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1 Danio died, another not doing well - Any thoughts

3K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  musho3210 
#1 ·
Ok, so I lost 1 danio earlier this week (Monday), tonight another one is doing poorly. I have 5 Glowlight danios and 4 white zebra danios left. The White ones have red gills and some have sorta spots on them. My two honey gouramis have reddish areas by their gills but otherwise are fine. Behavior of the tank hasn't changed at all either.

On the other hand the Rainbows I have are fine. Another possible symptom of the one that has died and the other one that is not doing well is that they are THIN, really thin.

I have posted pics at Flickr since I didn't want to resize them so you can see every possible detail to help me in figuring this out.

It's a 29G moderate planted tank, temp is steady at 79, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitirite, 0-5 Nitrates, Ph is 7.4.

Also, the danios have been used to cycle the tank (since 1/1/07) so I don't know if that plays into it at all.

Flickr link
 
#3 ·
musho3210 said:
hmm it sounds a lot like ammonia poisoning, what test kit do you use?
API Fresh water master test kit. LFS last time they tested, which was last Sat, was 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite , 0-5 Nitrates.

No gasping and the danios are all over the tank except for the one that isn't doing well, he was swimming slowly at the bottom.
 
#4 ·
I agree with Musho to some extent and I believe that your test kit is in error.
Most of what you posted indicates a high ammonia concentration.

Some of what you posted indicates low oxygenation in your tank water.

An additional item is:
Have you cleaned the exterior of your tank using a chemical cleaner?

TR

I do not know how to access the pics on Flickr.
 
#5 ·
jones57742 said:
I agree with Musho to some extent and I believe that your test kit is in error.
Most of what you posted indicates a high ammonia concentration.

Some of what you posted indicates low oxygenation in your tank water.

An additional item is:
Have you cleaned the exterior of your tank using a chemical cleaner?

TR

I do not know how to access the pics on Flickr.
I will double check with the LFS, but I have repeated this test numerous times in this tank and it's 0. The LFS store has tested my water 4 times in the last month and it's been the same readings I have been getting. If it's ammonia poisoning why aren't the glowfish danios experiencing the red gills?

Just click on the Flickr Link words, it's a text in an HTML url tag.

Also, I run a power head all night.
 
#8 ·
I have to agree with FD on this... it sounds more like an internal problem. If it were ammonia poisoning I would expect to see other symptoms to go with it, and other fish having problems.
How often are you feeding and what kind of food? How often are you doing water changes and how much at a time? What is the temp? Also, what does the pH read if you test your tap water right out of the tap? Is the thin fish still eating?
There are a couple of choices on meds, but that will partly depend on whether the sick fish is eating well or not...
 
#10 ·
bettababy said:
I have to agree with FD on this... it sounds more like an internal problem. If it were ammonia poisoning I would expect to see other symptoms to go with it, and other fish having problems.
How often are you feeding and what kind of food?
Feed daily at night, and a combo of flake and sinking pellets. The flake is Omega, and I can't recall the brand of the pellets.

How often are you doing water changes and how much at a time? What is the temp? Also, what does the pH read if you test your tap water right out of the tap? Is the thin fish still eating?
I do weekly 30% water changes, Temp is steady at 78. Ph is 7.4 from the tap and the tank. The thin fish will eat, but it appears that they don't have the energy to get into the "fray" with the rest of the fish. I always try and get food where they are hanging out.

There are a couple of choices on meds, but that will partly depend on whether the sick fish is eating well or not...

To be honest only one of the gourami's has the reddish on by his gills, but he eats VERY well and is the dominant one between the two that I have. The only fish that seem to be affected completely are the white danios.
 
#12 ·
ttiger... I wasn't too concerned about the pink gills, as pink means healthy, especially in such light colored fish. My concern was the fact that they had caved in stomachs even though they were eating. This is a good indicator of internal parasites, and that is something that is contageous to the other fish. I would suggest keeping an eye on the others for at least a few weeks, and if you see signs of that in any of the others, let me know and I'll suggest a med for you. The trick is to catch it early enough to help them, since the meds need to be ingested with food to do much good, they need to still be feeling good enough to be eating well.
Sorry to hear about your losses, I hope your other fish do well.
 
#13 ·
bettababy said:
ttiger... I wasn't too concerned about the pink gills, as pink means healthy, especially in such light colored fish. My concern was the fact that they had caved in stomachs even though they were eating. This is a good indicator of internal parasites, and that is something that is contageous to the other fish. I would suggest keeping an eye on the others for at least a few weeks, and if you see signs of that in any of the others, let me know and I'll suggest a med for you. The trick is to catch it early enough to help them, since the meds need to be ingested with food to do much good, they need to still be feeling good enough to be eating well.
Sorry to hear about your losses, I hope your other fish do well.
Thanks bettababy, I will be watching them fairly closely. All the other danios (the one that I took pics of that was thin died) have pretty fat little bellies.
 
#14 ·
You're welcome, I wish you and your fish the best of luck. Keep an eye on them for a couple of weeks, which would be the time to expect to see symptoms if this problem has spread. Beyond that, I would say you're safe for now. I also wouldn't be adding new fish anytime too soon, either. Do you have a quarantine tank set up? This is something worth giving a thought to...it could save you a lot of problems in the future, and is good for any new fish to spend 2 wks in quarantine to avoid bringing issues like this into your main tank. If you wish to set up a quarantine tank and need help, let us know... most of the people here are already familiar with them and can give you a lot of useful advice.
 
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