View Full Version : Need help ASAP!
pinballqueen
01-02-2003, 8:01 PM
My mother's dolphin mormyrid is sick....he's lying on the bottom (still breathing and everything...)
She thought it might be nitrates, but she's saying they tested minimal, and she did a partial water change but that didn't help. Nothing else in the tank is ill, nothing has been added, and the fish was fine this morning. He's not been beat up or anything either. What could it be?
Open to any and all suggestions, no matter how absurd.
DrDeath
01-02-2003, 8:14 PM
NO spots or any signs of disease or illness?
DrD
pinballqueen
01-02-2003, 8:17 PM
Update: she said he possibly has blood coming from his vent, not much though....
She said after the water change he acted disoriented, then settled back to the bottom again....
Does anyone know a good disease ID site?
Cichlid Woman
01-02-2003, 8:20 PM
Here's one, with additional links at the bottom of that page: http://www.2cah.com/pandora/Disease.html#External
What is a dolphin mormyrid?!
-- Pat
DrDeath
01-02-2003, 8:21 PM
I have used this one with success:
http://fins.actwin.com/articles/disease/chart1.php
Has she removed the fish from the tank?
DrD
pinballqueen
01-02-2003, 8:30 PM
She doesn't have a quarantine tank to move him to-he's very large, almost a foot long....
Mormyrids are the family of fish that include baby-whales and elephant nose fish. Kinda rare, a little difficult. This is the first major problem we've had with him though.
DrDeath
01-02-2003, 8:33 PM
I am not your person for rare and difficult! I have enough problems with common and easy fish (just joking)
Sorry I couldn't help more!
DrD
Twilight
01-02-2003, 8:34 PM
Maybe it injured itself internally while jumping or another way. I had a huge BGK who got itself stuck behind a filter and injured itself internally somehow and soon died a few days later. It's a sad thing. Sorry.
pinballqueen
01-02-2003, 8:49 PM
It's looking like that is the case. He's not going to make it, I don't think.... Oh well.
Thanks for the quick replies, guys.
brackishwannbe
01-02-2003, 8:53 PM
After my first water change I had a Danio that began to swim very crazy, uncontrollable, and then it just layed in one spot until it died two days later. I did some reading and found out that the fish had gotten 'swim-blatter', a condition that results from the fish drinking undissolved gas that is in the newly added water. The gas gets in the fishes blood stream and then disolves causing the fish to die. I hope your dolphin recovers, but it don't sound good. I've also had fish physical injured while I was rearranging the tank. Hope this helps.
wetmanNY
01-02-2003, 9:53 PM
When a fish loses control of basic functions, it's usually near the end. Several dfferent kinds of pathogens can bring a fish to these terminal symptoms. When the central nervous system starts to break down, the fish may spin or stagger.
The swim bladder is a gas-filled organ that helps keep a fish weightless in water. Some freshwater fishes have a swim bladder with a connection to the gut. Other freshwater fishes don't. Control of the gas in the swim bladder is one of those basic functions. When a fish can't stop tilting or floating, it's near the end.
Faramir
01-03-2003, 7:34 AM
Oh for the millionth time...
There is no such disease as "swim bladder", any more than there is a disease called "heart", "liver" or "left armpit"
The swim bladder is an organ in a fish's body. It can become diseased. Fish are then said to be suffering from swim bladder disease. A little basic understanding of ichthyology would go a long way.
Moving on...
I'm pretty sure this elephant-nose is booked for the Great Tank in the Sky. Once a fish is doing the lying on the gravel thing it's usually a goner. If it starts bleeding internally, it's as good as dead.
Moving back
Originally posted by Faramir
Oh for the millionth time...
There is no such disease as "swim bladder", any more than there is a disease called "heart", "liver" or "left armpit"
Moving on...
I'm pretty sure this elephant-nose is booked for the Great Tank in the Sky.....
Your right, there is no disease called heart or liver, etc...
but I do know several people suffering from Heart disease or Liver disease or who have passed away.
Never mind, I just reread what you said, I misunderstood,,,Sorry
pinballqueen
01-03-2003, 12:12 PM
Well, he died last night. We're pretty sure what happened, and it's a strange combination of things. Her nitrates were a little high, so she did a water change. The only thing we can come up with is that she did the water change with a metal container. Since this fish has an electromagnetic organ, we figure it had something to do with it. Lesson learned, I suppose...
It could also have been something to do with the new element in the water heater, I don't know.