank pH suddenly goes from pH 8 to pH 6 overnight, then the neons will be severely stressed. This is why we test water on a regular basis, especially early on in the lifetime of the tank: because we need to know *how stable* the water conditions are, as well as what the actual water chemistry values are.>
The temp is 78 deg. I do weekly 30% water changes and feed the fish flakes and Tubifex worms.
<Mollies need green foods, so don't forget to use algae-based flake instead of regular flake for at least 50% of the dry food meals. I'd never use live Tubifex worms: they are collected from filthy waters usually, and can be a serious source of disease.>
The mollies and the neons are doing fine so I don't know if the scissortails are sick or stressed out or what.
<Difficult to know. A good test is to do a nice big water change, say, 50%. If the fish perk up, then chances are the water quality was in some way the problem. If this makes no difference, then start looking for other factors. Review the needs of your Scissortails in terms of pH, general hardness, and carbonate hardness and then see if that matches the conditions in your aquarium. Another things you might look for is signs of aggression between the Mollies and Rasboras.>
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Pallavi
<Good luck, Neale>

Ich and the scaleless barb   8/14/07
Dear WWM Crew,
<<Dear Claire. Tom here this afternoon.>>
Congratulations on your fantastic and informative site - it has been an invaluable resource as I set up my first tropical tank.
<<Very glad to hear it, Claire.>>
Unfortunately that tank has now come down with ich (due to an unquarantined new arrival - long story, and I've learned my lesson...) - I saw one or two spots on fins this evening.
<<An Ich infestation is a pain in the backside to have to deal with but it’s a far cry from other problems that might have occurred. Sorry you learned the hard way but all of us have learned something in this hobby the hard way so welcome to our club.>>
I have Nox-ich to treat it with but would like some advice on dosage, due to the presence of a 'mutant' fish. The tank contains 6 female rosy barbs (rescued feeder fish), five tetras and a Bristlenose catfish (gradual stocking still in progress). One of the rosy barbs has no scales.
<<Hello? Haven’t heard of that one, Claire. Interesting…>>
She is in all other respects a perfectly healthy (before the ich) and active fish. I assume the lack of scales means that I should treat the tank at a lower dosage level, but would like your input before I do.
<<Not to send you back to the LFS unnecessarily, Claire, but neither your Tetras nor your Bristlenose Pleco are going to appreciate the Nox-Ich formula which contains sodium chloride (salt) and malachite green as its active ingredients. Even at half-dosages you’d really be putting yourself on “aquarium watch” for signs of stress with your pets. Additionally, as I see below, you have a planted tank. Plants don’t much care for salt, either. I don’t want you wasting time here – nor your money – but Kordon’s Rid-Ich may be the better choice of medications given the circumstances. It’s a combination of malachite green and formalin but, in combination, at lesser concentrations than would be found with other medications using one, or the other, exclusively or nearly so. In combination with each other, these are very effective even when “dosing down” (one-half the prescribed) because of scaleless fish.>>
Tank stats:
150 litres, live plants
pH 7.4
ammonia and nitrites nil
nitrates 5
Thanks!
Claire.
<<Tank stats look quite good, Claire. Be sure to read the directions of any medication carefully and followed them to the letter. Best of luck. Tom>>

Tiger barbs hlth. – 05/05/07
Hello.
<Hello!>
I found you website very informative and thought I would throw out a question for you.
<Okeley dokeley.>
I currently have a 29 gal. aquarium that is stocked with 3 tetras, 3 tiger barbs, 4 speckled mollies, a large Pleco, a small Chinese algae eater and a bumblebee catfish.
<Too many fish for such a small tank, and many incompatible with each other for water chemistry and behavioral reasons. Please research fish *before* buying them.>
My question is pertaining to my tiger barbs. I had three tiger barbs for approximately 2 years,  and about 6 months ago I noticed that they began developing facial deformities, mostly to the mouth. One of them had a jaw that appeared to grow swollen over a period of weeks until he could no longer eat. They have since died.
<Mouth fungus more than likely. Very common when fish are kept in overcrowded aquaria or tanks with poor water quality.>
About 4 months ago I purchased 3 baby tiger barbs. They were all healthy when purchased and were purchased from a reputable fish dealer. One died in the past few weeks, and I noticed today that the other two also have some sort of jaw problem. The one appears to have lost the tip of his upper lip, and the second one appears like his jaw is swollen. They both continue to eat well, as did the other before they died (until the mouth was to closed up to allow food in).
<If you can't explain why a species fails to survive in your aquarium, it is pretty foolish to go buy some more specimens of that species. Identify the cause, fix the problem, *then* go buy some more.>
Now that I think of it, I did have a zebra danio that had a tumor growing in his abdomen until he died, and I also had a molly that was quite healthy for over a year before growing small tumor like lumps to her face and dying.
<Far too many sick, dead fish. Tiger barbs should be living around 4 years, danios about the same.>
I do basic water tests and everything seems to come out within normal ranges.
<What's the "normal range" in your opinion? There is no normal range for ammonia or nitrite for example -- these should be zero, period, end of story. For your fishes, the pH should be around 7.2-7.5, given you have mollies that despise acidic water conditions. I'd also want "moderately hard" water using whatever scale you are measuring hardness by. Frankly, the mollies shouldn't be in this tank because they do best in brackish water, and the plec and Chinese algae eater certainly shouldn't, the first because it is far too large (30-45 cm) and the second because it is both large (30 cm) and nasty-tempered.>
Do I just seem to be having bad luck with fish and tumors/deformities?
<Not bad luck. Bad fishkeeping. Please read some more about the hobby before killing any more fishes.>
Or do you think there could be something in the water that is actually causing this?
<Yes, two things are in the water: [a] pollution of some type and [b] too many fishes.>
Are tiger barbs predisposed to anything?
<Nope.>
As all mine seem to be affected. I would love to hear your opinion on this!!
<You have it. Now, before going forward, measure the nitrite, ammonia, pH and hardness, and then get back to us. What type of filter are you using? What is its turnover? Baseline, you need a filter offering turnover of around 4x the volume of the tank per hour, so the filter should be 120 gallons per hour in your case.>
Thanks so much.
<No problems.>
Julie Rutt
<Cheers, Neale>

Headstanding barbs - usually a sign of nitrate poisoning   3/1/07
Hello
<Hi Rick, Jorie here>
I have tiger barbs and green barbs.  Both are doing what I would call head stands  (i.e. they are nose down).   The green barbs are losing their colour.  They seem to hide for a while and when they come out they are doing these head stands.  Any idea of what I can do?  Is there a cure?  Water has been by the local pet store and they suggested I contact you.
<This behavior is usually a sign of too-high nitrates. Did you by chance ask the pet store who tested your water what the actual ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH readings were? "Acceptable" can be a very subjective term when it comes to water parameters. Better yet, I suggest you invest $15 in a quality liquid test kit, something like the one put out by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. It's not too complicated and truly, it is better to have the kit and home and at your disposal, so you can test when you need to without relying on anyone else.
How long has this tank been established? How large is it, and how many barbs are in it? Are there any other fish?
My educated guess is this is a water-quality problem.  Without more info., I'd suggest doing a water change ASAP - it can't hurt, and may indeed help.
Thank you in advance
Rick McInnis
<You're welcome. Best of luck, Jorie>

Re: Headstanding barbs - confirmed poor water quality - need to do water changes ASAP!  3/1/07
Thank you for your prompt reply.  
<Sure>
I have further information re the water.
The PH is 8.5 (normal for this area) , the ammonia is 0/1ppm, nitrates is 5mg/litre and nitrites are 0.01 per litre.  This was given to me by the local pet store after testing my water this morning after receiving your
reply.
<Did this store tell you these parameters were "OK"? If so, don't ever go back there again - they are morons! Sorry to be so blunt, but that's really bad.  In any case, ammonia and nitrites must always be at zero when livestock is in a tank; nitrates can be as high as 20 ppm.  You need to do a large water change ASAP; invest in your own test-kit (my favorite one can be ordered here, if you like: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000255NCI/sr=8-1/qid=1172781451/ref=pd_bbs_sr_olp_1/104-6447593-2649521?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden - but, if possible, see if you can buy it locally (but NOT from the original store in question, please!))
I have also changed the water in the 35 gallon tank.   Do these
levels appear to be normal to you and if not what should I do.
<They are not normal, and your fish will likely die if more water isn't changed ASAP.  Start "preparing" more water (treated tap water, DI or RO/DI filtered water) ASAP and reduce the levels of ammonia and nitrite fast.>
Just to let you know there are 5 barbs and 2 catfish in the tank.
<There won't be much of anything if you don't dilute these toxins quickly...>
Thank you once again.
Rick
<You're welcome.  I'm appalled that the fish store said your water was fine - once you get everything under control, I'd recommend you talk to the manager.  That's not acceptable AT ALL.  Sounds like your tank may need to cycle - read here for add'l info.: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
The good news is this is a problem that can likely be 100% rectified by improving the water quality. Good luck! Jorie>

Tiger barb sick or just stressed?   1/7/07
Crew:
<Karen>
I have searched the internet and your website for a solution to my current problem but haven't come across much good information about tiger barbs.  
<A neat species... many beautiful "sports" nowadays>
I have 46 gallon moderately planted bowfront dedicated to tiger barbs.  It's been up and running for a couple months now with 9 barbs (3 tiger, 3 albino, and 3 green).  The tank parameters as of yesterday were ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 10.  
All the fish have been active until recently one of the tiger barbs has been hanging out in a top corner of the aquarium.  It is probably the smallest of the 9 barbs in the tank.  It just doesn't seem to be thriving very well.  
<Mmm, and should do fine here... enough space, good water quality...>
I try to watch at feeding time to see if it is eating.  It will ignore feeding time at first then start to seem interested.  It swims over to the food with the others but as soon as another barb comes along it hurries back to it's corner.  On the occasion it gets to some food, it just spits it back out.  It will try this a few times then just give up and hide in it's corner.  I have been observing the feeding behavior for the past few days.  The hiding in the corner behavior has been going on for 1-2 weeks.  
<Likely a social/psychological component at play here... the one may be a smaller male, with other males badgering it a bit>
I wondered if it was just a stress/getting picked on situation as there is one albino barb that seems to be the dominant one chasing the others around the tank.
<Mmm, yes, possibly>
  I have had more barbs in quarantine waiting to go into the tank, so yesterday I added 4 of those to try to divert the dominant one's attention and give the "runt" a chance.  
<Good idea>
Last night I removed the ailing or stressed barb to a divided portion of the quarantine tank (the fish are disease free, just waiting to be added slowly to the main tank) to give it a chance to rest and get food without competition.  
<Also good>
Do you suggest I just wait and see if it starts eating or could there be some sickness going on?
<I would do the former, not worry re the latter... Next trial, I'd move the alpha fish... to the quarantine for a week or two>
The only reason I would think it might have some kind of infection is the taking food in and spitting it back out behavior.  All the other barbs it's been living with seem to be fine.
<With this much time having gone by (since setting up, stocking) there is very little chance of this being an expression of infectious or parasitic disease. Could be genetic, developmental...>
I do have medicated food I could offer it but since it's not really eating currently I don't see how that will help.  I have other medications but I don't want to go dumping them in when I'm not even sure if it is sick or not.  Any suggestions you may have on what course of action I should take would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Karen
<I would do as you have thus far... Do you have a bit of greenery present for multiple purposes? Food, making cover, improving water quality? I suggest adding a "bunch" (un-tied) of a grass type plant... my pick would be Elodea/Anacharis. Please read here re: http://wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/elodea.htm
Bob Fenner>

Re: Tiger barb sick or just stressed?   1/8/07
I ended up adding the barb back to the main tank as it didn't seem to be interested in eating anything while in quarantine and I like to think conditions are more favorable environmentally in the main tank.  
<Yes, likely so>
There are plants available in the tank for them to browse on.
<Good>
  I specifically added some Anacharis to the quarantine tank, but still no interest.
<Mmm, takes time... days to weeks for fishes to "settle in" to being moved>
I'm thinking I will just let it be in the main tank and see what happens. It's rather emaciated it seems at this point so I'm not sure this will end up a success story.
<Mmm... do want to mention another possibility... that the wasting mentioned might be due to (Myco) bacteria or a protozoan... the last very common with freshwater cultured fishes from the Far East (where these Barbs very likely originated... can be treated with Metronidazole/Flagyl...)... Do keep your attention on the other fish for such sign... and be aware of treatment probabilities>
I guess I will just hope he turns around soon unless you have other
suggestions?
<Mmm, none at this point>
  I haven't tried eliminating the dominant one as there hasn't been much behavior like that going on since new barbs were added, so I wouldn't be able to guess right now at which one has been dominating.  If I happen to notice a specific one I will see about taking it out of the tank.
Thanks for your help!
Karen
<And you for this follow-up. Bob Fenner>

Hello, hello, my Tiger Barbs are going oh!    11/27/06
Dear fish experts please help,
   <Will try>
  I tried to take pics of my poor poor tiger barbs...but none turned out well enough to bother. My tank is a 40 gallon, I have to
<two?>
very old golden gouramis and 2 old silver dollars and two new ones, a Plecostomus, and I had 6 tiger barbs, Im down to 4...
  Im new at the whole aquarium thing I didn't know about water changes, I wished I had done more research..
<How about now?>
anyhow my tiger barbs were great happy and brought so much life to my tank. after having them for 3 days I wake up to see 2 of them with their mouths and little faces all red and puffy and swollen. No white fuzz or any fin or body problems. but their mouths in very bad shape over night!
  so I ran immediately to the pet store and told them my fishes faces looked terrible like they were falling off, they the women told me to put malefix
<... Melafix? The Melaleuca "tea" leaf extract product from AP>
in the tank and this would fix them up
<No>
and to do a water change before and after 25%.
<Good idea>
I did this 3 days go by. None of them die and they are still trying very hard to eat and seem pretty active, but no change and I notice now 4 have this. so I call a couple pet stores ask when this will start to improve tell them the situation, and they say a week or two, and read the same thing on line. (though I still keep hearing that they should have some white fuzz on them, and they must have been fighting - which neither is the case), anyhow I get worried and they look so horrid, that I risk the worst one to stress and take him and some water into the pet store to test it and look at him.
  I have one guy look at my poor fav fish and make a disgusted face and get the other guy. He says to add Maracyn 2
<Better "shot in the dark" here>
to the tank and keep doing the melafix (that all the melafiz was doing is keeping it from spreading to other fish)...
<Not even this>
he didn't tell me what my fish had and I had to chase him to ask questions...
  so disappointed and 25$ later I get my fish home and they didn't do a water test he said there was no point and it happened because I didn't do a water change soon enough...which he was so condescending I wanted to cry I feel bad enough...
  well I get home return the very ill fish and add the 8 tabs of Maracyn like the guy said, and an hour later my fish died. I knew the stress may get him...
<Yes>
  but then within the next 2 hours another one died, and now I have another Im sure will be dead soon.
  Im sorry, but my question is, what do I do to try and save my poor 4 remaining tiger barbs, and what the heck is this and what can I do to save them, Im so at a loss! I don't want this to happen ever again to any fish I get (which will be a long time).
  please any info, thx so much, I hope you return my email, I need answers. Tammy
<Well... let's start somewhere toward a beginning here Tam... You need to know, supply information re your water quality... pH, ammonia and more are really the likely root cause of your problem here. Please take the time to read on WWM re... starting here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdis3setsfactors.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

All fish out ... Rambling re... cichlid, livestock/human responsibility, old tiger barbs?    10/3/06
Hello,
    I had a cichlid that got to
<Too>
big for my 20 gal, No one told me when I bought it at the pet store how big it was going to get.
<... Don't hold yourself in bad faith... The onus is upon you to investigate such matters...>
Now I try to do my own research before I buy.
<Yay!>
I gave him to a place that I thought would attract serious fish keepers, he was up to around 6 inches, (a peacock)
<Beautiful animals>
and was in that tank a couple of years by himself. He was  in hard water with a ph at or above 8.4. I put 3  young tiger barbs in immediately after  the cichlid was given away , then a  week and a half  later I put three more young tigers in. This tank is at my mothers' house so I was able to check 4 days later and 3 died one from the first group and two from the second. I have a ten gal. up and running so I put them  in this tank. I see one looks to have fin rot on the caudal and anal fin, so I put in Nitrofurazone and Furazolidone in yesterday, all is o.k. so far. My question is, was the pH. to high for them or was the water to hard?
<Mmm, not for this species... or shouldn't have been should I state. To some extent depends on the conditions these fish were kept, reared in... but likely had stress et al. issues...>
One of those barbs from the first group was a couple year old tiger from that ten gal. that there in now, where he lived in not so hard with lower p. h.
<Ahh!>
He seemed a little frantic as time went on but his color was good. Over the 2 weeks or so his color is still good but he looks gaunt( if fish can look gaunt).
<Oh yes, can>
He is the one that has the fins that look ragged. Its not bad yet but his over all appearance is not healthy, and he is not eating well. Another question is the tank that the tigers were in that is now empty and has been for 2 days, are the bacteria in that tank still active or do I need to start from scratch with this tank if I am going to put fish in it again?
       <Yes to the bacteria still being there, useful...>                                                                                                                                            Thank you Sherri
<...? Maybe the Barbs are/were just "old"... Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/BarbsDaniosRasborasArt.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Minnow behaviour & health    10/3/06
Hi
<Hello there Charlotte>
I have four pairs of minnows (2 zebra danios, 2 coldwater, 2 long fin and 2 yellow ones: apologies for the lack of description by proper name but I can't remember).
<Perhaps a small journal you can keep...>
  They all get along quite happily with four fancy goldfish and a coldwater Plec and all seem in general good health, having joined the goldfish approx 6 months' ago.
On Sunday, I purchased 3 very tiny fantails (one smaller than the zebra minnows!) and all seem well.  Today I have noticed that the yellow and long-fin minnows seem to be displaying to each other by opening their fins wide and synchronized swimming! I have been trawling the internet and my books but none give any indication as to what this behaviour means.
<Perhaps reproductive behavior... maybe just dominance displays>
Is it possible that it's due to the slightly reduced territory now there are 3 new fantails (albeit very small ones) or is it a breeding thing (one of the yellow ones looks a bit portly)?
<How large is this system?>
As a secondary point, on reading various articles relating to minnows I noticed in one of yours reference is made to a bent spine indicating TB infection.
<One possible cause of several... covered on WWM.>
This concerns me as one minnow has a very bent spine.  He's always looked like this, has grown well since purchase, as have all the other fish.  As mentioned above, all of the fish in the tank seem in general good health and water quality is fine.  Should I be concerned about TB or do I just have a minnow with a wonky back?
Your comments would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Charlotte
<Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshsystems.htm
You may need more room, less fish livestock. Bob Fenner>

Breeding Kribs, Aggressive/Sick Barbs - II - 04/27/2006
Sabrina + Staff - thanks for the advice - and quick response.  
<Glad to be of service.  Sorry this reply wasn't quite as quick!>
As to the Kribs - I will hope the romance will rekindle between our original pair.  What's the equivalent of oysters for fish?
<Good frozen foods, like those by Hikari - bloodworms are great.  Even better would be live bloodworms or live mosquito larvae.>
My dear husband reminded me we have a 20 long in storage - I will bring it out to set up a QT for the ladies.  What medication (other than the medicated food) do you recommend? Is one brand better than another?
<As for brands, no real significant difference....  if you medicate the water in the quarantine tank, I would recommend using Kanamycin or Nitrofurazone.>
No, we didn't quarantine Brunhilda - she LOOKED fine when we got her...that's good enough right?  
<Mm, no....  Please read on WWM's FW livestock page regarding quarantine of livestock.>
Sincerely, Leah Frances Wade
<Wishing you, Brunhilda and her sisters well,  -Sabrina>

Aggressive/Sick Barbs - III - 05/07/2006
Sabrina and Staff - I still have a rosy barb with a VERY large lesion after medicating with Kanamycin for more than a week.  
<Yikes!>
The lesion has increased in area and seems to be protruding from her body more (edema from the infection?).  It does NOT look like it is healing at all, though it does look slightly less scary (not so bloody).  I know that such a big wound was not going to heal overnight, but I am starting to get antsy.  
<Understandable.>
I have never managed to 'nurse' a fish back to health. She looks worse rather than better, but continues to act normally.  One of the 'sisters' died last week - I suspect more from the treatment and relocation to QT tank than from disease.
<I'm so sorry to hear this!>
I worry every morning that I will find Brunhilda or her sister floating.
I have several questions:
1. I have stopped the antibiotics for the time being - I ran a full course, according to my LFS.  I used ChemiPure carbon to remove the last of the antibiotic.  Should I let the fish 'rest' a little while before attempting another treatment?
<Couple of options....  Dive right back into treatment with Kanamycin, or switch, perhaps to a medicated food.  I don't usually recommend switching meds, but if it actually looks *worse* at this point, it might be in the fish's best interest this time.>
2. Given the large size of the wound should I try combining medicated food with topical treatment? (I am reluctant to stress them out more than required, but I want Brunhilda to get better)
<I am hesitant to recommend mixing meds....  Some can be combined quite safely (Kanamycin and Nitrofurazone, for example), some can't.>
2a. Should I try a different antibiotic or a combination of two?
<I would go ahead with a food medicated with Oxytetracycline at this point.>
3. If this is going to take a long time to heal - I suspect that it will, given its size - should I be medicating periodically along the way to prevent further infection or to speed healing?
<A very, very tough call, especially as some meds (Oxytetracycline being one of them!) can run the risk of compromising the fish's immune system (and therefore health) if used for "too long".  I think I would treat, and as the wound is shown to be healing well, just go with some aquarium salt in the water.>
4. Should I stop medicating all together and let good water quality lead the way?
<If it looks to be getting worse, no.>
5. On a more philosophical level: when/how do you decide that it is better to put a fish out of its misery? (don't worry, I am not ready to deep-six her yet - but if she's not better by tomorrow it's toilet-city for her... just kidding.)
<Hah!  Well, this is more of a personal/moral question than anything, and I can't dictate your ethics in this.  What *I* tend to use as "rules" are if the fish is not eating, not swimming well or getting very listless, and generally seems to have "given up"....  Some fish I will even still continue to recommend not euthanizing if they've gotten this "bad" - Oscars, for instance, bounce back from the grave, I swear.  A lot of this is going to be based on your observations of her and how "bad off" you think she is.  If she's eating, don't give up.>
As always thanks for the help - I am re-linking the pictures, FYI http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d98/leahfranceswade/Brunhildas%20traum
a/
Sincerely, Leah Frances Wade
<All the best to you and Brunhilda,  -Sabrina>

Danio with bubble-like growth    4/3/06
Hey Crew. My zebra danio has recently developed a small, bubble-like growth on it's bottom lip. I've had this fish for a just over a month, and this has developed perhaps within the last week or so... just after the fish was added to the main tank. I would have liked to attach a picture, but I'm sure you know how difficult it is to get a zebra danio to sit still. The bubble is grey/clear in colour, and probably about 1mm in diameter. I'm fairly sure it's not ich, as it isn't white and has a well-defined round shape. The fish is otherwise swimming, eating, and behaving normally.
<A good clue... very likely this is "just resultant from a bump">
Here's the data on this fish's environment: 20 gal. tank with live plants, heated to 23-24c. Tankmates are two other zebra danios, two dwarf Otos, and four Cory cats, all healthy. The tank is cycled, readings are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate approx. 15 ppm, pH stable at 8.0-8.1.
<A bit high...>
In my own research to determine what this growth is, I saw references to lip fibroma, but I only read of it occurring in angel fish. Could this be what's afflicting my danio, or is something else afoot in my tank?
<Could be an "oma", tumorous... but doubtful here... And assuredly nothing one can treat... nor would I risk excising it. Likely will "go" of its own accord. Bob Fenner>
As always, thanks in advance for any help you can offer. JM

Green Tiger Barbs - at a loss...   3/16/06
Bob,
<Ralph>
I've a 90 gallon that I recently switched back to freshwater.  Original intent was to have mostly cichlids, again.  Only real aggressive fish was to be a Green Terror ( my last was essentially a peacekeeper who bothered no one except feeders though he got to be 10").
<Yikes!>
Looking at some other sites I found a couple decent compatibility lists and have also ended up with some barbs as well.
<Easygoing ones/species I trust>
The only problem I keep having is the loss of green tiger barbs.  I've lost seven from three different batches from the same LFS.
<Mmm, know that these are sometimes "wanky" from dealers... are raised in the Far East, often "hormone treated" to boost color... That this degrades their health otherwise... often lost on/near arrival anomalously...>
I've currently 3 more from another store - one has nipped fins and is acting a little odd.  As for the goners- two for sure had nipped fins especially dorsal tail.  The last two had upper fins that looked like they were flaying/separating - like a feather and for a week or so I would catch the one upside down as if dead until another fish would come near!  No signs of any Ick, Fungus, rot or anything else apparently wrong.
I am at a loss as to what is going on- the goners were the largest of the Barbs..  I've two Albino Tiger Barbs, four Tiger barbs,
<And these are the same species... mixable>
two rosy, one gold and four longer (tigerish) barbs.  They have been doing great and most have been in the tank since the beginning (@3 months).  Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates are great.  Ph and Temp acceptable for all.
I've also two Giant Danios, one Plecostomus, one Green Terror, one Jewel Cichlid, a pair of Rainbow Cichlids, one small Firemouth, a Cat, and a couple 1/2-3/4" Africans. ( .99 cent sale).
<Mmm, well, the cichlids might be working the new Green Barbs woe...>
They are feed a variety of dried, pellet, flake, frozen and live food.  Today I bought more live Brine shrimp and some feeder guppies.  The largest fish are one of the Danios and the Rainbows 3" - 3 1/2".
Other than feeder guppies I've lost no fish other than the aforementioned Green Tiger Barbs.
Plenty of caves, plants and wood for hiding.
Thanks for your time.
Ralph L Thieleman
<I encourage you to "harden" a new batch of these barbs... buy, place them in another tank, moving water from your ninety for water changes... for a few to several weeks. When transferring to your main tank, do move about the decor items there (to disrupt territories, impose a new dynamic)... If there is "psychological" as well as metabolic room for them all, this should do it. Bob Fenner>

Re: Green Tiger Barbs - at a loss...      3/17/06
Bob,
<Ralph>
Thanks for the reply.
<Welcome>
I still don't understand why only the green ones.  I had them First, in-between and now last.  I see no one harassing them.  With the first ones I did see them bothering each other.  I see the longer Barbs "playing" and chasing each other as well as cichlids chasing other cichlids.
<I do believe these "green" sports are less hardy than their brethren period...>
I again have a green that since his lower tail looks chewed has become more solitary the past week but I've another green now that his top fin looks likes  it is fraying like some others had.
One of them looked like he was sideways at the top last weekend as well.  Why only the greens?
<Genetics? Poorer care in Singapore where they very likely originated?>
Some cichlids have had their tails chewed on by other cichlids.  One even lost an eye.  No deaths.  Just Green Tiger Barbs.  And again I see no signs of them getting picked on even by each other, especially with these last three.
<Perhaps the green ones are more "attractive" to whoever may be harassing them (likely the Terror, at night)... This is a common phenomenon (differential mortality/predation based on color, markings... a fave thesis project some years back)>
If I lose these I'll most likely give up on that variation.
Thanks again,
Ralph L Thieleman
<I don't blame you... There are other species of barbs... though your system is over-stocked psychologically now... Bob Fenner>

Wasting symptoms in Zebra Danio   3/15/06
Hello,
<Sharon>
I had a 30L freshwater BiOrb containing 3 White Cloud Minnows, 2 Zebra Danios and a living plant.
Water condition is good - Ammonia 0, Nitrates 0, Nitrites 0 and pH 7.6.
About 6 weeks ago I lost one of the Minnows. Symptoms included enlarged abdomen (I initially thought it may have been pregnant) followed by (48 hours before death) bent spine, floating near surface and lack of appetite.
In recent weeks I have noticed:
*         one of the Danios appears to be wasting away i.e. is very skinny (although it is still eating normally and active),
*         one of the Minnows appears to have an enlarged abdomen (also eating normally and active).
I lost a second Minnow last night - not the one with the enlarged abdomen. I had been away for a couple of days and returned to find it with looking skinny with a bent spine. It also had swim difficulties (probably due to bent spine), lack of appetite and was floating near surface. I quarantined it immediately in salt water, but to no avail.
I have searched your website and come to the conclusion that my fish may have either an internal parasite (bad) or TB (really bad). What do you think?
<Could be... perhaps from just "initial" troubles (you bought them with this)... But could be environmental to a large extent... or nutritional. What do you feed your fishes?>
And, if you could provide some advise for on my next course of action that would be much appreciated?
Regards,
Sharon Bell.
<Mmm, I would ask your stockist/LFS if they've been having trouble with their minnow fishes... You can/could become involved in sequential antimicrobial "trials"... in the hope of blocking something at play here. My first choice would be a Furan compound (likely Furanace). Bob Fenner>

Re: Wasting symptoms in Zebra Danio    3/17/06
Hi Bob,
<Sharon>
Thanks for the speedy reply.
<Welcome>
I just wanted to let you know that I didn't buy the fish with the BiOrb. I set the BiOrb up about 9 months ago initially (unsuccessfully) with a couple of small fancy goldfish.
<I see>
The danios and minnows were purchased and added to the tank 3-4 months ago - after a 75% water (de-chlorinated) change, a thorough cleaning of the BiOrb and making sure that the BiOrb had cycled.
I feed them frozen daphnia, frozen bloodworms, flake food (left over from the goldfish - but I did compare the ingredients with those of the other fish foods available) and boiled peas. If I go away, I leave them a sinking pellet (Spirulina rich) to nibble on.
<Should be fine>
I do a 25% water (de-chlorinated) change fortnightly, and change my filter quarterly - whether it's dirty or not. (The danios and minnows are much cleaner than the goldfish were!)
<Yes>
I live in Australia and haven't been able to find anything containing a furan compound.
Also, what did you mean by antimicrobial trials? And, how would I carry those out?
<Mmm... there are a goodly number of "broad spectrum, gram-negative antibiotics" sold for pet-fish use... And as hinted, the "search" for one that is efficacious here is a matter of trial/s... I would use (serially) what you can find... at a/the stock dosage of 250 mg./ten gallons system water... three times, three day intervals... with water changes between>
I will ask my LFS if they have had any trouble with their minnows this
weekend, but in the meantime is there anything else you suggest?
Regards,
Sharon.
<Mmm, the application of Epsom salt here might act as a temporary cathartic. Bob Fenner>

Zebra danio with strange caudal fin  1/16/06
  Hello there! I've been breeding zebra danios for a while, and recently, after my fry matured into full grown adults, I noticed that a few of them have a different colored caudal fin. All them, except these few, have the lines going through their body, go into the fin, ending when the fin stops. However, for these few, it stops where this fin is attached to the body, and on the fin, it has blotches of like black lines and black dots all mixed up on the tail randomly,  that really sticks out, and sort of reminds me of a guppies tail. I tried to take pictures so I could attach it to this, to show you what i mean, but i couldn't get the camera to focus on the danio and everything kept coming out blurry and unfocused so you couldn't really tell what was going on. I looked all over the net but i couldn't find anything about Zebra danios with tail fins like this, and I thought this might be something new going on, because I've never seen any other danios like this before until now. What do
you think?
           Thanks, Tyler Ross
<Mmm, likely just part of the randomness of genetic mix... This is how the vast majority of sport mutations are "developed"... e.g. long tails... Bob Fenner>

Danio troubles   1/14/06
Hi Crew,
<Jennifer>
I enjoy your site immensely and suddenly my tank is giving me fits!  I am just starting to get over a case of Columnaris (I think) with my black molly and all of a sudden I noticed today that one of my danio's has a growth (some kind of lump) right on the top of his head.  Both danios had a small bald spot there which I attributed to being rubbed off by darting through decorations.  The other danio still has just the tiny bald spot.  I have a twenty gallon tank with good water quality (everything's testing normally) and an undergravel filter as well as a bio-wheel, temp. is at 80.  Currently we have two mollies, two guppies, two danios and one platy baby.  The tank had been medicated last week with Maracyn and Maroxy.  When the molly wasn't showing improvement this last Saturday we did a 90% water change, rinsed all the decor, did a thorough gravel vacuum, and added a tablespoon of extra salt (usually I add 4 tablespoons). The pH tested a little low on Sunday (6.4) so I raised it and it is now at 7.6.
<Good move... but too quick>
I then started using Maracyn and Quick Cure
<This last is too toxic... this would cause the change in the danio/s>
which is now doing the trick for the molly.  The danios are still eating well and darting around like crazy and except for my ailing (but much less fungus-y looking) molly, everyone else seems fine.  Any ideas about my poor danio's head??
Thanks in advance,
Jennifer
<Perhaps just resultant as you state from rubbing, maybe some reaction to the formalin in the Quickcure... I would hold off on such further treatments. Bob Fenner>

Toxicity of Formalin
Hi Crew--
Thanks for the advice but sadly, my danio's both died.  It seems that the "lump" was really a growth that seemed to push through my danio's skin!  Also, they both became really aggressive with the other fish.  The fungus or whatever it was has cleared up on the my molly so it seems that the Quick Cure was the answer for him but for future reference, what other fish could Quick Cure be harmful to (besides tetras)?  Keep up the good work!
Jennifer
<... this product is a combination of malachite green and formalin... the latter is a biocide... "kills life", by cross-linking peptides... amino acids... the building blocks of life on this planet. BobF>

Ich Treatment, Cherry Barbs - 12/10/2005
Hi,
<Hello.>
I have a 29 gallon planted aquarium with CO2 injection and high light. I am almost done curing case of ich with heat at 88 degrees Fahrenheit, 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons of aquarium salt and Maracide.  
<Malachite green.>
All my fish are doing exceptional except my cherry barbs.  For some reason they stopped eating after I raised the temperature and started showing signs of stress (sitting listless on the bottom, one of them has clamped fins and one of them is at the top gasping), I don't see any visible signs of ich and my last treatment of Maracide is tomorrow.  I assume this stress was caused by the heat so I decided to return the temperature to normal and started lowering the thermostat by 2 degrees every 12 hours.  
<Probably a good move....  I imagine the combination of medication, salt, and heat was enough to really stress these smallish, somewhat delicate fish.>
Right now the temperature is down to 83 degrees Fahrenheit from 88 degrees Yesterday morning and the thermostat is set at 82 degrees.  Anyways one of my cherry barbs died and the entire school is showing signs of fin rot (ragged fins with white edges eating away at them).  My water quality is exceptional with:
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrite: 0.0
Nitrate: < 10
ph: Steady 7.2
Alkalinity: 140
Fish load:
6 cherry barbs (now 5)
6 gold barbs
6 Widow Tetras (Albino Black Widow)
1 Rainbow Shark
The rest of my fish are doing fine and eating well.  
<Sounds good....  The finrot is probably also a result of medicating/treating these guys, and likely will subside as you end the treatment regime.  I think I'd also start doing water changes to remove the salt at this point.>
They are looking very happy and healthy.  I added some Melafix even though it is not a real medication, it did stimulate an immune response when my goldfish had an ulcer a while back.
<I have seen this do more harm than good, in some cases - do be quite cautious, here.>
Is there any non antibiotic regimen of treatment or way to help my school of cherry barbs?  
<A good question - and for the most part, completing/ending treatment with the raised temp, salt, and Malachite Green will probably do the trick - but you've got a bit of a tough spot here, as you must complete treatment for ich, as well....  I would at least restore the temp (as you are doing) and lower/eliminate the salt.>
A hospital tank is a little difficult to set up
<But a quarantine tank would have saved you from even having this happen in your main tank in the first place.  Think on that a bit.>
because of my CO2 injection lowered the pH from about 8 to 7.2 but I do have an empty 10 gallon I could use if necessary though my tap water stinks and contains 0.25 ppm NH3, > 0.5 NO2 and 7 ppm NO3 and I can't use that in the hospital tank without an established biofilter for it which I don't have.  
<Indeed.  You'd need to run your tap through an RO filter, or use bottled water.  Crazy!>
Anyways do you have any suggestions?  
<Just as above.>
I just find it strange to see only many cherry barbs affected by this weird ailment.
<Not strange, really - it strikes me that they're the most sensitive species in your system, and so are showing affects of treatment before the others.  Remember, you're poisoning them to kill the parasites, and also have changed the properties of their water (heat, salt)....  Most fish won't be affected that adversely, but it seems your cherry barbs are just tender enough to be troubled.>
Robert
<Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Barb, odd growth  9/5/05
One of our tiger barbs has developed an odd, pink growth over one of his eyes.  It's difficult to get a good look at, because he's still behaving normally (i.e., never sitting still) but from symptoms I've read it doesn't sound like it's pop eye, because it's not the eye itself but a growth above the eye that is sticking out.  In addition, the scales midway down his length on the same side as the growth appear to be developing a sore or irritated patch.  Any thoughts?  By the way, you guys are the best, you've helped us out a bunch in the past.
Greg and Debbie.
<Likely resultant from a physical injury... Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/BDRDisFAQs.htm
Bob Fenner>

Ill Tiger Barb - 08/26/2005
My name is Mark.  
<Hi Mark, Sabrina with you today.>
I got your name off of a Tiger Barb website I came across.  One of my barbs is sick and has a white stomach and is swimming in circles.  What can I do to help it?  
<Mm, too vague a description.>
I read iodized salt??? but how much if that is true?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
<Do a search on "whirling disease" and "Myxobolus"....  Be testing for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, and keep ammonia and nitrite at ZERO, and nitrate less than 20ppm....  Beyond that, there is not enough information here to go off.>
Thanks,  Mark
<Wishing you and your barb well,  -Sabrina>

DYING DANIOS
Hi, I love your site and have been performing research here. I need to ask a question about what's happening and see if there are any ideas. I have a 5 gallon future quarantine tank in which I placed about 1.5" of Danios I purchased from PMart. I have been performing daily ammonia tests (beginning of cycle). The bigger one was bullying the smaller one, and the smaller one began to hang around at the bottom of the aquarium and inside the resin rock cave I'd purchased from Drs foster smith. The small one stopped eating. 
The ammonia levels never got above .25 ppm but I ended up doing daily water changes (25 - 50%) to see if that helped. To try and defray the bullying, I went and got a third small danio from a small local aquarium/fish/pet store that has been here almost 30 years. The next day, the first small one was dead. I took it out and did about an 80% water change. 
I treat the incoming water with Tetra Aqua Safe and try to match existing aquarium temperature within 2 degrees. Although I live in Phoenix AZ and the water is quite hard, I make no other water quality adjustments in an effort to keep them in stable water like in store. 
The big one died the next day - another large water change. The new danio looked fine except for a small red area near/in his right gill. I went and got two more small companion danios for him (don't know sex actually) from the small aquarium store. Two days later, the danio w/red spot began gasping - I did about a 30% water change and added about 1 tsp. salt to the aquarium (I was too paranoid to add the recommended 1 Tablespoon per 5 gal amount). 
I put the ill Danio in a small refugium with a small diameter flex hose as a bubbler. The refugium hung inside the main tank but no water exchange was possible. The ill Danio was dead the next day. I did another large water change. The other two are still eating, but I'm afraid I saw one beginning to gasp. Any ideas? Thank
you very much. Jane
< Your water is indeed hard and alkaline. Since you only have a 5 gallon aquarium, I would recommend that you drain all the water out of your tank and replace it with bottled or filtered water instead. Add some Bio-Spira by Marineland to get your tank cycled right now. Make sure that the water temp is up around 80 degrees. Add six or more danios from the store and add some live or plastic floating plants so they have somewhere to hide from the more aggressive fish. Feed only enough food so that it is all gone in two minutes once each day. Change 20% or one gallon once a week. That should work out fine and get you going.-Chuck> 

DYING DANIOS - Follow-up
Hi Chuck, thank you for the quick response. I'll check out the Marineland Bio-Spira. Re: the bottled water--my understanding from the fish vendors here is that their water is good old Phoenix water that's been dechlorinated/dechloraminated and nothing else, and I felt that my using anything other than tap water similarly treated would stress the fish too much - I've learned that in the David Boruchowitz (sorry about spelling of name there) book and from the "Complete Idiot's Guide" (very fitting in this case!). Of course, I don't know if either author meant Phoenix water when he wrote that.
< The thinking behind their statements is that the fish from the store will be in the same water that is at your home, so additional use of bottled water is not needed. I know of the hard alkaline water that you are using from the Colorado River too well. As a happy medium I would then try using 1/2 bottled demineralized water and 1/2 tap water and see if that makes a difference.>
I'm trying to cycle the small quarantine tank first while my 50 gallon Lee-Mar aquarium is waiting for its 2nd test fill this weekend. I had tested for leaks and yep, it had one, so we silicone-sealed the leaking seam area this last Sunday. If I do go with bottled water, does that mean I could never use Phoenix water? 
< If you want to use Phoenix water then you need to go with fish that have the same requirements like African Cichlids. You will never be able to go with soft water fish like discus in your tap water.>
I didn't mention that I have an Eco-Aqualizer water ionizer, because I was too embarrassed to admit I'd forgotten to hook it up to the tank before introducing any fish. Again I thought it would stress the fish if I hooked it up "mid stream." Thank you very much - Jane
< When you tank gets stabilized and the fish are doing well I would then slowly make any additional changes.-Chuck.> 

BOOK 'EM DANIO
Good morning Chuck, quick note before going to work - last night I did 50%water change using distilled water for the new water - this morning I have two [of] what appear to be very happy, active Danios - you rescued them. Thank you thank you thank you!!! Jane
< Your water is too hard for most aquarium fish. I am glad that the bottled water has helped.-Chuck> 

Spinning Barb
Crew: I have a rosy barb that began spinning wildly in the tank. I took him out and moved him into a tank by himself. My pet store told me that he probably had an intestinal infection and would probably die. He's still alive after a few days and stopped his wild spinning but now stays in a corner near the heater, doesn't seem to be eating, gasping. I've also noticed he mostly swims in place and drifts backwards quite a bit, and when I tried to put a live plant that he might eat into the tank, he started pinging around the tank then cowered in the corner gasping. Any suggestions please?
<The spinning is not good. Keep him in the QT and watch his old tankmates. Sorry to say, but Whirling Disease is usually fatal. If he does die make sure you bleach the tank and anything in it. I would destroy the plant. Just not worth the risk. Don> 

Spinning Barb pt 2
Thanks for the reply Don. The others in the main tank seem fine by the way, and eating heartily. He stopped whirling and is swimming about a bit more but always returns to the heater and cowers there with mouth agape bobbling with the movement of the water. We had noticed the area from his nose to his head has darkened and along his spine also. 
Any ideas what that might be? He was a beautiful vibrant pink before but became quite dull when he got sick. My daughter is doing everything she can to see that he makes it. And won't give up on him, salt, keeping the water at 82. Is there anything we should/could be doing besides waiting and observing? He started whirling a week ago, and is still here. What do I need to observe to know when he might be better and if it becomes safe to return him to the main tank?
<I'm sorry to say I do not have any tricks to try here. Please read this thread from our forum and the references within.  Don>

Rasbora Discoloration/Disease? - 08/18/2005
Hi.
<'Ello.>
I have two scissortail rasbora and have had them for a few months now and everything has been fine; however, this morning I noticed the smaller of the two has developed a blood red colour at the base of its dorsal and anal fins and the black stripes on its tail are paler than normal.  It still seems to be swimming  and feeding ok. Should I be worried?
<Perhaps, yes.  I would first look to water quality - the symptoms you describe suggest irritation, possible reaction to ammonia or nitrite in the water.  Maintain ammonia and nitrite levels at ZERO, nitrate less than 20ppm, with water changes.>
Thanks in advance.
<Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Rosy barb
3 years old,, turned gray,, acts normal should isolate?
<if acquired as an adult, the change may be "old age". Else diet related. Unlikely that QT is necessary, but do so if convenient if and until further symptoms are observed. Also try some color enhancing food pellets. If your diet for the fishes has been dry food only, this is a problem. Do add a variety of frozen fare as well (bloodworms for example... but never brine shrimp... nutritively poor!) Best regards, Anthony>

Barb Sickness
I have a ten gallon tank. I have two rosy barbs, three guppies, three platys, one snail, one Otocinclus, and two African dwarf frogs, two
plants. After a bad start, everything is going well. Three days ago one of my barbs turns up with what looks like a big red zit near the base of his back bone near his tale. No other fish are sick and he seems to be fine eating and all that. Do you have any idea what it is? I think it's probably a parasite. What's your take and what do I treat with? I am pretty much limited to anything from Mardel.
Annie M.
<Could be several things. Probably not parasitic although it could be an anchor worm. Do you see something coming out of the eruption? Anchor worms are more common is pond fish, though. More likely bacterial in nature and a broad spectrum antibiotic is your best course of action. -Steven Pro>

Tiger Barb Question
Hi.  Been checking out your site since we started keeping tropical fish.  Very informative!!
<Thank you!>
My question; I've had a couple tiger barbs for a couple of months.  It almost looks like there is a very, very light film on them at times. The black bands don't seem as "black" as they used to.  When I looked at them with a flashlight, I could see a green color on the scales in the black bands.  I don't know if that is the normal color or not.
<This sounds as if it may be Costia (Ichthyobodo), Please see http://www/wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwfshparasites.htm for more info on the disease and for treatment.>
The tank they are in is just about done cycling. They seem to be doing very well otherwise.  Eating, chasing, etc.
<This is very good.>
Is this a fungus or disease?  Or have I just been staring at the fish too long?!?
<Most likely a parasitic disease>
Appreciate your help!! Jan Emerson
<You're welcome! Ronni>

Re: Tiger Barb Question
Thanks for the quick reply!
<You’re welcome>
Another question I have is regarding using Aquarium Salt. Some say do & some say don't.  Is this something that might help the barbs?  I do have some salt and am planning a partial water change today or tomorrow.  Should I put some in today and do the change tomorrow?  I have a 20 gal. tank with 4 tiger barbs, 2 black neons, 2 Gouramis, 1 Chinese algae eater and a
Danio (?).
<With the other fish you have in there I wouldn’t recommend adding salt. Just stick with the way you have it now and do your water change as planned.>
There is way too much info on the internet, and it gets very confusing.
<Yep, it really can. The internet is a wonderful thing but overwhelming at times too!>
Thanks again for your help!! Jan
<You're welcome! Ronni>

I need help fast for my zebra danio
I'm not really sure what the problem is.
<Sabrina here, to try and help>
He or she, I can't tell, has just over the past few days shown any of the listed symptoms. swollen belly, hunchback tail, head pointed upward, won't eat, but he swims normal hangs out at the top with the rest of the zebras.
<Hmm, this isn't a lot to go off.... Can you give us some more specs about your tank?  How big is the tank?  What other fish are in with the danio?  Do you test your water for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?  If so, can you let us know the values?  What you describe could be a number of things, but what sticks out most to me is the swollen belly - are his scales sticking out, pinecone fashion?  I'm afraid you *might* be dealing with dropsy, which is extremely difficult to cure at best, but perhaps there are other possibilities, too.  Let us know more about your tank, and we'll be more able to help you figure out what's wrong.>
Thank you for your time.
<No problem - I wish you the best.>

Sick tiger barbs?
Hi. First thanks so much for this website. I have just started to taking care of some tiger barbs and your site has helped ease much of my worries.
<Great to hear, thank you for the kind words!>
My two 20 gallon tanks have just finished cycling (one took a full month while the other took two weeks) and thankfully, I did not lose any of the barbs. (7 and 6 barbs on each tank, I only found out about the odd number tip last week.)  This past week however, I noticed that in my new tank, two of the tiger barbs looked like their black markings are slightly green. I noticed this in some of the tiger barbs on my first tank as well but now, these greenish stuff are gone without any treatment. In one of the posts here, one of you said that it may be Costia (Ichthyobodo).
<Costia/Ichthyobodo/Chilodonella/other 'skin slime disease' causatives really don't fit what you're describing.  That would appear more gray and be visible all over the sides of the fish, not restricted to only where the black is, and it would appear as though the skin were sloughing off.  It sounds to me like normal coloration for tiger barbs, truly.  There is even a green morph of the tiger barb, in which the black bands run together and are quite green instead of black.  I do not believe this is anything for you to worry about.>
Because of what happened to the tiger barbs in the first tank, I am thinking of waiting and see if it will disappear especially since the water conditions are much better now, but I am concerned that they might not be feeling too well. I am not sure if it is normal behaviour for two fishes to rub together (looks more like jostling for a ball, or trying to squeeze into a tight door but without the door).
<Hmm, this is probably just dominance struggles, trying to establish their pecking order.>
My first thought was that one of the fish was feeling itchy, and second thought was one of them (actually, Prince, the most playful one in the 2nd tank) was just trying to play with Spot (one of the "sick" fish) but Spot didn't want to.
<This probably isn't a concern, just keep an eye on them, and watch for any other issues.>
What do you think I should do? I am afraid of treating Spot and his/her other friend needlessly and subjecting them to stress again.
<Agreed.  I would not do anything until you see strong evidence convincing you of a particular illness.  All sounds well so far, just keep observing and enjoying your fish.>
I am thinking of getting a hospital tank but I can't seem to find info on what size is ok to use. Due to space constraints, I am thinking of getting the smallest one without being stingy on the comfort of the fish.
<Just about anything can be used in a pinch, so long as it is inert and watertight.  If you can swing space for a 10g, great, go for it.>
Another...How do you check if the fish are bloated because of overfeeding or if they are sick? I still haven't figured out how much to feed them that I am afraid I may be starving them (I feed them 3x, they seem to eat more though if I give them bloodworms so I am not sure if I am feeding them enough of the pellets).
<Oh my.... feeding them three times *daily*?  Well, if they're fat, consider that the reason.  Cut back to once daily.  While you're getting them back down to 'normal' sizes, it would be fine to skip a day here and there.>
Lastly, any recommendation on what materials I should be reading? I want to buy some more books but since they can be expensive (and some are not value for money) I'd like to check first before I buy. The aquarium books in the library are checked-out!
<Well, a couple of good beginners' books are "Setting Up a Freshwater Aquarium" by Gregory Skomal and "The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums" by David E. Boruchowitz.  In the Boruchowitz book, the only thing that I wholeheartedly disagree with are his stocking suggestions in the back of the book; I really, REALLY disagree with some of his suggestions (such as keeping an Oscar in a 29g tank).  Beyond that, these are both decent books.  If you're up for a challenge, you might consider "Tropical Fishlopedia" by Mary Bailey and Peter Burgess; an excellent book, but I don't usually recommend this to children or beginners, it's really quite a lot of info to bombard oneself with when just starting out.>
Thanks so much and sorry for the long email.
<No apologies necessary, this is why we're here.  Wishing you and your barbs well,  -Sabrina.>
Jade

Danio deaths
Hi Sabrina!
<Hi again, Tom, hope the algae battle is going well!>
It's me again.  Today I discovered that I had three deceased danios!  I've also noticed that the rest of the fish seem to be breathing awfully heavily.  I am worried!  
<Understandably so.>
My NO2 = 0.3 (maybe a tad higher),
<Eek, that's not a good thing; nitrite is toxic to fish, can burn gills/skin, generally not fun.  Some water changes will help get this down to zero.>
my NO3 = 2.5 ppm,
my NH4 = 0,
my KH = 5,
my pH = 7.0
my O2 = 12.  
Upon closer examination, I noticed the gills on the Danios were red.  I'm clueless as to what's going on.  
<I'm assuming that the nitrite is (at least partly) to blame.  Though, danios (if I recall rightly, yours are zebra danios?) are very sturdy fish.  Are any of your other fish having trouble?  Have you added anything to/stopped adding anything that you usually use to the water?  Any possibilities of any toxins getting into the system (cleaning stuff, anything un-fish-ish)?  Or possibly, are any other fish harassing the danios?>  
Help!  Thanks!  Tom Lenzmeier
<Hmm, hope some of this helps find a direction for you to look.  -Sabrina>

Danio Deaths Deux
Hi Sabrina,
<Hello, Tom>
It turned out to be a case of CO2 poisoning.  I had my Carbo-Plus system turned up too high.  When I turned it down to the medium setting, things improved considerably.  
<Good to hear.>
I did do water changes.  Isn't that generally the first response to any crisis?  When in doubt, get the old water out!  
<Yes, absolutely!  I wish more people would understand that.  Water changes are our friends ;) >
Thanks again.  Tom Lenzmeier
<No prob.  -Sabrina>

Barbs, something bunk with their environment
Hello, wanted to now could you tell me what this is my barbs keep dying they have there mouths stuck open no function?  then they get some sort of fungus its been going on for about two months started treating with MelaFix  no results then done everything to clean that up waited then did ick meds.  still sick   repeated clean up then waited then hit them hard with paragon by AquaTropics  for wide spectrum anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial control.. still have new case of  the mouth open stuck??????   i really don't now what else to do but dispose of these two so others wont get sick??? what  could i do.   thanks
< Barbs need clean well aerated water. Check your water for ammonia and nitrites, both should be zero. Nitrates should be below 25 ppm. If you are convinced that it is not bacterial or protozoans then you could try and treat for gill flukes with fluke tabs or clout.-chuck>
Kat..

Sick harlequin rasboras
Help! I have a 10g tank, fake plants, with 2 guppies, 2 Corys, and 4 harlequins. Came home tonight and the harlequins were hiding, one at the bottom, kind of twitching. I did a 40% water change, and at first they were all flipping out, but now they seem better. Just not totally okay. They don't seem to have Ick, no white spots, but aren't swimming about like they usually do. Someone said they are depressed because they need more to school properly. What could be wrong with them? What could I do?
< It is true to some extent that schooling fish are less stressed in a large group but I don't think that this would cause the sudden reaction that you are seeing. When an entire group of fish come down with something at the same time it makes me think of the water quality. I suspect if you checked the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates you may find that the nitrates have exceeded 25 ppm and the fish were stressed from the poor water quality. This can weaken the fish and cause disease. I suggest that you check the water quality and try to keep the nitrates below 25 ppm by servicing your filter, occasionally cleaning the gravel, not overfeeding, and change the water to reduce nitrates as needed. -Chuck>
Thanks,
New Fish Owner 

Rosy Barb Gasping for Air
I have a 44 gallon tank with 4 rosy barbs (2 male, 2 female) 6 Danios, 2 keyhole cichlids, and 3 Otocinclus.  
<Sounds like a fairly balanced tank, not to overstocked.>
In the last couple of days I've noticed one of the barbs constantly gasping and moving its gills which are bright pink inside . . . normal?
<No, that really isn't normal.>
She keeps hiding out at the bottom and isn't eating anything.  All of the other fish seem active and fine.  ph was 7.6. Ammonia and nitrite were 0, but I don't know about the nitrate.
<You can always have your Local Fish store test the water for you, most nicer places do it for free if you really want to know about your Nitrate.  I think that you might have a bit low oxygen level in your water.  Which happens quite frequently during the warmer summer months.  Higher temp means less amount of diffused oxygen in the water.   I would add an air stone and air pump and see if that makes a difference with the fish.  If not, you should start setting up a hospital tank and allow it to cycle so if the fish should get worse you have a separate tank to treat it in.>
Thanks, Julie
<Good luck. -Magnus>

A question about harlequin rasbora
hi,
one of my harlequin rasboras died overnight (why do they always die overnight..?)  without a mark on him that I could see, except maybe the area around his gills was a little red.  what might cause that? this fish has been well established and healthy since late January or February.   I did recently add six cardinal tetras to the tank a week, week and a half ago of which two died in the first couple days (poor little guys) and were removed promptly, and the rest seem to be on their way to being well adjusted.   
None of the other fish in the tank (5 additional harlequins and three scissortails, and two otos and a Cory) seem to be unhealthy in any way. pH reading is very slightly low (maybe 3-4 tenths off at the most, the color is 'between' two readings) - maybe from fish waste?  I haven't done a water change recently. But the pH is usually too high anyway (8.4).  The fish that have been there for a while seem to be completely well adjusted to it though so I don't think high pH would've killed the rasbora.
Well, any suggestions of what I could look into would be much appreciated, I really don't like my old fish dying suddenly :(
< Most of the fish you are keeping come from soft acidic water from rainforests. At the high pH you are running it is hard for these little fish to adapt. I don't think your cardinals will last too long at that high a pH. The high pH will not kill your fish off directly but they are definitely being stressed to the point that they are breaking down. Start looking at some websites and articles to bring down the pH of the water to at least the 7 range with 6 being better. I would start by looking at Marineland.com and look at Dr. Tim's library. These articles are very informative and will give you some direction.-Chuck>
thanks,
~Anna
ps: mailing a separate email with a question for your freshwater snail folks.

Scissortail rasbora - constipation?
Hey,
Noticed today that one of my scissortails has a swollen tummy :/  It's the very last part of the fish that's swollen (at least the last part that still has innards, before the tail)  Scissortails almost have two "sections" to their bodies to me and it would be the farther back one. (usually when they have overeaten a bit the first one will be big for
a while) <Understood>
I'm thinking it may be constipated. Otherwise seems happy and healthy. Tried to chase it into a cup to move it to a quarantine tank but between all the plants in the way and it being still active I couldn't manage it in 5 min.s, figured it would probably be more stressful than it was worth to keep up the chasing. So I thawed 3 peas and squished them into the tank, it ate a few little bits (as did the other fish) but mostly the peas sank to the bottom and became ignored. <Good try, but as you noticed not much of a vegetarian.>
How much pea does it take to help with constipation? <More than he will eat. Try a small piece of a garden worm, if possible. Or frozen blood worms. Not meal worms. Nothing with a "shell".> Is there anything else I can do for this scissortail without being able to catch him? <A little Epsom salt may help, about 1 Tbls per 5 gallons> (saving my quarantine setup for now in case I can catch him later - it's not very good, just a 1 1/2 gal plastic tub that ice cream comes in <What flavor? :) >- but I can't afford a real quarantine tank yet. Hopefully soon.) <Is it heated?> Do you think it is really constipation? <Maybe. Any chance it's a female filling with eggs? A big problem would be if you see the fish start to develop a curved spine. That would be a sign of TB.>  I'm also wondering if the fish is pregnant or something but that seems pretty unlikely to me! <Why? Commonly bred fish. A well kept, healthy female should fill up. Usually more in the midsection though.>
Thanks for your help, <No problem>
~Anna <Don>

Re: scissortail rasbora - constipation?
Really, what would eggs look like? It's the smallest of the three scissortails with a narrower body shape in comparison (usually the less 'fat looking' fish are males, at least in what I have read about other species)  Took a trip tonight to pick up a friend from the airport and now the light is off for the night, but I will definitely look at the fish in the morning and see how it's looking. (also going to look up sexing rasboras tonight)
I had problems with Hexamita in the 10gal once, lost 2 Danios to that :( but the rest of the fish never developed symptoms. I understand that hex symptoms can be similar to TB (but I did observe the definite white mucous stool on one of the Danios) and this doesn't look anything like what I've seen there, more like bloating of some kind although I don't know.
thanks again,
~Anna

Making the Hard Call
Hello, A few weeks ago I mailed you guys about a scissortail rasbora (Rasbora trilineata) with an oddly swollen abdomen in the back. I was wondering if it was maybe constipated, your reply suggested maybe the fish was pregnant. Since then the fish has gotten much more swollen and doesn't seem right at all. (even if it is gravid something is definitely not right) <Agreed> The entire abdomen is now swollen and the fish hangs funny in the water (nose up). It's colors are brighter than I have ever seen the scissortails in my own tanks (which is odd). The spine seems slightly curved throughout due to the swelling. <OK, bent spine is the key here>
This fish spends most of its time hiding in the back behind plants, or in my castle ornament which has a large cave in the interior. I don't usually see it with the other two rasboras but then again, ever since I put them in this tank it's hard to find more than two at a time. I don't know if they have always been the same two.
I haven't seen this fish eat in a long time. When I feed, I do see it grab food and spit it back out again pretty often, at least when it bothers to come to the front at all.
What could be wrong with my fish? <I'm afraid he has TB> I'm leaving Tuesday for a 4 week trip to visit some friends and family, leaving my immediate family here to take care of the fish. Do I need to do something with this fish beforehand? <Yes, there is. Very sorry to say that you need to remove him from the tank and put him down. Do not flush him, living or dead. The only cure is the month long treatment of a three drug cocktail. Success rate is less than 10%. It's can spread to other fish, especially if he dies in the tank. In fact it can spread to humans through breaks in the skin coming into contact with the water. Many well respected people here suggest putting down all the fish and sterilizing the entire system. A hard call to make, but harder to argue against. Don>   
Please help..
~Anna

Hunchback Danio
I am a fairly new aquarium hobbyist (1 year) and keep having a problem with "hunchback" Danios in my one of my tanks. <Not good> The tank in question is a small Eclipse Hexagonal 5 gallon with a small pebble base, plastic rock formations and a couple of small live plants that was cycled about 4 months ago. There are currently 3 Zebra Danios, a Chinese Algae Eater and many small snails (from the live plants) in the tank. My current readings are Ammonia 0, pH 7.0, Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate is 20. <Thanks for testing your water and sharing the results. But not the problem here.> I have had two other Danios run through the same symptoms as the current one, hunched back, decreased size, hover at the top of the tank, don't play with the other fish, don't eat and then finally end up as floaters that get flushed.
I would like to avoid flushing anymore of the little guys if at all possible, symptoms just started a few days ago, can you help?
Shelly
<Hi Shelly, Don here. I saw where you posted this in our forum and strongly agree with Steve and others that this is a situation where the fish should be put down safely. The hunchback Danios have TB that can spread to humans. I know it's hard, but this is one of those times that as responsible pet owners we must act in order to keep ourselves and our other fish safe.>

Humpback Danios
I did not explain correctly on the bio-filter, it is a bio-wheel.  Can it be sterilized? <Yes. Soak it in a bleach solution then rinse well and soak in dechlorinator. Good to go. Boiling would also work, but may warp the wheel. Don>
Shelly

Humpback Danios
Okay, I think I have come to the realization that I need to put my good little fish down and sterilize the tank but one more question. This tank has a bio-filter; do I need to get rid of it too? <No need to throw it away, but it must be sterilized like the tank. You will need to recycle it. Just refill it and throw in a small cocktail shrimp or a pinch of food. When both ammonia and nitrite have spiked and crashed you're good to go. Figure 3 to 6 weeks. Don>
Shelly

Humpback Danios
Okay, I think I have come to the realization that I need to put my good little fish down and sterilize the tank but one more question. This tank has a bio-filter; do I need to get rid of it too? <No need to throw it away, but it must be sterilized like the tank. You will need to recycle it. Just refill it and throw in a small cocktail shrimp or a pinch of food. When both ammonia and nitrite have spiked and crashed you're good to go. Figure 3 to 6 weeks. Don>
Shelly

Danio Problems
Hi,
I started off with 5 Zebra Danios and 4 Peppered Corys in a 70 litre tank and I'm now down to 2 Danios. About 5 months ago one of them got really bloated overnight and I found him the next day looking like his stomach had burst. Last week another one bloated up and then dropped dead within two days. Last night though, I noticed another one carrying what looked like a bruise on his side, he looked red beneath his skin then this morning he was dead on the substrate with what looked like two, small skin bubbles protruding from his underside. <Hi Dave, Don here. Two things come two mind. Let's hope it's a water quality issue. Do you check your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Any amount of the first two could be the cause. But, if you see any Danios showing a bend in their spine you have TB in your tank. If so, then the fish will have to be put down and the system sterilized. TB can spread to humans with a break in the skin. Be careful and wear gloves. There are also other bacterial infections that can cause this. If the spines are straight, try a good broad spectrum antibiotic. Oxytetracycline may help. Like I said, let's hope it a water quality issue>
I replace 5 <less than 10%> litres of the tank water every 7 days and the tank looks clean but there is obviously something going wrong somewhere.
Any advice would be more than appreciated as I really don't want the fish to suffer any more. <First thing I would do is test the water. If you see any ammonia or nitrite, or if nitrate is over 20ppm, fix it with large (50%+) water changes daily. I would also up your normal water changes to around 20 to 30%>   
Thanks and best regards,
David  

Danio Problems
Hi, Thanks for your advice. I have just been out to buy testing kits and will test the water quality when I have finished work this evening, I really hope it is poor water as the TB possibility terrifies me if I'm honest. How worried should I be for my own health, I know you say that it can enter humans via open wounds but what about just being around the tank, do you know if it becomes airborne? <No, it can't. I must enter through a break in the skin>
Also, do you know of any websites that you know of where I would find pictures of Zebra Danios with TB (curved spine etc). <Here's a link to my photos in our forum. Scroll down to the next to last pic. The two female White Clouds at the top of the photo show the bend pretty well. http://wetwebfotos.com/Home?actionRequest=userview&userID=4258 Some fish become very thin, mine bloated.>
Sorry if I seem to be panicking a little! <Understood. I really try to pass along the warning without causing any undo concern. I rarely succeed. Some say the bacteria is always present in our tanks, and that it takes a drop in the fish's immune system for it to show. If true, it would seem transmission to humans is rather rare. But some very respected people here suggest sterilization of the entire system whenever TB is found. That's a hard call to make, but harder to argue against. Let's hope it's the water. Don>
Thanks again,
David

More sick Harlequin rasboras...
Don, Sorry to bother you again... well, I decided to try what you suggested with one rasbora. The water he came in tested at 7.0, my tank tested at 7.4. I floated the bag and then added about 10% tank water to the bag. I did this again 20 min later and checked the pH in the bag, and-- surprise! The pH was 6.4?? Here's my speculation. I'd been adding acid buffer to the tank pretty much every day up until 2 days ago, in a futile attempt to keep the pH down.
There were enough alkalines in my tank to check the acid, so the tank basically found homeostasis at 7.4.  However, when I added the tank water to the bag, the acids were no longer checked by the alkalines (presumably the water from the store wasn't as well buffered), so the pH shot way down. Sound about right?
<< Yes (BobF here), very easy to make these sorts of changes w/o careful understanding of alkalinity AND an alkalinity test kit>>
Well, to make a long story short, I continued to do 10-20% water changes in the bag, this time with fresh, un-pH-adjusted water.  But after a few of these I realized that what was happening was that the acids I'd added were
continually bringing the pH down, so basically I was just bouncing the pH all over the place. Once I realized this, I gave up, pH was around 7.0, I added the fish to the tank, and he is well on his way to dying. Same symptoms as the others.  So now I know what pH shock looks like.
I could do what you suggested, i.e. do water changes until the tank pH matches the tap pH.  The problem is, my tap water comes out at 8.2.  If I add enough acid to neutralize the water to 7.0 before I add it to the tank, then my tank seems to hold stable at 7.4.  But if I add no acid at all, then eventually my tank will be at 8.2, right?  And that seems awful high for most fw fish.
So what's a guy to do?
<I think you got it right. I was unaware your tap was at 8.2. The easy suggestion is to stock fish that like your conditions. In your case Mollies or African Cichlids. But I'm going to ask Bob to comment on this. I'm blessed with pretty good water (soft at a steady 7.2) here in the Philadelphia area. You could always move. Don>
<<Best to use whatever method to adjust pH outside your system, in preparation for use... if it has sufficient buffering capacity (which at a starting/tap of 8.2 I strongly suspect it does) then lowering (eating up the alkaline reserve) with an organic or inorganic acid will result in an adequately buffered (i.e. stable) pH at some "point"... that will tend to slowly lower over time... due to the reductive (acidic) activities of small aquatic systems... Please read here re: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwph,alk.htm and make it known that you (both) understand the concepts of pH, alkalinity/acidity, and their relation to each other. Bob F>>

Dying Danios
Hi, We've had our tank for about 3 months now. Among the second batch of fish we got were three Zebra Danios. All three have since died, one after the other. The first one experienced a bloating and a dullness of his color a few days before dying. Both the others seemed to waste away, becoming very thin over a period of about two weeks. All refused to eat after the symptoms set in. It took all three of them about a month and a half to die total. All the other fish in the tank seem to be doing fine. Is this something that we should be concerned about either for the other fish or for ourselves, or was this just a "bad batch" of fish?
-Greg
<Hi Greg, Don here. I do think you got a batch of bad fish. The question is bad with what? They had some sort of internal infection. It could have been anything from bacteria, protozoa, even worms. Knowing what type of infection it was would set the risk to the other fish and yourself. If the Danios spines curved as they wasted away then they had fish TB, which humans can catch through breaks in the skin. I would just watch the others at this point. If any more get thin, email us back with details>

Question: my danio's tail is gone
Hello!  I'm hoping you can help me.  I noticed yesterday that one of my danio's tail was mostly gone (long finned danio).  I have zebra danios and plain danios in my tank.  I thought they were a non-aggressive fish so I didn't think that anyone else would've bitten his tail.  
His spine doesn't look bent.  He spends more time hiding in the foliage than he used to and seems a bit sensitive, but swims around with everyone some and eats fine.  
Any ideas what is going on?  The tail nubbin' looks healthy as far as I can tell.
< If the tail was not actually bitten off by a fellow tankmate then chances are that it was damaged and may have developed a bacterial infection that slowly ate it away. Do a 30 % water change, clean the filter and treat with Furanace to prevent any further damage.-Chuck>
Thank you so much!
Megan

Re: Question: my danio's tail is gone
Thank you for the info.  Can the danio grow a new tail fin?  
< If the damage is limited to the fin portion itself then it may grow back. If the damage has reached the caudal peduncle, The meaty portion of the tail then probably not.-Chuck>
Megan

Lumpy Danio
Hi Bob, <Don here today, Hi back>
We have a 10 gallon tank and have managed to keep 4 zebra danios and one golden algae eater alive for 10 months. We have a carbon filter and change the filter every month. We perform water changes every 2-4 weeks (2 gals per time - treated with AquaSafe). We added a small aerator (bubbler) about six weeks ago. The bubbler is not adjustable so it runs
constantly and seems noisy. <Get a 3 way valve for the airline. Open the valve to the bubbler all the way. Close another. Open the third to slow the air flow to the bubbler. Adjust the blank valve until you get a good air flow. If it hisses, add a foot or so of airline as a muffler> Lights are on from 8 am to 8 pm daily. <Good>
Recently one danio started developing a lump on its spine. Over the course of two weeks the danio became listless and spent much time on the bottom of the tank. We removed him to a temporary place and tested the aquarium water. <Good to remove him. Is the spine bending? Or does it look like a small pea under the skin>  
Temp 74 degrees <Ok, but 76 to 78 better>
Ammonia 0 <Great>
Nitrate 40 <Good, but a little high. Try to keep below 20ppm>
Nitrite 0 <Great>
Hardness 25 <Hard>
Alkalinity 300 (high) <Very>
pH 8.4 (high) <Very, very>
Do you know what the lump is? <Could be a tumor, in which case there is nothing to do. Sorry> Can the fish be saved?   Right now he's sitting at the bottom of the temporary shelter, barely moving but still breathing. <This could be just about anything. I would try a good broad spectrum antibiotic. However, if the spine is bending the fish must be put down. Bury or put in trash. Do not flush. Wear gloves>
Is the pH or alkalinity to blame? <Could be. Danios will adapt to a wide range of water conditions, but yours are extreme. You could try peat moss in the filter. It will stain the water a rich tea color. Charcoal will remove the color> Should we take corrective action? <As above> Did the bubbler cause anything? <No>
Thanks,
Peg

Speckled Tigers
I got 4 new tiger barbs a week ago, and 1 hour later 2 Guppies died. Now 2 of the Barbs swim fine if they are darting about, but when they are all together being still, the 2 swim nose down or upside down. Now, I just noticed tiny
white specs on their fins (all 4 of them).
Ammonia is perfect in tank.
Thanks a lot
<Your Tiger barbs have Ick. Use salt to cure. Read here on it's proper use to kill Ick. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=32 Take note of the life cycle and continue treatment for at least two weeks after the last spot drops. The ammonia in your tank is only perfect if at zero. You should be testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Do water changes to keep the first two at zero, nitrate below 20ppm. Read here on establishing bio filtration.  http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm

Pearl on Bottom of Tank
My pearl danio is staying at the bottom of the tank. It eats well and looks normal otherwise. It seems to have claimed a corner of the tank and sometimes stops swimming and lays on the gravel. The pH is 7.4 and the temperature is 75 F. Is this normal? Should I be worried?
<Did you check for ammonia and nitrite when you tested the pH? Either could cause him distress. They also do much better in a group. If he is the only Pearl in your collection he may be being harassed by tankmates. If you have the room a group of five or six would make a nice display. Don>

FATS DANIO
Hi! Ok, my danio has a swollen belly. At first I thought she was preggers, but it's been at least 2 months and no eggs!  She doesn't seem like she's in distress or anything. She seems perfectly healthy. What do you think the problem could be?
< Could be egg bound or have an internal bacterial infection. I would guess the latter and treat with Metronidazole after doing a 30% water change and servicing the filter.-Chuck>