Septicemia??

[snakeskinner]

Hello, I'm new to this Forum but I'm in need of some advice. I've had a 55 gallon freshwater tank for about 5 or 6 months with the typical mollies, platys, danios, corys, tetras, etc. 3 of my first fish were giant Danio's which have done quite well with a small spat with ick once but was treated successfully before it spread. I was just recently given a 36 gallon tank in which I decided to move the 3 giant danio's and 2 serpae tetras from my 55 gallon tank. I Used a few gallons of the water from the 55 gallon and filled it up with tap water and aqua-safe and let it sit for 48 hours to settle in before moving the 3 danio's. They didn't want to eat the first day, understandably. The next day I noticed some red appearing at the base of the tail on one of the danio's. This evening I noticed the read had spread on this danio and was on the rear lower fin (sorry I don't know all my fins) and a second danio had some on its tail. I dug out the books I have and found the mention of septicemia labeled as "reddening of the skin". I found this forum and found more mention of septicemia and it sounds like what I have. I did not notice this redness before but it is possible it was there. I thought maybe the first fish had been injured while catching him but the second one leads me to believe it is more involved. I have only added the 2 serpae tetras today and will not purchase any new fish until I am sure this is not a disease I'm gonna chase. any advice or help will be greatly appreciated. thanks, KYle

[WaterBaby]

I once did a tank change with my fish from a 10 to a 20 gallon. I used the water from the ten and then added another 10 gallons of tap water that was left standing for a day with dechlorinator in it and the same thing happened with my red eyed tetras. I first noticed that after awhile one of them developed a red line under its belly and another near its tail (not in the tail, but in its body near its tail). The other red eye developed a "total red eye". Normally it has a line of red in its eye, but now the whole eye was red like it had a hemorrhage in it.

These things were not present before the move and water change, so I think that either I did not leave the water standing long enough, or the dechlorinator did not do its job effectively enough. It wasn't expired, but I threw it out and bought a new bottle.

Both red eyes recovered and are doing fine...

Good Luck

[kveeti]

According to this disease page http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html#Septicemia septicemia may be caused not only by organisms but by an ammonia spike.

Adding some old tank water did little except maybe help acclimate your fish to the new water. Nitrification bacteria don’t live in the water column. Did either of you add any filter media from the old to the new filters or a few handfuls of gravel from the old tank into the new? Did you test for ammonia? Perhaps a cycle was starting in the new tanks. One of the symptoms of ammonia poisoning is red or bleeding gills. Quoting: As the damage from the ammonia poisoning continues, the tissues will be damaged as evidenced by red streaks or bloody patches that appear on the body and fins.

[snakeskinner]

well, I have a 0mg ammonia level according to my test kit and my nitrite is below the bottom of the chart. The PH is the same level of the other tank. I just added some chlorine remover to the tank although I've never used it in the 55 gallon. I added some salt to the tank this evening as well to maybe lower the stress level as it states. I've been tossing around adding salt anyway so now seemed like a good time to try it. The giant danio's breathe and swim rapidly anyway so I can't see any change there. Most of the pictures of septicemia that I've seen have red blotches on the body and don't really look like what I have. The pair of danio's I have affected look like twins. Almost like this is supposed to be there it is so identical. I wonder if it could be bruising from them swimming so hard to avoid my net? I wouldn't think that would happen but I guess it is possible. All the pet stores were closed when I got off work today to check around but I'm going back tomorrow afternoon to see if anyone there has any advice. As far as changing filter media, I use Penguin filter systems with charcoal & mesh filter cartridges and bio-wheels so there is really no media to move. Due to the odd-shape of the new tank, I was unable to use the exact same filter model so I couldn't have swapped the cartridges either. thanks for the advice, Kyle