Friend has two sick fish, Please Advise.

Kiel'thalin

Kiel'thalin

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Jun 12, 2006
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I have a friend with the current following setup.
55 Gallon
In tank 3-4 years:1 Red finned shark,1 Plecostomus
In The Tank 1 Year: 3 Tetras, 2 Gouramis.
Water does test all good.

One of his tetras is missing a fin recently and has a black spot where the fin used to be, could that be fin rot?
One of his Gouramis has brown patches like ich, but brown, could that be a case of velvet disease?, and it too is missing the "little feelers", but no black spot.
Anyways any suggestions on what is going on. He quarantined the ill gouramis in a 10 gallon for now. I think he might be feeding them too much, all of his tetras and gouramis have very swollen bellies all the time, he feeds twice a day. I don't know really that much about his care for them, but the tank is established. Just need a direction on what to do.
 
We need to know the exact water readings: ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH

How often does he do water changes and how much? When was his last water change?

If the fish have been in the tank that long and no new fish or plants have been added, then it is not parasites.

Yes, feeding twice a day is too much. Once is fine.

I probably know what the problem is, but I need to know the parameters and maintenance routine to confirm.

Roan
 
I'm going to assume, considering the age of the shark, its probably around 4 inches by now. More than likely its nipping at the other fish. They'll do that. About the brown spots. It could be velvet, or it could be nitrite poisoning. But if the water tests ok then its probably not that. The swollen bellies could be a sign of a internal bacteria infection because of poor water quality. How often is the water changed? Even though the tank is established it could be a case of Old Tank Syndrom.
 
I do not have the exact water quality readings, but he does test the water with his kit and it came up in tolerance (good PH, no Nitrates, Nitrites, or Ammonia). He has never did a water change, just tops off. You can say it has been over a year since any water has been changed.
His Red Tail Shark (about 3-4'' in length) does chase the sick Gouramis quite often, but leaves the others alone.
The fish bellies look like they just ate too much, I personally feel they are fed too much to cause that. Just kinda what is going on with good water parameters and stable tank for over a year. I would guess a partial water change is in order? 10-15%? Thanks again.
 
just tops off ??
sounds more like OTS
I find it very difficult to believe there are 0 nitrates..especially if the water is not changed.

I'd be moreinclined to believe that there are issues with TDS beng high and poor water quality.
even at 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite..it does not mean the water is clean..there are pollutants in the tank (direct result of solid waste) that can only be removed by water changes.
 
Okay, so I will have him check his nitrates and do a water change if they are too high. Thanks for the help.
 
STOP! OTS must be correctly very slowly. A large water change can be deadly to fish who are living in a tank with very high nitrates. Get a nitrate reading, as well as nitrite and ammonia, and post it. we can then advise you how to correct the problem...
Most like a series of of water changes starting very small (10% for several days) and GRADUALLY increasing the size of the water changes until the nitrates are under 40ppm..
 
Well, I am glad to see your concerns, but I have never seen a Tetra with a fin falling off then where it falled off it leave a black spot.
Also I have never seen the brownish spots, like ich, on a Gouramis before.
From the advise I see here it could be OTS (Old Tank Syndrome) that could be caused by water pollutants (high nitrates) in which I know how to cure, i.e. like you described. I am pretty sure his nitrates are ok, I am sure he would of said something to me about it, I'll find out for sure and let you know.
 
OTS is not necessarily high nitrates. Nitrates are only an indication that OTS may be the problem. There are far more pollutants produced via natural processes in a tank that we cannot measure for. The sores and fins et al are the fishes' health slowly declining because they just cannot cope with the water any more.

Your friend definitely has Old Tank Syndrom and if it is not corrected properly, as Budrecki is cautioning you, you will lose ALL the fish.

If you change out too much water, the fish will go into osmotic shock and die.

Please read this:

http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Old_Tank_Syndrome

And listen to Budrecki's instructions. She knows how to deal with this.

Roan
 
Yep, glad I am in the newbie forum, because I got alot to learn, thanks again guys. I just talked to him and he did say that his nitrates are perfect, 0ppm, as well the ammonia and nitrite are also 0ppm. That is about as far as I got, because he is not too concerned about the little guys :( I hope I can talk some sense into him.
 
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