Firemouth breathing rapidly
- Thread starter xiaosong
- Start date
the hiding with dark color could be a symptom of a variety of things, since it mostly just indicates stress. sorry, i'm not very good at diagnoses other than that.xiaosong said:
i wouldn't bother with testing the water again. take that time (and that in front of the computer) to change the water! it could be something that you can't test for (like a metal for example).
25% is not large enough. i do 50% water changes at least twice a week, sometimes as often as four if i see my fishes have any problems.
now go change that water!
Ok, did a 50% water change... no change. The puffer guy is still going like crazy and the other one is still very dark and starting to breath more rapidly. I tried to catch them to do a salt bath but it's pretty impossible trying to catch a fish in a 55 gallon tank when it's heavily planted without ruining the tank...
So now what?
So now what?
start looking for signs of parasites.
some could be external parsites and they may be easier to see.
check out the gills.
also are they eating?? I had an infestation of round worm..
they may exhibit signs of stress (drakening, hiding, not eating, rapid breathing)
if they eat are they swallowing? are they spitting back any food?
some could be external parsites and they may be easier to see.
check out the gills.
also are they eating?? I had an infestation of round worm..
they may exhibit signs of stress (drakening, hiding, not eating, rapid breathing)
if they eat are they swallowing? are they spitting back any food?
Star_Rider,
The firemouths look pretty normal from the outside. However, it does seem to be spreading through my firemouths but my tiger barbs and giant danios do not see affected at all. What started as one firemouth breathing rapidly has now progressed to 3 out of the 6 breathing rapidly with one of the fish significantly darker. The original rapid breather basically just stays in place and doesn't seem to eat but the other two are still relatively active. Should I try a treatment of PraziPro as a general spectrum antiparasite medication?
I also have Kanacyn, which is a general spectrum antibiotic but i don't see any signs of bacterial infection, so maybe i'll try the prazipro first?
What do you guys think?
The firemouths look pretty normal from the outside. However, it does seem to be spreading through my firemouths but my tiger barbs and giant danios do not see affected at all. What started as one firemouth breathing rapidly has now progressed to 3 out of the 6 breathing rapidly with one of the fish significantly darker. The original rapid breather basically just stays in place and doesn't seem to eat but the other two are still relatively active. Should I try a treatment of PraziPro as a general spectrum antiparasite medication?
I also have Kanacyn, which is a general spectrum antibiotic but i don't see any signs of bacterial infection, so maybe i'll try the prazipro first?
What do you guys think?
xiasong, i wanted to apologize to you personally if you think my advice to do a large water change was not helpful, or possibly harmful if it delayed treatment. having never dealt with gill flukes myself, i can't tell you how to diagnose or treat them. for me, though, a good tank cleaning and water change usually alleviates any issues my fish are having, and i'm sorry that this time it didn't seem to do anything.
i truly hope that someone with experience in gill parasites can help you resolve this issue, and that you don't lose any fish.
good luck.
i truly hope that someone with experience in gill parasites can help you resolve this issue, and that you don't lose any fish.
good luck.
plah831, don't worry about it. I am pretty hesitant to add medication usually myself and I've had water changes help a lot before. I didn't take any offense and I don't blame you at all. In addition, the people at my LFS who are really knowledgeable couldn't figure out what was happening and suggested I wait another day which I think would have hurt them even more.
So, to update.
I have 4 out of 6 firemouths breathing rapidly.
No change that can be seen with the tiger barbs and giant danios which seem to be acting normal.
Water parameters check out: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate, 7.1 pH
I got some jungle labs parasite clear, did a 50% water change and added in the medicine.
Two of the firemouths seems to have gotten even worse. They are very dark and yesterday one was having trouble swimming and it looked it was struggling to get to the top of the water. I pulled him out and put him in a separate container with an airstone, some salt, and the parasite clear and expected him to be dead this morning.
However, his rapid breathing slowed down a little and he was looking more active. Today, another firemouth was looking really bad and doing the same thing, trying to get to the top of the water and having trouble so I pulled him out. I was going to put the one who looked better back into the tank but as soon as I put him in the tank, he dropped like a stone and couldn't seem to get very far off the gravel and he was getting picked on, so I pulled him out and put him with the other sick firemouth. It looks like they both have swimbladder problems as well...
So far, they are still hanging in there and I added some KanaPlex, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic to help combat any secondary infections or maybe a primary bacterial infection.
However, I do remember seeing white poop that hung on the fish for a really long time which I've read online could mean internal parasites so I'm hoping the parasite clear does its job.
Here's to hoping that the really sick two don't die, the other two puffers stop puffing and my last two who are still healthy don't get sick.
Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone. I really appreciate it!
So, to update.
I have 4 out of 6 firemouths breathing rapidly.
No change that can be seen with the tiger barbs and giant danios which seem to be acting normal.
Water parameters check out: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate, 7.1 pH
I got some jungle labs parasite clear, did a 50% water change and added in the medicine.
Two of the firemouths seems to have gotten even worse. They are very dark and yesterday one was having trouble swimming and it looked it was struggling to get to the top of the water. I pulled him out and put him in a separate container with an airstone, some salt, and the parasite clear and expected him to be dead this morning.
However, his rapid breathing slowed down a little and he was looking more active. Today, another firemouth was looking really bad and doing the same thing, trying to get to the top of the water and having trouble so I pulled him out. I was going to put the one who looked better back into the tank but as soon as I put him in the tank, he dropped like a stone and couldn't seem to get very far off the gravel and he was getting picked on, so I pulled him out and put him with the other sick firemouth. It looks like they both have swimbladder problems as well...
So far, they are still hanging in there and I added some KanaPlex, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic to help combat any secondary infections or maybe a primary bacterial infection.
However, I do remember seeing white poop that hung on the fish for a really long time which I've read online could mean internal parasites so I'm hoping the parasite clear does its job.
Here's to hoping that the really sick two don't die, the other two puffers stop puffing and my last two who are still healthy don't get sick.
Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone. I really appreciate it!
