lksmith

I have a swordtail that seems to stay sick.* I have treated her with for several conditions in the past.* Now she has something I can't seem to diagnose.* The best way to describe it is that it looks like she has a fry towards her fin near her head and then there are bubble looking spots (under the skin) in her side (middle behind the gravid spot).* The spot in the front area is light with a dark grey tinge to it (it really looks like the eyes of a fry), but the three on the back end look more hollow and her color is gone in those locations.* *I noticed that these spots are getting larger and appear to be moving more towards the surface of the skin.* She is starting to look lumpy in those areas.* I have treated for a parasite, but that doesn't appear to be working.* Also, I noticed a very small amount of tiny black spots on her.* I hadn't noticed them before.* I am guessing she is fairly old as she is the largest swordtail I have seen.* She is easily over 2 inches.*

She has a hearty appatite.* In fact she acts as if she is starving.* I also noticed that the other fish are starting to pick on her and they never did that before.* Even one of her fry was picking at her.* (possibly trying to mate though).* She also has been laying at the bottom alot.* *Does anyone have any ideas as to what this might be?

vin

I'm not sure what it could be...But here is a chart of common diseases and parasites...Take a look at this and see if there is anything that describes what you see.

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

COBettaCouple

do you have a hospital tank that you can isolate her in? Just in case it's contagious and to keep her from being picked to death. I'm not sure what she has either, this is the first case like this that I've read about. Has she been pregnant recently? It sounds like something has gone wrong with her pregnancy, like she held onto fry too long.. but that's a guess. what are the water parameters in the tank and what do you treat the tap water with?

lksmith

Thank you. I have tried everything. I went to my local fish store and they told me that she is probably just aging and has tumors. He said they do cancer research on swordtails because tumors are so common in them? I am not sure that he knows what he is talking about, but I have tried treating her for parasites and bacterial infections. Now she is pregnant again!

On that topic, she was pregnant and got septicemia (or something like that). I thought she aborted the pregnancy, but then my son found one baby in the tank. Unfortunately, the baby didn't make it. So, it is possible that she was pregnant and carried the babies too long. at one time these mysterious spots did look like fry outside of the gravid spot. However, now these spots look like hollow bubbles. They are starting to surface a bit also. I don't know what else to do for her. She seems to be acting normal this weekend. She does seem to be starving all the time, but she does that when she is pregnant.

COBettaCouple

I wish i could help more, but perhaps the best thing to do is make her happy as possible in a tank where she won't be picked on and can get meds and/or vitamins.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...8&N=2004+22763 - these vitamins are good for your fish.

I'm not sure what med to treat her for, if she has tumors from aging, i don't think meds would be needed. Just vitamins, food and clean water and not being picked on. Maybe in a smaller tank or if you could put a seperator or one of those breeder boxes made of netting in the tank to keep her away from the fish picking on her. Then she could get the best quality of life and be a happy momma fish.