Ruby doesn't look too good

When ever I look over to the tank with her and Emerald, she is just sitting on the bottom as if she is sulking and won't move until she either sees me or I hit the table they are sitting and send a few vibrations through the water. I don't know what is wrong. Please help.
Tom

 

Make sure the water perameters are good, and increase frequency of waterchanges. Until someone can identify what is going on, waterchanges becoming more frequent can not hurt and can act to remove the parasites and bacteria in 99.99999 percent of tanks. Removal of said bacteria and parasites will keep the chances of her being infected or infested lower, because if she has something wrong with her that lowers her immune system they could take advantage of that.

Good luck.

 

Thanks. I will change the water at my lunch break.
Tom

 

Is she eating normally? Has her color faded or is she showing any stress stripes?

 

Strange, this is what Keiji's doing. Earlier in the week, it was just that about every other time I looked at him, he was on the bottom of his tank. Now, however, he's there nearly constantly. Only when I tap on the side of the tank (something he's come to relate to feeding time, because we've got to tap on the tank to get him to turn the right direction to see his food. He's not very smart) does it seem like he moves.
The water parameters are great. There is no ammonia, no nitrites, and the plants have soaked up all but the barest hint of the nitrates.
The only two things in the tank that are different from before are: There is a large number of malaysian trumpet snails, and there's this green-blue algae that grows in strands covering a lot of stuff in the tank. I can vacuum it up really easily, but it grows back in a couple of days.

 

Be careful. Blue-green algae can be toxic to fish sometimes. I have it in Daphne's tank and no matter how often I clean it out it comes back. She's been eating it too and now she is sick. I am starting to wonder if it's the algae?

 

Is she eating normally? Has her color faded or is she showing any stress stripes?

She still eats like a little pig(a day lol). Her color is still the same as when I got her, just a little bit brighter then usual. The only problem is that she is a white colored betta so I can't really see if she has any stress stripes.
Tom

 

Be careful. Blue-green algae can be toxic to fish sometimes. I have it in Daphne's tank and no matter how often I clean it out it comes back. She's been eating it too and now she is sick. I am starting to wonder if it's the algae?

Ya, there is some of the blue-green algae in her tank, how would I go about getting rid of it?
Tom

 

I have read that Erythromycin (Maracyn) kills the cyanobacteria in blue-green algae, and that a couple days treatments are all that's needed to get rid of it. I haven't tried it yet on my tank. I don't have any spare tanks to move the girls to in order to treat the tank only.
Right now frequent vacuuming and water changes as well as scraping it off the glass and divider are all I can do. I took apart my whole filter and scrubbed that too as it was inside there too.

 

I put them in a bigger tank and let you know if the Maracyn works or not. I will pick some up later when I can get a car. Can you show a link that shows pic of it, so I don't buy the wrong thing and then kill everything in the tank.
Tom

 

Well, I'm glad I brought that up. I had just vacuumed it all up a couple of hours ago. I think I'm going to have to pull KeijI out and put him in the quarantine tank (along with a few of the Trumpet snails), and then put the antibiotics in the tank.

I can't get a picture of the stuff, but I can try to describe it.
The stuff looks more like slime than more algae. It creates a web across pretty much anything (it runs from my water wysteria to the driftwood in the tank without ever touching the bottom of the tank). It is a really deep shade of bluish green, more green than blue, and will break off in sheets if vacuumed up.

 

Yeah, that's what mine looks like too... slime. Even my snail refused to eat it. I'm worried because Daphne seemed to like nibbling on it.

 

Here is an article about blue/green algae on how to get rid of it and prevent it. Hope it helps.



Natalie

 

Thank you, Natalie. That was extremely helpful, and it fits my description almost perfectly. I'm guessing that my problem came from me missing too many bits of dying plant in the tank, as there's only one small betta (and he is small for a betta) in a 10 gallon tank.
So it's off to a pet store tomorrow in order to find antibiotics, removing KeijI and some of the snails, and kill the bacteria off.

Thanks again, guys. Keiji's looking really sluggish right now. I don't know how well he would have done in another few days.

 

I have read something on blue-green algae that said it was poisonous to humans and dogs, so it could very well be making Bettas sick. Definitely try to remove it.

 

Thank you, Natalie. That was extremely helpful, and it fits my description almost perfectly. I'm guessing that my problem came from me missing too many bits of dying plant in the tank, as there's only one small betta (and he is small for a betta) in a 10 gallon tank.
So it's off to a pet store tomorrow in order to find antibiotics, removing KeijI and some of the snails, and kill the bacteria off.

Thanks again, guys. Keiji's looking really sluggish right now. I don't know how well he would have done in another few days.

If your Betta is also sick you can leave him in and treat him too. If he has been infected with the cyanobacteria then the Maracyn will help him too. Just make sure it is Maracyn and not Maracyn-Two that you get.

 

He actually seems to be doing better since the water change yesterday, so I'm guessing he's just getting hit by the toxins the cyanobacteria produce.
And if cyanobacteria fit with the rest of the anaerobic bacteria, they don't actually infect living tissue all that well. For example, the botulism bacteria isn't really dangerous to humans. I've never heard of anyone getting a botulism infection. What's dangerous is the poison that it creates. What happens is that the botulism bacteria grow in their little can of expired mushrooms (or whatever), putting out waste as they divide and grow. There comes a point that the amount of waste in the mushrooms is enough to make a person sick. Soon after, the amount is enough to kill a person. I'm guessing the same type of thing happens with the cyanobacteria.
I will, of course, keep an eye on Keiji, and if he still seems sick when he's in quarantine, I'll put him back in his tank.

BTW, does anyone know if Maracyn affects plants? Specifically wysteria, chainsword, java moss, and anubias?

 

I've used it and it has no adverse affect on plants. It does make the tank very cloudy and has a bad odor but is harmless to plants and fish. (Don't forget to remove the carbon) It will put your tank into a minI cycle though so make sure you are using Prime conditioner and doing water changes after he goes back into the tank until your cycle goes back to normal.
Vacuum out whatever BG algae falls off and dies each day. From what I've heard, about 3 days of meds usually does it but go longer if you need it.

 

I changed the water about once to twice a day for about 3 days and they seem to be doing better. Thanks.
Tom

 

Your welcome!! I'm glad it was helpful.

 

Ya, they are so energetic now.
Tom