If anyone has any help for me it would be appreciated. My Zebra danios seem to be afflicted with some sort of something. It only seems to be happening to them. I noticed that it starts with a redish discoloration behing their gills, they start to blow up, their scales come off of their bodies where their stomachs are bloating and then they die. It's not a quick death, they seem to swim in circles for awhile. No one at the pet stores seem to know what i'm talking about. HELP :0
Help!My fish have some strange disease
- Thread starter KathyE
- Start date
First go buy some fresh food, what you have may be spoiled or may have gotten damp.
When a fish swells up and the scales stand up, usually it is too late, the kidneys are damaged. I have "saved" a fish, with 100% daily water changes, high heat and Epsom salts in the water, not regular salt at all. It takes a full month of daily water chagnes, wiping down the old bucket with Bactine to sterilize, transfering the fish to a new bucket of water aged 24 hours and heated.
Really, too much work for a $2 fish!
Plus, after about a year, the fish re-dropsied in the pond and after a long time I put it down. It actually looked ok, but I feared it would explode during the winter and infect the other fish.
IMO, not worth doing.
BUT, you need to find the cause of the problem. Look at sanitation in the tank, rotting food in the gravel, a nasty undergravel filter, filter failure, dead fish somewhere, old food, lack of water changes, too much food, and too many fish.
When a fish swells up and the scales stand up, usually it is too late, the kidneys are damaged. I have "saved" a fish, with 100% daily water changes, high heat and Epsom salts in the water, not regular salt at all. It takes a full month of daily water chagnes, wiping down the old bucket with Bactine to sterilize, transfering the fish to a new bucket of water aged 24 hours and heated.
Really, too much work for a $2 fish!
Plus, after about a year, the fish re-dropsied in the pond and after a long time I put it down. It actually looked ok, but I feared it would explode during the winter and infect the other fish.
IMO, not worth doing.
BUT, you need to find the cause of the problem. Look at sanitation in the tank, rotting food in the gravel, a nasty undergravel filter, filter failure, dead fish somewhere, old food, lack of water changes, too much food, and too many fish.
Dangerdoll
Global Moderator
the redness of the gills seem to indicate poisoning... my first guess would be ammonia.... have you checked the parameters of your tank as far as pH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites? How long has this tank been set up, what other fish are in this tank, what size is the tank?
Dangerdoll said:
Thanks for the help, i do partial water changes about every other week. I tested the ammonia, ect and it was all fine. The tanks been set up for about a year and i've only had ick in the beginning. I may have too many fish. It's a 20 gallon, i have a pleco,4 black fin tetra,4 swordtail and 4 zebras. The one swordtail was a baby that made it so he's not that big. Recently 2 zebras died and a swordtail, but the zebras are the only ones that have the red gill, fat stomach thing going on. What do you think?
It is definitely worth looking into. It is a serious disease and is fatal for fish. You can check this website:
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hddropsy.htm
I hope it helps.
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hddropsy.htm
I hope it helps.
If you were overstocked, you probably would be showing some ammonia when you test. I don't know what type of pleco you have or how big he is...they can get downright huge. Dropsy is terrible. My girlfriend lost a couple of African Dwarf Frogs to dropsy. That sounds like what your fish have.KathyE said:
KathyE said:
Just an update, i think i've gotten to the bottom of the problem. Went to a small,private pet store and came out with alot of info. You guys were right, poisoning,even though my strips came back fine. My filter wasn't good enough and all of the toxins were gathering on the top of my water. Since zebras mostly hang out at the top they were being affected most. Cross your fingers, i have a regular science experiment going on here.. But thank you all for all of your help
Kathy
Dangerdoll
Global Moderator
if your strips were all indicating everything was fine in your water, I would invest in some new test kits, these may not be good.