Danio In really bad shape! PLEASE HELP.!

[Edub]

Hello all,
I have a sick fish emergency and have filled out the emergency info below. I’m curious if this is swim bladder related or something worse. Please help!
Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 75G
How long has the tank been running? 1year
Does it have a filter? Yes-aqueon LED pro power filter 75
Does it have a heater? No
What is the water temperature? 74 degrees
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.) 8 Giant danios, 1 comet goldfish, albino bushy nose plecostomus .

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? 25% once a week, 50 % with substrate vacuum once a month
How much of the water do you change?
What do you use to treat your water? API Stress coat
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? Substrate as well

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? Yes
What do you use to test the water? API freshwater test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia:0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate:10ppm
pH: 7.6

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish?once a day
How much do you feed your fish? Two pinches
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Tetra goldfish flakes
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? Occasionally frozen blood worms

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish?8 months
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? 3 days ago
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Started with her sitting still at top of water. Now she is swimming in a small circle and pushing her head into the substrate. Also seems as if she can’t keep her tail end down.
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Water changes and added aquarium salt
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
Swimming and bobbing into ground is new . No change in appearance.
Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

Started with her sitting still at top of water. Now she is swimming in a small circle and pushing her head into the substrate. Also seems as if she can’t keep her tail end down. Also hasn’t eaten last day or two that I could see.


 

[AquaBaby]

Hi, Edub. Welcome to Fishlore. Im sorry having a sick fish prompted you to join, but I hope you like it here.

I'm sorry you've had to wait so long for any sort of response. Let's see if a little more information will help us figure out what's going on.

Have you added ANYTHING new to the tank in the last month? Other fish or a new rock? Anything?

Are your water parameters listed above before or after a water change? If after, do you know what they were / how high they got before the water change?

EDIT
Also, it's difficult to tell in the pictures... is the fish thin? And any rapid breathing or change in the appearance of the poop?

 

[Edub]

Hi, Edub. Welcome to Fishlore. Im sorry having a sick fish prompted you to join, but I hope you like it here.

I'm sorry you've had to wait so long for any sort of response. Let's see if a little more information will help us figure out what's going on.

Have you added ANYTHING new to the tank in the last month? Other fish or a new rock? Anything?

Are your water parameters listed above before or after a water change? If after, do you know what they were / how high they got before the water change?

EDIT
Also, it's difficult to tell in the pictures... is the fish thin? And any rapid breathing or change in the appearance of the poop?

Hi ,
Thanks for the response. I have been following the group for the past year but this prompted me to finally post. Breathing quicker last day. No change in appearance of poop. Prior to the water changes the PH had got to 7.8 but is now back to 7.4. I really appreciate any help.

 

[Megaanemp]

There is other things we can’t test for that may build up in a tank besides ammonia nitrite and nitrate. I would suggest doing a 50% water change once a week. I would do a 50-75% water change now it might help.

 

[AquaBaby]

Unfortunately nothing is jumping out at me as to a cause.....unless the ph changed rapidly. If you've been reading through Fishlore for a year, I'm sure you've read how important a steady ph is. And, I've read that a change of as little as 0.3 in a 24 hr period can cause stress.


(From the LiveAquaria website under water chemistry)

The ph scale is logarithmic.



So, you can see that the change in your ph of just 0.4 is actually a change in acidity/alkalinity of 2.5 times. Could this potentially cause an issue? With planted tanks and tanks running CO2, this is something people stay on top of. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with ph fluctuations. I don't know what symptoms this might cause. I hope someone that's dealt with this will chime in on this thought.

Do you know what caused your fluctuation? Are you adding anything to change ph? In the first post, you say 7.6 ph, then the ph got up to 7.8, and now is at 7.4. So, I think something is going on here.

Clean, clean water is always good when a fish is exhibiting symptoms and you're not sure what the cause is. But, if the source water has a different ph than your tank, this may cause more issues. So, right at the moment I'm conflicted to tell you to do water changes or to see if we can get to the bottom of the ph fluctuation first.

Also, is the fish constantly in this head down position or is it sporadic?

EDIT
I didn't mention what it's called in case you want to do some research. It's called ph shock.

 

[Edub]

Unfortunately nothing is jumping out at me as to a cause.....unless the ph changed rapidly. If you've been reading through Fishlore for a year, I'm sure you've read how important a steady ph is. And, I've read that a change of as little as 0.3 in a 24 hr period can cause stress.

View attachment 752195
(From the LiveAquaria website under water chemistry)

The ph scale is logarithmic.

View attachment 752196

So, you can see that the change in your ph of just 0.4 is actually a change in acidity/alkalinity of 2.5 times. Could this potentially cause an issue? With planted tanks and tanks running CO2, this is something people stay on top of. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with ph fluctuations. I don't know what symptoms this might cause. I hope someone that's dealt with this will chime in on this thought.

Do you know what caused your fluctuation? Are you adding anything to change ph? In the first post, you say 7.6 ph, then the ph got up to 7.8, and now is at 7.4. So, I think something is going on here.

Clean, clean water is always good when a fish is exhibiting symptoms and you're not sure what the cause is. But, if the source water has a different ph than your tank, this may cause more issues. So, right at the moment I'm conflicted to tell you to do water changes or to see if we can get to the bottom of the ph fluctuation first.

Also, is the fish constantly in this head down position or is it sporadic?

EDIT
I didn't mention what it's called in case you want to do some research. It's called ph shock.

My apologies, I believe I had a typo in there. When I did a water test the ph was 7.8, So I added PH down 7.5, and performed a 25% wc. My most recent test showed 7.4. These are all post fish showing these symptoms .
The head down is fairly often. Today seems to be spending more time at top of tank but will dive to bottom with head down. Also wedges self under rock over hang to almost rest.

 

[Megaanemp]

My apologies, I believe I had a typo in there. When I did a water test the ph was 7.8, So I added PH down 7.5, and performed a 25% wc. My most recent test showed 7.4. These are all post fish showing these symptoms .
The head down is fairly often. Today seems to be spending more time at top of tank but will dive to bottom with head down. Also wedges self under rock over hang to almost rest.

While pH swings aren’t great danios are pretty tough I’m not sure if that would be enough to do it but maybe?

 

[AquaBaby]

They are known to be pretty hardy guys, indeed! But, if the ph isn't kept stable, and having swings for 8 months could start showing.... or if things have been stable and you have a sudden change and one guy is a bit more susceptible... possible cause? With nothing else jumping out, it was something to explore.

So, what's is the source water ph? Have you tested it both immediately out of the tap and collecting a sample and testing after 24 hours?

What are you wanting your tank ph to be at?

I still don't know if this is the issue, but it's worth looking into....

So, other than changing ph is there anything that you've added or changed in the tank in the last, say, month?

EDITED for clarity

 

[Megaanemp]

while pH swings aren’t great Danios are pretty tough. I’m not sure if that would be enough to do it, it’s possible though especially if the fish is older or has some other problem compounding the issue. But I dont drip acclimate or anything and my tanks pH is different form the pet stores and I’ve never has an issue.