Swordtail help...

[Singenkatzen]

Last night when I got home from work I noticed that one of my female swordtails had her fins clamped down and was swimming a little weird (not really a shimmy). She also looked like she had lost weight in the last 24 hours. I immediately checked my levels which were all normal: ammonia=0 nitrite= >.2 and nitrates=5. I did a 25% water change to see if that helped and added some more Prime.

This morning she was stilled clamped down and breathing a litttle heavy. My water temp was at 78, normal. I decided to move her into a smaller tank that has an air pump in it, as well as my 2 week old guppy fry.

Previous to all this happening I had just finished a 5-day cycle of MarcynTwo. I had been treating a sick guppy who died on day two but felt it was safer to finish the treament in case some of the others were sick. I also had been noticing the males in the tank were picking on her and the other female (one of the other reasons I moved her).

There are no visable sores, stringy feces, red spots, white dots, etc. She is still eating.

Does any one have any suggestions on what to do? What is wrong? I am I doing everything right. I have had her 2 months. She was one of the first fish I got and has survived my fishy cycle. I would hate to lose her now because of my lack of knowledge or stupidity. Please help.

[robbob2112]

Sounds like you are doing it all right for her.

Assuming her poop is the normal green color, ultraclean water (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and >10ppm nitrate) and algae based foods are the best treatment in this case.

[jpappy789]

More than 0 ppm nitrites isn't good. More water changes.

[jm1212]

:iagree:

is there a male in the tank?

[Singenkatzen]

is there a male in the tank?

Yes I currently have a male marigold swordtail and 3 male guppies in with the two female pinapple swords.

When I started the tank I had the 2 female swords, male guppies and an emerald cory. I lost the cory within the first week. I waited 6 weeks before adding anymore. I then added a male pineapple sword and 3 female guppies. The Petco I was purchasing from I then discovered had a problem in the guppy/sword bay(6 tanks filtered together). I had to return two females within 3 days, the next day the sword (this is when I noticed the ick and fin rot problem). I changed to the marigold because it was in a completely different bay. Unfortunately after placing the female guppies in a QT and one of them having 14 fry they all died.

I do want female guppies in the tank so the males will leave my swords alone but I am waiting to see if I get some females from the 7 remaining fry (it was my first fry drop and I lost a few).

[HiFin]

Hello Singenkatzen,

I'm a newbie here but a great fan of the swordtail. I went thru a similar situation. When you first treated the fish that was sick, it should have been isolated, instead of treated with the whole tank. I thought the same way you did and treated the whole tank (common sense dictates that to avoid all fish from catching what the others have, treat everyone who's in contact). Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. It seems that if you get the sick fish out when you first notice a problem, a simple partial water change can sometimes be better. After that, I always add a few drops of conditoner.

This is my recipe that's so far worked: Whenever I do partial water changes (2x wk.) I do a 50% water change instead of 25% and I add half the recommended dosage of Ultimate Water Conditioner. Many times, people don't realise that such frequent (and I Know! I get sick of it!) changes also should be accompanied by a mild dosage of water conditioner to replace what is normally there (adding necessary electrolytes & skin slime coating, along with getting rid of additional ammonia & chlorine the changes bring) when you do a full change. A week in solitary confinement, if it survives, should do the trick.

It worked for me and I hope it will for you.