dying swordtail please help!

M

mtdewlover

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Dec 19, 2002
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I have a ten gallon tank with two plants five neons one male swordtail and one Chinese algae eater. My swordtail came up with a bald spot on the top of his head. He is orange, and it was a round white spot on his head. He acted fine. Today he is lying on the floor gasping for air! He is very discolored and is trying so hard to swim. My CAE was sucking him! So I put him in my large cichlid tank for now. Any ideas what is wrong with my fishy? Or what I should do? I put stress coat in and took one of the plants out b/c it was dying in certain places, scared of rotting harming the water. Oh and i had one neon die of neon disease could this be a factor? Though the other neons are fine.

Thanks for your help

Amonia 0
Nitrites 0
KH 5
GH 13
PH about 7.9
 
Alright, this could be one of three things:
First: Least likely, but your pH is pretty high for swordtails, 7.5 is a lot nicer for them and I was pretty sure neons liked water closer to 7.
Second: Your CAE has been sucking the fish or fighting them making them weak and susceptible to disease. Now that it's gone you shouldn't have problems with that so I'd watch your other fish for signs of disease.
Third: Your fish got the disease first and your CAE noticed this and took advantage so as to nip at the weaker ones. The disease was then caught by your swordtails and the CAE has taken advantage of it again. It sounds like fungus to me, I tried this general one called, "Fungus Eliminator" and it worked on one of my goldfish whose symptoms sound like your's. He first had some cotton fungus but now that it is gone he has a little white bald patch but now it's doing fine and swimming normally.

Dying plants is not good for anything, if you want to medicate I suggest your place your plant elsewhere, or, move your fish and let the plant live. In this scenario, however, all your fish could have been exposed to this disease and should all be treated. Good luck!
 
a pH of 7.9 isn't too bad but it is a little high. I used to have a pH of 8.5 at the old place I lived at. Since moving, the water is 7.2 which was a HUGE change for my fish! It was stressful and made setting everything up again really difficult.

In my expirence with these fish, once they hit the bottom of the tank and gasp, they shall die. It may be best to freeze him with a little water in a zip-lock bag or if you think he'll get better, keep an eye out for him. ;)

Good luck,
-Cory
 
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