Two of my congo tetras died over the weekend.
The first showed a pale lesion on its flank, below the dorsal fin saturday evening. The next morning there was a vertical stripe about a half inch wide that looked bruised and scraped from dorsal fin to belly, only on the right flank. I thought maybe it had gotten caught behind a filter intake. I had just installed the new Rena filter the night before. It lost control of its ability to swim and soon died.
Sunday night there was a lot of dueling going on in the school, much more violent than usual-chasing, body slamming. Usually no impact that I can see, but they move so fast... so when another showed a reddish spot in the same area I thought maybe it could be aggression. It was 'panting', breathing harder more than the others, stress, maybe but I am worried it might be a disease I don't know about. It died during the night.
I haven't seen any more of the lesions on the remaining fish, and they weren't nearly so rough last night. Yesterday and today everybody appeared to be looking well.
Is this a disease or injury? I'm holding my breath that no more get sick/injured.
Complications. I'm dosing for ich right now, using a raised tank temperature (85F) and salt (2 tsp/gal) as written in an article on this website. The treatment has been going for a week and I no longer see any sign of ick. I thought I would continue the temp and salt for another week, but is this putting too much stress on the congos? I choose this treatment because I've read that chemical ick remedies are hard on tetras.
Possible source. I bought a pair of killifish about two and a half weeks ago. They are fine, but I also got 6 little flame tetras on impluse. Bad impluse. Five of them died within 12 hours. The 6th is fine. When I went back to the store for a refund, I watched their last three die. I didn't see lesions on the little guys. (lesson learned. No more fish from that store). I don't think the ick came from them, it showed up within a few days-too soon I think to have come with the sick tetras. But what else might have come with them?
There was also the glitch of the stuck heater early last week, two evenings at 85 degrees before I replaced the heater. I was gradually lowering the temp when I discovered the ick and then I began to gradually raise it again over about three days to 85.
Tank parameters. 75 gallon, marineland 450 and brand new Rena XP2; ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates between 5 and 10. Temp 85 F and 2 tsp/gal salt (temporary for ick treatment)
Water changes 24% weekly, though I skipped this week because of broken pipes and having no water. Pipes are fixed, I intend to change the water this evening. 11 congo tetras, 7 zebra danios, 2 golden wonder killifish, 1 flame tetra.
If this is a disease, what is it and what treatment can I use? Something that won't conflict with the heat/salt ick treatment. Could it be the killis? I haven't seen them chase the congos, but that is another recent change in the tank.
This has not been a good couple weeks for my fishies.
The first showed a pale lesion on its flank, below the dorsal fin saturday evening. The next morning there was a vertical stripe about a half inch wide that looked bruised and scraped from dorsal fin to belly, only on the right flank. I thought maybe it had gotten caught behind a filter intake. I had just installed the new Rena filter the night before. It lost control of its ability to swim and soon died.
Sunday night there was a lot of dueling going on in the school, much more violent than usual-chasing, body slamming. Usually no impact that I can see, but they move so fast... so when another showed a reddish spot in the same area I thought maybe it could be aggression. It was 'panting', breathing harder more than the others, stress, maybe but I am worried it might be a disease I don't know about. It died during the night.
I haven't seen any more of the lesions on the remaining fish, and they weren't nearly so rough last night. Yesterday and today everybody appeared to be looking well.
Is this a disease or injury? I'm holding my breath that no more get sick/injured.
Complications. I'm dosing for ich right now, using a raised tank temperature (85F) and salt (2 tsp/gal) as written in an article on this website. The treatment has been going for a week and I no longer see any sign of ick. I thought I would continue the temp and salt for another week, but is this putting too much stress on the congos? I choose this treatment because I've read that chemical ick remedies are hard on tetras.
Possible source. I bought a pair of killifish about two and a half weeks ago. They are fine, but I also got 6 little flame tetras on impluse. Bad impluse. Five of them died within 12 hours. The 6th is fine. When I went back to the store for a refund, I watched their last three die. I didn't see lesions on the little guys. (lesson learned. No more fish from that store). I don't think the ick came from them, it showed up within a few days-too soon I think to have come with the sick tetras. But what else might have come with them?
There was also the glitch of the stuck heater early last week, two evenings at 85 degrees before I replaced the heater. I was gradually lowering the temp when I discovered the ick and then I began to gradually raise it again over about three days to 85.
Tank parameters. 75 gallon, marineland 450 and brand new Rena XP2; ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates between 5 and 10. Temp 85 F and 2 tsp/gal salt (temporary for ick treatment)
Water changes 24% weekly, though I skipped this week because of broken pipes and having no water. Pipes are fixed, I intend to change the water this evening. 11 congo tetras, 7 zebra danios, 2 golden wonder killifish, 1 flame tetra.
If this is a disease, what is it and what treatment can I use? Something that won't conflict with the heat/salt ick treatment. Could it be the killis? I haven't seen them chase the congos, but that is another recent change in the tank.
This has not been a good couple weeks for my fishies.
