Swordtails: Health\Disease 7/23/2009
Hello,
<Hi>
My male red wag swordtail seems to be pooping red, and none of my other fish have been doing this ether.
<Provided the fish appears to be in good health, and in the absence of any other symptoms or water quality issues, I wouldn't worry too much. White, stringy feces is a sign of ill health.>
Thank you
<MikeV>

Xiphophorus hlth.  1/15/08
Hello, I really need help.
<Oh...?>
I have two swordtails in a ten gallon tank and I just got them.
<Too small! Too small! Swordtails are BIG, ACTIVE fish that need a "long" 20 gallon tank, minimum. In small tanks they tend to jump out, become aggressive, eat their babies, and frankly don't do well.>
I just set up a new aquarium and I waited 4 days before putting the swordtails in.
<The "waiting" was a nice thought, but didn't do anything. Tanks are cycled only when there's a source of ammonia for the filter bacteria to eat. That can be a few hardy fish, or it can be a few dribbles of ammonia from a bottle. Either way, that's what matures the tank. So adding live fish into an immature tank (what you did here) exposes the fish to ammonia and nitrite while the filter grows into being. The whole process takes about 6 weeks, during which time you need to measure the nitrite levels in the tank, and be prepared to do water changes as often as every day. OTHERWISE, the fish will sicken and die!>
At first they were fine. However, on the ninth day, my swordtails started to look very sick.
<I bet. How many water changes? How many water quality tests?>
They have very cloudy skin and they look like they have "worms" hanging from their body. The "worms" are white as well as some of the skin.
<Likely Fungus and/or Finrot. Treat quickly unless you want the fish to die. There are medications that treat both at once, such as Maracyn (in the US) and eSHa 2000 (in Europe). Use them! Don't use herbal stuff like Melafix/Pimafix; they're just not all that effective.>
Sorry I don't have a picture, my camera broke. What disease is this? I treated it with Mardel CopperSafe. Here is a picture of it. http://www.virbacpets.com/modules/getimage.php?prodID=190&size=235.
<Not what you need here. Coppersafe is for treating Ick/Whitespot.>
I have not tried salt yet but I will be doing this soon.
<Salt isn't a cure-all, and shouldn't be treated as such, regardless of what the guy in the store says (mostly, he wants to sell you very expensive boxes of what is basically cooking salt).>
Is it safe to use this medication with salt?
<Possibly, but I wouldn't bother.>
I have also raised the temperature up to about 80 degrees. Is there anything I am missing?
<Yes: you haven't tested the water quality, have you? I bet you'd find the nitrite levels are VERY HIGH. You have a problem here because the ammonia/nitrite in the water will be killing the fish every bit as effectively as the Finrot/Fungus. So, you need to do three things. First stop feeding the fish. No food. At all. None. Nada. Secondly, do a big water change, 50% at least. Then add the medication as instructed. This may require several doses across 2 days or more. When the course is finished, you do the third thing: 25-50% water changes EVERY DAY until your nitrite test kit registers zero nitrite in the water. When that happens, slap yourself on the back and say well done, because you tank will not be mature. You can then SLOWLY add more fish, one or two every week or so.>
Please help. I don't want my two swordtails to die. Thank you bob and crew.
<Cheers, Neale.>

Mollies & Velvet Swordtails - please help... hlth.    1/9/08
Hello,
<Hail!>
First time I'm submitting a question. I chose your site, because you seem to consistently have well-rounded information. I wish I'd discovered your site sooner. I have quite an emergency that I sincerely hope you can help with.
The following is quite long, but I noticed postings on your site that are challenging to respond to, or time is wasted with you having to extract more details, so I hope the following does the trick. This is chronological, with the recent emergency towards the end.
<OK.>
I've appreciated aquariums for years, had my own system a few years ago and have recently taken up the hobby again. I've spent literally hours researching online, in three different LPS (local pet shop) and a few 'beginner' books.
<All good.>
I wish I found your site when I was researching which fish to buy. Despite combing through the mountains of research, I'm not sure I have the ideal combination.
<Oh?>
I also have an entirely new appreciation for your site's consistent advice on keeping mollies in marine/brackish water.
<Indeed. While you *can* keep Mollies in freshwater, the simple fact is they are much easier to keep in brackish water. This needn't be very saline: SG 1.003 is a good start, and well within the tolerances of most other livebearers.>
Knowing all of this now, I'm still hoping for your advice. I apologize this the following may be lengthy, but I sincerely hope it yields some accurate direction so I may help my fishies and become a better aquarist. I originally purchased my setup from a hobbyist who was moving, so he generously provided me with aquarium-safe decor and tips to start. Here goes:
Description of equipment being used:
30 gallon tank
heater (temp. maintained between 76 - 79 degrees F)
hood filter (uses a combination blue 'floss' and carbon filter)
<Lose the carbon, and replace with some type of biological media. Carbon was useful back in the old says when people didn't like doing water changes, imagining "old" water was better. Carbon removed dissolved organic compounds, stopping old water turning yellow. In a modern system where we do 25-50% water changes per week, carbon doesn't do anything useful. Indeed, it can be unhelpful, because it removes medication.>
under gravel filter: one 'tube' is powered by external pump. This 'tube' has an airstone and carbon filter. The other tube has a separate in-water pump a 'bubble wall stick' (incidentally - fish seem to really like 'playing/riding' the bubble wall)
<Many fish come from flowing rather than still water, and bubbles provide water movement, and the fish like that.>
hood light (recently replaced with new 20 watt) - turned on daily by a timer from 8:00 am - midnight
<Quite a lot of light; the fish won't care, but if you try growing live plants, you'll need to change that to 12 hours on, 12 hours off.>
Average water change: 3x/week, 2.5 gallons each time with vacuuming. Use Aquaclear water conditioner. Also regulate pH with Jungle brand aquarium salt (inherited with initial tank purchase - your site advises marine salt - would love more information regarding this)
<Tonic salt is plain vanilla sodium chloride; marine salt is a more complex blend of salts that not only raises salinity but also dramatically improves carbonate hardness. All livebearers like carbonate hardness, so this makes a big difference. If your water has less than 7 degrees KH (as opposed to general hardness, the dH scale) you should do something to raise carbonate hardness. Adding marine salt is one way that works effectively with salt-tolerant livebearers, i.e., Guppies and Mollies. For non-brackish water species, i.e., Platies and Swordtails, you're better off using a Malawi Salt mix. You can make you own from cheap ingredients like Epsom salt, Baking soda and cooking salt, or buy it ready made from an aquarium store.>
Oct. 20 tank cleaned and setup. Aside from gravel, decor (rocks, castle, bridge, artificial plants), only things placed that were living were 2 plants: Anubias nana (that I wired to live driftwood which I soaked and boiled first to reduce water colouration) and an Echinodorus bleheri.
<Boiling driftwood has minimal long term effect: it will still make the water brown. It will also acidify the water, so check you have sufficient carbonate hardness to steady the pH at 7.5 or so.>
Oct. 23 with the 'thumbs up' from LPS, added 3 velvet swords (1 male, 2 females) and 3 all-black mollies (1 male, 2 females). Carefully monitored water quality with ammonia, nitrite and pH test kits. Monitored behaviours, as was paranoid of that ever-delicate initial cycling phase. Other than swapping a few fish based on bullying, struck a balance and fish swam a lot, ate well...cautiously optimistic conditions
<Good.>
Diet: 2 varieties of frozen bloodworms (one containing vegetables) and dried: Nutrafin Basix Staple Food
<When the basic flake has finished, buy vegetarian flake instead. Often called Spirulina flake or Livebearer flake. Far better for these fish.>
Have since maintained the following water test results:
ammonia: "ideal" "0" or "safe" "0.25" reading (Jungle quick dip test strips)
<Hmm... no such thing as "safe" amounts of Ammonia other than ZERO! If you detect any, you have the potential for problem.>
pH: 7.5 or 8 (TetraTest) nitrite: since beginning of November, consistently 'clear' water readouts (presumably below the lowest readout of 0.1) (Hagen)
<You're aiming for ZERO.>
Have also taken samples to LPS about 1/month (Oct, Nov, Dec) to ensure home testing is accurate, which they've confirmed.
<Good.>
Enjoying discovering the 'personalities' for the two fish types: mollies are fearless, swimming in between my fingers during feedings and always curious when you visit the tank. Velvet swords like to swim and play, but are a little more people shy
<Agreed.>
Nov 15 spied 3 snails - learned they hitchhiked from the plants. LPS thinks their apple snails.
<Which are fine enough animals. But Apple Snails rarely become "strays" on plants or whatever. They just don't breed quickly enough. More likely Physa spp., which are round but a bit elongated, so they are about the same size and shape as a Rice Crispy puff. Apple Snails are round and almost spherical, and have distinctly long "feelers" (antennae) at the front that they wave about. Physa snails have very short feelers, barely triangular buds.>
Once I learned that they help clean the tank, became more fascinated with and now enjoy them. (note: they are breading a lot. At any given time, I can see 10...which I'm guessing means there are more).
<Sounding more and more like Physa! In small numbers, harmless, but can damage plants when excessively numerous.>
Noticed ~4 velvet sword babies and ~4 black molly babies. They hung around the plants and castle but within ~ 7-10 days had all 'disappeared' (didn't see if they were gobbled or otherwise expired).
<Likely eaten. Floating plants are helpful, but for the first few weeks it's a good idea to confine baby fish to a breeding net, or better still, another aquarium.>
First sign of a problem:
~ Nov 22 - noticed a very small white dot that wasn't flush with the skin (sometimes had a water bubble on it) on the mouth of the male velvet sword.
Wasn't sure if it was a small injury. In a day or two, noticed a tiny bit more white (cottony?) on his mouth. On advice of LPS, added salt and monitored to ensure water didn't get higher than 8 pH. Slowly increased water temp. to 79-80 for about 2 weeks. 'Spot' seemed to reduce back to original, smaller dot, but never went away. Behaviour was unchanged.
Increased water conditioner by a capful in hopes of protecting healthy fish and monitored.
<Does sound like "Mouth Fungus" but could equally easily be Finrot or Fungus. Treat with anti-Fungus/Finrot medication (but not Melafix/Pimafix, these aren't reliable).>
Female black molly preferring to hang around the heater or near the submersed pump (in the top corner of the aquarium). Otherwise, eating well, swimming normally. Watching to see if she's not feeling well or if perhaps she's pregnant. Since the mollies are peculiar and there aren't any other signs on her, wondering if this is just a weird preference.
<One of the problems with Mollies to look for is "the Shimmies", a neurological disorder. Characterised by odd swimming behaviour, as if the fish were treading water or rocking from side to side.>
Dec 16 watched molly birth - WOW!!!! ~6 alive, ~ 6 still born. What a fascinating experience!!!!
<Indeed.>
Dec. 17 noticed velvet swords were hiding behind the castle more than usual (came out for feedings) - turns out they, too had babies Dec. 22 baby count: 5 velvet swordtails, 4 mollies.
Find this amazing, but truly don't wish to breed. Am putting the word out for takers, as I'd love to give the fishies to a good home (except for maybe one or two). Q: if I wanted another female black molly to keep the male entertained (so my females don't get stressed with his 'courtship persistence') would I need to be concerned about in-breeding if I raise one of the babies?
<Inbreeding is a problem with Livebearers, and a reason why so many livebearer broods containing fry with deformities, conjoined twins, belly-sliders, etc. Best to keep the parents but export the fry. Stores will often buy excess fry once a reasonable size, at least 2.5 cm/1" long.>
Also, any advice on a healthy way to control births??
<Not really. Predation usually removes the fry quite quickly though, so unlikely to get mountains of babies.>
Christmas season: due to vacation, given only dried food through an auto feeder. Besides the Nutrafin Basix Staple Food, added TetraColor Tropical Granules. Ground up both varieties in blender so there was a variety of sizes for babies and adults in my absence.
<Good.>
Returned Fri. Jan. 4
Tank didn't go longer than 1 week without a 2.5 gallon water change (and right before that change, wanting to ensure there weren't any spikes during my absence, performed 3 water tests - same as indicated earlier - and all levels were the same as written earlier).
<Should be doing bigger water changes. Not less than 25% per week, and ideally 50%. No aspect of fish care has as big an impact on their health than this.>
Was REALLY concerned to see my molly with a whitish/greyish colouration on her bottom half. This is almost like a 'coat' from her tail to halfway up her body. Although she's swimming normally and eating, she's obviously fighting something. I call the LPS and immediately pick up Pimafix. Carbon filter on undergravel filter is removed, but there's still carbon in the combination floss/carbon filter of the hood filtration. I mention this to LPS, but they didn't think that amount of carbon would matter. They think the male velvet sword has cotton mouth and the molly likely has the same.
<Pimafix is overrated and largely a waste of time. Kick into gear and use something industrial strength!>
I was hoping to introduce an algae eater to the tank. LMS thinks it should be ok and I proceed (in hindsight - would have held off)
<Forget it. Few algae eaters in the hobby tolerate brackish water. Neither do algae eaters actually remove much algae. The more fish => more nitrate and phosphate in the water => the happier the algae. Best to remove algae by hand from the front of the tank and let it grow everywhere else. Livebearers eat algae, so they'd prefer a tank that was knee-deep in the stuff; removing algae is more about the aquarist than the fish. So I say, keep the front of the glass clean and otherwise let the algae be. If you really want some algae removers for brackish water, then Nerite snails and Florida Flagfish are good choices.>
BTW - noticed very small clear eggs on the glass, which molly ate - any idea who's eggs these are?
<Snail, likely Physa spp. if they looked like jelly blobs.>
Constantly monitoring and increasingly concerned about my sick molly.
Research online, as I'm paranoid that I'm not treating for the right disease (do the red velvet male and the female molly have the same affliction, even though their symptoms are different?). Also call LPS to ensure tmt course.
<Likely different, but possibly the same. In both cases, brought on by poor water quality (the ammonia and nitrite) and in the case of the Molly exacerbated by the lack of salinity.>
Sat. Jan. 5: 2.5 gallon water change
Sun. Jan 6: 2 more black molly babies
Tues. Jan. 7: 2.5 gallon water change. white sick dots/ 'coat' on molly has increased to 2/3rds of her body (starting from tail). Also notice a few tiny dots on other female molly's back and side. This is NOT good! I do more online research and call the LPS - wise advice to rip open the hood filter and dump out the carbon (then I return the filter with floss-only to ensure good bacteria wasn't removed from the aquarium). Previous medicine might not have even had a chance to work(!)
<Indeed.>
By evening, sickest molly is preferring to hang out at the bottom of the tank. She changes location occasionally. I'm really, really worried and wholeheartedly hope you can help me help her (and my other fishies). I'm so stressed that I have some awful illness attacking my fish! Please, please help.
<Start by dipping this molly once or twice a day in full strength seawater for 2-20 minutes (as long as she can stand without rolling over). Treat aquarium using a combination Finrot/Fungus medication such as Maracyn or eSHa 2000. Add marine salt mix to the aquarium at not less than 6 grammes per litre (SG 1.003) and ideally 9 grammes per litre (SG 1.005). Raise the salinity over the course of the week. The Algae Eater (presumably Gyrinocheilus aymonieri) cannot tolerate brackish water and will need to be removed. It's a HORRIBLE fish anyway, so no loss. Any store selling them is exploiting the ignorance of their customers actually. Gyrinocheilus aymonieri gets big and is EXTREMELY aggressive, and once over half-size, stops eating algae almost entirely. If the fish is a Plec catfish (usually Pterygoplichthys spp.) then this will tolerate SG 1.003 fine, but cannot be kept in a 30 gallon tank, so will need to be rehomed long before it reaches its adult size of 45 cm/18".>
Newest recruit (the algae eater) remains in the castle. I can usually see him a few times/day. I was told to let him eat the algae first, then consider giving an occasional food puck. Hope this is correct?
<More or less.>
Baby count: 5 velvet swords and 2 black mollies from the original batch and 2 black mollies from a few days ago
Snails - likely too many to count - at least 10.
If there is any vital information that I've missed, please let me know and I'll respond asap. I sincerely hope you're able to process all of the above and deliver timely advice.
<Done my best.>
So appreciated,
Wendy in Winnipeg
(I'm assuming my email address will not be visible if you post this on your
website. Please ensure this is true).
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Mollies & Velvet Swordtails - please help 1/9/08
Hi Neale,
THANK YOU!!!!
<You're welcome.>
I so appreciate your quick and detailed responses. If I may please trouble you for more bits of information, as I'm SO worried about my molly I'd be even more grateful. She's now at the bottom and barely moving and I'm desperate to help her if it's even still possible.
<Ok.>
Within the hour when the stores open I'm running to get the Malawi salt mix (or as close to as they sell) and the Maracyn. I've obviously never done a treatment bath. Do I use half aquarium water and half fresh?
<Nope. Put one litre of water from the tank into a plastic tub (an old ice cream carton is idea). Stir in 35 grammes of plain cooking salt. Stir well, and when fully dissolved (may take several minutes) dip the fish by netting the fish and dunking it into the saltwater bath. Watch the fish carefully. The first couple minutes should be fine, but as time passes, you may notice the fish lose its balance. If it rolls over, remove at once, and return to the aquarium (I like to float them in the net first, and release after a couple minutes). The object of the exercise is to use the salt water to completely dehydrate the bacteria/fungi, while not fully dehydrating the fish.>
If I use my 2.5 gallon pail, how much salt to I add?
<Don't bother. Use what I describe above; smaller and easier to control.>
She's really not looking good and I fear it's too late, but I need to try this.
<Yes you do!>
I've included additional info and questions below, as I really appreciate your advice and want to avoid making further mistakes. To assist you in sifting through all of the info, I've preceded my questions with "Q" within the copy below...
(THANKS, Neale!!!!! Sincerely!!!!)
<Cheers, Neale.>
Q (this one may seem silly - please have patience as I'm eager to learn and do this right) how do I measure SG? Is this a separate test kit?
<Not a test kit, but a device. A floating hydrometer can be used. This is a glass, thermometer-like thing you float in a sample of water. I use a pickle jar for this, as it's deep enough to let the hydrometer bob up and down safely. Anyway, a basic floating glass hydrometer will cost about $5 and lasts a lifetime. There are more fancy ones at higher price points that are a bit easier to use, as well as refractometers, which are most expensive and in theory at least more accurate. For brackish, "guesstimating" by weighing the salt, and then checking with a floating glass hydrometer is fine.>
COMMENT: hah! Thanks for your frankness - will do!
<We are purveyors of fine frankness here at WWM.>
Q: will do! Thought I could help promote algae growth for my mollies with more light. Plants are growing, but do get occasional brown spots. On leaves that this grows, I pinch off at the stem base (has only happened with the Echinodorus bleheri).
<Plants want a certain intensity of light, and extending the length of illumination WILL NOT compensate. Think of it this way -- to get photosynthesising adequately, a certain "pressure" of light is required to "force" the molecules along the system. If the intensity of light is too low, it doesn't matter how long you leave that pressure going, it'll never start the chain of molecular processes. While Anubias will do well at a mere 1.5 Watts per gallon, Echinodorus will not, and needs at least 2 Watts per gallon. If your system doesn't provide that, your Echinodorus will slowly die. May take months, but die it will...>
NEW TEST INFORMATION:
In my 'inherited' aquarium equipment that I bought used, I discovered a Carbonate and General Hardness test (Hagen). I performed this for the first time this morning with the following results:
GH: after adding the initial drop of GH, it took only 2 other drops to turn the water sample from pink to blue. Multiplying this number by 20 provides me with a GH of 40 (very soft according to the kit info)
<Not good for Livebearers. You're aiming for "moderately hard" (minimum) for Platies/Swordtails, and "very hard" for Mollies.>
Carbonate Hardness (KH): after adding the initial drop, which turned the water blue as per the instructions, it took 3 additional drops to achieve the yellow colouration. Multiplying this by 10 as per the instructions results in 30 ppm. Q: the results evaluation starts at 105-125 mg/L...so I'm not sure how to assess these results. Any help/advice?
<Do see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwh2oquality.htm
One degree on the KH scale is 17.9 mg/l calcium carbonate, so in your sample you have something like 1.5 or so degrees KH -- a very low amount. You live in a "soft water" area, apparently. Low KH is problematical for all sorts of reasons, and is best avoided for general freshwater fishkeeping.>
COMMENT: please see if "NEW TEST INFO" above is sufficient
<Low KH means your water has minimal ability to buffer pH changes. Aim for raising the KH to
COMMENT: will do - thanks!
<Good.>
Q: haven't noticed this, but will keep an eye out. They are so playful, I don't want to jump to conclusions but will be mindful of this behavior. Is there any cure /treatment if I do detect "the Shimmies"?
<No, no cure as such other than moving afflicted fish to better environmental conditions.>
Q: if I wanted another female black molly to keep the male entertained (so my females don't get stressed with his 'courtship persistence') would I need to be concerned about in-breeding if I raise one of the babies?
<Realistically, no, since you're not out to breed your fish, just have fun. But over the long term, it's a good idea to swap out offspring for new livestock periodically, just to keep the gene pool fresh.>
Q: any natural predator suggestions that will go with my mix? BTW I LOVE my mollies and am willing to give away my velvet swordtails to achieve a harmonious environment with ideal conditions. Am entirely open to opinions and advice here.
<If you can find Wrestling Halfbeaks in your neighbourhood, they are VERY good at eating livebearer fry, and are just the right size to do well with adult livebearers of all types. They tolerate salt well. Glassfish are another option. Small gobies would work very well, even Bumblebee gobies are astonishingly good at eating baby fish. Larger sleeper gobies, like the "Crazy Fish" Butis butis will eat fry of all sizes. Orange Chromides are nicely coloured and basically easy fish, and they will also eat fry. Really, pretty much anything big enough to eat fry *will* eat fry.>
Q: Happy to! Thought I was being diligent! How many gallons do you suggest changing a week? Was I mistaken that 7.5 gallons (2.5 three times a week) is ideal? Not looking for any shortcuts here - all part of the hobby!
<It's a 30 gallon tank, right? Do change at least 25% per week, and 50% per week is the ideal, especially if you find nitrate levels go up and pH is unstable. Doesn't really matter how you slice the water changes... once a week, twice, whatever. I'm lazy, so do a big water change on a Sunday.>
COMMENT - hah! Caught the LPS again, didn't you? Thanks for the advice. I will return the algae eater.
<Probably wise. You REALLY don't need an algae-eater.>
BTW - noticed very small clear eggs on the glass, which molly ate - any idea who's eggs these are?
<Snail, likely Physa spp. if they looked like jelly blobs.>
COMMENT: that's EXACTLY the description! Funny that you can nail the snail type with only descriptions and knowledge, yet the LPS didn't even know what was in their own tank (ugh!)
<Only because I have these little snails in my pond and tanks. They're harmless enough, and probably won't last long in brackish water anyway. Scrape the eggs off when you see them, and squish excess snails if you want. They won't harm Anubias, so are good with those plants.>
After all of this, I have to say I'm very disappointed in the LPSs that I've put my trust into. My only goal is to provide a healthy aquarium  environment. When I took my water in to get tested by them, why didn't they advise me on hardness? Why let me buy an algae-eater? I'm an entrepreneur so I appreciate sales, but I always operate in a trusting manner, where the advice is ideal for the customer. Ugh! Is a $15 algae-eater worth losing a lifetime of purchases and trust in the LFS? Hard to understand.
< It's a bit more complex than this. Sometimes it's mere ignorance. The guys in the LFS may be expert on one type of fish, say, African cichlids, but less expert on others, such as livebearers. Some fish are simply so unusual that the LFS guys (unless they read a lot) will be as in the dark as their customers. LFS also have to make a profit, so they tend towards selling fish that leave their tanks quickly. As much as I might rail against Mollies and Goldfish and Common Plecs and Algae-eaters and Dwarf Gouramis as being poor choices for the average aquarium, the simple fact is people keep buying them. A store that only sold small, hardy fish could well go out of business!>
Please wish me luck!
Wendy
<Wishing you luck, Neale.>

All male swordtails in community tank   12/11/07
Hello,
<Hello Aileen,>
I have a mixed community 110g tank......
Boesemann's Rainbows
Dwarf Neon Rainbows
Yoyo loaches
Bristlenose Pleco
Diamond tetras
Some swordtails and a few platys
Yes, this is a Neale guided community from my past inquiries.
<Hah!>
This is a two part question.
<Fire away...>
I have lost some females recently. All very pregnant or swollen with eggs. The last to go was a diamond tetra. I think what is happening is the respective female begins to give birth or spawn as the case may be, and in the feeding frenzy the follows that said female is getting injured. I am almost certain this is what I witnessed the other night and I think it was a Boesemann's rainbow that dealt the fatal blow.
<Very odd. Never, ever heard of this. Fish don't normally swell up with eggs outside of being given breeding stimuli. They don't have a menstrual cycle comparable to that of humans, for example. Almost always swelling is more to do with other factors, such as diet (constipation) or health (oedema). The addition of salt can sometimes cause bloating in fish not adapted to saline conditions (problems with osmoregulation, such as 'Malawi Bloat').>
I have watched the tank for several hours and otherwise have witnessed no aggression. Though initially I was tempted to pin the blame on the yo-yos there really does not seem to be an issue with them. Does this sound feasible to you?
<I can't rule it out, but I have to honestly say I've never heard of anything comparable to this. While it is true community fish will eat eggs and fry given the chance, fish generally don't relate this to "pregnancy" or being ripe with eggs. I have Corydoras that spawn every week in my community tank, and within hours the eggs are all gone thanks to the Pufferfish in particular eating them up. But there's no sign the Puffers know what is happening and follow the catfish about. There are predatory fish that, for example, ram mouthbrooding fish to get them to spit out their babies, but as far as I know there aren't any fish that recognise the signs of ripeness/pregnancy.>
I have planned on more swordtails but in light of the recent deaths have considered an alternative stocking plan. I was considering removing all the female swords and platys and stocking the main tank with just males of these fish. Is this a good plan?
<Many people keep livebearers this way. Male Swordtails can be (often are) exceptionally aggressive though, and wouldn't be my choice for this.>
As always
A grateful and loyal reader
Aileen
<Cheers, Neale.>

Re: all male swordtails in community tank   12/11/07
O.K. Neale,
<Aileen,>
I will plan on stocking according to the 2/1 ratio. My thinking was the lack of females would prevent their disappearance and calm the males, but I guess this is not so for all species.
<In the wild male Swordtails fight to monopolise access to females. So in a given patch of water (easily larger than the average aquarium!) there will be one dominant male, multiple females, and dead/scared males lower down the pecking order.>
Perhaps I am wrong and it is merely coincidence. I did see a flurry of activity around the tetra and I did see her take a hit and then behave "out of sorts" and the next morning she was gone. I did not see the same for the female platy and large female swordtail that disappeared without a trace, though the fact that they were consumed by their tankmates means nothing. I just know they were gone and I noticed nothing peculiar about their behaviour prior to this.
<Can't comment on this really... Robert or others here may know more. But I've yet to see anything comparable to this.>
There is no salt in the water other then those naturally occurring and I do now use conditioner with all water changes.
<Very good.>
Perhaps it is simply a matter of where there is life there is death and one cannot always determine the cause. Everybody seems healthy and active this morning......and they are all accounted for.
<Indeed so. The lifespan of things like Swordtails should be around 3-5 years in captivity, and about the same for most small tetras.>
I will investigate the other issues you mentioned
<Good.>
Thanks Neale
Aileen
<Cheers, Neale.>

Swordtail die-off; not seeing on FAQ   12/9/07
Hi Crew,
<Greetings,>
I tried doing research and couldn't find my problem specifically. Your advice was spot on when I was having some trouble with ich back in the early days of my aquarium and problem was solved (without losing any fish I'll add), so I turn to you again if you have the time. I'll let you know up front that I'm diligent with maintenance and change water about every 2 weeks (25% in the 37 gallon and 50% in the 10 gallon) on average, have well planted tanks, and keep a pretty close eye on them.
<All sounds good.>
I have a 37 gallon corner tank, and a 10 gallon tank (both freshwater) that have been trouble free and thriving for about 1.5 years now. In the 37 gallon I have 3 angels, 4 Corys, and about 4 swords. Both are well planted tanks - the big one has thriving sword plants that need trimmed on occasion; the small one java fern is dominant (non intentional) and needs to be thinned, and it wasn't the original plant but it's taken over.
<Java fern does indeed do this when happy! You have to be ruthless, but sharing Java ferns is never hard, as it's the perfect plant for just about every freshwater and brackish water aquarium.>
The swordtail populations have fluctuated over time - the 10 gallon tank was originally set up to be a hospital tank for stocking the big one, but the angels have been successful in the big tank, and over time the 10 gallon became a "nursery tank" for the swords that bred in the big one. At most, the 10 gallon tank has had about 7 juvenile swords and one neon tetra, that is a leftover from a school I had when I first started (that single tetra is now quite big and doing great). Long story short, everything went great for a good year plus - swords got pregnant now and then, I kept some, angels got most, but nice balance - put a small few in the 10 gal. tank to keep the line alive. Biggest concentration I had in the 10 gallon was about 7 swords over this year; but now all of sudden, my swords are dying off quickly.
<Odd. Can we assume these are not all the first generation of fish becoming "life expired"?>
The symptoms of the sickly swordtails is that they just seem to wither away - their bodies, especially near the tail, get super thin, and they start sitting near the bottom. There are no visible blemishes or growths, they just get real skinny towards their posterior side, and start looking like heads with paper thin tails attached. (Almost like they're starving, but I try to feed at least once a day in small amounts as I always have, and these sickly fish do seem to be eager to feed.)
<Very odd.>
As far as diseases go, I'm puzzled because I literally have not added any stock to any of these tanks in over a year. I've checked water parameters and conditions and they are all normal as they've always been (no ammonia or nitrites, and nitrates are well under safe levels- 10ppm). The only thing I could think is that the luck of the draw is that almost all the swords in the small tank turned out to be males in the last round and maybe it was a result of fighting due to gender imbalance. I don't buy that though - these fish lived for months with mostly males at a juvenile size with no problems until the last month or two.
<Hmm... sounds like some sort of 'wasting disease'. Can be caused by a variety of factors, some genetic, some pathogenic, some environmental. Difficult to cure. Generally the best approach is to isolate or painlessly destroy infected fish to prevent potential infection of other fish.>
What scares me is that I noticed one full grown sword in the big tank is MIA, and one small one (that's been in there healthily for months) now has these wasting symptoms, yet I don't share equipment across tanks.
<Presumably genetic and/or environmental issues are at the root cause.>
That would lead me to think it's a water problem, but you'd think the angels would be the canary in the coal mine so to speak and they seem fine.
<Oddly perhaps, not all fish have equal susceptibility to diseases. Cichlids for example are more prone to Hole-in-the-Head, loaches to Ick, gouramis to viral infections, perciform fish to Lymphocystis, and so on... In the case of livebearers, wasting diseases do tends to be more common. But regardless, if genetics are at work, then you wouldn't expect the Angels to get the disease.>
I don't want to make this too long so I'm wondering if you have any ideas about this condition or what might be going on. I'll be glad to provide more details if what I describe isn't common/obvious.
<Do review the water chemistry: Swordtails obviously prefer hard, alkaline water conditions, and in soft water while Angels and Corydoras will thrive; Swords will not. Anything less than pH 7.5 and ~15 degrees dH is below optimal and will aggravate any latent or genetic sensitivities these fish have. If the problem is genetic, bringing in some "new blood" will make a world of difference. Destroy the sick fish, and then trade some of the healthy fish for some new fish bought elsewhere.>
Thanks,
Jason
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Swordtail bubbly tail   12/2/07
Hello,
<Hello Lauren,>
First I wanted to thank you for a previous question you answered, and now I have a new one for you. I have a 10 gallon tank of 4 swordtail, all born from another female I have. They're about 4 months old now and have been healthy all along. I noticed a short time ago though that 3 seemed to have bumps, bubble looking at the ends of their body, right where the tail begins, mostly right on the ventral side just nearest the tail. I thought it was a trick of the light at first, because the bumps are the same color as the fish (black) and when they were small they looked potentially natural. They are now obviously not natural. They are not interfering with the fish at all, but on the one the bumps have grown so much that they are stretching the skin to the point of translucency at one point. This does give it a whitish area in the one spot, but every where else is black. Nothing obvious hanging off. Gills, fins, scales look fine.
<Hmm... some sort of fungal or Finrot infection perhaps. Difficult to say without a photo. Not normal, certainly.>
I try to change 10-15% of water at least once a week (water is from the kitchen sink and comes through a Brita filter - don't if this is helpful or not) and do frequent filter changes.
<Pointless. What you need are bigger water changes for a start. 50% per week would be my recommendation in such a small tank. Add new water taken from the tank and treated with a good quality dechlorinator.>
The tank is getting heavy in algae, outgrowing their grazing habits, so I was considering adding a snail to help them out at some point, but I'd like to get this cleared up first.
<The algae is fine. Livebearers love the stuff (assuming not blue-green algae, which they won't eat). Adding a snail is one more thing to worry about, and won't have much impact. And, when you add Finrot/fungus infection (which you need to do) the snail will die.>
Levels are:
GH = 30
KH = 40
pH = 6.5
NO2 = 0-0.5
NO3 = 0-20
<Nitrites way too high. That's your problem right there. The tank is either overstocked/underfiltered/overfed. Or all three.>
I would really love any help you could give me.
Thanks!
Lauren
<Hope this helps, Neale.>

Re: Swordtail bubbly tail 12/9/07
Hey Neale,
<Lauren,>
Thanks for the helpful comments on my bubbly-tailed fish. I wasn't able to get a picture (stupid camera) but I did photo shop a picture so you'd at least know the region I was talking about. Two of the three bumpy fish are now bump free and the third (the worst of the group) has at least not gained any more in number or size.
<If it was attached to this missive, a photograph of said fish didn't come through!>
I'm trying to step up the number of water changings, and I've done a water check and found nitrites at zero, so yeah!
<Good-oh.>
Now I've got a new concern. All four have begun to go to the surface together and kiss/gulp air, shortly after the light comes on in the morning and at night before the light goes out and for some time after.
<Does sound either a temperature issue (too warm) or an aeration issue (not enough). Cool the tank down slightly, by reducing the thermostat on the heater to, say, 24C/75F. Adjust the filter if you can to improve circulation. Could also be a water quality issue. If the nitrites are zero, do also check the ammonia if you can. Alternatively, replace 50% of the water and see what happens. If they seem happy and normal, but then become odd a few hours later, then it is entirely possible water quality is at work.>
I have cut down on their food a bit, and so they've stopped being lazy and waiting for the filter to push it down to them and have figured out to go to the top for it. Could this have turned into a behavioral thing?
<Not really very likely.>
It does seem to be around the times they eat, but it occurs infrequently at other times.
<Ah, the plot thinnens... when you feed fish, ammonia/nitrite go up, and a few hours later go down again. Do check your filter, and make sure your tank isn't overfed/overstocked/under-filtered.>
In testing my water, I also found that my pH is now at 6.0 from 6.5. How concerned should I be? Could this cause this behavior?
<Quite possibly. Another clue maybe: ammonia raises the pH.>
Thanks for all your help!
- Lauren
<Hope this helps, Neale.>
 

Swordtail Fry with Ich. HELP!!!  9/3/07
Hi,
recently i purchased a trio of Swordtails from Petco (bad idea i know... but they were on sale for a buck each, i couldn't resist!) anyway i put them into a 10 gallon QT, after the second day the females started showing signs of Ich, i dosed the QT with an herbal anti-ich medication
<These don't work...>
i have had success with in the past, and performed 50% water changes every other day for 4 days. after the 5th day of treatment i noticed a few little orange specs hiding around the heater, it seems one of the females had given me about a half dozen babies. i immediately added some java moss from the display tank to the QT for the babies to hide in, and after two more days the parents were showing no more signs of ich, so i moved them to the display tank, i didn't want the babies to become snacks after all... anyway the fry seemed to get all the food they needed out of the java moss for the first few days, after which they started taking Hikari micro pellets, they have been eating well and growing fast for about 10 days now, but two days ago i noticed some signs of Ich of three of them, two had just one spot each, but one (the smallest, and the one with the least color) has at least 6 spots, i stopped adding the ich medication in with the water changes after i removed the parents. i have been slowly bumping the temperature up for the last 3 days, it is at 84 now,
<Good technique>
and the fry all seem to be hanging out within a few inches of the heater, although the increased heat doesn't seem to have done anything except stop the ich from spreading further. are the fry too young to put in water dosed with ich medication?
<Mmm, depends on the make-up of such... I would use only half doses of anything with metal or Malachite Green content... and raise the temp. up to 86 F>
what can i do to make sure i don't lose my babies???
Thanks.
~Bryan
<And you have read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwich.htm
and the linked files above? And the FAQs on Swordtail Disease?
Bob Fenner>

Swordtails, not reading... "Fix", not!   8/2/07
Hi, there!
A few weeks ago, I sent you an e-mail about my swordtails, asking for advice. My female swordtail gave birth, but I've noticed some changes in her. (She gave birth around July 20) For starters, she doesn't seem to eat. When I feed the fish, she just hangs around the water line, but never eats. She spends most of the time under the filter tube. (I have a 1-3 gallon Tetra filter, and a tube extends out into the aquarium to suck up the water.) Maybe she doesn't have enough air...?
<Doubtful... the other fishes would show the same...>
She has also lost her color, for she used to be a bright peachy color with dark chocolate fins, but now she's all pale. Her fins have also gotten thin, so thin you can see each bone individually. The thing that's the weirdest is that she has no visible sign of parasites, Ick, exc. I found this medication called MELAFIX.
<Worthless... Please... read before writing us... the search tool, indices on WWM...>
API Aquarium Pharmaceuticals
MELAFIX
ANTIBACTERIAL FISH REMEDY
All Natural botanical extract of Tea Tree
Rapidly repairs damaged fins, ulcers and open wounds.
Promotes regrowth of damaged tissue and fins.
BENEFITS: A safe, all natural way to treat bacterial fish infections. MELAFIX treats: Open red sores, fin and tail rot, eye cloud, pop eye, body slime, mouth fungus, and open body wounds.
<Is a "tea" made from Melaleuca leaves... of dubious to no use>
WHEN ADDING NEW FISH: Dose daily for three days.
Maybe I should put this in, just in case? Do you know this disease? Maybe it's just a stage after giving birth? Please give me your advice.
I thank you,
Oksana
<Please... read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/sworddisfaqs.htm
and on WWM re this "fix"... Your problem is very likely environmental... Do you have water quality test kits? How much nitrogenous material is present? Bob Fenner>

Swordtail fish, beh.    7/19/07
Hi, my name is Mélida. I just started my first 10 gallon tank. This morning I was cleaning the tank, and when I went to put my fish back in the thank the net was broken so I grab each one with my hands, but when I put the swordtail male in, he looks like and S. Is he going to die? Or his going to get better? I feel so guilty of his condition and I don’t Know what to do.
Sorry about my spelling. I’m from Panamá I don’t know how to write in English.
<Hello Mélida! When fish are alarmed they automatically bend into an S shape, and then open up again rapidly. It's called the "Mauthner Reflex" and allows them to quickly swim away from danger without "thinking" about it. It is similar to our reflex, when we pull our hand from something hot or painful. Anyway, if the S shape doesn't change, and the fish stays bent, this is more serious. It can be caused by physical damage. Fish are very "soft" and easily damaged. If your net is broken, then use a glass jar or something similar instead (in fact a glass jar is better for spiny fishes like catfish). Sometimes a fish will go into strange body positions when it is severely stressed. It may recover if left alone. So at the moment, wait and see what happens. Cheers, Neale>

Re: Swordtail fish   7/19/07
Hi Neale . Thanks for your help. My swordtail fish is doing great I'm so happy that his ok. And this morning I found a bunch of fries in the tank. (45). Gracias for your help and god bless you
<Thanks for the kind wishes, and likewise, I wish you and your new baby fishes good luck! Neale>

Re: swordtail fish... hlth.? Sys.  8/7/07
Hi Neale:
GRACIAS, for the info. I kept the fries in the same place. Know I have another question. I have a seashell in my 10g tank. and one of the angel fish (zebra) goes in there to hide for a long time. in two occasion I had to take out the shell to check if he is dead, but he comes out swimming. Should I take the shell out of the tank for good or his just hanging there. Grace, Mercy, and peace will be with you from good. Love, Mely.
<Hello Melida! If your fish likes the sea shell, leave it in there. Sea shells will raise the pH and hardness of an aquarium -- so be careful of having too many in one tank. But otherwise they are fine. Once in a while, clean the shell out because dirt can get stuck inside them. Also, I have lost a Corydoras catfish to a sea shell. It got stuck in there, and its spines prevented it from coming back out. But a danio should be fine. All the best, Neale>

Male Swordtail Mouth Disease? – 07/03/07
Hi WWM Crew,
I have an established 30 gallon tank with 3 swordtails (1 male and 2 females), a queen arabesque Pleco and a pearl Gourami. All appears well in the tank with Ammonia and Nitrite at zero and Nitrites below 10. I perform regular weekly 20-25% water changes. Recently some swordtail fry were born and to save as many as possible I put the male swordtail into a 8" by 5" breeder net as he was chasing after them while I got the fry out and to safety in a second net. He wasn't too happy in there to begin with but soon settled. I needed to move most of the décor/weeds around to get the little guys out and although I tried to minimize disruption, this must have been temporarily stressful for all the adult fish. I rescued all 4 fry that I saw and released the male swordtail a few hours after he went into the net after the mother has stopped giving birth. All fish seem fine and are eating well and the male is pursuing the females as usual but he now has a white lump on his 'lip' about one third the size of his mouth. As soon as I saw this I treated it with 'Myxazin', a broad spectrum bacterial medicine made by Waterlife, raising the temp to 80 degrees and increasing the oxygen flow. Although the lump has decreased slightly after 3 days, I am a little concerned whether I am treating the problem correctly. I assume the stress caused when collecting the fry may have brought on this problem
<Maybe... but could be this and/or just rubbing its "face" on the netting in the breeding trap>
but I want to be sure to treat it correctly and swiftly. No other fish are showing similar symptoms and all have been quarantined for 2 weeks when bought before being released into the main tank so I do not think this problem was introduced by another fish. My questions are:-
1) Can you please confirm what this disease is and that I am treating it correctly as a bacterial infection??
<Cannot... would require microscopic examination, culture... but your system reads as fine, and I would have done about what you have under these circumstances>
2) The fry are currently in the QT in a breeder net but should I treat them too before putting them back into the tank (inside the net for safety)?? If so should I use a lower dose?? There are no instructions re fry dosage on the medicine bottle. I do not want to re infect the tank when I put them back
Any advice you have will be gratefully received. I try to keep this tank pristine and am quite disappointed to be experiencing problems with disease, often associated with bad maintenance.
Many thanks
Brian
<I would not treat the young, nor continue to treat the system. I fully suspect that the condition is more "environmental" at root than pathogenic... Time going by, your good maintenance, adequate nutrition should cure the one fish, prevent troubles for the others. Bob Fenner>

Help with possible parasites   5/25/07
Good Morning,
<Its good evening here in Merrie Olde Englande.>
I have a question regarding one of my female neon swordtails.  She is a full grown adult that I have had approx. 6 months.  First of all tank parameters:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
pH - 7.4
Nitrates - 25
Tanks size - 55gal, tankmates are platies, guppies, other swordtails, and one Pleco.
<All sounds fine.>
I noticed a strange growth inside the fish about 1/4" from her tail.  It appears to be circular.  The fish swam next to the light and I could see through the tail and that's the only reason I saw it.  She has been acting very healthy and normal.  Eating very well, in fact just dropped about 15 fry.  You can start to see the lump on the outside if you look very carefully, however, nothing is protruding outside the scales. The other fish in the tank are doing very well and also the many fry are doing fine.
<If the swelling is inside the fish and in muscle tissue (rather than the abdomen) then almost certainly a benign cyst or tumour. Quite common in fish. No real cure, but no real threat to your fish either. But without a picture, impossible to say for sure quite what this is.>
I have done considerable research to see what this may be and the only thing I can come up with is a digenetic fluke.
<Rather unlikely, because of the complex life cycle most of these flukes have. Pond fish sometimes get them, but indoor fish almost never.>
Any suggestions will be appreciated.  I understand that if it is a fluke the life cycle requires an intermediate host such as a snail.  I do have a few snails in the tank.
<Indeed, but usually very specific snails. The chances of you having a worm that worked in both the fishes and the snails in your aquarium have to pretty small.>
Doesn't look like there are many reliable cures for this other than removing the fish and the intermediate host.  Can I expect to have a major problem from this or is this something that healthy fish can live with or overcome.  Thanks in advance.
<Since it's almost certainly just a cyst or benign tumour, there's not much to be done. Provided the fish can swim properly and the internal organs are impacted in any way by the cyst, the fish should remain healthy. Cheers, Neale>

Red sword and Levamisole Phosphate, use of anthelminthics, FW    5/21/07
Hello fellow crew member,
This is Anna. We exchanged few e-mails a couple of months ago.
Just to give you a recap - so far my tank is doing well; I got some plants that keep growing nicely; fish seems to be happy there.. in few words - "almost perfect."
There is one issue I am not sure about. I presume my female red sword is doing well. It is first at the feeder, eating with no problems; it does not display abnormal behavior (except for the time when it hides under plants to "visit the bathroom") - it is well integrated within community. Yet, when I observe its feces I see something that other fish does not performs. Basically, the red sword is "on the toilet" :--) all the time, producing quite large amount of feces, mostly dark green (chewing my plants ??) or black, with some sort of whitish segments in between.
After studying the book of Drs. Untergasser and Axelrod I concluded that my sword might be affected by tapeworm. The books says it is okay not to take any action if fish is doing fine (my is doing well).  
Yet, I feel sorry for that fish having toilet problem all day long and would like to help it - if possible.
My colleague at another fish community suggested I use LEVAMISOLE Phosphate (injectable solution). I got one (13.65), but before using it I would like to make sure it is:
- safe for fish
- manageable
- with min. side effect.
<Mmm, I would not use this format of Levamisole... nor inject this small fish... If you were to use "L", look for the HCl (Hydrochloride) radical... to be used in foods... Or better, look to an anthelminthic that can be simply applied to the water... my choice? Praziquantel...>
Would you recommended that I use that medicine? How should I proceed with using it?
<Please see WWM, the Net, Ed Noga's works...>
As for my aquarium condition - ammonia is at zero; pH is between 6.6 - 6.8. I also trace phosphate (current level around between 0.5 and 1.0).
I do partial water changes every day to help keep the fish healthy.
Do you think there is anything I can do for my red sword with or without LEVAMISOLE?
<Perhaps...>
Please, help...
Thanks much.
Anna
P.S. - I attached some pictures of my red sword to help you see what I can see ;--) <Mime... not useful>
<Ah good... The Prazi... Bob Fenner>

Re: Red sword and Levamisole Phosphate   5/22/07
Hello Bob--
<Anna>
Thanks much for the reply. For some reason I am not able to see your response on my Yahoo! address, yet I can pick it up from my GMAIL account.
<This is an ongoing issue... some sort of conflict twixt software...>
Yesterday I studied people's cases on tapeworm posted on WWM and found some useful info about Praziquantel. If you do not mind I will notify you :--) about after-treatment results.
The longer I look at my red sword the more I am convinced it is affected by tapeworms.
Thanks for your time and help.
Anna
<The response has cycled through our system to this point in the FW Daily FAQs:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdailyfaqs.htm
The second one down. BobF>

Dead Lyretail Swordtail   1/15/07
Hello WWM Crew.
<<Hello, Chris. Tom here.>>
Sadly, I just lost a battle against an unknown assailant on one of my two lyretail swordtails.
<<Sorry to hear this, Chris.>>
I have a 20 gallon tank that has been setup for approximately 2 months. First, the specs:
Nitrates : <10ppm
Nitrites : <1ppm
<<Nitrites need to be undetectable, Chris. Shoot for 0 ppm as with the ammonia.>>
Ammonia  : 0
PH       : 6.9
Temp     : 78.7
As I am fairly new to this. I am unsure what other specs you may need. According to the water test I had done at the LFS, my water is pretty soft. Anyways, onto the problem. The tank currently houses 1 Rainbow Shark, 5 Bala Sharks, 8 Zebra Danios, 2 Whiptail Catfish, and was home to 2 lyretail swordtails (1 now deceased). The tank is running an Aquaclear 70 filter
http://www.animalworldnetwork.com/aq3pofi110v.html a 150w heater, and a power jet with the air valve on it for O2 saturation.
<<Chris, the Danios, Catfish and Swordtails can probably get along pretty well in a 20-gallon tank. The Rainbow Shark might get a bit territorial/aggressive in a smallish tank like this or, it might leave its tank mates be. (A little finger-crossing might be in order.) The Bala Sharks, however, require a tank much larger than the size of the one you have. Their adult size is 12+ inches and, as you might guess, they require plenty of swimming space.>>
I came home this afternoon to see one of the lyretails floating on the bottom with a white mouth that looks almost like cotton. I immediately removed him/her from the tank into quarantine, using water from the
aquarium it had been in, to prevent stressing the fish (it was coming up on time for a partial water change anyways). Some research on this site brought me to believe it was "Columnaris, Fungus | Mouth Fungus; appears as white or gray fluff on the mouth | Improved water quality, malachite, formalin, sulfa drugs" so I treated it with malachite at a mix of 0.07 ppm.
<<From what you’ve described, Columnaris was the right call. Highly contagious, however, so you’ll need to keep a very close eye on the others.>>
The fish seemed like it was stable, so I left it as it was and waited to see if things improved. 30 minutes later, I realized it's gills had stopped moving, so I went to scoop it out of the quarantine, and it swam away. 45 minutes later, it was pronounced dead and put into a test tube for a post-humous inspection by someone who knows whats going on. In the meantime, I figured I'd see if any of you highly skilled folks have any opinions.
<<Other than already confirming your suspicions I’d add that this may have been brought on by one, or more, issues. First, you may have had a male/female pair of Swordtails in which case the male may have stressed the female with his “advances”. Always better with “livebearers” to keep the ratio at one male per three-four females. Spreads out the often unwanted attention. Second, regardless of the current sizes of your fish, you still have too many fish in a 20-gallon tank. 18 fish in a 20-gallon is simply too many to house with any margin of safety for all concerned. Last, I would return to the Rainbow Shark who might already have been displaying aggressive or territorial behavior toward the lost fish. Difficult to know with any degree of certainty but something stressed your Swordtail and brought on the infection. (As you now know, Columnaris is a “bacterial” rather than “fungal” infection, a “primary” infection, if you will. Fungal infections are almost always “secondary” in nature, i.e. they follow some type of trauma to the fish whether from disease or injury.)>>
I was checking the other fish to see if it might have spread, and none of the other fish show signs, but one of the zebra danios looks like it's tail is kind of shredded, and the rear 1/3 of it is almost white. Is this a symptom of the same thing?
<<Almost certainly not, Chris. Sounds like some fin-nipping going on to me. Should heal up on its own with good water conditions but keep an eye on this to make sure the condition doesn’t worsen.>>
Any assistance is appreciated. WWM is now one of my first responders for my aquarium issues/advice.
<<Glad to know we’re there for you, Chris.>>
Keep up the good work,
Chris
<<As always, we’ll do our best. I’ll keep my own fingers crossed that this is the end of your problems. (Keep an upgrade in tank size for the Balas in mind, too.) Best regards. Tom>>

Weird lumps on a swordtail under the scales  9/15/06
Hello,
I'd just like to say in advance how much your site has helped me, I've spent hours some days reading through other's emails.
<Glad this has helped>
I've tried searching around for this problem but the search terms are kind of vague and I get hundreds of thousands of results. I bought a new velvet wag swordtail the other day who looked very healthy at the LFS, the past few weeks weren't good ones for their sword shipments.
<Oh for the days when "local folks" used to supply most all such livebearers... the "product" from overseas (most now come from the Far East) are too often "forced" to produce more apparent males... in poor health, parasitized... and die easily>
So I got her home and put her in my isolation tank (5gallon eclipse) and immediately put a dose of Maracyn two and MelaFix in the water to stave off any fin rot which every fish I buy seems to get, even with brand new equipment. A few hours later she had a lump under her scales which caused about 3 rows of scales to protrude dropsy style. She had no other signs of illness, she's very active and eats and passes the food on a regular basis, no clamped fins and no hanging at the surface. A few days later the scales started to subside but now she has one on the right side of her head, same deal, 3 or 4 rows of scales protruding dropsy style but now she's starting to sit around with her fins clamped. She's not hanging at the surface but she is remaining stationary for long periods of time near the surface and she's not trying to hide or anything. Any ideas what this could be?
Thanks!
<Could be a few things... but from the description of raised scales and timing... I fully suspect "Anchorworm" (Lernaea)... or the beginnings of same. This (and happily quite a few other parasites) can be treated with organophosphate-containing remedies. Please search the Net/WWM with these terms. Bob Fenner>

New to Fishkeeping and having some problems... Swordtail systems, health, Electric Catfish... generally   6/24/06
Hi there...
While I've been around fish of and on all my life (I'm 24 now.. heh), this is my first fishtank and I'm struggling a bit. I've done a LOT of reading here
online and am continuing to do so. I've heard a lot of conflicting information however and well... I'm confused.
<Soon to be less so>
My tank is a 20g. Long. I use a Penguin 150 BioWheel for filtration at one end and have one medium sized airstone at the opposite end of tank. My
ammonia and Nitrite is
<are>
at 0. I'm uncertain what my Nitrate is at as I don't have a test for it. I have a automatic ammonia monitor in the tank at all times.
<These are notoriously inaccurate>
PH is at approx. 7.6 . I say approx. 7.6 as the only PH test I have at the moment is a low level test. My tap water is naturally hard. When
tested with the low level PH test, my tap water turns a color far darker than the color shown for 7.6 (the max. shown on the table). I added salt to
my tank after it finished cycling...1 TBSP per Gallon however I haven't added anymore salt since then. I fishless cycled for two weeks with the use
of Cycle and fish food to aid bacteria growth. My tank has had fish in for nearly 2 months now. This tank is for swordtails only so I wasn't sure they needed the salt.
<Mmm, can tolerate a moderate amount. Don't need per se... but most Xiphophorus species do better in hard, alkaline water>
I use only artificial plants as I don't have a green thumb and am afraid of messing with live plants...lol. I do a 25% water change
EVERY week and DeChlor the replacement water with 2 drops per gallon of instant DeChlor. I also use Cycle in my filter once a week. Water temperature
is right at approx. 78 degrees Fahrenheit . I feed a combination of food at the moment.
I feed the following:
*Pro-Balance Tropical Color Flakes
*Tetra Color Flakes
*Tetra Min Flakes
*Tetra Spirulina Flakes
*Bio Blend Color Enhancing sinking pellets
After my existing food supply is diminished I will be feeding only the three Tetra products. I do have questions about a new food my LFS just got in stock however.
My first fish in this tank were three red velvet females and a red velvet male. They were doing great for the first couple weeks and then trouble struck. Well I can't really say they were doing great as they flicked off the heater from Day 1. The male also flicked against a pot I have in the tank for them to hide in. There were no signs of ick however...no white specks. One of the females became somewhat bloated. She was pregnant so it made her look very very pregnant. She did not have any pineconing so I doubt it was dropsy. Her eyes were a bit bugged out and towards the end she began whirling. By whirling I mean she swam in circles aimlessly.. bumping into everything. Up until the time she began whirling she ate great. She never clamped her fins at all either, at all. She had her fins up even while I was putting her down. Shortly after she died I noticed that both other females and the male had thin white stringy feces.
<Mmm, likely internal parasites...>
One of the other females died before I could treat the tank for parasites (which I assumed them had).
I just found her dead one morning. The last female died during treatment and the male died shortly after treatment ended. The last female had spent her
last couple days with clamped fins, refusing to eat and laying at the bottom of the tank. The male was a surprise as he had been acting okay other than
continuing to flick off of the pot. I had used Jungle Brand Parasite Clear Tank Buddies. I also noticed a growth of brownish algae on some of my plants
and on the pot.
<Evidence of complete cycling>
After all of my first fish passed away I got a new trio. A brick red female, a red velvet female and a red wag male. These three came from a different
LFS then my first did. I've had them for approx. 3 weeks or so now.
All three of these fish exhibited the same thin, white, stringy feces as my first fish did so I made the decision to treat the tank again.
<The tank/system itself is parasitized...>
I used the tank buddies again.
<Brand name... need the active ingredients listed>
I did two doses over the course of four days with a 25% water change in between and a 25% water change afterwards. The brick red
female went off feed during the second dose and continued refusing to eat afterwards. She did a lot of sulking at the bottom of the tank or up at the
corner of the tank with her fins clamped. Her last day she was covered in a thick white film of what I assume was mucus...this film lasted a couple
hours and then disappeared. Later on that evening I found her dead near one of the plants in the tank. This was approx. 1 week ago. Today I noticed my
red velvet female is doing a lot of hiding at the bottom of her tank. The area between her eyes is slightly raised up...she looks like she's trying to
become a rhino.....kinda. She also has some strange 'growth' or 'flakiness' to her left side of her face. It's almost like the scales are kinda lifted
or something...it's hard to explain. I have seen her scrape herself on the pot and gravel a couple times over the past two weeks but its so infrequent
that I attributed it to her pregnancy. Both male and female still have thin, white, stringy feces. Both are still eating extremely well. The male is
still swimming around very active with fins up. The female also has her fins up but recently has begun swimming around with them somewhat clamped which
is out of character.  She does have her fins up while she's 'resting' at the bottom of the tank however.  which is out of character for her. Both male
and female have still been flicking on the pot on infrequent occasion.
Still no signs of ick however.  The last week or so the male has been heavily harassing her trying to breed with her. Soon as payday comes I
intend to get a few more females so he'll knock it off deeming the tank doesn't have anything infectious in it.. I also plan on getting some more
plants for the girls and inevitable fry to hide in.
Anyhow.. my questions...
1)Whats up with my fish? What's causing the white, stringy feces?
<Lack of quarantine, bunk initial quality, parasites, parasitized system>
2)Do you know anything about New Life fish foods?
<Yes. The owner, Pablo Tepoot is an old friend... have visited with him re for many hours>
I thought of using their Tropical Fish pellets and Thera-A flakes
<Wouldn't hurt>
3)Is my PH too high for my swords? Could that be the problem?
<Not too high, not a problem>
4)Should my swordtails have salt in the tank? How much?
<No more than what you've placed>
5)Are my fish getting an inadequate diet? Could that be causing my problems?
<Could be a factor... need more "greens", fresh foods>
6)Is it possible the my tanks still cycling and this is new tank syndrome even despite my lack of ammonia?
<Yes... likely the "Cycle" did little, is doing little... until the appearance of the "brown algae", likely the tank was not cycled>
7)If this is an illness what are some natural cures that could be used to treat them?  Colloidal Silver, Salt, PimaFix/MelaFix, Garlic, etc.  Would any of those have an effect.
<None I would use/seek>
I'm leery of commercial medications.
8)Any suggestions, comments or concerns please...I want to do good by my remaining fish.
<... Please read WWM re FW Fish Disease...>
I also have a three to four inch female electric catfish.
<!? Not in the same tank?>
She's currently eating frozen beef heart produced by AquaYums. She also eats Ghost Shrimp. I know a 10g.
<Oh...>
is not adequate for her...
<Malapterurus... grow to how many feet in length?>
she'll be upgrading soon. As with my swordtail tank her water parameters are normal.  She too gets weekly 25% water changes.  She has a corner sponge filter that stated it was capable of filtering either a 20 or 25g.  Anyhow.. is her diet adequate?
<No>
She's been getting fed every other day. Should she be fed more frequently? Less frequently?
<Every other day is fine>
Information on Electric cats dietary needs here on the net is pretty vague thus far.   Also...this gal's got sand as a substrate.
Frequently she'll have crumbs left behind from her meals and won't clean them up.   Normally I just siphon them out if she's due for a water
change.   Any tips on keeping the sand cleaned?  This is the first time I've had sand as a substrate.
Thanks greatly for any advice you can give me.
Sincerely,
Heather
<Where to really start here... Nowadays many Swordtails are imported from outside the U.S. (not too many decades ago, most were raised in Florida, even by local hobbyists through-out the U.S.)... These imported livebearers often have real troubles (as you've found)... and would be best treated by their respective importers, wholesale distributors before being sent further (this is exceedingly rare). Your system should now be treated with Metronidazole/Flagyl (see WWM re)... The Electric Cat, please see Fishbase.org re as well as the scant coverage on WWM. Lastly, do read the "Swordtail FAQs" files archived on WWM... Bob Fenner>

Swordtails in bad shape   3/25/06
Good Friday everyone,
<Am behind a day... already!>
I have recently returned from Spring Break, only to find that my tank is in bad shape. I have a 29 gallon tank that I cycled with Bio-Spira a few weeks ago and had been keeping six zebra danios as cycling fish. A week before Spring Break, I decided to buy six Pineapple Swordtails, 2 males, 1 female. Within a few days of purchasing the swordtails, one of the females had died, although I'm not at all certain what the cause was, as all of my chemical levels were normal. After removing the dead fish, I continued to monitor ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate; the first two were at 0 ppm, while the third was around 20 ppm. I went on vacation for a week, putting in a vacation
feeder tablet from Top Fin, and had performed a 25 percent change to bring down the nitrates before I left.
<Sounds good>
I had thought I had done everything properly, but imagine my horror when I returned to find the remains of the tail-ends of two of the swordtail females. I checked the nitrate levels, and they were in the 20-40 ppm range (unfortunately, the test kit isn't any more specific than that). I was going to do a water change the next day when I noticed that the three remaining swordtails had all developed ich! I was going to go out to the local fish store to get some ich medication, but I got snowed in for two days during that freakish winter weather we had in Nebraska this week, so I had to wait until this Wednesday.
<Could raise temperature, add salt/s in the meanwhile...>
I purchased CopperSafe and some aquarium salt, did a 50 percent (15 gallon) water change, and then added the medication and the salt. I normally keep my tank around 79 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I tested the chemical levels of the tank a couple of hours after the change, and the levels were .50 ppm ammonia, .25 ppm nitrite, and 5 ppm nitrate. As of today, the levels have changed to 0 ppm ammonia, less than .25 ppm nitrite (again, the kit isn't any more specific because it goes from 0 to .25), and between 5 and 10 ppm nitrate.
<Might be time for better test kits...>
The danios are all acting normally and do not show any outward signs of an ich infection. The swordtails, however, still have the white
spores all over. Since I did the water change, they have either been at the surface in a corner, or resting down at the bottom, occasionally breathing rapidly. Is this a side effect of the medication?
<Easily so. BTW, I'd treat these fishes for ich with Malachite Green, not copper-based med.s>
And why did the levels of ammonia and nitrite go up after the water change, only to drop so quickly once more?
<Temporarily sub-tended nitrification>
In an ideal situation, I would have taken care of this immediately, but there was no way for me to get to a store to get the medication. This is the very first tank that I've ever owned, and I'm rather disappointed that it spiraled out of control so quickly, but I'm sure there's something I could have done.
<Mmm... lesson learned or perhaps to be solidified in your conscious here... To quarantine new purchased livestock... and/or only buy when you can/will be about to carefully observe...>
Because only those small sections of the fish that died over the vacation were left, I have no idea what killed them. Is it possible that I
just got a bad batch of fish from PetSmart?
<Yes... this is highly likely the larger/est cause here>
How long should I wait before purchasing more fish to replace those that I lost?
<A few weeks>
Any help that you could offer on these matters would be most welcome, as I'd really like to be able to prevent these problems in the future. One thing I've learned, people aren't kidding when they say you should set up a quarantine tank,
<Ahh!>
but living in a dorm on campus doesn't make that an ideal situation. I'll just have to figure out some way to do it to prevent a
tank-wide outbreak.
<A small tank in a corner will do here...>
Thanks in advance,
Ivan St. John
<Robert M. Fenner>

Red Female Sword Tail  - 03/05/06
Greetings from Jacksonville, NC to the WWM Crew,
  I have been an Aquarithusiast now for about two years or so.  I have dealt with several fish illnesses and deaths, sometimes to no avail.  I have a Female Red Sword Tail that I received for Valentine's day from my family.  She came with another female (died within days was skinned when I found her) and two small frogs.  I have about 79 young Guppy Fry, 3 Adult Male Guppies and 2 Female Adult Guppies.  One 5 to 7 inch Plecostomus, 1 Male Red Sword Tail, a Blue Tetra, and two Pink Tetra's.  21 Gal. Tank, Monthly water changes at 50% or more often when water tests show signs of need.  
<Better by far to make smaller changes weekly...>
This has kept my tank healthy for the better part of two years.  Yesterday my new Female Red Swordtail (FRS) started swimming in spirals.  I immediately placed her in a small tank with a minimal amount of water to isolate her as I do not have a hospital tank set up.  I have searched for the definition of "whirling disease" to no avail.  She is able to move all of her fins, she seems to be eating when I give her flake food.  Her body seems to be frozen in a curved position to the right side of her body.  NO2 = 0, NO3 = 160
<This is your problem... the fish/es are being poisoned>
(bad, doing water change and adding NitraZorb to filter), pH = 8.3 and NH3/NH4 = 0.  Don't think that Nitrate issue is FRS issue.  
<Is>
What does WWM think and should I keep FRS quarantined until symptoms subside?
Thanks,
Wayne
<Nope. Fix your water quality. See WWM re nitrates... Bob Fenner>

Re: Red Female Sword Tail   03/07/06
Thanks for your response,
<Welcome>
  I made a blunder in my terminology and stated that I was adding Nitrazorb to the filter.  What I was adding was Carbon and Zeolite granules" without
mentioning any specific brands.  I apologize for the inaccurate terminology.
<No worries. I understood/stand>
My nitrates have dropped down to below 10 ppm.  My FRS is only getting worse it seems.
<Mmm, such "challenges" take a "while" (weeks) to resolve, post fixing the environment>
She is now lying on her side and just barely moving her fins.  I am afraid that I am going to lose her.  I just found a very informative site
that gave me the symptoms of Whirling Disease i.e....(Symptoms:  Loss of equilibrium, Swims in a whirling motion, Bodily deformations, Nodules and
boils appear on body, Dark coloration on posterior third of fish).  This is obviously not what my FRS has, however, getting the Nitrates down does not
seem to be helping either.
<Takes... time>
I believe that it may be time to Euthanasia her,
I sure hate to, but she just seems to be in dire striates at this point. Thanks for your assistance and such a great site.  I use it for research regularly.
Wayne
<Uhh, don't be so hasty... Bob Fenner>

Re: Red Female Sword Tail   3/24/06
Just an update,  FRS is now back to full health.  She has been removed from the nursing tank and is doing fine.  I will be getting her some friends soon enough.  I appreciate all your help and motivation to keep FRS and not to Euthanize her.  You all are awesome.
<Welcome>
Took the Tetra's that attacked the two Male Sword tails back to the fish store and used the credit to buy Hermit crab food for my daughter's buddy "Hermie".
Thanks,
Wayne
<Congratulations on your success, life lessons. Bob Fenner>

Swordtail and whirling disease - 2/28/2006
I just bought a swordtail about a week ago only to discover that she was pregnant.  She had the fry last night and most of today I have noticed that she has
been acting strange.  She has been swimming as if she is chasing her tail or like she is spinning.  Her tail had turned black by this point.  She eventually died a
couple of hours later.  The fry are still in the same tank.  Do I need to treat them or will they eventually come down with the whirling disease also?
<Mmm, depends on the cause mainly. Impossible to state from here>
Is there anyway to clean the tank to prevent further spread to future fish?
<If indeed the root cause is/was bacterial, perhaps... I would not "jump" to this conclusion>
It is a 10 gallon tank that it happened in and the only fish in it is the fry and the swordtail.  Any help is appreciated.  Steph
<I would raise the young as if "nothing had happened" here. Bob Fenner>

Dying Sword Fry
(Sorry if I just sent you the beginning of an email. I had an 18 month old helping...lol.) OK, lets try this again. I have 1 male and 1 female red velvet swordtails. (along with mollies, platies, barbs, killies, danios and 1 albino rainbow shark) I've had the tank (33g) up and running for about 3 months. The female swordtail had babies about 3 weeks after we got the pair. I separated the mom after seeing her give birth to a few fry. She had 6 more in the v-breeder (one of which she ate before it dropped to safety). That left us with 5 adorable little ones. Anyway, They were all fine for a few weeks in the v-breeder. Mom had been moved back to the community and the (v) had been removed from the breeder. I didn't feel there was enough water flow in the breeder so I purchased a net breeder and placed the fry in that. After about 2/3 weeks 2 fry died within a couple days of each other. They were approx. 5-6 weeks old at the time and seemed happy and healthy. Then everything seemed fine
for a couple of weeks. As of last week, at approx 8/9 weeks of age, I've lost 2 more a day apart from each other. I'm left with one lonely little baby. What could be going on?
<Perhaps "just" weak young... the first few batches often have trouble>
I'm feeding finely ground flakes. I don't want my last one to die but I don't know what happened to the others. I also have found stray fry swimming around my tank and have put them in other breeders and don't want them to meet the same fate. They aren't swordtails though. They seem to be 4 platies and 1 Dalmatian molly. Can you help save my babies? Thanks so much! Kristy
<Be careful re moving too-pregnant females... do make just small (ten percent or so) water changes in the fry tank... and keep otherwise doing what you are and you'll be fine. Bob Fenner>

Unexplained Swordtail Deaths 10/18/05
Hi there. 
<Hey, Mike G here.>
I am a 4th grade teacher, and my classroom has just set up an aquarium. 
<Wonderful educational tool!>
We have the proper filtration, heat (about 80 degrees)
<A bit high - aim for 76-78F.>
PH balance- everything. We started with 3 swordtails (2 females and a male), and in just six days the two females have died. 
<Harassment?>
The male seems okay, though he is sticking to one area in the aquarium near the heater. 
<Never a good sign.>
Any ideas about what might be causing this? 
<Not without more info re: tank parameters, maintenance regimen, how long the tank's been established, etc. If I were to hazard a guess, it would be that your nitrogenous waste content is too high - do check your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. Ideal ranges are 0, 0, 0 (ppm), but <20ppm is acceptable for the nitrates. Good luck!>
I am afraid to get more fish, but I just can't figure out what might be wrong with the tank.
Sarah Brown
<Mike G> 

Re: Unexplained Swordtail Deaths  10/19/05
It's a 29 gallon tank, it's been set up for 8 days- 2 days without fish, six days with.  
<I'm tempted to stay with my original guess of high ammonia/nitrite...>
All my levels are 0.  
<...but apparently, I guessed wrong.>
I am following a book (the simple guide to freshwater aquariums by David Boruchowitz)
and cycling the tank with just those three fish.  
<Sounds good so far.>
They didn't seem to be harassed at all.  I did have the heat at around 76, but because the one lone fish was hanging out by the heater I thought he might want it warmer.  I'll turn it back down.  
<I believe it could be ich or another similar parasitic disease that took advantage of the stressed fish (from the journey, to new tank, fluctuating levels) and got 'em that way.>
There's not much to say about maintenance regimen since we just set up the tank.  Thanks for your quick response!
<You're welcome. Wish I could help more, most I can do with the info provided is take an educated guess. Best of luck! Mike G>

Swordtail's tail damaged  11/14/05
Hello,
<Hi there>
I have a ten gallon tank with 3 red eye tetras, 2 danios, 1 Pleco and 1 Gourami. Several times I tried to add a swordtail 'couple' to my tank and the same thing happens each time: the female fish dies first, within 1 - 2 weeks. The male starts loosing its tail (the tip seems to 'die' and then falls off) and eventually the male fish dies as well.
<Mmm, might be due to aggression (in part) from the Gourami... could be just poor initial quality of the Swords... perhaps water quality... they like hard, alkaline water of not too high temperature.>
This has happened to me about three times. Meanwhile, my other fish are doing fine. I don't see any signs of aggression
of the other fish towards the swordtails. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
<I would try another source for the Swordtails... and make sure they've had them on hand a week or more. Newly arrived livebearers are often "touchy". Bob Fenner> 

Mysterious swordtail disease   1/10/06
Robert,
   I assume that's your name based upon your e-mail address...  I would greatly appreciate if you would be able shed some light upon my mysterious death of dozens of swordtail fish.  About a month ago, I added three catfish and a fresh water snail to a stable aquarium.  It seems as if they introduced some sort of disease that paralyses the fish.
<Could be>
  Their backs seem to start severely arching until the point they can no longer effectively swim.  I'm assuming this is some sort of paralysis...  I have a 30 gallon tank which had roughly 40 swordtail fish (orange & gold).  The fish began dying unexplainably and rapidly increased...  I noticed some sort of fungus growing on the aquarium rocks.  I assumed the two were connected and the fish were dying off quickly.  Thus, I started all over.  I replaced the rocks and soaked all remaining items in a 10:1 water to bleach solution.  
Things seemed to be fine after two weeks.  However, I just noticed the fungus is returning, and we lost 2 fish in the last 6 days...  Any idea what is causing this, and what could remedy it?  Thanks a million for any input you could provide.
Thanks again,
Martin
<There are some microbial infections that can produce the twisting backs, death (Myxosoma cerebralis is one)... likely the "fungus" growth is only secondarily related (nutrient from dead, dying fishes). There are antibiotic/antimicrobial remedies that can be tried... Nitrofuranace would be my first choice/try here... A bit late for this situation, I do encourage you to isolate/quarantine new livestock ahead of placing in ongoing systems. Much of this is covered on our site: WetWebMedia.com
Bob Fenner>

Salt Compatibility
Hi crew
<Greetings>
I have some questions to ask...I have a female velvet swordtail and the coloration on her mouth alone is white.  Since the rest of her is a very rich dark orange color, it is very easy to spot this white patch.  It also looks a little flaky.  I also observed that a long almost transparent piece of stuff was coming out of her backside. Normally their feces is the color of the food they eat, so this looked quite strange.  She is fatter than usual, so I assume she might be pregnant.  Is this transparent stuff the beginning of her delivery possibly? And what is the stuff around her mouth.
<She most likely is pregnant but the transparent feces and the white mouth are symptoms of a disease. Please read http://www/wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwfshparasites.htm for more info.>
My last question involves the use of aquarium salt.  I have a little Pleco, a Pimelodelid catfish, a Betta, 2 swordtails, 2 guppies, 2 Corys, and 3 zebra Danios who all get along peacefully.  Are all these fish salt compatible?
<You’ll need to do some research on these fish to find out their compatibility with salt. Do a search for each fish at http://www.wetwebmedia.com. http://www.fishbase.org also has a ton of info. You can also use your favorite search engine to search the web.>
Thanks for your time. J.P. Luque
<You're welcome. Ronni>

Dying Female swords 
Hi! I'm from Illinois. I've had 4 very pregnant neon swordtails die with out giving birth. They were in different community tanks at different times, so I can't blame one tank. I have eight more that pregnant swords, am I doing something wrong. They weren't in breeding cages.  Thank You, Pat 
<<Hello Pat; yes, there are things you can do to help your swordtails. First is always to make sure the water quality is good. Good meaning low nitrate levels, zero ammonia and nitrites. If you don't own test kits, I recommend you buy some at your LFS. Test your water and keep logs of each weekly reading. Each tank is probably stocked a bit differently, so you will need to keep track of each tank separately in order to figure out which tank needs how many water changes per month/week. Next is to make sure you are feeding your fish proper nutrition. Do not overfeed! Females should have a high protein diet, supplemented with algae based foods. In other words, a balanced diet. Buy high quality foods, and feed interchangeably. They should be getting a good flake or pellet as a staple, with a protein content of 50%. Read the labels! Tetra Colorbits are a good choice. Also, get a good Spirulina based flake (make sure Spirulina is the first ingredient listed) and a few times a week you can also give frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, glassworms, etc etc.. Last by not least, make sure the females outnumber the males, three to one is good odds. They should have places to hide so the males cannot constantly harass the exhausted females. A heavily planted tank works well, either real or fake plants will do. Good luck! -Gwen>>

A female swordtail with dropsy
Hey Bob, I have a female orange swordtail that got pregnant. But then she came down with a case of dropsy, she's bloated and her scales are sticking out. I'm kinda new to these fish, but I did a little bit of research using your site (very helpful by the way) to find out that I need Furan compounds to cure her, but when I got to the pet store sites, I can't figure out where to get it. Can you please give me a suggestion? Thanks a bunch. Oh and also, another pineapple swordtail in the same tank got pregnant also and gave birth very successfully about two weeks ago, she had about sixty of them and so far the death toll has only been five! Thanks again!  
< Dropsy or bloat is caused by stress. Water too hot, too cold, too dirty etc... Do a 30%v water change and clean the filter. I would recommend treating with Metronidazole and try that first. Look at the ingredients for the medications sold at the stores. They may have it under some commercial name. Nitrofurazone is sold under a few different names just check the ingredients once again.-Chuck.

A female swordtail with dropsy
Hey, I have another question regarding a large 80 gallon freshwater tank that was sold to me full of fish for $100 because they couldn't afford it anymore. It has a 17 and a half inch long red belly pacu, two Bala sharks (one nine inches and the other six) four five inch silver dollars, a couple of 2.5 inch Cory cats, a full grown giant Gourami, a full grown Plecostomus, and an 8 inch Jack Dempsey.  There were some injuries during the move that were unavoidable, the worst of witch happened to the silver dollars. We had them in a five gallon bucket and under all the stress they just beat the crap out of each other. They have flesh missing on their heads, fins missing here and there, and their eyes were injured and look like they have cataracts on them also, I think they may have hole in the head disease due to some large gaps above their eyes. I didn't know they could be that aggressive and to tell you the truth it wasn't my idea to put them in the bucket. I've been treating them with wide spectrum antibiotics to avoid any diseases, but I think one of them still got infected slightly. Is there anything I can really do about it?
< Keep the water clean and use a water conditioner that contains additives for wound control.>
Perhaps a more specific medicine, or a dose of Epsom salt?
< Fishes from South America such as your Corys , Plecos and silver dollars really don't like any salt added to the water. If you see specific infections the I prefer to treat with Nitrofurazone drugs.>
's the most effective way to get rid of the hole in the head disease? They're beautiful fish, and they are still active and feeding. Please help!
< Characins such as your silver dollars don't get hole in the head. That disease really likes to pick on cichlids. I suspect that what you are seeing is actually wounds from the rough transport so treat as if they were wounds.-Chuck>

Strange Swordtail Behavior -Old or Sick?
Hi there,
Sorry to bother you but I am hoping you can help.  We have a mixed 15gal tank including some swordtails tetras and two clown loaches.  Recently
the oldest of the swordtail females - (we have had her over a year and she is at least three inches long & full grown when we got her) -
She has started acting very strangely and stopped eating. All the other fish in the tank look fine and eat and swim normally.  This one swims
"frantically" around near the surface of the water with the top of her head just barely brushing the surface. I have not seen her eat anything
for at least a week.  She has gotten very thin, but continues to swim despite apparent exhaustion which occasionally has her drift to the
bottom for a "rest" period. She then returns to the surface and sticks her nose toward the air again.  
We have both an internal Eheim filter (we live in the Netherlands so you may not know these brands) as well as some extra aeration via a bubble
wand since the internal filter doesn't aerate. We have done two 25%-30% water changes in the last two weeks in case it was a water quality
issue.  We have also tried treating with a locally available "broad spectrum" product "Exit" that claimed (in Dutch) to cure "most common fish ailments.  
So if this is not simply old age. apparently it is an Uncommon ailment. I would like to know if this sounds like anything remotely curable. She
just keeps getting skinnier and skinnier and she was so strong to last this long, but she is simply getting worse not better, but doesn't seem
to want to die of old age....Any ideas?
Thanks for any input!
Laura
< It sounds like an internal bacterial infection that may have been drought on by advanced age. In a clean warm quarantine tank I would try Metronidazole or a heavy dose of Furanace. You fish has been ill/weak for a while so it may not be strong enough for a triple dose of Furanace. So try a single dose and see if there is any effect.-Chuck>

(Not) Pregnant Swordtail
Sorry if this has already been answered, but I have a swordtail who appears to be pregnant, and the scales are all standing out. Happened overnight - is this normal?  Thanks so much, appreciate your help as always! Pat
<Not normal, not pregnant... Your Sword has a condition termed "dropsy". Please put this term in the search tool on www.WetWebMedia.com and read the links. Bob Fenner>

Swordtail with Single Spot
I have a 55 gallon tank including a bunch of swordtails (started with 2 or 3 and they bred). Some of them are finally starting to develop swords. One in particular I noticed had a white spot where its sword was beginning to form. I immediately thought it might be Ick, but didn't remove it right away. The next day, the spot was almost completely gone. I wasn't sure what to think but didn't want to expose this fish to the shock of a isolation tank if there was nothing wrong with it, so I left him. A day or two later, I noticed the spot had returned. Once again, a day later it was gone. During this time, the tail has been growing steadily. Other than this spot, I have noticed nothing wrong with the fish. Its fins are not clamped, it swims around energetically with everyone else, there are no other spots anywhere on him, and there are no spots on any of my other fish. I'm wondering if this isn't just a normal thing that some swordtails do when they begin to develop their swords. Of course, if it is a problem, I need to get him out of there quick so I appreciate your opinion. Thank you. David
<Might have been an injury or a little dead tissue. A single spot may or may not be Ick. Are the fish "flashing" against the bottom or rocks? If yes, or if you see any more spots, you need to treat before it gets out of control. Use salt. It's cheap, less stressful on the fish and 100% effective. 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 treat for two weeks after the last spot drops. But I would hold off any treatment if that one spot is all you see. Pick up a test kit if you treat. Watch for ammonia spikes and do water changes to correct. Don>

Swordtail died...unsure why, carbon use
Ok so about a month and a half ago I got a horrible flagellate (spelling) infestation in my tank. Along with some fungal infection. 
<Mmm, might I ask how you could tell it was these organism groups?>
I used both Maracyn 1 and 2 and Coppersafe. All by Mardel, all safe to use together. That got rid of the fungus but not the flagellates. So I went on to using Bowl Buddies Parasite Clear. That seemed to finally do it. I followed all the directions and continued the treatment for as long as it said to. 
Three days ago I look in my tank and my female swordtail had egg infested poop. It was white with 1 to 2 millimeter grayish black eggs. 
I thought, crap now I have to go out and get the medication again. When I got home from my LFS I noticed that this orangey reddish lump about 7 millimeters in diameter and 5 or 6 long with this 12 or so millimeter thread like thing on it. I had no have no idea what it was. Before I added the medication I went to consult my copy of Fish Diseases (the German translated one). Mine is really old like a first edition and didn't have anything that I could find on it. I looked through my other books and even called the specialty fish store 2 hours away consulting them. I found no solution. 
When I went back upstairs to the tank to pondering what I should do I noticed the thing what ever it was, was gone. It wasn't on the bottom of the tank and wasn't anywhere. My only thought was, whatever it was its back inside of her. I wound up just adding some salt and waited to see if any other symptoms showed up.
<This is what I would have done as well>
None and this morning I found her dead. She was never stressed never any loss of color none of it. My three thoughts on it were: abortion, intestines, or her anus (to tough of a poop). I was hoping you could help me figure out what it was/ is. I was also wondering what are the chances it has spread to my other tanks since I use the some nets and siphons in all my tanks.
<No clue... perhaps a biopsy, histological work-up might reveal something...>
This is an unrelated question, but what does the charcoal do in the filters. When I add the charcoal to them I get pH and ammonia spikes even weeks to months later. When I just have the batting everything is fine. Is it a necessity that I add it to the filters? I've also never had problems with charcoal in the filters before and I have no idea what to do about it.
<Carbons are variously effective as semi-selective filters (absorbents) for metals, some other cations, some organic molecules... as you state, they can significantly (and deleteriously) affect water quality... hence they should be used in small volumes/amounts and on a regular, though not too frequent time frame. Bob Fenner> 

Help! My Swordtail is sick!
Hey, guys -
We need some help - my daughters' Swordtail, Beyonce, seems to be sick, and I'm not sure what to do with her...
We've had her for about 2 months. She had babies about 2 weeks ago, and has been acting and looking fine since then. However, this morning, she was lying at the bottom, near the filter intake, not moving... I nudged her, and she did move, to hide behind another item at the bottom of the tank. I put her in the breeding net we used for her last time, so I could get a better look at her - she seems to have lots of small, black spots on her back, as if she were dirty. She's alive, but really lethargic... 
<Good descriptions, action>
Can you give me some direction? By the way, the rest of our fish (about 20, including 2 other Swordtails)  seem to be fine, no changes. Water temp is about 75, pH 7.2, negligible  ammonia and nitrates...
Thanks for any advice.
<It may well be that this Swordtail is "just old"... the lethargy, spots point to this... But I would try to help it by adding a bit of Epsom salt to the tank's water (a level teaspoon per ten gallons) and not give up hope. Bob Fenner>

Swordtails, Bacterial Infections, Betta Fin Deterioration - 10/12/2005
Hi, I have 5 swordtails, 3 male and 2 female....I know, bad ratio...they were a gift, I didn't pick the sexes. One of the female swordtails has two large patches one on top her head and the other on the side of her head. When I look close at these areas, it looks as though the scales aren't there anymore, it looks fluffy. 
<Sounds like a bacterial infection.... possibly Columnaris.>
She also has one fin whose edge is white, I first thought fin rot, but am not sure. 
<Likely related to the other problem(s) present on her.>
So far I haven't seen any signs in my other swords. I also have a Betta and a Chinese butterfly sucker. The Betta has been a long time habitant of my tank, but I am noticing his tailfin is tattering on the ends, I was wondering if it was fin rot or aggressive swordtails? 
<Perhaps either/or. Observe the swords for any aggression toward the Betta, but I fear this may be bacterial as well, related to the same problem as the female sword.>
The swordtails are new and swim vigorously around the aquarium, so that is why I thought maybe they were picking at his fins. Thank you for any help you can give!! Tara
<On top of this, be testing/maintaining water quality - keep ammonia and nitrite at ZERO, nitrate less than 20ppm, with water changes. Wishing you well, -Sabrina>

Lumpy Swordtail - 09/21/2005
I have a male swordtail in a 20 gal tank.  I noticed a lump on his top of his body near the end of the top fin, and it appears to be getting bigger. I almost looks like a pimple that needs squeezed. I have 2 platy's, 2 female swordtails and another male swordtail in this tank as well. What is this?
<Many possibilities, here; there's just not enough information to go off.  I would recommend that you look up information on lymphocystis, Columnaris, and mycobacteriosis for starters.>
How can I treat it, and should I remove him from the community tank?
<Well, without knowing exactly what you're looking at, my first caution to you is to test your water quality; maintain ammonia and nitrite at ZERO, and nitrate at less than 20ppm, with water changes.  From there, see if the fish improves, and again, look into those diseases above.>
I would appreciate your help.
Thank You,  -Kim Coursin
<Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>