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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Please help!!
Hi there, I am new to Fish Lore and don't really know what I am doing yet, but I desperately need some advice please. Over the past 4 days one of my long finned Zebra Danios has become fat and the scales on her body look like they are covered with a whitey/pink "veil". Sorry don't know how else to describe it, and some of the scales have turned white and look like they are going to flake off. Its mouth is contiunuously opening and shutting. It is still eating and swimming around but does tend to spend a lot of time behind one of the plants.
Any ideas what may be wrong please? Should I go and ask advice from my aquarium shop? also its gills are red. i don't want my other fish (4 zebra's, 2 bronze and 2 peppered cat fish) to get ill 
Thank you | 
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| welcome to fishlore welsh dragon!!
Ive moved your thread so you can get attention and advice on your own tank as the other thread was something different!
do you know about the aquarium cycle process? if not, heres a good thread to read on asap http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
do you know the water parimeters for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? thats important to know asap too....if you dont have a test kit, its advisable to get one to know where your tank stands....if you can find an API liquid master test kit, they are very accurate and do 100s of tests.....
sounds like you could have a fungus going on as well as a tank thats not properly cycled..the red gills is usually ammonia poisioning which can be cured from daily water changes with either prime or amquel+ conditioner to help keep the fish safe..you have to do daily changes for a few weeks....
if you can measure your tanks length, width and depth, we can help you figure the size of it......good luck! | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hi welcome to FishLore
I'm sorry your fish aren't doing well.
When things start to go wrong one of the first thing to check is your water parameters.
What are your readings for ammonia nitrite and nitrate?
Red gills, gasping for breath and lying on the bottom are often signs of ammonia poisoning, so lets see if we can rule that out.
Are her scales sticking out like a pine cone? Is she pooing?
You might want to consider putting her in a quarentine tank so she doesn't get picked on or pass anything to the other fish.
Can you measure your tank so we can determine the size? In inches for me, but maybe someone else can figure out if you have to post in cm.  Dang Shawnie, you were quick! lol | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Hi, your info says you are aware of the cycle - do you know if your tank has cycled? How often do you clean it? | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Hello Welsh Dragon and Welcome to Fish Lore. The pink veil as you mentioned, does it look like it's actually pink under the scales? I agree with the above about it possibly being ammonia poisoning causing possible Septicemia and or Dropsy. Pristine water conditions are crucial right now. I suggest a 50% water change and add the chemical of your choice to "detox" the ammonia. (Prime and Amquel + , AmmoLock are all great) Your test results in the cycle mentioned above should have the results of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and under 20 nitrates.
If you can answer the questions above it will help a great deal. So sorry your fish are ill.
Ken | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. I really appreciate all your answers. I am at work at the moment, but will try to answer your questions about tank size etc when I get home. It actually started out as my boyfriends tank and fish but he has lost interest now (typical!) so I am looking after them now. He did a water change of about 10% last weekend, so should we do another today or tomorrow? | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| yes, and test the water if possible. | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| A quick clarification, test before changing the water.
Also, are you using strips or a liquid kit?
The liquid kits are more reliable than strips. | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| I'll be using a liquid kit. | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Dont worry you are in good hands here.
Post the results after you test, the only thing is we cant get prime in the uk without buying it on ebay and by now it probably wont get to you until tuesday. | 
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| hi everyone. i made a bit of a mistake as i thought we had a nitrate test kit, but it is a pH one we have, so i will have to get one tomorrow. anyway the ph is 7.5. have just done a 50% water change. yes it looks like her body is pink under the scales. i'm not sure if her scales are sticking out like a pine cone. would it be really obvious? yes she was pooing yesterday and the day before. my tank is 7.7 gallons and measures 19.7" x 9.8" x 11.8". | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| ph usually isnt an issue as most fish will acclimate to many different ranges as long as they are stable ....the water change will help allot..do you have a water conditioner?
tomorrow see if you can find an api liquid master test kit ..dont let them talk you into a strip test kit...and dont let them talk you into a ton of products (they will as they are out to make money most of the time) see if you can find the liquid kit, and amquel+ ....that will be all you need for now until we can figure out the water parimeters....keep the faith, we can all try to make this much easier on your and your fish babies! | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| thank you so much for your advice. yes i have water conditioner. i'm not sure if i will be able to get the products you suggest as i am in england and they might not be the same. what should i ask for? a nitrate test kit? and what is the amquel+ for? | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| you need an ammonia and a nitrIte test kit, nitrAte is relatively harmless in small doses to fish and with regular water changes wont ever be a problem.
Amquel+ helps to make the ammonia not poisonous to the fish for 24 hours, but I dont know if I have seen it over here.
did your fish perk up after the water change? | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Diggly, I've read a few people complain that Prime and Amelquel plus aren't available in England. Is there a comprable product you've found that is readily available? | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Lore Newbie
| ok i will go to the fish shop tomorrow and see what they have got that is similar. they were all swimming around after the water change so hopefully it will have done some good.  | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| well we can buy prime off of ebay but I find my problems usually happen on a friday lol so I wouldnt receive the prime until Tuesday and I couldnt sit there watching my fish suffer.
I usually do 60% daily water changes if I see any ammonia or nitrites and that almost killed me in my large tank but it was definitely worth it to see my fish happier and healthier at the end .
Edit: Thats good news that they are swimming around more. If you can do another 50% water change when you get up before you go out to get the test kits your fish should act even happier . | |
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October 16th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| I've used Tetra AmmoSafe, and that worked very fast, too. I don't hear about that brand here, but I liked it. Some people have also mentioned AmmoLock. You may want to check on its availability. | |
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