FISH TB? I'm freaking out...

[Debisbooked]

I've just been sitting here most the evening planning his funeral. Unless he gets worse or looks unhappy I will do nothing.

It's three weeks later after my last post and the zebra danio is still with us. I transfered him and his mates to the 75g and everyone seems happy. I read in an old book by H. Axelrod that the bent spine thing is a sign of age and that one should euthanize because the other danios will torture the bent danio until he dies. So far, nothing but the usual torturing of each other by all four danios is going on so I am not ready to kill the poor thing. He still enjoys his life. Yes he gets picked at but a few minutes later I will find him chasing the others. The saga continues....

 

[DeputyChiefJR]

Up until about a month ago i had a danio like that, but then it disappeared...I believe it got weak and may have been consumed by my pleco because an immediate cleaning after i noticed the disappearance revealed no corpse...

 

[webcricket]

I have a zebra danio who had a similar problem over the past 6 months. His spine started to curve and he started hanging out in one corner by himself with no other signs of illness. I'd pretty much concluded it was old age (he's been with me for over 4 years and was an adult when he was acquired). Due to an accident early in life, he's blind in one eye but the other danios didn't pick on him at all.

I recently added some new corys to the tank, and started supplementing the once daily tank feeding with dropping pellet food for the corys. Well, mister blind hunchback danio quickly figured out the pellets were a great way to get a meal. These past couple of weeks he has straightened out and is interacting with the rest of the danio shoal once again.

I hadn't ever noticed him having a problem eating (of course it is a frenzy), but apparently he wasn't getting enough food and this was a symptom of malnutrition. Plenty of sights list the curved spine as a sign of age in these guys, I wish they'd add malnutrition as a potential cause.

 

[Debisbooked]

Brokeback danio died yesterday

It has been a few months since I posted here but I thought I would let you all know the end result of the danio I thought had TB. I first posted this question on 3-3-06 about this danio that looked like his back was broken. Several interesting solutions were proposed. I decided on a 'wait and see' attitude. I really thought he was on his way out then. Well, this little guy soldiered on until his death yesterday (1-10-07) ten months later! That's a long time in fishy life. He looked funny, he swam funny, but he didn't seem to mind either. Sometimes the other danios would chase him but sometimes he would chase them! He continued to eat well and move (albeit more slowly) until a few days before death. He outlasted the seven danio's I've had since starting my first tank three years ago. Some were even younger then him. I think he looked this way because he was simply an old fish. My books say danios last about two years and this one had to be three+. Anyway, thought you all would like to hear the rest of the story. Deb

 

[pinkprincess]

Thanks for the update.

I really really REALLY appreciate it. It drives me batty when someone posts their story and you follow it for a while and never get to hear what happens in the end.