Sick and Dying Danios, Cory acting strange

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 44gal
How long has the tank been running? Started May 20, 2023, fully cycled mid July 2023
Does it have a filter? Yes Oase biomaster 350
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 77.8 Fahrenheit
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)

-1 Betta
-7 harlequin raspboras
-6 sterbai cory
- 3 red wag platy
- 3, 2 week old baby platy
-7 neon tetras
-6 galaxy danio (found 1 dead today, 1 pineconing and I can’t tell how many are actually on the tank because I know they hide. Not sure if another died without me knowing. I might only have 4 including the pineconeing one)
- 5 amano shrimp
- 3 nerite snails
- a few stray rams horn snails


Maintenance
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? 1x every 2-4 weeks
How much of the water do you change? 10-25%
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? A little vacuuming off the top of the substrate but mostly just water

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? I added fish a few at a time a month into cycling
What do you use to test the water? API master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0.0ppm
Nitrite: 0.0ppm
Nitrate: 0.0ppm
pH: 7.0

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? 1x daily
How much do you feed your fish? A few pinches for the main fish, 6 pellets for the Betta
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Xtreme aquatics food nano, aqueous Betta food
Do you feed frozen? 1x very week or 2 some frozen blood worms
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? Some since may, the celestial danios since July 23, 2023; Cory since July 29, 2023
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Danios today, sterbai 2 or 3 weeks ago.
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?
-One danio looks pineconed, one was stuck in the filter intake dead this morning. Possibly 1 missing presumed dead though not sure when
- 1 sterbai cory has been flipping around (spiraling) and sometimes lays on its side for a bit but he has been doing this for weeks and then acts normal most of the time.


Have you started any treatment for the illness? No, just a 10% water change today but parameters were the same as what I reported above.
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Pinconing, acting normal. Cory is doing that spiraling thing and lying on it’s side sometimes.

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)
The emergency is that in the last few days I think my danios are dying (1 seems missing, 1 found dead, 1 pineconed) and 1 Cory is acting strange. No other fish are showing symptoms.
What would be causing this in the danios? Is my Cory just spastic? No visual signs of anything wrong with color, scales, shape etc.

Thank you!

 

Welcome to Fishlore! Are you sure you are doing the nitrate test correctly? 0 nitrates with so little water changes and a bunch of fish is kind of not seeming right to me.

 

I am sure I am doing it right, i have had some nitrates a few times but usually a tiny amount.

I forgot to say that I have purigen in the filter. I also have a ton of plants. I heard they eat up nitrate?
Update! I do have 5 danio, 4 healthy. 1 pineconing. Which means I have lost 2. I saw 1 dead this morning. I am not sure when everyone was alive last but I know the pineconing started yesterday.

 

Here is a photo from the top today.
I ordered a hospital tank to put on the side of the big tank but it won’t be here till tomorrow.

 

The 0 nitrates just doesn't make sense. How old is the nitrate test. They do go bad. Did you do a fishless cycle? If you did, you should have had a lot of nitrates by the end of the cycle. Rereading your template it looks like you did a fish in cycle. Even so, you should have seen consistent nitrates, even if low.
I would say your tank is moderately planted and IMO not enough to account for zero nitrates, especially with the small water changes.

I'm not suggesting that your fish are suffering from nitrate poisonoing. I can't say what the problem is but, I would do weekly water changes of 50% if it were my tank. For now I would do more frquent than that to insure the best water condition for your sick fish. Also, make sure there is plenty of aeration. The water surface should be rippling from the filter output or from an airstone. The Beta doesn't need that, but the other fish do. I'm not saying your fishes symptoms are from lack of oxygen, but low oxygen is a stressor that can make them suceptable to illness.

Your tank looks very clean. It's best not to clean new tanks and filters too much. You want microbial life to have a chance to establish itself.

I like your tank set up. Once you sort this out, your fish should be "happy' in there.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. Keep us posted on your progress.

Edit: In theory, the Purigen could account for lowering the nitrogen compounds and thus keeping the nitrate at a low level that the plants could be consuming.

 

Hi! I moved said sick danio to a hospital tank last night and used kanaplex and added a little aquarium salt to just his little tank. He is significantly more active and less pineconed today! Just over night I saw a huge change.

i am planning to keep him separated a couple more days at least and do 1 more dose of kanaplex.

any suggestions for how to know if he is recovered enough to release back into the main tank?

also does this help with any possible diagnosis? I always heard that once they pinecone there isn’t really any turning back? I was doing this treatment as a Hail Mary and not really expecting much ‍♀️

 

Hi! I moved said sick danio to a hospital tank last night and used kanaplex and added a little aquarium salt to just his little tank. He is significantly more active and less pineconed today! Just over night I saw a huge change.

i am planning to keep him separated a couple more days at least and do 1 more dose of kanaplex.

any suggestions for how to know if he is recovered enough to release back into the main tank?

also does this help with any possible diagnosis? I always heard that once they pinecone there isn’t really any turning back? I was doing this treatment as a Hail Mary and not really expecting much ‍♀️

The most common cause for pineconed scales is kidney failure but it isn’t the only cause. Your fish may well be one of the more fortunate ones that isn’t suffering from kidney failure. So he may recover - every once in awhile it happens.

 

Another update.

I have since lost another danio, the one I was treating started to look better then passed. Now I have another (4th sick Danio) that appears to have fish TB which I have never heard of until now. Curved spine, starting to looked emanciated/ sunken and is not swimming normally (swims with jerky movements with head higher than the rest of the body).

I read there is not much I can do. I quarantined it, called the LFS I got them from and they thanked me for letting them know but since it has been almost 2 months since I bought them the rest were likely already sold.

I guess my question is, should I attempt any treatment?

And what do I do about the rest of the tank? Now I am scared that everyone has TB and it is only a matter of time before they show signs.

Everyone else seems totally happy and healthy. The wonky Cory is still appearing fine 90% of the time and I don’t know what to make of his “random spinning”.

 

I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but the nitrate reading makes no sense. I have a larger tank, more plants, and less bio-load than you have, and I am not at 0. I also change 1/3-1/2 of my water weekly. I'm not saying this is the problem. It may not be at all; however, it is a little concerning that your test may not be working.

I can't tell you if it's fish TB. I have had my own scare with it, and I was told by much more informed people than me, on this website, that's it's not as common as the internet makes it out to seem. If you think there is a chance that's what it is, just make sure you are being clean with your skin. Technically humans can get it, but it's not like human TB.

 

Hi! I am sorry i forgot to add that I retested the Nitrates and they were low, not zero but a little more orange than yellow, so maybe like 5ppm? The tank is still fairly new and purigen says that it reduces nitrates. I assume that is the issue with the nitrates being low.