m.brent.rowe

Hi guys I have a bit of a problem. I've been keeping fish for a while now and I've been super lucky when it comes to death and disease. Up until a week ago I had only had one fish die on me and never had fish get sick. Which is a complete miracle seeing as how bad I was with my first fish Sonny, poor little guy is a fighter. Anyways I posted on the neon tetra forum the other week because one of my tetra's started swimming irregularly, it's eye was popped out and it died shortly after. Saturday it happened again with one of my white clouds. This is all really odd because I had bought the tetras and some new white clouds a little over a week ago. (All of this has truly taught me the vital importance of a quarantine tank) I feel stupid because I've had an old ten gallon tank cycling for a while now and it would have worked fine.

Okay sorry for all that but here is the actual problem. I've kept a male betta in my long twenty gallon tank for several months now (he's seperated by a divider mind you) and he's been so happy. I never expected that little guy, Rojo, to be so much fun and to really be a joy. He was a fighter from the start lol because I had a car wreck on the ride home from the lfs and he and I were both unharmed.

Once again I digress. I work third shift and I came in this morning and he was at the bottom of the tank. Which isn't highly unusual because he'll stay down there every once in a while when the lights are out. But he didn't come swimming up when I turned the lights on and opened up the flap to feed him. Even more unusual was the fact that he had no appetite. He's usually jumping out of the tank to get at his food. Then I noticed that his fins were clamped and his coloring was a little pale (he's red). So I put him in my ten gallon to quarantine him. I went to bed hoping he'd be well when I got up so I could deal with the problem. (I know that sounds like being a bad father but I'd just been up almost twenty four hours) I have some medicine for fin rot and popeye and other parasitic diseases and I started him on that. I'm pretty sure it's fin rot but any help will be appreciated. Thanks

ricktavious

I can not tell you what it is, but it does sound parasitic. Good luck getting your little guy better soon!

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore

i'd be inclined to say it's internal parasites or bacteria.. possibly septicemia.. do you have a picture of him that you could post? i'd hate to guess wrong and have you giving him the wrong meds.

what meds did you put in?

m.brent.rowe

I can't remember the exact name, tetracycline I think.

COBettaCouple

Parasite Clear tabs are what we use for internal parasites. Septicemia is the other probable cause and would need antibiotics in food form.. like Gel-Tek meds if you can find them locally.

m.brent.rowe

It's kinda hard because the nearest place is thirty minutes away and I work third shift.

ricktavious

I have seen Jungle Tabs for parasites at Wal-Mart. Maybe that will help you out!

chickadee

Pop-eye can be a symptom of some very serious problems especially if the other fish have been having the same symptoms. This is one of the symptoms of both dropsy and Fish TB. Do the fish seem to be either swelling or abnormally thinner? If so then other measures need to be taken and quickly. Kanaplex or Kanamycyn is the drug of choice for either of the problems listed in the books I have on hand but if the problem is only a mild infection Tetracycline in the form of somthing like Maracyn TC should work.

Most of the time though pop-eye is caused by abnormally high nitrate levels in the water and can be helped by frequent water changes in low nitrate water. Be sure to check the tap water nitrate levels. This is what caused my fish to get pop-eye one time when the tap water nitrate levels went sky high. It can take up to a week for the eye to revert to normal size and the water problems will have to be closely monitored from then on as water systems known to have fluctuating nitrates will have them again. I simply had to go to purchased Spring water by the gallon for my tanks during the summer months. I know!!!

Rose

m.brent.rowe

Well rojo died a little while ago but whatever is happening has started taking over my tank. One of my older white clouds has lost it's entire tail fin. I'm going to check my nitrite levels and I may go ahead and do a water change. That sounds like it could be the culprit because I'm in an area hit hard by the current drought and I wonder perhaps if water conditions have been changing. I'm going to test my levels right now. Also I don't know if I mentioned it here but I've considered popeye as one of the culprits as well, I posted on the tetra forums that the first fish that died had it's eye popped out, I just blamed it on the filter. Thanks for all the help you guys. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

COBettaCouple

we're sorry that you lost Rojo and agree that treating the tank now would be the way to go. Rose has you on the right track and i hope the other fish make it.

m.brent.rowe

Well I quarantined the other sick fish and have him on medicine. Do you think it would hurt to put medicine in the other tank even though the other fish show no signs of illness? Also I checked my nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia and all three were at normal. The ammonia was a little higher than favorable but not very much so. Everything else was at 0. I did a water change to be safe just in case it was the ammonia.

COBettaCouple

i'd hold off on the other tank if no fish in it have shown any symptoms, but would keep an eye on them for a few weeks to see if any symptoms show.

nmwierman1977

I am very sorry to hear about Rojo. I really hope that you can find out what's going with the tank and can get your other fish back to health. This may help:

http://www.klsnet.com/files/fishchart.htm



http://www.geocities.com/bettanutz/d...-remedies.html


http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/diseasehome.htm


Good luck!! Natalie

m.brent.rowe

Thanks for that list, I went to the first site and of all the diseases Septicemia fits the most symptoms of my fish so far. My one little white cloud is still sluggish and not really eating but he doesn't seem too worse for the wear despite his tailfin being gone. He can't swim very well so I'm just using my palm filter in the quarantine tank so he doesn't get caught in the current of the larger filters.