Hello!
I'm not sure if this is the place for this... but I've posted on two other forums and gotten little or no help, and I don't entirely trust my LFS. Soooo I'm trying again.
Here's the story...
Background Info
55 gallon, freshwater. Set up since September. Housed 12 danios, 12 neon tetras, 3 queen loaches, 3 cory catfish, 2 plecos (L75 and L264) and a bunch of trumpet snails from another tank.
Nitrites and Ammonia have been 0, for nearly as long as it has been up. Nitrates are ALWAYS 30 or less, and the vast majority of the time 20 or less. Ph is 7.6 and KH has always been 4*dKH (or 71.6 ppm?). GH is about 7*dGH (plus or minus a point) (or 125.3 ppm?). I use "aquarium pharmaceuticals" brand tests, they all are the test tube and drops of chemicals variety. I do 25-75% water changes every week. I usually have to pull out the rocks and drift wood to get all the waste- which is why the changes are so big.
I feed a general flake (tetramin tropical flakes), shrimp pellets (wardley brand, 4-7 pieces morning and night), and algae wafers (wardley brand again, 2 wafers broken in half morning and night). Occassionally, frozen blood worms or brine shrimp. Recently (like last week) I started feeding peas on occassion. Other than that, I have not found a fresh veggie they will eat.
It has sand substrate, and some live plants. Plenty of caves, and a decent amount of drift wood. Light about 12hrs/day. HOB filter and 2 sponge filters. Generic submerged heater.
I dorm at college during the week, so I premeasure their food in a daily pill box thing, and my bro or grandma feed and turn lights on and off. I come home on the weekends to do water changes, etc.
The symptoms
The cory cats are the most recent addition to my tank. I bought them to live with the Betta, but he hated them, so I had to move them to the 55, in december (i believe). In january, the smallest one died. It never grew, and was about half the size of the others. It also had a scar on its back, that I hadn't noticed when I bought it. It lost the ability to swim properly, became lethargic, and passed away.
Also in january I moved into the dorms at college, and had to leave daily feeding to my brother and grandmother. However, I still personally performed weekly waterchanges.
Shortly after this, I lost one danio every other week or so. The first two I found dead upon coming home for the weekend. I couldn't tell what had killed them. The last one got dropsy pineconing, swelling, etc. I quarantined it, and it died a few days later. That was just a few weeks ago.
Just after that, I had to get melafix for a different tank, and did a half dose for three days, in hopes that would help as a preventative.
Now, ALL 9 danios have fin deterioration and tearing. This appeared last weekend. Monday (when I came home from my b/fs and saw it), I quarantined them, and started treating with marocyn 1 AND 2. I moved the tetras in the quarantine as well. Temp is at 80 degrees, tank is 20 gallons. I can't remember if i added salt, i know i meant to. I may do a water change tomorrow so as to add salt without risking double-dosing.
Yesterday, i get home from school and there is NO improvement. Furthermore, their gills look... damaged. Scales are missing, and several of the danios have heavy, red discoloration- as if there is sever bruising behind the gill cover, or someone took a tiny hammer to the side of their head... I will get pictures friday (my b/f is coming and will lend me his- i can't capture danios with mine, they move to fast)
The tetras are hard to examine. They're so small. I have lost three of them (and the bodies were eaten, because when I come home from school, they're just gone...) So i put them in with the danios, in hopes that by quarantining all of them I could prevent spread to the cats and loaches. I noticed this afternoon that they are swimming at an angle (their body is not straight up and down, but twisted on the diagonal- halfway between normal and on their side) My brother observed "they're all tipped 30* to their left."
One thing that has come to my attention as possibly relevant is the danios are pigs. They eat the flake, and then go down and eat whatever shrimp pellet they can find. Right now i'm watching a zebra danio sift through the waste at the bottom of the tank, looking for food. I have repeatedly dropped the amount of flake fed, but can't keep them from eating the pellets without starving the bottom feeders.
I don't think any of them are OBESE, but about half have always had a chubby belly. However, since the other half eat the same and are streamlined, I surmised that the 'fat' ones are girls, the 'skinny' ones boys. Also- the 'fat' ones are the ones who have not yet died. I have lost almost exclusively the 'skinny'/boy danios. (the 'fat' danios look something like this fish- http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...hiei/amuro.jpg )
They all still eat very eagerly, they play and swim.
This morning, I've noticed that the danio's bellies are more swollen than normal, and some appear to have irregularities in their ventral body line- an extra bend or lump in the line. But maybe this is just me looking too hard and too long trying to find symptoms that make sense...
My huge confusion is mainly because everyone says if your water quality is fine, fish are healthy. But all my tests come out perfect. The ph is a little high, but I left it because I'd rather a stabl high ph than a fluctuating one. Is there a water quality test I'm not doing/not aware of???
Other than trying to save my schooling fish, I am also very concerned about spread to my bottom feeders. Especially since the plecs are so sedentary, that any symptoms would be noticed rather late in the development of the disease....
So.. help. please.
LeeAnna
Ps... pics to come tomorrow evening, my b/f is bringing his new camera which can capture this fast moving fish way better than my cell phone camera.
I'm not sure if this is the place for this... but I've posted on two other forums and gotten little or no help, and I don't entirely trust my LFS. Soooo I'm trying again.
Here's the story...
Background Info
55 gallon, freshwater. Set up since September. Housed 12 danios, 12 neon tetras, 3 queen loaches, 3 cory catfish, 2 plecos (L75 and L264) and a bunch of trumpet snails from another tank.
Nitrites and Ammonia have been 0, for nearly as long as it has been up. Nitrates are ALWAYS 30 or less, and the vast majority of the time 20 or less. Ph is 7.6 and KH has always been 4*dKH (or 71.6 ppm?). GH is about 7*dGH (plus or minus a point) (or 125.3 ppm?). I use "aquarium pharmaceuticals" brand tests, they all are the test tube and drops of chemicals variety. I do 25-75% water changes every week. I usually have to pull out the rocks and drift wood to get all the waste- which is why the changes are so big.
I feed a general flake (tetramin tropical flakes), shrimp pellets (wardley brand, 4-7 pieces morning and night), and algae wafers (wardley brand again, 2 wafers broken in half morning and night). Occassionally, frozen blood worms or brine shrimp. Recently (like last week) I started feeding peas on occassion. Other than that, I have not found a fresh veggie they will eat.
It has sand substrate, and some live plants. Plenty of caves, and a decent amount of drift wood. Light about 12hrs/day. HOB filter and 2 sponge filters. Generic submerged heater.
I dorm at college during the week, so I premeasure their food in a daily pill box thing, and my bro or grandma feed and turn lights on and off. I come home on the weekends to do water changes, etc.
The symptoms
The cory cats are the most recent addition to my tank. I bought them to live with the Betta, but he hated them, so I had to move them to the 55, in december (i believe). In january, the smallest one died. It never grew, and was about half the size of the others. It also had a scar on its back, that I hadn't noticed when I bought it. It lost the ability to swim properly, became lethargic, and passed away.
Also in january I moved into the dorms at college, and had to leave daily feeding to my brother and grandmother. However, I still personally performed weekly waterchanges.
Shortly after this, I lost one danio every other week or so. The first two I found dead upon coming home for the weekend. I couldn't tell what had killed them. The last one got dropsy pineconing, swelling, etc. I quarantined it, and it died a few days later. That was just a few weeks ago.
Just after that, I had to get melafix for a different tank, and did a half dose for three days, in hopes that would help as a preventative.
Now, ALL 9 danios have fin deterioration and tearing. This appeared last weekend. Monday (when I came home from my b/fs and saw it), I quarantined them, and started treating with marocyn 1 AND 2. I moved the tetras in the quarantine as well. Temp is at 80 degrees, tank is 20 gallons. I can't remember if i added salt, i know i meant to. I may do a water change tomorrow so as to add salt without risking double-dosing.
Yesterday, i get home from school and there is NO improvement. Furthermore, their gills look... damaged. Scales are missing, and several of the danios have heavy, red discoloration- as if there is sever bruising behind the gill cover, or someone took a tiny hammer to the side of their head... I will get pictures friday (my b/f is coming and will lend me his- i can't capture danios with mine, they move to fast)
The tetras are hard to examine. They're so small. I have lost three of them (and the bodies were eaten, because when I come home from school, they're just gone...) So i put them in with the danios, in hopes that by quarantining all of them I could prevent spread to the cats and loaches. I noticed this afternoon that they are swimming at an angle (their body is not straight up and down, but twisted on the diagonal- halfway between normal and on their side) My brother observed "they're all tipped 30* to their left."
One thing that has come to my attention as possibly relevant is the danios are pigs. They eat the flake, and then go down and eat whatever shrimp pellet they can find. Right now i'm watching a zebra danio sift through the waste at the bottom of the tank, looking for food. I have repeatedly dropped the amount of flake fed, but can't keep them from eating the pellets without starving the bottom feeders.
I don't think any of them are OBESE, but about half have always had a chubby belly. However, since the other half eat the same and are streamlined, I surmised that the 'fat' ones are girls, the 'skinny' ones boys. Also- the 'fat' ones are the ones who have not yet died. I have lost almost exclusively the 'skinny'/boy danios. (the 'fat' danios look something like this fish- http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...hiei/amuro.jpg )
They all still eat very eagerly, they play and swim.
This morning, I've noticed that the danio's bellies are more swollen than normal, and some appear to have irregularities in their ventral body line- an extra bend or lump in the line. But maybe this is just me looking too hard and too long trying to find symptoms that make sense...
My huge confusion is mainly because everyone says if your water quality is fine, fish are healthy. But all my tests come out perfect. The ph is a little high, but I left it because I'd rather a stabl high ph than a fluctuating one. Is there a water quality test I'm not doing/not aware of???
Other than trying to save my schooling fish, I am also very concerned about spread to my bottom feeders. Especially since the plecs are so sedentary, that any symptoms would be noticed rather late in the development of the disease....
So.. help. please.
LeeAnna
Ps... pics to come tomorrow evening, my b/f is bringing his new camera which can capture this fast moving fish way better than my cell phone camera.
)
