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| FAQs on Freshwater Head & Lateral Line Disease,
HLLE, HITH (Hole In The Head)... 2
Related Articles:
Head and Lateral Line Disease (HLLE),
Freshwater Diseases, FW
Disease Troubleshooting, Ich/White
Spot Disease, Freshwater
Medications,
Related FAQs: Freshwater
HLLE 1,
& FAQs on FW HLLE: Causes/Etiology,
Cures,
Non-Cures, FW Case Histories,
SW
Case Histories, & Marine HLLE: HLLE 1, HLLE
2, HLLE 3,Nutritional Disease,
Aquarium
Maintenance, Freshwater Medications, Freshwater
Infectious Disease, Freshwater Fish
Parasites, Ich/White Spot Disease, African Cichlid Disease 1,
Cichlid
Disease,
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Help with sick Severum
Severum Starting To get Hole-In-The-Head 9/9/08
Hi, I have a 200 litre aquarium which has 5 angels, 1 Oscar, 1 silver
shark, 1 bichir, and a breeding pair of Severums.
All fish are totally fine expect for the Severum which has been getting
strange white bumps around his eyes and on his head for the last few
days. I have attached a picture, I wonder if you could advise what is
wrong with my fish and how to treat it?? Many thanks Jason Ingold
< It looks like you Severum is showing the first signs of
Hole-In-The-Head disease. After the pus filled blisters pop a hole is
left in its place. The holes continue to grow eating away the skull.
There are some ideas to what the cause of this disease could be but no
exact pathogen has been identified. The stress of breeding could have
weakened your fish and made them vulnerable. If it was my fish I would
place it in a hospital tank with clean warm(82 F) water. Treat the tank
with Metronidazole and Nitrofuranace. If the fish is still eating then
feed a medicated food with Metronidazole in it. Generally I would try to
improve the diet with a quality pellet food. If you fish is still eating
I would try a little trick I stumbled on a few years ago. I had an south
American cichlid like yours that just started to get the disease but was
still eating. He especially love black worms. I took the portion of
black worms in a little plastic cup with some water and medicated the
worms with the dosage of Metronidazole. The worms died right away and I
quickly fed them to my fish. The fish were unaware that the worms were
dead and ate them all up. The lesions turned black the next day. I did a
major water change, cleaned my filters and got some fresh fish food that
was high in vegetable matter. I felt that this would provide the
minerals my fish may have been missing. Hope this helps.-Chuck> |
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Cichlid problem, hlth.
8/17/08
Hello again,
My T-bar cichlid has got hole in the head, all my fish are scratching,
twitching and have all there fins down.
<Likely caused by Hexamita, and almost always trigger by environmental or
dietary deficiencies, i.e., overcrowding, high nitrates, lack of fresh
greens. Treatment is only possible via Metronidazole, couple with correction
of water quality/diet.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/metranidazole.htm
>
They are all eating normally except my T-bar with hole in the head and they
have been doing this for 3 days now and they have no signs of any spots so
it cant be white spot.
<Hexamita is most common when cichlids are overcrowded. Quite possibly
latent in all cichlids, when their immune system becomes weakened the
Protozoans spread from the digestive tract into the body and out to the
lateral line. It's the ones in the lateral line that cause the distinctive
pits and lesions.>
What could be wrong with them all?
Thanks
<Review environment, diet, and act accordingly. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: cichlid problem 08/18/2008
Hello,
When you said "review environment" what did you mean? My tank has lots of
bogwood and a few plants with fine gravel.
Thanks.
<Simple. Take a look at all the requirements for the fish you have. Look in an
aquarium book (or search this web site) to find out more about each species.
Note things like water chemistry (pH, hardness), diet, space requirements,
compatibility with other fish, etc. Write all these things down. Then compare
them to the environment in your aquarium. Any differences between what your fish
need and what you are providing will be likely sources of potential problems.
Also check nitrite and nitrate; nitrite should be zero at all times, and with
cichlids nitrate should be as low as practical, ideally less than 20 mg/l.
Cheers, Neale.>
What type of filter media should I use?
(RMF, comments on Hexamita, carbon?)
7/13/08
I have been searching for many answers in your forum for the past few
days, and I must say "thank you" for all of this information. I have
answered most of my questions using the search. To explain myself, I would
like to give a little background.
<Ok.>
A friend of mine moved out of the area and asked me to take his aquarium.
There is one very large Oscar in a 35 gallon Hex aquarium with an Marineland
Emperor 280 power filter.
<Ah, first problem: the tank is _way_ too small for an Oscar, arguably even
for a juvenile, let alone an adult. A tank twice this size would be much
more reasonable. All cichlids are sensitive to dissolved metabolites -- that
means ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. So you need both good filtration (to
deal with the nitrite and ammonia) and aquarium capacity to dilute the
nitrate. Water changes of 25-50% per week are needed to further dilute the
nitrate. Without this sort of regimen, cichlids are extremely prone to
disease, especially Hexamita and Hole-in-the Head.>
The Oscar started getting HITH disease even though I do weekly water changes
and according to my LFS, all tests show very good water quality for this
type of fish.
<There you go. Am I good or what? The point here is that the tank is too
small. While it is (theoretically) possible to keep cichlids in small tanks
by doing massive (e.g., 90%) water changes on a daily basis, the only
practical way to keep them as low-maintenance pets is to use a big tank so
that water changes can be spaced out.>
I read on your pages about Oscars that HITH may be caused by stress from the
aquarium being too small, as well as the use of carbon.
<Both these things have been cited in the past as possible triggers. But the
balance of opinion nowadays relates HITH to the protozoan Hexamita, an
organism that probably lives harmlessly enough in the digestive tracts of
many aquarium fish, including cichlids. But when conditions decline, e.g.,
nitrate exceeds 20 mg/l, the fish's immune system stops working properly and
the Protozoans can spread, causing harm. The precise symptoms depends on
where the Protozoans end up, which is why Hexamita and HITH had been
considered separate diseases for a long time. Both diseases fall under the
category of "easy to prevent, difficult to cure".>
My friend, and now myself, has always used Marineland Diamond Blend Filter
Media in the Emperor 280's media basket…which is carbon and ammonia remover
combined.
<Not a huge fan of chemical media, either carbon or zeolite, in freshwater
tanks. Neither serves much purpose when compared with the much bigger
benefits obtained by doing large (50% weekly) water changes instead. Zeolite
is doing something your filter bacteria is doing anyway, so is utterly
redundant except in tanks (e.g., hospital tanks, sub-pH6 tanks) where it
isn't possible to use biological filtration. In the past the theory was
carbon removed dissolved organics from the water, letting you minimise water
changes. When I started in the hobby, "old water" was recommended for
freshwater fish, with aquarium books often suggesting 10-25% water changes a
month as reasonable. Over time the dissolved organics made the water more
acidic and gave it a yellow colour. If you do big, weekly water changes,
none of this happens, so the carbon is redundant. Furthermore, to actually
work properly, carbon needs to be replaced at least monthly, something
hardly anyone in freshwater fishkeeping does. So all you get is carbon
behaving as an (admittedly reasonably good) substrate for filter bacteria.
Instead I would recommend using exclusively top-notch biological such as
Siporax together with mechanical filter media that can be cleaned/replaced
according to your budget. You should also have a filter offering not less
than 6 times (and ideally 10 times) the volume of the tank in turnover per
hour (irrespective of the "recommended aquarium" size offered by the
manufacturer of said filter, as these assume best-case scenarios of tanks
with small, clean fish like Neons).>
I purchased a 75 gallon aquarium, and an additional Emperor 280 power
filter. I plan to use both of the 280 filters on the 75 gallon.
<These filters offer filtration of 280 gallons per hour each, and for your
tank I'd recommend at least 450 gallons per hour total and ideally up to 750
gallons per hour. With big, messy fish -- the more the better. I am not wild
about hang-on-the-back filters though because they don't seem to be as
flexible as canister filters. I want filters that can have the inlet and
outlet put where I want them, not limited by the design. I don't like
filters that use proprietary "modules" either -- I want to be able to put
whatever media I want in the filter. Hence I'd always recommend a decent
canister filter such as the excellent value and highly reliable Eheim 2217.
At about 260 gallons per hour, two of these would provide adequate
filtration and three would provide excellent filtration. They are basically
empty buckets into which you cram in whatever media you want. For an Oscar,
a mix of sponges/filter wool for solid waste and then lots of ceramic
noodles for biological filtration would be ideal. Eheim filters may be
slightly more expensive than generic Chinese brands, but they last forever
(or at least 10+ years) and such spare parts as you might need (like the
rubber seals that will wear out after a while) are cheap and easy to
obtain.>
From the reading on your site, I have used water from the old aquarium in
the new aquarium.
<Makes absolutely no difference. The bacteria are not in the water column or
even sitting on the gravel (much) but in the filter media. Unplug a mature
filter from one tank and connect it to another tank with similar water
chemistry, and you it will carry on working perfectly. You can also donate
50% of the media from a mature filter to a new filter to instantly cycle the
new filter without causing any harm to the mature filter.>
I also placed the new filter on the old aquarium in order to ready the new
filter's bio-wheel.
Since you do not recommend carbon in a freshwater aquarium, and this could
be causing the HITH disease, what would you recommend I use in the filter
media baskets?
<As stated above.>
Also, the Marineland "Rite-Size E" filter cartridges come packed with
activated carbon. Should I slice these open and remove the carbon?
<Nope. Just consider them money down the drain. Or at least that's how I
view them. Activated carbon is a posh way of saying "charcoal", and a great
way for manufacturers to sell you something at a premium that costs very
little to make. These "filter cartridges" are overpriced for what they are
anyway, and that just adds insult to injury. Over the long term, a plain
vanilla canister filter into which you can add whatever media you choose
will work out so much cheaper, as well as working MUCH MUCH better.>
Thank you for all your help,
Jay
<Cheers, Neale.> <<I am in agreement.
RMF>>Re: What type of filter media should I
use? - 07/13/08
I understand what you are saying about filtration, but given my budget
and what I have already spent, do you think the two Emperor 280's hanging on
the back plus one Eheim 2217 (as you suggested as a good canister) would
suffice for this 75 gallon with the one large Oscar? The 280s come with
empty media chambers and I will pick up Siporax as you suggested to fill
these with. The Eheim is 260gph and the two Emperor filters are 280 each.
This would bring my turnover to approx 820gph (manufacturer spec).
Thanks again,
Jay
<Hello Jay. What you propose should work. But you'd want to be clever about
where you positioned all these filters to that they weren't all pumping
water around just one end of the tank. With big aquaria, it's important to
make sure the bottom of the tank receives lots of water current. So perhaps
you'd arrange the Eheim so the spray bar pushes water downwards rather than
forwards. Even better (and not expensively) you could couple the canister
filter with an undergravel filter plate to create a "reverse flow
undergravel" filter. This works by the filter pushing water into the filter
plate via what would ordinarily be the uplift. The water then comes upwards
through the gravel, further supporting nitrifying bacteria and incidentally
also keep the gravel much cleaner than otherwise. While not much used
nowadays, undergravel filters work amazingly well, and provide good water
quality at low cost. A 75-gallon tank should work nicely for an Oscar (or a
mated pair). Cheers, Neale.>
Re: What type of filter media should I use? - 07/13/08
Thank you for the quick responses and for the great information. I would
have never thought about using an undergravel filter to create uplift.
<Used to be very common during the 1980s, and much appreciated in tanks such
as Mbuna systems where you want to combine good biological filtration with
the chemical buffering provided by a calcareous substrate. Out of fashion
nowadays because undergravels generally don't work with plants, and that's
the direction advanced freshwater hobbyists tend to go.>
The Emperor 280 filter's water intake tubes have a dual intake. I will have
one at each end of the 75g aquarium, so water will be pulled into the filter
from the bottom and middle of the tank and at both ends. Should I position
the Eheim pickup in the middle of the aquarium near the water surface?
<Without seeing these filters _in situ_ it's difficult to make any
pronouncements here! But here's my test. Put individual flakes of food in
the aquarium at different positions and depths. Watch the flakes drift
around. If they move about constantly wherever you put the flake, then
you're fine. If they collect in certain corners, then you have a "dead
patch". If you find the flakes drift slower at some points than others, you
have inconsistent water flow. In either case, review the position of the
inlets/outlets and try again. As always, theory is fine, but actual
experimentation is better!>
Maybe even build a skimmer box that the Eheim pickup could pull water from
in order to clean the water surface??
<Largely a waste in non-planted tanks. Surface skimmers are great for
removing bits of leaves and such that float about. In non-planted tanks this
isn't an issue. Rather, your problem is going to be faeces and uneaten food
collecting on the substrate. Water changes will help (stir the gravel a bit
each time) but my "tip of the day" is to buy a turkey baster. These are
great for spot-cleaning waste in large tanks. Cheap and very effective. Also
very useful for catching fry and separating eggs from mouthbrooding fish. No
aquarist should be without one!>
Your expertise is greatly appreciated. Thank you,
Jay
<Cheers, Neale.>
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My Frontosa, HLLE tissue damage
- 7/1/08
Hi, I wrote you before about my Front, Georgie and his
hole-in-the-head problem, and that I treated him with Medizole and
Furnace, I then noticed it looked like fungus so I treated him again
with just the Furnace, It looked like it went away but his holes
didn't look any better, so I then treated him with some medication
called Hole-in-the-Head by JUNGLE, and he still looks like this, is
there any hope?
<To heal the wounds from the neuromast destruction? Mmm, yes... with
time, good nutrition, water quality...>
( I sent you a couple pics) I have had him for a long time( we think
he is around thirteen years) and he has always been healthy but know
I am at a loss, usually when I treat my fish I have good luck if I
catch it right away, I am sending you a few pics and see if you can
see what you think,
Thank you for your time,
John Cline
<Have seen worse cases remit. Do try feeding Spectrum pellets
exclusively, being religious re weekly water changes... Read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/hllefaqs3.htm
and the linked FAQs files in this series above. Bob Fenner>
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POSSIBLE DISEASED GOURAMIS, HLLE – 06/28/08
Hi Team,
I currently have a 35 gallon tropical tank, PH 7.2, Ammonia = 0, Nitrite =
0, Nitrates = 10-20. I have 2 Pearl Gouramis, 1 male and one female and both
have small holes around the top half of their head around the eyes and
'nose'. They are not filled with puss etc. They are empty like bore holes.
<Sounds like Head & Lateral Line Erosion disease (HLLE), a syndrome that
may, or may not, be related to the Hexamita parasite. I would treat for
Hexamita anyway, and also review water chemistry/quality.>
The male is a much paler colour than normal.
<Again, consistent with HLLE/Hexamita.>
The female still looks a normal colour. The holes are only on the Gouramis.
All other fish seem unaffected (1 queen arabesque Pleco, 1 Betta, 9 neon
tetras, 1 swordtail).
<Hexamita/HLLE doesn't affect all fish species equally strongly. Cichlids
are by far the most prone, but Gouramis can develop the symptoms too. I've
never heard of Catfish, Livebearers or Characins developing the disease.
This isn't to say they don't, but it isn't common.>
I feed them on Tetra Pro flake food/varied sinking pellets and a weekly
treat of frozen daphnia or brine shrimp. I would guess that this is hole in
the head disease from the info on your site but I change 10-20% water weekly
and feed high quality and varied food so I am not sure how this would have
happened as this often relates to poor water.
<Indeed this is the case. But the infection can be latent in store-bought
fish, only to develop a few weeks or months after purchase. Inbreeding may
weaken the immune system of some fish species. Nitrate is likely the
triggering factor with cichlids, but 20 mg/l nitrate is "safe", so not
really sure what's going on here. Regardless, treat first, worry about the
science later.>
Is hole in the head disease infectious??
<Not really, no; Hexamita quite probably sits inside the guts of most fish
harmlessly, and only causes problems when their immune systems are otherwise
impaired. If it is in your system, then all fish have been exposed, so
isolating any one fish won't make a huge difference. Since only certain fish
develop the disease (or diseases) there isn't any need to worry about the
catfish, tetras, or livebearers. By all means isolate the fish if it makes
treatment easier/cheaper, but beyond that there's no overbearing reason to
do so.>
Are my other fish likely to catch it from the Gouramis??
<Possibly the Betta.>
Are there any treatments available in the UK that you could recommend??
<Yes. eSHa make something specific for Hexamita/Discus Disease. Not used it
myself, but I rate their other medications very highly.
http://www.eshalabs.com/hexamita.htm
>
Or is it maybe too late to save them??
<Fish can, do recover from Hexamita provided they are treated and properly
fed/maintained.>
I would like to treat the entire tank anyway if poss. as a precaution.
Thanks
Brian
<Cheers, Neale.>
".... like I need a hole in my head."
Hi!
<Hello!>
I appreciate your time and any help or expertise you can offer. I
have a 4.5 inch discus that we treated for hole in the head last month, it had
white pussy matter coming out of holes above the lateral line.
<Sounds classically like hole-in-the-head indeed.>
We treated with Paragon II and it cleared up after 2 rounds of medication. Now
a month later it has started again. Will this keep coming back do I
need to retreat?
<I would re-treat, but with Metronidazole in food rather than in the
water.>
Is there a better medication that you can purchase at a pet store that you would
recommend?
<Metronidazole can be found under the name "Hex-a-Mit"
(Aquatronics). It would be best to administer this via food, *not*
just in the water, as the package directs. Perhaps try mixing it into
a frozen food (er, thaw the food to mix it in, then re-freeze). Aim
for about 1% medicine by weight.>
We are currently feeding quite the variety of foods so I would find it hard to
believe it is from a vitamin deficiency.
<Might be worthwhile to look into vitamin supplements anyway.>
Lastly what is the minimum size you would recommend for a hospital tank, we just
put our 75 gallon tank away and aren't too excited about setting it back up.
<For a single, 4.5" discus? You could manage with something
even as small as a 10-gallon tank (or even Rubbermaid container), if necessary. A
20g might be a little more suited to a good sized fish like that. Be
sure to provide something for the fish to hide around and feel safe. PVC
pipe elbows are good for this, and cheaper than plastic plants. Wishing
you and your discus well, -Sabrina>
HLLE, Oscars, Etiology, Cures
Hi Robert...
<Hello>
I am sure with the volume of mail that you receive, you don't recall who I am.
I had the two gold Oscars that had HLLE.
<I recall>
Though I followed everything that was explained to do, tonight I lost one
of them.
For some reason, this one just did not respond to anything I did. The other
seems to be at least remaining the same, if not slowly healing, it is
difficult to tell.
I have some generic questions that I have found no answer to.
Is HLLE an actual disease, a skin condition, a bacteria, or most
importantly, contagious?
<There are a few theories as to root causes of HLLE... most favor nutritional deficiency syndromes (mainly vitamins, iodide/ine)... some suggest protozoan involvement (esp. Hexamita spp.), others stray electrical potential (sellers of grounding probes), general "poor water quality"... Myself? I believe the first is a principal cause with all others being contributory. Please read through "the three sets of factors that determine health" piece here: http://wetwebmedia.com/mardisease.htm
For a "more rounded" view/glance of what goes on in the real universe>
Everything I've read says that it cropped up about 15 years or so ago, and
the likely hood of the causative action being Hexamita is slim.
<Was about way before this time... know because I was there...>
As this is what killed one of my Oscars, I would like to know more about
what it actually is.
<I understand your provocation... treatments more often kill off livestock...>
You spent a great deal of time working with me on fixing this problem, and
I truly do appreciate it.
<An honor to help>
One just didn't have it in him to make it though. I still have hope for the
second one.
Thank you again
cj.
<Please do read over the HLLE FAQs and environmental disease sections on the Marine Index part of our site (WetWebMedia.com) as well. The same etiology/ies for marine fishes pre-dispose them to this "disease". Bob Fenner>
C.J. Moody
Re: Cichlid i.d., Vitamins, Iodide/ine
I am sure I am about to drive you crazy.... but....
<<Mostly there already, no worries>>
>Do you mean that I can actually buy baby vitamins for human babies and use them??
><<Yes, the actual molecules are identical>>
How do I know how much of this to give them? Should I treat the food with
the same amount as listed for an infant?
<<Hmm, a "few drops" total (irrespective of food amount, size of system) will be sufficient and no problem...>>
>However, I know that table salt does have iodine in it. If I were to put a few teaspoons of table salt in there, would this be a bad thing or a good thing?
><<Better than nothing>>
Sounds a bit ominous... Will track down some of the advised product:)
<<Ah, good>>
Thank you again:)
cj.
C.J. Moody
<Be chatting. Bob Fenner>
Re: Cichlid i.d., Vitamins, Iodide/ine
>>1 random cichlid [about the size of a convict]
>I would like to figure out what this cichlid is.
><Oh yes: fishbase.org The family cichlid is quite large... maybe start with Spilurum, the various re-do's of the genus Cichlasoma... and a very large pot of tea/coffee (to stay up late). Have fun.>
*Thank You*!! I may well find out what she is with this:)
<<Yes... a long, but fun search>>
><The same causative mechanism/s exist in both marine and freshwater... lack of essential nutrients>
Can I overdose them on vitamins?
<<Yes, this is possible... not practically though...>>
><There are prep.s that are made/labeled for fishes et al. aquatics, but the compounds involved are the same as for tetrapods (like you and me), so "baby vitamins" (liquids) will do...
Do you mean that I can actually buy baby vitamins for human babies and use
them??
<<Yes, the actual molecules are identical>>
> or pet-fish ones like Micro-Vit, Selcon... Add these to the food a few minutes before offering.>
Yesterday I bought something called Hex-a-Vital, and it is a vitamin
product that specifies treatment for HLLE.
I can see a difference in one of them, but the other still looks fairly nasty.
<<This "curing process" takes weeks to months generally. Be patient>>
In this product is A, D3, C, E, Calcium Phosphorous and Calcium Carbonate.
There is no iodine.
<<I would find a source and apply it. Lugol's Solution will do, potassium iodide would be better>>
However, I know that table salt does have iodine in it. If I were to put a
few teaspoons of table salt in there, would this be a bad thing or a good
thing?
<<Better than nothing>>
I have always understood that iodine will kill fish, which is why one
should use rock or aquarium salt.
<<Hmm, much to say here... Iodine (the element) is indeed toxic... Iodide (same element, different valence state) is a way to supply this essential nutrient... not toxic in small concentrations>>
><Me too... do try the vitamins... they can/will effect a reversal at this point. Bob Fenner>
I can tell there is an improvement.
You are a wonderful person, taking the time to work with me on this. Thank
you so very much.
cj.
C.J. Moody
<You are welcome my friend. Bob Fenner>
Hole in the head
Hi from Australia,
I have a problem with my tropical tank so first some background info (sorry,
this could take a while); It's a 55gal and has been up and running for about 3
months with an Eheim 2229 wet/dry, It has been on 0 nitrites, nitrates and
ammonia all the time (had LFS double check this), the ph has been 7 constantly.
The tank is well planted and the plants are healthy and growing well (I used
undergravel plant tablets for them).
I introduced my fish slowly first 8 Neons, one week later 4 dwarf Gourami, 2
weeks later 3 small bristlenose, 1 week later a small angelfish and a pearl
Gourami all the time maintaining zero levels of everything.
<This all sounds very good>
First one of my dwarf gouramis got bloat and died, research done so more varied
diet (peas, flake food, mosquito larvae.) introduced and reduced amount of
feeding. By the way weekly water changes of 1/4 have been going on since 3 weeks
in.
<This is probably a bit much on the water changes. If you want to do them
weekly cut them back to about 10% unless you notice your levels start to
rise.>
Then introduced Siamese fighter, (2 weeks later) left the tank in fathers care
for 3 days when I returned it was hanging on the surface and looked like its
fins were all stuck together, it refused to eat and consequently died and when I
took it out I noticed blood oozing from its fins (the fish was a red colour so I
didn't notice earlier) there was no evidence of damage to the fins though, up
until then it had been very happy in the tank exploring and eating fine (Betta
bits+mosquito larvae).
<Sounds like he might have died of septicemia. Info here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwfshparasites.htm
>
Now to the current problem, one of my other dwarf gouramis has hole in the head,
the LFS had given me tablets to treat the previous bloat problem and they said
this is also for HITH, I can't remember their name but they were large white
tablets, sorry I'm sure that doesn't help much.
<Unfortunately, I don’t know what the tablets would be. Possibly Maracyn
but there are others that look similar. And without knowing what they are I
can’t tell you much about their use.>
I put 15L water from the tank into a bucket with some plants and a heater I
worked out the tablet dosage as 1 per 25L as they had told me to put 10 in my
240L tank for the bloat so I put 1/2 a tablet dissolved in the bucket and left
the fish in their overnight by morning it was swimming erratically and blowing
bubbles at the surface, I immediately moved it to the old tank and it is almost
back to normal now. Does it look like I could have overdosed the fish? The
dosage for the bloat in the 240L (55gal) was 10 tablets every day for 3 days
than a 50% water change.
<You said you put in plants and a heater but did you put in an airstone or
pump or anything? If not, this is probably what was making the fish go crazy
instead of the medication.>
What is happening to my fish? My LFS has no idea they say HITH and bloat are
often caused by stress but with few fish, many plants and excellent water
conditions I doubt it. The gouramis do occasionally chase each other but not
excessively. The fish are neither fat nor thin so I must be feeding the right
amount of food.
<Most diseases can be brought on by stress but that’s not always the cause.
And even just the introduction of a new fish can cause stress. Imagine you live
alone in a 4 bedroom house. Someone you don’t know moves into the house with
you. You still have plenty of room, the air is still good, you have plenty to
eat, but you’re still nervous right? It’s the same thing for your fish. So
this could have been triggered by stress even though their conditions are
excellent.>
Could there be any other problems with my water? I use 1/2 rainwater, (very
alkaline) and 1/2 bore water (very acidic). Are there any other tests I could
carry out?
<This should be fine as long as you are acclimating all of the fish to it
slowly.>
The only thing I know I have done wrong is not having a quarantine tank so I
went out and bought one yesterday and I will not introduce any more fish without
quarantining them first.
<Good. I would isolate the guy with the HITH and medicate him in that tank.
Don’t put him back in your main tank until you know he’s completely well
again.>
Sorry for the long e-mail but I'm at my wits end I have told this story to 3
different LFS and none of them have a clue what is happening. Thanks Emma
<Well, I hope I was of some help! Ronni>
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