Dark_Rider2k3

I really don't know what's going wrong. I came home today and found that one of my Otocinclus was dead, pale white. I did a water change immediately, but now my zebra danios are sick. It's spreading like wildfire, and so I have my Zebra's QT'ed. I am not sure if I should QT them all, but I do not know what is going on.

I noticed that my zebras would swim around and act normally for a few seconds, and then they would stop and lay on their sides acting real sick.

I do not see any physical signs, as they look fine on the outside. None of my other fish (the White Clouds and the upside-down catfish) exhibit these behaviors and they act just fine.

Water Params in 1 sec

edit:

ammonia is at 0 (I have a ton of java moss and a fern sucking it all up)
nitrite is at 10
nitrate is at 0
Temp is at 78F
pH is 6.8

Cody

the nitrite is a little high and the ph isnt to low but if thats lower than it normaly is or low for your area. there could of been a waste build up. ottos can be sensitive. dainos are very hardy, and so are white cloulds. moniter the situtoin

COBettaCouple

Do you mean 10 for nitrate and 0 for nitrite? 10 on nitrites would be very lethal.

If so, you could be looking at an internal bacterial outbreak or an internal parasite outbreak.. my guess would be bacterial if they're swimming around and eating.

Dark_Rider2k3

Oops i'm sorry.. yeah I meant 10 for Nitrate.. (I was freaking out when i typed that.. lol)

I fed them this morning but at that time they were fine and normal. They will not eat now, however.

It's getting worse too... I am going to have to treat the whole tank, as now my WC's are sick. =(.

This is crazy =(... I wanted to come back and say how happy my fish are and everything but it's turned into a crazy-fest of ?'s and problems LOL

Well, what medications should I go out and get?

Thanks a lot!!

edit:

this is horrible.. i'm down to 4 healthy WC's and no healthy Zebras...

I have moved my healthy fish out of the tank for now.. and am going to do a total cleaning of i think..

is that a good idea?

edit3:

as I was going to get master lee out of the tank, He started to exhibit the same signs as the others (floating almost dead, then suddenly regaining himself and swimming around to repeat)

edit4:

All fish in the QT tank are settling down. They do not show signs of improvement but also don't show signs of getting worse.

I did, however, lose all but 1 Otocinclus =(.

COBettaCouple

Is there anyway to post a pic or vid? I'm not certain it is internal bacterial in nature, but if it were our tank I would probably look for one of these 2 meds:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...8&pcatid=16818

Dark_Rider2k3

I'm going out today to get it and see if it works. I'll try to post a vid in a sec for you.

edit:

well... ummm...

it's going to be hard to get you a good video of the fish, as they are all acting healthy. One of my Zebra Danios was dead this morning, but the rest are acting fine...

The only thing I can say distinctly about them is that they are all crowded together at the very bottom of the tank, and still ignore food. They are also hanging around 1 spot.

I'll get you a vid shortly and some pics anyways

COBettaCouple

Where is the spot in relation to the heater and filter?

Dark_Rider2k3

They are fairly close.. should I move them?

As an update, I got the medications, and after a huge water change of approx. 50-60%, I gave them the meds. I am also wondering if they have Swim bladder, as recent symptoms shown on 2 of my Zebra Danio are trouble with swimming, and the one stays near the top of the water, while the other is down on the bottom, but they never swim up or down...

The other white clouds seem fine.. I am not 100% sure how they are, as they don't seem as active.

Other then that, the only real healthy one that I can see is my Upside-down catfish. I am watching him now and he's swimming about, finding some spot to suck on the glass (which he just found haha)

edit: as for the fish being at the top, it's 3:22 A.M when I took this pic haha.. I can't sleep =/

COBettaCouple

I was just thinking they might be wanting warmer temps if they were hanging out near the heater a lot.

Dark_Rider2k3

lol yeah i see... well that isn't the case (though my catfish LOVES that heater.. when he's not sleeping in his "dojo", he's hanging around the heater.

Good news today though! The fish are now eating, even the really sick Zebras. As of now, only 2 Zebras are showing prominent signs of being sick (they cannot control their up/down movement through the water, are so are swimming around the surface of the water)

I think i'll continue treatment for swim bladder, as it seems to be helping a lot =).

Although I lost a few of my fish, I am glad they are all not dead ya know?

Oh yeah, and btw CO thanks for helping me with everything. I got my tank moved, and my fish are getting better =).

COBettaCouple

Glad to hear it and hopefully things will settle in the tank now & the fish all get back to healthy.

Dark_Rider2k3

Thanks a lot!

As a final update to this, all the fish are much better. The sick zebras have regained their balance and are back in the school, and my otos are right now happily munching on a cucumber =)

Thanks again!

COBettaCouple

Great! Those are some tough little otos - they have a reputation for being fragile, but yours are sounding pretty hearty to make it through this.

Dark_Rider2k3

haha yeah. I lost 2 out of them (may the rest in piece), but the others were hanging in their tough. I don't think they were even infected that bad, as the only real signs I had that they were sick were being sluggish. They were eating (whereas the other fish were not) so man.. yeah they were hanging in tough!

I gotta say they are fun to watch sometimes. Usually if my fish swim close to my sleeping cat, the cat will get upset and scare them away (not intentionally though lol), but my otos were eating the algae right next to him (even brushing up against him!) and he didn't mind it at all.