Are My Glo Fish Sick?

I don't mean to make this long but just want to make sure I give all the info that might help.
I have a 29 gallon Glo tank that has been up and running for about a month and a half. It cycled (I thought). I started with 4 Glo tetras and they all have seemed to be fine. A couple of days ago I added (too many fish I think) 3 more Glo Tetra and 3 Glo Danios. Before I added the additional Fish my four got along pretty well. After adding the 6, everyone was chasing everyone. It was crazy. I lost one of the Danios that night because he got the majority of his tail fin bitten off and he just gave in to stress from trying to get away from all the big guys. I felt so bad for it. It was much smaller than everyone else to start with. A few days later, today, I noticed that another one of my Danios (Blue) looks like he is dead. Turns out he is not, but he is definitely not doing well. His gills look red, I look at all the other light colored fish, Tetras and Danios (green, blue) that I added and they look red too. I can't imagine that the Blue Danio is normal, but are the others normal for Glo Tetras and you just see it better because of their lighter color? Are they sick? If I need to do something I also have a snail in the tank so I have to take that into consideration as well.

Water Parameters:
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
PH: 8.4



I am attaching some pictures too hoping that may help someone help me figure this out.

I really appreciate any and all feedback. I am so upset with myself for adding so many fish at one time if these guys are sick.

 

You didn't quarantine your fish before you added them? Hopefully it doesn't spread to the rest of your fish.

So it could be one of two things. Either those are Ammonia burns or it is a hemorrhagic septicemia.

The pictures of the sick fish, are all of them your new ones? Or are they a mixture of new and old? CindiL I think we need your help on this one.

 

No, I didn't. I am learning and now know that I should have. I am so sad. They are all new ones. I put Stability in when I put these guys in. I had just done a water change the day before used prime. The last two days I have put Stress Guard in the Tank to try and help everyone calm down and get settled.

 

Ok if it is just the new ones then lots of water changes might help. They could have had really bad water conditions before you got them. I would do a daily 50% water change with Prime & Stability for the next 3-4 days. Then see where you are. The good water conditions may turn everything around.

I am not surprised that the danio was picked on. Tetras are nippy fish. We have one in my tank I call Cannibal Lector because she killed my last remaining glo-danio. They will go for the weakest one and be pretty aggressive. I suggest pulling the remaining danios out of that tank and getting them into a smaller container of you can. To eliminate the stress. Even if it is a 3 gallon food safe container with a heater that would be ok for the short term.

 

My water had been a little cloudy and my ammonia had been up one notch from 0, but the owner at a LPS gave me some bacteria to put in the water. I waited two days, the water got better, still not totally clear, but I dosed my fish with prime the entire time. Did a water change added prime, and stability. Got the fish the next day or two and then I wrote above what I did when I put the fish in and since.

No, I didn't. I am learning and now know that I should have. I am so sad. They are all new ones. I put Stability in when I put these guys in. I had just done a water change the day before used prime. The last two days I have put Stress Guard in the Tank to try and help everyone calm down and get settled.

Ok if it is just the new ones then lots of water changes might help. They could have had really crappy water conditions before you got them. I would do a daily 50% water change with Prime & Stability for the next 3-4 days. Then see where you are. The good water conditions may turn everything around.

I am not surprised that the danio was picked on. Tetras are nippy fish. We have one in my tank I call Cannibal Lector because she killed my last remaining glo-danio. They will go for the weakest one and be pretty aggressive. I suggest pulling the remaining danios out of that tank and getting them into a smaller container of you can. To eliminate the stress. Even if it is a 3 gallon food safe container with a heater that would be ok for the short term.

They really do pick!! I hope water changes will correct it. My water was in check by the time I put them in, but I feel like I could miss something too. I felt so sorry for that little orange guy. I will surprised if the blue one is alive in the morning. Honestly, I can't believe he made it through the day. Ok, 50% water changes here we come for the next 3-4 days and I will report back what happens. Thank you so much for your help and feedback. I really appreciate it.

 

You may need to treat with Antibiotics, but I think that water changes will help the most at this point. Don't add anymore fish to the tank until you get it all figured out though.

You can get a cheap 10 gallon glass qt set up at Walmart for $29. All you would need is a heater. I highly recommend it.

 

No, definitely not adding anymore fish since I discovered this today. Come to think of it, the green tetra actually may have been one of the original four. I know the others are not. I will have to go look at them tomorrow morning to see if I can reverify.

Just for clarification you don't put a filter in a qt tank just a heater?

 

No, definitely not adding anymore fish since I discovered this today. Come to think of it, the green tetra actually may have been one of the original four. I know the others are not. I will have to go look at them tomorrow morning to see if I can reverify.

Just for clarification you don't put a filter in a qt tank just a heater?

Definitely put a filter in the QT tank, with old media. It comes with a filter though, I think she meant you would only have to buy a heater separately

 

Yes sorry I meant the 10 gallon was a kit. Comes with a filter and lid/light for $29. You would just need to buy the heater separately. They have cheap ones at Walmart for $15. They are preset so they aren't the greatest, but they work in a pinch. I have one for my 2 gallon hospital tank. Works just fine.

 

That last fish is certainly very ill. It could be from parasites or TB. TB is rather rare and parasites is far more common. I would treat with prazipro in that condition.

 

ok, I figured it would need a filter, but just wanted to make sure. I can't find the little blue guy this morning. I am assuming he passed and perhaps my snail had him for a midnight snack? I can check my local fish store and see if they have prazipro, otherwise, I will have to order on Amazon and it will be another day or two before it arrives. I don't see online that Petco or Petsmart carry it.

 

The last 1 looked very sick. Usually when a fish gets that thin and dies its an internal parasite.
Both danios and tetras are known fin nippers. That being said at first the fighting is intense. After a while it calms down because dominance has been established and a pecking order figured out. This intense fin nipping will start again when more fish are added. Then it calm down again.
Getting back to your sick fish. As stated they need to be quarantined. If there is 1 dead in the tank it will get eaten and disease spreads. For the sake of the rest of the school pull all sick fish out and quarantine or euthanize the really sick ones.

 

So my daughter confirmed for me this morning that the green tetra was one of the original four. I didn't think so at first, but then the more I thought about it I was second guessing myself. All the rest are new fish.... I guess that might change the theory of what could be happening. I am going to continue with 50% water changes for the next couple of days until I can get my hands on some prazipro. There seems to be some mixed info on whether it is safe to use with shrimp and snails in the tank??? Anyone know for sure?

The last 1 looked very sick. Usually when a fish gets that thin and dies its an internal parasite.
Both danios and tetras are known fin nippers. That being said at first the fighting is intense. After a while it calms down because dominance has been established and a pecking order figured out. This intense fin nipping will start again when more fish are added. Then it calm down again.
Getting back to your sick fish. As stated they need to be quarantined. If there is 1 dead in the tank it will get eaten and disease spreads. For the sake of the rest of the school pull all sick fish out and quarantine or euthanize the really sick ones.

You don't think I need to treat the whole tank verses pulling just those couple of fish out?

 

You don't think I need to treat the whole tank verses pulling just those couple of fish out?

At this point you should treat the whole tank. Do you have live plants?

 

I would treat the entire tank. Prazipro is invert safe though I would remove the snail and have it purge in clean water for a couple of days since they commonly feed on the dead infected fish and are known cause of spreading parasites.

I would also do a dip on the very sick fish

 

Ok, I transferred a snail from another tank that was in a tank with two fish that had two fish that had possible parasites. I had to euthanize two fish out of that tank but all the other fish have been fine and I have had no other issues. I didn't realize that snails were known to transfer prarasites. I wonder if he brought something in then. I was never able to determine if those two fish had parasites or not but they got sick, I spent a long time trying to save them and I ultimately had to euthanize. All the other fish in that tank seem to have been fine since.

Ok, I will pull the snail out and have him purge in some clean water. As far as dips go are you talking epsom salt or aquarium salt?

 

Ok, I transferred a snail from another tank that was in a tank with two fish that had two fish that had possible parasites. I had to euthanize two fish out of that tank but all the other fish have been fine and I have had no other issues. I didn't realize that snails were known to transfer prarasites. I wonder if he brought something in then. I was never able to determine if those two fish had parasites or not but they got sick, I spent a long time trying to save them and I ultimately had to euthanize. All the other fish in that tank seem to have been fine since.

Ok, I will pull the snail out and have him purge in some clean water. As far as dips go are you talking epsom salt or aquarium salt?

Neither, Medical bath.

Snails will feed on the dead infected fish. Healthy fish will eat the infected snail poop and catch the parasite.

These type parasites are highly contagious and all fish should be treated for their health

 

Neither, Medical bath.

Snails will feed on the dead infected fish. Healthy fish will eat the infected snail poop and catch the parasite.

These type parasites are highly contagious and all fish should be treated for their health

Ok, never done a medical bath before only salt baths. So, you guys are suggesting a medical bath of parazipro for the ones that are showing symptoms and treating the tank in top of that? After the bath I would put the infected fish back in the medicated tank water?

I really don't mean to sound like a dummy...

 

Ok, never done a medical bath before only salt baths. So, you guys are suggesting a medical bath of parazipro for the ones that are showing symptoms and treating the tank in top of that? After the bath I would put the infected fish back in the medicated tank water?

I really don't mean to sound like a dummy...

No. Questions are good. No worries.

Yes bathe and treat the tank and it's best to keep the obviously sick ones QTd but you can return them to the tank if that's not an option.

Medicated bath directions will be on the bottle of prazipro.

I do 30 min dips and if no stress one hour

 

I totally agree. If one of the original is sick too, then treat the whole tank. Plus do the medicated baths. Hopefully we can get them through this. I use Prazipro myself when I get new fish. It is very gentle and very safe to use. Hopefully it helps! Keep us posted.

Oh and get a qt tank for the future it will save you all the trouble in the long run.

 

One of those cheap 5/10 gallon Wal-Mart kits are perfect for a QT. You can always use a plastic storage tote as well. A glass vase with a small air pump and a block of foam can be used to keep cycled media on hand. This way you have an instant filter without having to have an entire aquarium up and running. Its important not to keep the QT media in your aquarium especially if it's your only aquarium. This way you have clean media that you know is disease free. I used to cut a single foam block in half and move half over to the QT when I needed it and then after treating ill fish sterilizr it and move it back to the clean environment to reestablish. This way I wasn't constantly cycling.

 

I don't know what it is but I had another one that was in a community tank with other tetra and I ended up having to euthanize him because he got so big. He quit eating for a while, then starting eating again, his swimming slowed a bit because he was so large but he kept trying and seemed happy. I gave him baths, tried all types of meds, peas, no food, once he started eating again, nothing would bring his belly back in. I was so hard to let him go, but his scales got to the point where they were cracking off. I wish you better luck than I had, and your guy doesn't end up like mine.

These are actually the two from my other tank that I ended up having to put down. They got worse than these pics. It was horrible and they were buddies!!!

 

Dartzy's question has been moved to its own thread Overfed Or Sick?

 

View attachment 326051 View attachment 326052 I don't know what it is but I had another one that was in a community tank with other tetra and I ended up having to euthanize him because he got so big. He quit eating for a while, then starting eating again, his swimming slowed a bit because he was so large but he kept trying and seemed happy. I gave him baths, tried all types of meds, peas, no food, once he started eating again, nothing would bring his belly back in. I was so hard to let him go, but his scales got to the point where they were cracking off. I wish you better luck than I had, and your guy doesn't end up like mine.

These are actually the two from my other tank that I ended up having to put down. They got worse than these pics. It was horrible and they were buddies!!!

Did you get your glow fish from a LFS or direct from Glowfish? Just curious...in sorry you lost them.

 

One of those cheap 5/10 gallon Wal-Mart kits are perfect for a QT. You can always use a plastic storage tote as well. A glass vase with a small air pump and a block of foam can be used to keep cycled media on hand. This way you have an instant filter without having to have an entire aquarium up and running. Its important not to keep the QT media in your aquarium especially if it's your only aquarium. This way you have clean media that you know is disease free. I used to cut a single foam block in half and move half over to the QT when I needed it and then after treating ill fish sterilizr it and move it back to the clean environment to reestablish. This way I wasn't constantly cycling.

I have a small 2 gallon tank I think that can be used for QT but I don't have any media to put in it that is not contaminated at this point... ugh! It won't be cycled.... that won't be good for sick fish will it?

Did you get your glow fish from a LFS or direct from Glowfish? Just curious...in sorry you lost them.

The pink one that you see there I got from a LFS. Thanks for the condolences. ❤️

 

Most of the time qt's aren't cycled. Because when you treat with antibiotics it will kill the cycle anyways. I wouldn't move them to a qt at this point since your original fish are also showing signs of illness. Treat them all in the same tank. Prazipro won't affect your cycle.

 

Update, couldn't get any parizpro on Friday so the owner of my LFS gave me some Clout? I pulled my snail out and he is in a bucket. I did a partial water change and administered the Clout. He told me to dose for 20 gallons instead of 30 because the meds are 1 tablet for every 10 gallons. Today the fish look maybe a little better but not much. Directions say to do a 25% water change and dose again and that is what he told me to do as well if they were still sick. Should I do a higher dose and what are thoughts about Clout?
Wondering if I need to go ahead and order the Parizpro?

 

I don't think you need the Prazipro. Go ahead and continue with the clout treatment as directed. If your fish look better then stick with what is working.

If it was me I would just do the 20 gallon dose. Most meds are time release, so if you cut them in half it will add too much all at once.

I would probably do 3 rounds total and then see where you are.

 

ok, thanks. I gave the second treatment. Fingers crossed they make some major improvement tonight and tomorrow.

First of all...thank you to all who have responded and are trying to help me with these guys! Unfortunately, I am not sure they look any better. I feel like all the fish definitely have it now. The good news is I haven't lost any of them. So, the Clout must be doing something??? I do however feel like they should have made more progress at this point though. I can do one more treatment of Clout today, but then where do I go from there?
Here are some updated pictures. I thought they might be getting better but I am not so sure today. All of them are still swimming around, non acting lethargic or showing signs of distress yet.

 

I would get some antibiotics to treat. Since the Med you are using is a anti-parasitic. You need to switch.

Kanaplex is my first choice. Get enough meds to treat the tank 2-3 times.

 

Ok, that sounds like a plan.

Regarding the Clout, shouldn't it have made my water turn blue?

 

Ok, that sounds like a plan.

Regarding the Clout, shouldn't it have made my water turn blue?

I have no idea. I have never used it before. Usually if it turns your water blue it has methylene blue in the medication as an added med. so if it isn't listed as an ingredient, then I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I totally agree. If one of the original is sick too, then treat the whole tank. Plus do the medicated baths. Hopefully we can get them through this. I use Prazipro myself when I get new fish. It is very gentle and very safe to use. Hopefully it helps! Keep us posted.

Oh and get a qt tank for the future it will save you all the trouble in the long run.

Hello!! I have an update. I don't know if I share the good news or the bad news first. My 29 gallon Glo Fish tank. I pulled my snail out treated the fish with clout and saw no results. So, next step I put my snail back in and have treated the tank with Kanaplex for 6 days now (3 treatments). Snail has been doing fine and the fish seem to look better I think. The redness is not gone, but I think it is less intense. I will post pictures later this morning and would like other opinions.

Until yesterday all fish were alive, but I found my pink Danio dead yesterday morning. It was the smallest fish in the tank and I didn't notice any other issues with it.

So now I am at a crossroads, do I keep treating? If so, with what? I am wondering now if this might be some sort of ammonia burn or chemical burn that I didn't catch when trying to clear my cloudy water. Thoughts?

So here is where I have become an ultimate failure in fish keeping. I can hardly even type the words I am so embarrassed. All three of my tanks are sick. While all of this is going on with my 29 gallon, I detect that I have 2 Rummy Nose Tetras in my 10 gallon that have gotten Ich. I go and look closely at my 20 gallon and I have 2 Black Neons that have come down with Ich as well. I start treating both tanks with Paraguard. In the 10 gallon tank the visible white spots have gone away on all fish. I am going to continue to treat for another week unless I should something different.

My 20 gallon is a different story. It has been a nightmare. I don't feel like the Paragaurd is doing anything in that tank. I read that when treating that it will get worse before it gets better.... well it got worse!!! The Black Neons became so overcome by Ich that one lost his tail fin and couldn't swim anymore.
My shrimp was eating him alive. I thought I was going to die I was so upset.
The other was just as bad so I pulled them both yesterday and euthanized them with clove oil. My Black guys were not the only ones who got it... my Betta has it, but not as bad. I do feel like he has been on deaths door for a week but has continued to hang in there. As far as I could tell my Blue Neons have been fine (I think) until last night.

Yesterday, I did about an 80% water change to try and get as many of the critters out as I could and get some fresh clean water in there. My water parameters were all 0 except Nitrates 10-20, before I changed the water. I left the house right after I did the water change and when I came home all my Neons were pale as could be and had red gills. My Betta was lying at the bottom breathing like he has been for the last week and a half. When I changed the water I used Prime, Stability, and Stress Gaurd. I have a feeling I am going to loose all my fish except the two bottom feeders and shrimp.
Should I continue on with Paragaurd? I feel like everything I do is wrong and just makes matters worse. My 20 gallon has been up and running for about 5 months. I don't know what to do with my 29 glo or my 20 Freshwater??? Can anyone piece this together and give guidance. I feel like such a failure and I am spending hours daily on all three tanks trying to save these fish because I don't want to loose anymore and I don't want to quit.

 

Ohhhh noo! I wonder what the heck is going on with your tanks?!

First thing is that I wouldn't do another Kanaplex treatment. I think the max is 3 rounds isn't it? It should say right on the box. I would consider a 4th treatment only if it is ok, according to the directions.

Is there anyway to combine the tanks? Putting all the fish with ich into one tank? It might help you manage it easier.

Ok so the tanks with ich. I would just do heat treatment. Turn the temp up to 86-88. Slowly over a couple of hours. This is the easiest method and you won't have to worry about meds at all. You may notice that the ich cysts get worse the first 3-4 days. That is normal. They will start to get better after that. If they don't get better, I would inch the temp up to at the very highest 90. Sometimes those cysts are stubborn. You will have to do deep cleaning/vacuuming every day or every other day. The cysts fall off, into the substrate and you must remove them from the tank through vacuuming. Or else your fish may be reinfected later. You will leave the heat up for 14 days after the cysts are gone. So it may be up to 3 weeks. Depending on how quickly it goes away.

Are you using one water changer between the 3 tanks? Because if you are using the same equipment for all 3, you are spreading the disease between all 3. I keep hand held siphon/vacuums for all 3 tanks. I have 1 python that I use for the biggest tank to vacuum and fill. But I hand siphon the 2 small 10gallons, and only refill them using the python. My qt tank I don't share any equipment at all. Not the test tubes or the buckets or siphon. Nothing. Don't want to cross contaminate. So something to consider.

If you want you can also Aquarium Salt to the ich tanks. 1tsp of AQ salt per gallon of water. It doesn't get filtered out or absorbed by carbon. It only can be removed with water changes. So when you do change the water you will need to add it back in.

Remove a large glass of tank water. Dissolve AQ salt in tank water, then add the salted water back to the tank slowly over several hours. If you change 1 gallon of water, then add 1tsp of salt to the 1 gallon of replacement water, and add to the tank normally.

You can use salt in both tanks, actually. The AQ salt can help with irritation from ammonia burns also. And is safe to use with antibiotics.

For your glo-fish, can you refresh my memory on what you have used so far in their tank? Did you ever use Prazipro? (Praziquantel) or Jungle Fungus Clear (nitrofurazone)? What about erythromycin? Just trying to decide what to do next.

KimberlyG what do you think?

 

Here are the updated pics of the Glo Fish. Regarding the Ich tanks, I don't think I can combine because each has a Betta and some Tetra and bottom feeders. Bettas obviously can't go together. I had thought about turning up the temp on both tanks, they currently stay at 80 all the time, but I was worried that the Tetras and inverts and scaleless couldn't handle it. So, I decided just to treat with meds. That is also why I haven't already added aquarium salt.
In my 10 gallon the spots are gone. My 20, the tetras look much better this morning. Their color has come back and redness in gills has softened but there is still some pink. My Betta is lying on his side covered in spots still, breathing, but not moving for food or anything. So, with tetras, shrimp, cory's, and plecos, can they take the temp that high and the salt?

I don't share nets but do share siphon and bucket. However, I rinse them both out with steaming hot water in between uses. I have separate buckets that I use to fill and only clean water goes in those for all tanks. I have always been worried about sharing the bucket and siphon but everyone I have asked said it should be fine, especially since was rinsing with steaming hot water. So you think I need to get 2 more buckets and siphons.

Glo Fish I have treated with Clout and Kanaplex. According to the directions I can't treat with kanaplex anymore...
This is such a mess!!!

 

I am glad that the ich seems to be resolving. For your betta that isn't doing very well. Can you get a picture of him? I wonder if something else is going on besides ich.

For your glo-fish tank I honestly would just let it settle for a day. See if they continue to improve. You may have cured it, now they just need to recover. Feed high protein/high calorie foods to help with healing. See where you are in 24-48 hours.

What kind of cories? I don't think Shrimp can handle the temp fluctuation. Cories are super sensitive to salt, but the 1tsp per gallon is a very very low concentration. Usually they do ok with it. I would maybe even under dose a little. I would probably stick with ich meds instead of heat, since you have a sensitive community.

 

Ok, I will add salt to both tanks. What about my Glo tank? Would you add salt to that one too? My Glo tank has an Apple Snail that is about the size of a golf ball.

My Betta definitely has fin rot too, but that did not start until the Ich did and from what I understood the Paraguard was supposed to treat the Ich and fin rot. If you see anything else or have any other suggestions please let me know. As of yesterday he stopped eating. He just lays on the bottom now, but he will switch places from time to time. Continuing with Ich meds, so you would what % water changes every 24 or 48 hours.

Here are some pics of him.

 

I see some ich on your betta, but I don't see fin rot ,just a few injuries.

 

Paraguard should take care of the ich for you. With the Mystery Snail you really can't turn that heat up any higher than about 82. They don't like it. It will take several days of treatment before you notice a difference. I am not sure if you can use the ich med and Jungle Fungus Clear tabs at the same time. But JFC is recommended for finrot, along with lots of water changes. I would deal with the ich first. Then see where you stand with the fin rot. I see maybe a little rot, not much though.

I would use AQ salt in the glo-fish tank too.

I would be doing 50% water changes daily or every other day.

 

Thanks! I will add Aq salt tonight. I am also going to put the carbon back in the filter in my Glo tank. I am going to continue paragaurd in the Ich tanks and see what happens for the next 24-48 hours. I am also going to get two additional Siphons tomorrow. Thanks again..
I will let you know...